This post is a brief alert to announce the final (updated, v.1.1) release of the F.A.T. Lab’s QR_STENCILER software. This tool is a free, fully-automated utility that converts QR codes into vector-based stencil patterns suitable for laser-cutting. The QR_STENCILER is described in full detail in our 19 July blog post.

The newest version of the QR_STENCILER adds the following functionality:

• Options allowing both black-on-white and white-on-black (“reverse”) stenciling;
• A graphical user interface with checkboxes and sliders from the ControlP5 library;
• Rounded corner options (including both circular arcs and Bezier curves);
• Precompiled executables for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux;
• Vector path simplification for improved lasercutting.

Moreover, the QR_STENCILER can now be downloaded from the following 3 locations:

• As a ZIP file From the F.A.T. Lab website (Version 1.1, 3 August 2011, 15MB), including compiled Mac/Win/Linux applications.
• As a Java applet on OpenProcessing.org. This is primarily for pedagogic purposes and quick reference, as the in-browser Java virtual machine does not permit the exporting of stencil PDFs.
• As a code repository on Github. Any future updates to this project will be found there.

Thank you for your interest in this project, and happy stenciling.
The F.A.T. Lab staff

This post is a brief alert to announce the final (updated, v.1.1) release of the F.A.T. Lab's QR_STENCILER software. This tool is a free, fully-automated utility that converts QR codes into vector-based stencil patterns suitable for laser-cutting. The QR_STENCILER is described in full detail in our 19 July blog post. The newest version of the QR_STENCILER adds the following functionality: Options allowing both black-on-white and white-on-black ("reverse") stenciling; A graphical user interface with checkboxes and sliders from the ControlP5 library; Rounded corner options (including both circular arcs and Bezier curves); Precompiled executables for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux; Vector path simplification for improved lasercutting. Moreover, the QR_STENCILER can now be downloaded from the following 3 locations: As a ZIP file From the F.A.T. Lab website (Version 1.1, 3 August 2011, 15MB), including compiled Mac/Win/Linux applications. As a Java applet on OpenProcessing.org. This is primarily for pedagogic purposes and quick reference, as the in-browser Java virtual machine does not permit the exporting of stencil PDFs. As a code repository on Github. Any future updates to this project will be found there. Thank you for your interest in this project, and happy stenciling. The F.A.T. Lab staff

Yep, it’s a QR code stencil generator! The F.A.T. Lab is pleased to present QR_STENCILER, a free, fully-automated utility which converts QR codes into vector-based stencil patterns suitable for laser-cutting. Additionally, we present QR_HOBO_CODES, a series of one hundred QR stencil designs which, covertly marked in urban spaces, may be used to warn people about danger or clue them into good situations. The QR_STENCILER and the QR_HOBO_CODES join the Adjustable Pie Chart Stencil in our suite of homebrew "infoviz graffiti" tools for locative and situated information display.

CONTENTS

• About this Project
• Download & Instructions
• License
• The QR_HOBO_CODES
• Acknowledgments
• Keywords

ABOUT THIS PROJECT
QR codes are a form of two-dimensional barcode which are widely used to convey URLs and other short texts through camera-based smartphones. A variety of free tools exist to generate QR codes (such as the Google Charts API) and to read them (such as TapMedia’s free QR Reader for iPhone app). Our QR_STENCILER is a Java-based software utility which loads a user-specified QR code image — from which it then generates a lasercutter-ready, topologically correct stencil .PDF. As Fred Trotter has pointed out, QR codes contain stencil islands in unpredictable configurations. QR_STENCILER automatically detects and bridges these islands, using thin lines that are minimally disruptive to the highly robust QR algorithm. It does so through the use of two basic image processing techniques: connected component labeling (sometimes called blob detection) and 8-connected chain coding (sometimes called contour tracing). QR_STENCILER was created with Processing, a free, cross-platform programming toolkit for the arts.

Closeup of a QR code lasercut in 1/8"-thick fiberboard. The QR_STENCILER automatically thickens corners between squares (left) and generates "bridges" to connect stencil islands (center). The level (amount) of island bridging is user-adjustable.

