Another device from the same era was the Sculptoscope, also known as a Zootrope or Stereoscope, a device that allowed viewers to see stereo images by having a card with two images printed on it.
Mad Systems was asked to produce a device that would be an electronic simile to the original photographic "rolodex" type of solution. We found images of a Sculptoscope from the correct era, and modeled it in 3D studio max, and then selected the appropriate materials for the outside of the box. Once we had approval from the designer and the client, we detailed out the inside. We found a stereo viewer, and scanned it using our 3-D scanner. We then imported the resulting file into our 3D design program, and subtracted it from the shape that we had decided on for the viewer head. This method guarantees a perfect fit of the device into the head, so that the only thing left to do was to remove some additional material to allow for the device to be inserted.
We hollowed out the computer model, so that we knew how much space would be available for the mechanical interface that would have to go into the casing, and knew the shape, again from the computer model. At that point, we sliced up the 3D computer model of the sculptoscope so that it would fit on our 3D milling machine and exported the resulting file to our milling control software, where a profile was generated for the 3D milling machine. The entire unit was milled out in several sections, and glued to provide a seamless result.
The backboard was developed int he same way; once the backboard was developed it was cut out of a knotless type of wood, and the result looks stunning.- In the mean time, the video was also developed on 3DS max, and then programmed into the interactive to allow for some realistic "ballistics" - in the original devices, the stereo cards would be held back by a small brass tack, and once they passed the tack they would fall forward even if the handle wasn't cranked. We emulated this behavior in our unit to make sure it had the right "feel".
The mechanism is designed to take just about any level of abuse. The handle is connected to an over-engineered heavy-duty shaft, which is mounted in bearings capable of taking a load of over 2000 lbs to make sure that the main shaft is solidly supported. The resulting mechanism provides a quadrature phase output, which is then fed into the interactive computer.
During the Augusta project, we discussed with the designer the need to come up with a way to show how a weaving machine works, and it was decided that the "usual" method of showing slow motion or real time video just using an LCD monitor with an aluminum jogwheel would not be suitable for the venue, a beautiful building from the 1850s.