My CHNOPS creates BLOB-Art

[Jos Richters]

So I wanted to do more than just setting my blob up to create a map of my city.

Inspired by a video about Physarum polycephalum in which electric potential is used to create music I wanted to investigate the possibilities of the use of electric potential on Physarum.

So I started with some desk research on this topic and I found some information that helped me to setup an experiment.

To start with, I had to find a kind of displaying any form of reaction of Physarum on applying an electric potential.

Then I needed to design and develop the experimental environment in which my blob, called CHNOPS, would take place.

Being able to program microprocessors I decided to use an ESP32 because this microprocessor can contain relatively big programcode and it also uses a 3.3V potential that can be used to put on CHNOPS.

Now I had to design the kind of output in order to show any reaction of CHNOPS on this 3.3V potential. I concluded that I wanted to create a lasting type of output, so no audio but a visible thing that can be used as basis for research or simply print it and hang on the wall. The best I could think of is a matrix of dots in which every dot is determined by two parameters: color and opacity.

Now I have the outline of my experiment drawn and I started with the development.

        Step by step:

• A Physarum polycephalum studio is prepared and developing a blob.
• The studio is connected to the ESP32.
• All BLOBJob parameters are set to the desired values.
• The web page is opened in a browser and shows the BLOB-Art page.
• A matrix is created as a SVG type image file and send to a website page.
• Then the image file is transferred thru FTP from the web page to a folder on the computer.
• All collected SVG files are converted into JPEG type pictures.
• All JPEG files are converted into a MP4 video file.
• A MP4 video is uploaded to YouTube in order to make it available for this community.

I will describe the various steps in following individual posts