Accompanying the QR_STENCILER are the QR_HOBO_CODES (see below), a set of 100 lasercutter-ready QR stencil designs created with the QR_STENCILER software. These stencils can be understood as a covert markup scheme for urban spaces — providing directions, information, and warnings to digital nomads and other indigenterati. We present these as modern equivalents of the chalk-based "hobo signs" developed by 19th century vagabonds and migratory workers to cope with the difficulty of nomadic life. Indeed, our set of QR stencils port a number of classic hobo annotations to the QR format ("turn right here", "dangerous dog", "food for work") as well as some new ones, with a nod to warchalking, that are specific to contemporary conditions ("insecure wifi", "hidden cameras", "vegans beware").

Examples of 19th- and 20th-Century "hobo signs". Sources: Fran DeLorenzo (left), Wikipedia (right).

DOWNLOAD & INSTRUCTIONS
QR_STENCILER has been tested in MacOSX 10.6.8, but (since Processing is a cross-platform toolkit) it should work in Windows or Linux as well.

1. Make yourself a QR code image which embeds a short piece of text. GoQR.me, Google and Kaywa all provide free online QR generators. To reduce the complexity of the stencil, we recommend generating your code with the shortest possible texts, and with lower levels of error correction (L-level or M-level). At the same time, we recommend generating QR code images with more pixel resolution, such as 500x500px; for QR_STENCILER, the ideal input image has a “grid size” of about 20 image-pixels per QR grid-cell. (See this QR code for an example; it has 23-pixel grid-cells in an overall image size of 540x540px.)
2. Download QR_STENCILER.zip, and unzip this to a folder. The QR_STENCILER is also available from this Github repository.
3. Although the zip includes compiled executables for Mac, Windows and Linux, we recommend running the QR_STENCILER from the Processing development environment. Download and install the Processing development tool. The QR_STENCILER works with Processing v.1.5.1 or later.
4. Put your QR code image in the folder, ‘QR_STENCILER/data/’
5. Launch Processing and open ‘QR_STENCILER.pde’
6. Press ‘Run’ (Command-R) to start the stenciler.
7. You will be prompted to Open your QR code image. (A default “hello world” QR code will be opened if none is provided).
8. After opening the QR code image, the program will generate a stencil .PDF in the ‘data’ folder. Note that there are some options (checkboxes, sliders) which you can use to alter the generated stencils in various ways, including (for example) generating “reverse” (white-on-black) stencils.
9. The .PDF can be opened in your favorite CAD program, for laser-cutting materials like cardboard, delrin, MDF or acrylic. If you need to find a lasercutter, consider Ponoko.com, which ships anywhere. You can also Google ‘lasercutting service‘ to find a bureau near you, or check the Architecture or Design departments of your local university. (Of course, you could always print out the PDF on paper if you prefer to cut the stencil by hand. Cheap!)
10. For non-permanent outdoor marking materials, we recommend Erwin Strait-Line 64908 powdered chalk; black spray chalk; black finger paint; and Crayola Sidewalk Paint.
11. After marking your stencil, test it with a QR code reader, such as TapMedia’s free QR Reader for iPhone app.

More photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

LICENSE
The QR_STENCILER software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. QR_STENCILER is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to distribute, remix, and modify QR_STENCILER, so long as you share alike and provide attribution to FFFFF.AT. The repackaging of QR_STENCILER as or into commercial software, is expressly prohibited. Please note that QR_STENCILER also enjoys protections under the GRL Repercussions 3.0 license. More details about QR_STENCILER’s license and warranty can be found in the preamble to its main code file, QR_STENCILER.pde; for other uses, please contact us. The 100 QR_HOBO_CODES and their respective stencils are hereby dedicated to the public domain.

