Alt.Ctrl.GDC 2018 Award

This was a commissioned, highly interactive award for the winner of the IGF Alt.Ctrl.GDC category in 2018. It is a mock television with eight virtual channels, a power switch with brightness setting, a warm flickering LED backlight, conductive antennas, and a thermal printer for the interface and screen. The complex enclosure was designed using Tinkercad, online modeling software by Autodeck. It was used to design and test the numerous laser cut panels required to build the final 3D form and support all of the electronics required. The most challenging aspect was perfecting the placement of the thermal printer so that it could push the paper through the panels into the viewport and not get jammed as it continued out the top.

When the TV is first turned on the screen prints nothing but static, random characters that fill the viewing space. Changing the channels simply prints different screens of more static. If you adjust the antennas, after a few seconds the static will clear and the current channel will print out a scene of ascii art representing the content of that channel. It could be a scary movie, a nature show, cooking show, sci-fi, etc. But one of the channels is the IGF Awards show. It will print an initial screen saying as much as well as the impending winner of the award. After a few seconds the ‘screen’ will update printing out the actual winner of the award itself, completing the journey.

Electronics Used

• CSN-A2 Thermal Printer
• Teensy 3.2 Microcontroller
• 5050 Cool White LED w/ Integrated Driver Chip - ~6000K - Only used 1 of 10
• 5050 LED breakout PCB - Only used 1 of 10
• Panel Mount Right Angle 10K Linear Potentiometer w /On-Off Switch
• Mini 8-Way Rotary Selector Switch
• Panel Mount 2.1mm DC Barrel Jack
• 9V 2A Regulated Power Supply - 2.1mm

Credits

• Jerry Belich – Creator

Recognition

1. IGF Alt.Ctrl.GDCIt was the Alt.Ctrl.GDC Award!San Francisco, CA — March 20, 2018

Gallery