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A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

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Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#111
post #33

Very cool. If you can make that cartridge dirt cheap, you will have invented an exciting new technology. Build a V2 with cheaper tech, change your wording a bit as to what the device does, keep the polaroid link a little bit, but make it your own and then I think you'll have something that could kick ass on Kickstarter.

yes, bringing the cost of the cartridge down is definitely something that needs to be worked on.. this one though is entirely built from off the shelf components

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#112
post #5

How about actually printing, then laminating on a lenticular surface providing a "GIF-sized" short moving-image effect? [edited per comments]

I presume you mean "lenticular" - which would be a very cool (and possibly mass-producible) alternative. I wonder how you might go about performing the lamination inside the camera... Perhaps you could feed it a pre-laminated sheet that is thin enough that it can be printed on the reverse side?

I would imagine that such a device would be difficult to build so that it works correctly the majority of times it is used. Even if the "reverse printing" idea could be done (I like the idea, btw), it would have to be extremely exact to line up the "pixels" of the images with the individual lenses. Perhaps a print-head with some kind of camera on it to see where it is printing as the head passes over the lens could be done?

Recall that these kinds of "motion picture cards" have been around for decades; at least 40 or 50 years, maybe longer. If such a camera (or even a home-based process) could have been built for consumer use, it probably would have been sold. The fact that it wasn't, and the fact that even during all these years there haven't been many manufacturers of such images, should give you an idea of how difficult registration of the image stripes with the lens can be. A purely mechanical process (printing the image onto some kind of paper, then laminating the lens over the top) probably can't be easily (or cheaply) done - otherwise it likely would have been.

That's just my take on things, of course; maybe I'm completely wrong, or there's some method or such I am missing that could make the system easier to build today? I do think the idea of "reverse printing" might be a step toward it. I can't think of how you'd build such a thing to be hand-held, but I can imagine a desktop-sized machine being potentially possible (again, using some kind of close-imaging camera or some other method to register the printing of the images with the individual lenses on the plastic).

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#113

Hah, not exactly what most people think when you use the word 'print' but then again ... People have asked what is the impact of 'free' CPUs. Something Dave Rosenthal realized way back in the 90's was that the electronics for driving a display could be printed on the margins of the display and eliminate the need for a separate controller board. Having watched the evolution of displays and seeing Mary Lou Jepsen's wor…

a sheet for a polaroid costs maybe $2 now, some of them even include a chemical battery to power the camera. it seems very plausible to me that a printed display/controller could hit parity with that.

Not $2, but less than I expected it would be: https://m.aliexpress.com/s/item/32824239190.html?spm=a2g0n.s...

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#114
post #46
post #33

Very cool. If you can make that cartridge dirt cheap, you will have invented an exciting new technology. Build a V2 with cheaper tech, change your wording a bit as to what the device does, keep the polaroid link a little bit, but make it your own and then I think you'll have something that could kick ass on Kickstarter.

Make the carts NFC and turn Share on when you remove it. You could Tap to swap whatever gif is currently displayed on someone else's cart. That's probably easier than dirt cheap, disposable displays.

someone on reddit suggested the same.. using NFC is actually a super cool idea I hadn't considered before

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#115
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PixelQi! Are they finally going to put out a product anytime soon, do you know? Their low-power daylight-friendly monitors are only available on eBay as far as I've found.

Does anyone know if there any other initiatives beside PixelQi and e-ink displays for producing (modern) displays that can be used with passive light? It would be fantastic to be able to bring my laptop into the sunlight for work. And with the expectation of greatly improved battery life. Edit: Ooh, I found Liquavista: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6tzaIgZKs0 Edit2: And Electrowetting as well: https://www.youtube.…

There is demand for it. There are lots of people trying to buy them, find them, and even make them DIY style, so why no one is making them is a mystery. Could there possibly be reverse pressure because of the market for other screens?

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#116

Pretty neat. Crazy it uses an adhoc wifi network to communicate between the camera and the cartridge. Seems overkill for a battery powered device when they are already plugged in to each other physically.

hey, they arent plugged into each other physically.. the cartridge is completely independent, that's how you can pull it out and take it with you

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first thought would have been to connect the two PIs with a serial interface. Sure, that's another two pins to connect between camera and cartridge, but on the surface it still sounds easier than setting up a reliable ad-hock wifi. The fact that it would use magnitudes less energy is a bonus. Of course it might be that OP evaluated that and decided against it for good reasons.

But then you need to worry about other things and it's also likely much slower. Ethernet just works it's an established protocol and there aren't that many easy ways to transfer files other than it today that work out of the box and with any combination of hardware and software.

> you need to worry about other things

Serial I/O is common Hello World example for Raspberry Pi. I think you have to worry about less things than adhoc wifi networks.

> likely much slower

It's slower, but not much slower. The baud rate can be set up to 4,000,000, where a megabyte would transfer in 2 seconds. These "gifs" don't seem to be more than 10 seconds long, so they should be less than 1 MB, judging from random Giphy mp4s.

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#118
post #24

If I add up the parts of the cartridge, I come to around $88 (including a $35 touch screen). The demo makes me wanna take a picture like that and give the cartridge away. Maybe if it can get under $10 that would be feasible? And before that, at $20 or $30 they could sell them at theme parks where they take your picture in a roller coaster.

The price of his battery and power converter are pretty insane, and a Raspberry Pi is convenient but overkill. Given a more price-conscious part choice and at least some volume (since what's the point in building only one cartridge), you should be able to get that to $5 plus display fairly easily. Suitable displays can be found for $10 from Amazon (shipped from China). So you can probably home-build it for $15. If yo…

I agree, this is something I built entirely with off the shelf parts so the cost is bound to balloon.. The cost can be brought down significantly like you said

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#119
post #97

This is one of those projects that at first, is easy to dismiss as "silly" or "useless". On the surface, sure. But looking at the imgur album and reading the comments (and I would imagine going to the website, etc - which I haven't done), it becomes clear (and the author even says so on the album) that this project ultimately served a larger purpose: From start to finish, this project has helped the person develop a…

Hey you got it absolutely right.. i do these project for fun, as learning experiences, as self challenges and to keep the creative juices flowing.. it's how I enjoy spending my time and money haha

Re: A camera that snaps a GIF and ejects a cartridge that displays it

#120
post #92

> I replaced the functionality of the black knob. To be honest I don't even know what its purpose was. Exposure compensation dial.

ah thanks for letting me know! I was just working off images of the camera I found online, I guess I could have actually used it to control exposure on the piCam
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