QR_HOBO_CODES

25-minute wait png | stencil	assholes png | stencil	bad coffee png | stencil	bad food png | stencil
bad tempered owner png | stencil	bad water png | stencil	be alert png | stencil	be quiet png | stencil
be ready to defend yourself png | stencil	beware pickpockets png | stencil	bike thieves png | stencil	boring png | stencil
broken meter png | stencil	camera perverts png | stencil	camp here png | stencil	cars ticketed png | stencil
caveat emptor png | stencil	changing table png | stencil	cheap drinks png | stencil	check cashing png | stencil
civilized place png | stencil	contraception available png | stencil	cops active png | stencil	cops inactive png | stencil
danger png | stencil	dangerous homophobes png | stencil	dangerous neighborhood png | stencil	dishonest scalpers here png | stencil
dog png | stencil	food for work png | stencil	free doctor png | stencil	free out-of-date food png | stencil
free wifi png | stencil	get out fast png | stencil	go straight png | stencil	good cheap food png | stencil
good coffee png | stencil	good for a handout png | stencil	good to kids png | stencil	good veg-burger png | stencil
good water png | stencil	GPS is incorrect png | stencil	great dumpster png | stencil	habla espanol png | stencil
has showers png | stencil	help if sick png | stencil	here is the place png | stencil	hidden cameras png | stencil
high-fee ATM png | stencil	hold your tongue png | stencil	insecure wifi png | stencil	it’s fake png | stencil
just ignore him png | stencil	keep away png | stencil	keep going png | stencil	kind family png | stencil
lax oversight png | stencil	look down png | stencil	look up png | stencil	lots of outlets png | stencil
mean to children png | stencil	nice bathroom png | stencil	no bathrooms png | stencil	no changing table png | stencil
no fee ATM png | stencil	no outlets png | stencil	no pets png | stencil	no privacy png | stencil
open late png | stencil	over-priced png | stencil	over-rated png | stencil	owner gives to GOP png | stencil
owner has a gun png | stencil	perverts png | stencil	pissoir png | stencil	Plan B sold here png | stencil
prostitution sting png | stencil	scammers png | stencil	sleep in barn png | stencil	speed trap png | stencil
stay low png | stencil	strong phone signal png | stencil	talk religion get food png | stencil	tell a hard luck story here png | stencil
test market png | stencil	those aren’t real png | stencil	toll road png | stencil	tramp camp png | stencil
tramps arrested on sight png | stencil	turn left here png | stencil	turn right here png | stencil	unexpectedly good coffee png | stencil
unsafe area png | stencil	use gloves png | stencil	used frying oil available png | stencil	vegans beware png | stencil
well guarded png | stencil	will give to get rid of you png | stencil	work available png | stencil	worth saving png | stencil

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
QR_STENCILER was created by Golan Levin and Asa Foster III with support from the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. Thanks to Ben Fry, Andreas Schlegel, Marcus Beausang, Neil Brown & Judy Robertson for the terrific code they have made available online. A tip of the hat to Fred Trotter, Jovino, Ric Johnson, le Suedois, Patrick Donnelly, David J. Burden, Matt Jones and others who have gone down similar or related paths. Additional thanks to Andrea Boykowycz for creative input. Some of the QR_HOBO_CODES are adapted from or inspired by designs presented elsewhere by Fran DeLorenzo and Cockeyed.com. "QR code" is trademarked by Denso Wave, Inc.

KEYWORDS
Barcode, QR code, stencil, QR code stencil, graffiti, grafitti, graffiti research, graf technology, street art, culture jamming, tactical media, urban messaging, locative media, situated visualization, contextual computing, lasercut, laser cutter, digital fabrication, template, chalk signs, chalk, spray paint, spraypaint, fffffat lab, hobo culture, hobo signs, warchalking.

