Hi group!

 

I am sure some of you have experimented with using PD to control motors.  My friend Joel Grip is planning to build a giant marionette puppet in his wood working class at the Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art that we will use in our multi-media improvisations.  The goal would be to perform live with acoustic instruments and/or computer generated/manipulated sound and have the marionette move in reaction to our playing.  What I would like to know is where to find information on what types of motors to buy and how to interact them with PD.

 

I checked out makingthings.com because I had heard about their Max-motor interaction products.  They sent me the following response to my inquiry:

 

        Hi Samuel.  While we have intermittently run into interest

        in having Teleo interact with PD, this interest has not,

        unfortunately, been enough to warrant the time and effort

        it would take us to develop it.  So, as of now the answer is

        sadly no.  This is not set in stone, however, and it is possible

        that at some point in the future, we'll move ahead with development
        for PD, either based on a general growing interest or in response to a
        particular job that we're doing.  But for the moment, it's not very

        high on our list of priorities.

Also, I am told that their products are really designed to move smaller objects.  Our life-size wooden marionette would probably be too heavy and wear the parts out too quickly.  If anyone has any suggestions, they would be very appreciated.

 

Samuel Burt