Yep, it's a QR code stencil generator! The F.A.T. Lab is pleased to present QR_STENCILER, a free, fully-automated utility which converts QR codes into vector-based stencil patterns suitable for laser-cutting. Additionally, we present QR_HOBO_CODES, a series of one hundred QR stencil designs which, covertly marked in urban spaces, may be used to warn people about danger or clue them into good situations. The QR_STENCILER and the QR_HOBO_CODES join the Adjustable Pie Chart Stencil in our suite of homebrew "infoviz graffiti" tools for locative and situated information display. CONTENTS About this Project Download & Instructions License The QR_HOBO_CODES Acknowledgments Keywords ABOUT THIS PROJECT QR codes are a form of two-dimensional barcode which are widely used to convey URLs and other short texts through camera-based smartphones. A variety of free tools exist to generate QR codes (such as the Google Charts API) and to read them (such as TapMedia's free QR Reader for iPhone app). Our QR_STENCILER is a Java-based software utility which loads a user-specified QR code image -- from which it then generates a lasercutter-ready, topologically correct stencil .PDF. As Fred Trotter has pointed out, QR codes contain stencil islands in unpredictable configurations. QR_STENCILER automatically detects and bridges these islands, using thin lines that are minimally disruptive to the highly robust QR algorithm. It does so through the use of two basic image processing techniques: connected component labeling (sometimes called blob detection) and 8-connected chain coding (sometimes called contour tracing). QR_STENCILER was created with Processing, a free, cross-platform programming toolkit for the arts. Closeup of a QR code lasercut in 1/8"-thick fiberboard. The QR_STENCILER automatically thickens corners between squares (left) and generates "bridges" to connect stencil islands (center). The level (amount) of island bridging is user-adjustable. Accompanying the QR_STENCILER are the QR_HOBO_CODES (see below), a set of 100 lasercutter-ready QR stencil designs created with the QR_STENCILER software. These stencils can be understood as a covert markup scheme for urban spaces -- providing directions, information, and warnings to digital nomads and other indigenterati. We present these as modern equivalents of the chalk-based "hobo signs" developed by 19th century vagabonds and migratory workers to cope with the difficulty of nomadic life. Indeed, our set of QR stencils port a number of classic hobo annotations to the QR format ("turn right here", "dangerous dog", "food for work") as well as some new ones, with a nod to warchalking, that are specific to contemporary conditions ("insecure wifi", "hidden cameras", "vegans beware"). Examples of 19th- and 20th-Century "hobo signs". Sources: Fran DeLorenzo (left), Wikipedia (right). DOWNLOAD & INSTRUCTIONS QR_STENCILER has been tested in MacOSX 10.6.8, but (since Processing is a cross-platform toolkit) it should work in Windows or Linux as well. Make yourself a QR code image which embeds a short piece of text. GoQR.me, Google and Kaywa all provide free online QR generators. To reduce the complexity of the stencil, we recommend generating your code with the shortest possible texts, and with lower levels of error correction (L-level or M-level). At the same time, we recommend generating QR code images with more pixel resolution, such as 500x500px; for QR_STENCILER, the ideal input image has a "grid size" of about 20 image-pixels per QR grid-cell. (See this QR code for an example; it has 23-pixel grid-cells in an overall image size of 540x540px.) Download QR_STENCILER.zip, and unzip this to a folder. The QR_STENCILER is also available from this Github repository. Although the zip includes compiled executables for Mac, Windows and Linux, we recommend running the QR_STENCILER from the Processing development environment. Download and install the Processing development tool. The QR_STENCILER works with Processing v.1.5.1 or later. Put your QR code image in the folder, 'QR_STENCILER/data/' Launch Processing and open 'QR_STENCILER.pde' Press 'Run' (Command-R) to start the stenciler. You will be prompted to Open your QR code image. (A default "hello world" QR code will be opened if none is provided). After opening the QR code image, the program will generate a stencil .PDF in the 'data' folder. Note that there are some options (checkboxes, sliders) which you can use to alter the generated stencils in various ways, including (for example) generating "reverse" (white-on-black) stencils. The .PDF can be opened in your favorite CAD program, for laser-cutting materials like cardboard, delrin, MDF or acrylic. If you need to find a lasercutter, consider Ponoko.com, which ships anywhere. You can also Google 'lasercutting service' to find a bureau near you, or check the Architecture or Design departments of your local university. (Of course, you could always print out the PDF on paper if you prefer to cut the stencil by hand. Cheap!) For non-permanent outdoor marking materials, we recommend Erwin Strait-Line 64908 powdered chalk; black spray chalk; black finger paint; and Crayola Sidewalk Paint. After marking your stencil, test it with a QR code reader, such as TapMedia's free QR Reader for iPhone app. More photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. LICENSE The QR_STENCILER software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. QR_STENCILER is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to distribute, remix, and modify QR_STENCILER, so long as you share alike and provide attribution to FFFFF.AT. The repackaging of QR_STENCILER as or into commercial software, is expressly prohibited. Please note that QR_STENCILER also enjoys protections under the GRL Repercussions 3.0 license. More details about QR_STENCILER's license and warranty can be found in the preamble to its main code file, QR_STENCILER.pde; for other uses, please contact us. The 100 QR_HOBO_CODES and their respective stencils are hereby dedicated to the public domain. QR_HOBO_CODES 25-minute wait png | stencil assholes png | stencil bad coffee png | stencil bad food png | stencil bad tempered owner png | stencil bad water png | stencil be alert png | stencil be quiet png | stencil be ready to defend yourself png | stencil beware pickpockets png | stencil bike thieves png | stencil boring png | stencil broken meter png | stencil camera perverts png | stencil camp here png | stencil cars ticketed png | stencil caveat emptor png | stencil changing table png | stencil cheap drinks png | stencil check cashing png | stencil civilized place png | stencil contraception available png | stencil cops active png | stencil cops inactive png | stencil danger png | stencil dangerous homophobes png | stencil dangerous neighborhood png | stencil dishonest scalpers here png | stencil dog png | stencil food for work png | stencil free doctor png | stencil free out-of-date food png | stencil free wifi png | stencil get out fast png | stencil go straight png | stencil good cheap food png | stencil good coffee png | stencil good for a handout png | stencil good to kids png | stencil good veg-burger png | stencil good water png | stencil GPS is incorrect png | stencil great dumpster png | stencil habla espanol png | stencil has showers png | stencil help if sick png | stencil here is the place png | stencil hidden cameras png | stencil high-fee ATM png | stencil hold your tongue png | stencil insecure wifi png | stencil it's fake png | stencil just ignore him png | stencil keep away png | stencil keep going png | stencil kind family png | stencil lax oversight png | stencil look down png | stencil look up png | stencil lots of outlets png | stencil mean to children png | stencil nice bathroom png | stencil no bathrooms png | stencil no changing table png | stencil no fee ATM png | stencil no outlets png | stencil no pets png | stencil no privacy png | stencil open late png | stencil over-priced png | stencil over-rated png | stencil owner gives to GOP png | stencil owner has a gun png | stencil perverts png | stencil pissoir png | stencil Plan B sold here png | stencil prostitution sting png | stencil scammers png | stencil sleep in barn png | stencil speed trap png | stencil stay low png | stencil strong phone signal png | stencil talk religion get food png | stencil tell a hard luck story here png | stencil test market png | stencil those aren't real png | stencil toll road png | stencil tramp camp png | stencil tramps arrested on sight png | stencil turn left here png | stencil turn right here png | stencil unexpectedly good coffee png | stencil unsafe area png | stencil use gloves png | stencil used frying oil available png | stencil vegans beware png | stencil well guarded png | stencil will give to get rid of you png | stencil work available png | stencil worth saving png | stencil ACKNOWLEDGMENTS QR_STENCILER was created by Golan Levin and Asa Foster III with support from the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. Thanks to Ben Fry, Andreas Schlegel, Marcus Beausang, Neil Brown & Judy Robertson for the terrific code they have made available online. A tip of the hat to Fred Trotter, Jovino, Ric Johnson, le Suedois, Patrick Donnelly, David J. Burden, Matt Jones and others who have gone down similar or related paths. Additional thanks to Andrea Boykowycz for creative input. Some of the QR_HOBO_CODES are adapted from or inspired by designs presented elsewhere by Fran DeLorenzo and Cockeyed.com. "QR code" is trademarked by Denso Wave, Inc. KEYWORDS Barcode, QR code, stencil, QR code stencil, graffiti, grafitti, graffiti research, graf technology, street art, culture jamming, tactical media, urban messaging, locative media, situated visualization, contextual computing, lasercut, laser cutter, digital fabrication, template, chalk signs, chalk, spray paint, spraypaint, fffffat lab, hobo culture, hobo signs, warchalking.

We present the design of an adjustable lasercut stencil pattern for pie-chart graffiti.

The pattern includes a complete set of re-arrangeable letters and numbers.
Changing the stencil’s message and pie-chart percentage is straightforward.

The stencil has a few noteworthy design features:

• The letters are designed to be held in place with adhesive tape.
• The pie chart pointer is held in place by an adjustable-tension bolt and wing-nut.
• A small cutout arrow indicates which portion of the pie chart is described by your text.
• The perimeter of the pie chart is etched with 100 tick-marks, making it easy to adjust.
• The letters (a new stencilized version of Trade Gothic) preserve correct character widths and are provided in proportion to letter frequency (e.g. ETAOIN SHRDLU).

Here are the stencil designs (Illustrator CS4 .PDF format):

• Graffiti Pie Chart Stencil (18″x24″)
• Graffiti Pie Chart Stencil (16″x20″)

Complete fabrication info (including high-res photos) is available here. If you’d like to make one for yourself, you’ll need:

• 1/8″ (3mm) thick sheet material, suitable for lasercutting. I used MDF, but acrylic is fine.
• A one-inch 1/4″-20 bolt, wing-nut and suitable pair of washers.
• Scotch tape or masking tape (to hold the letter in the stencil)
• 1 quart-capacity Ziploc bag (for storing the letters)
• Spray paint
• A laser cutter!

Acknowledgements
This four-hour Speed Project was developed by Golan Levin with support from the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. Thanks to Asa Foster III for production assistance.

We present the design of an adjustable lasercut stencil pattern for pie-chart graffiti. The pattern includes a complete set of re-arrangeable letters and numbers. Changing the stencil's message and pie-chart percentage is straightforward. The stencil has a few noteworthy design features: The letters are designed to be held in place with adhesive tape. The pie chart pointer is held in place by an adjustable-tension bolt and wing-nut. A small cutout arrow indicates which portion of the pie chart is described by your text. The perimeter of the pie chart is etched with 100 tick-marks, making it easy to adjust. The letters (a new stencilized version of Trade Gothic) preserve correct character widths and are provided in proportion to letter frequency (e.g. ETAOIN SHRDLU). Here are the stencil designs (Illustrator CS4 .PDF format): Graffiti Pie Chart Stencil (18"x24") Graffiti Pie Chart Stencil (16"x20") Complete fabrication info (including high-res photos) is available here. If you'd like to make one for yourself, you'll need: 1/8" (3mm) thick sheet material, suitable for lasercutting. I used MDF, but acrylic is fine. A one-inch 1/4"-20 bolt, wing-nut and suitable pair of washers. Scotch tape or masking tape (to hold the letter in the stencil) 1 quart-capacity Ziploc bag (for storing the letters) Spray paint A laser cutter! Acknowledgements This four-hour Speed Project was developed by Golan Levin with support from the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. Thanks to Asa Foster III for production assistance.

Obama redraws the greatest hits and your favorite selections from the #000000book library of GML tags, in the Obama GML Playa by Golan Levin & Jérôme Saint-Clair.

To view the Obama GML Playa go to http://graffitimarkuplanguage.com/obama-gml-playa

Built with Processing, 2010 / Source code: Playa.zip
Uses the new Processing GML Library GML4U by Jérôme Saint-Clair and Toxiclibs by Karsten “Toxi” Schmidt. White House photo by Pete Souza (Government Work).

Obama redraws the greatest hits and your favorite selections from the #000000book library of GML tags, in the Obama GML Playa by Golan Levin & Jérôme Saint-Clair. To view the Obama GML Playa go to http://graffitimarkuplanguage.com/obama-gml-playa Built with Processing, 2010 / Source code: Playa.zip Uses the new Processing GML Library GML4U by Jérôme Saint-Clair and Toxiclibs by Karsten "Toxi" Schmidt. White House photo by Pete Souza (Government Work).

A labor-saving device for graffiti artists. An assistive tool or telematic proxy for taggers working in harsh environments. Long-needed relief for graffiti artists with RSI. Or simply, pure research into as-yet-untrammeled intersections of automation and architecture. We give you: the ROBOTAGGER, an industrial robot arm programmed with GML, the new “Graffiti Markup Language” created by Evan Roth and pals at the FAT Lab.

This quick project came together over the past weekend in CMU’s Digital Fabrication Laboratory (dFAB), directed by my pal, Professor Jeremy Ficca. Inspired by a tweet from Evan Roth, one of the co-creators of GML, we reckoned it would be easy to transcode GML into a file format suitable for robotic CAD/CAM machining. The result is a small Processing utility that converts GML into DXF and CSV (you can download the GML-to-DXF source code here). After tinkering around for a while we developed a pipeline for converting the GML/DXF strokes from 000000book.com into machining paths for the dFAB’s ABB IRB-4400, an eight foot tall industrial robot arm. One of our first tags, which you can see in the video, was made from GML produced by TEMPT ONE (Tony Quan), a graffiti writer with Lou Gehrig’s disease who produced the GML recording with the FAT Lab’s well-known EyeWriter software. Although there’s been a lot of data loss and translation along the way, it’s not completely unreasonable to think of the Robotagger as a prosthesis for Tony. I hope we can pursue this possibility a little further.

Speaking of future directions, there are lots of interesting research topics latent here in automated calligraphy. We were astonished to realize just how important the force-feedback of pressure is to the visual quality of the drawings. (The first 20 seconds of the video shows what I mean in an extreme way – we shattered a marker and sent ink everywhere when our estimate of the Z-plane turned out to be off by a quarter-inch. Looks like we need to get that force-measuring software extension that ABB sells.) Going forward, we’re interested in exploring robotic performances of higher-dimensional gesture data, such as that produced by Wacom tablets, which provides high-resolution information about the pressure, azimuth and elevation (yaw and pitch) of the tagger’s stylus. Watch this space — I’ll be developing some tools to help the next version of GML encode this information.

The Robotagger is a collaboration of Jeremy Ficca’s dFAB at CMU; the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon, which I direct; and the FAT Lab’s GML initiative. We used the Sharpie Magnum and the wonderful 2-inch Montana Hardcore markers, which (AFAIK) are the largest magic markers in commercial production. (And of course, for the deep history of prior work blending graffiti and automation, don’t forget to check out the spraycan-enabled Graffiti Writer robot [1998-2000] by the Institute for Applied Autonomy, and Jürg Lehni’s wall-spraying Hektor robot [2002].) [Extra link: RoboTagger on Youtube]

A labor-saving device for graffiti artists. An assistive tool or telematic proxy for taggers working in harsh environments. Long-needed relief for graffiti artists with RSI. Or simply, pure research into as-yet-untrammeled intersections of automation and architecture. We give you: the ROBOTAGGER, an industrial robot arm programmed with GML, the new "Graffiti Markup Language" created by Evan Roth and pals at the FAT Lab. This quick project came together over the past weekend in CMU's Digital Fabrication Laboratory (dFAB), directed by my pal, Professor Jeremy Ficca. Inspired by a tweet from Evan Roth, one of the co-creators of GML, we reckoned it would be easy to transcode GML into a file format suitable for robotic CAD/CAM machining. The result is a small Processing utility that converts GML into DXF and CSV (you can download the GML-to-DXF source code here). After tinkering around for a while we developed a pipeline for converting the GML/DXF strokes from 000000book.com into machining paths for the dFAB's ABB IRB-4400, an eight foot tall industrial robot arm. One of our first tags, which you can see in the video, was made from GML produced by TEMPT ONE (Tony Quan), a graffiti writer with Lou Gehrig's disease who produced the GML recording with the FAT Lab's well-known EyeWriter software. Although there's been a lot of data loss and translation along the way, it's not completely unreasonable to think of the Robotagger as a prosthesis for Tony. I hope we can pursue this possibility a little further. Speaking of future directions, there are lots of interesting research topics latent here in automated calligraphy. We were astonished to realize just how important the force-feedback of pressure is to the visual quality of the drawings. (The first 20 seconds of the video shows what I mean in an extreme way - we shattered a marker and sent ink everywhere when our estimate of the Z-plane turned out to be off by a quarter-inch. Looks like we need to get that force-measuring software extension that ABB sells.) Going forward, we're interested in exploring robotic performances of higher-dimensional gesture data, such as that produced by Wacom tablets, which provides high-resolution information about the pressure, azimuth and elevation (yaw and pitch) of the tagger's stylus. Watch this space -- I'll be developing some tools to help the next version of GML encode this information. The Robotagger is a collaboration of Jeremy Ficca's dFAB at CMU; the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon, which I direct; and the FAT Lab's GML initiative. We used the Sharpie Magnum and the wonderful 2-inch Montana Hardcore markers, which (AFAIK) are the largest magic markers in commercial production. (And of course, for the deep history of prior work blending graffiti and automation, don't forget to check out the spraycan-enabled Graffiti Writer robot [1998-2000] by the Institute for Applied Autonomy, and Jürg Lehni's wall-spraying Hektor robot [2002].) [Extra link: RoboTagger on Youtube]