Make Art: THE GOAT

MJ the GOAT

Interactive art project using 3D printing, laser cutting/engraving, and capabilities of the Circuit Playground Bluefruit board and CircuitPython.

When the alligator clip attached to each shoe is touched, a sound bite from that shoe's specific era of Michael Jordan is played from a speaker attached to the CPB, housed within the black pedestal beneath Jordan's head. Going left to right: Air Jordan I, Air Jordan IV, Air Jordan VII, Air Jordan IX, and Air Jordan XI.

Sounds:

Air Jordan I: "This is Jordan, with perhaps the ugliest shoes in the league"

• 1984: MJ wears the Air Jordan I for the first time on the court

Air Jordan IV: "Here's Michael at the foul line. The shot on Ehlo... Good! The Bulls win!"

• 1989: "The Shot" - iconic shot at the buzzer to send Cleveland Cavaliers home in the playoffs

Air Jordan VII: "You step up on that podium representing your country, there's no greater honor than doing that."

• 1992: Member of the 1992 "Dream Team" that captured Olympic gold

Air Jordan IX: "Got it in the air... Michael Jordan's first try on a fly ball... You betcha"

• 1993: shoe released while MJ retired from basketball to pursue professional baseball

Air Jordan XI: Bugs Bunny: "Look out for that first step, doc, it's a real lulu." MJ: "Bugs Bunny?"

• 1996: "Space Jam" Air Jordan 11 worn in Space Jam movie during final showdown of Looney Tunes squad vs. the alien "Monstars"

• Speedy 360 flexx - Trotec Laser
• Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ 3D Printer
• Ultimaker S5/S3 3D Printer
• Alligator clips
• Plywood sheet
• Auxillary port mini speaker
• Circuit Playground Bluefruit
• Mu Editor Application
• CircuitPython

For this project, I wanted to create something basketball-related. I am also somewhat a sneakerhead, so I naturally gravitated towards Air Jordan shoe templates and instructions. Shoutout to thingiverse.com!!

After finding many shoes to work with, I decided to make them in connection to "His Airness" himself, Michael Jordan. I chose to go with 5 different Air Jordan shoe models.

Looking at "things" on Thingiverse also served as a great brainstorming session for me. I would see something I like, and then think, "Ooh, how can I make this even cooler using what we've learned? How can I connect these things?" From there, my idea took off.

Here are the links:

Air Jordan I: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1313776

Air Jordan IV: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1313795

Air Jordan VII: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1336669

Air Jordan IX: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1336692

Air Jordan XI: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1392707

Jordan statue head: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2034224

After choosing my pieces and downloading their instructions, it was time to print. With the help of the Maker Space TAs, things went very smoothly.

The Jordan shoes required a lot of supports during their print, so I needed to remove a good deal of plastic using pliers after they had finished to reveal their shape (printed on Original Prusa i3). I went with a classic red color in support of the Bulls.

When printing Jordan's head, the TAs recommended using the Ultimaker 3D printer instead of the Prusa i3 because it uses a different type of plastic for its supports, thus taking far less time to remove them--a lovely suggestion. I used a speckled grey color to emulate the color of a real statue head.

Both prints were over 9 hours, so I left them overnight.

As the base of my project, I used the Maker Space Speedy 360 flexx Trotec laser cutter to make my basketball court out of a plywood sheet.

I started off by finding a black and white stock photo of a basketball court that would be compatible with the laser cutting software. Next, within the vector file, I had to make sure that the lines I wanted to cut were in the color red and those I wanted to engrave were in black. I used the red lines to cut out a 20x14in court and the black lines to engrave the court lines.

Next, I wanted to create a pedestal that would not only support the Jordan head statue, but also house my CPB and speaker to make my project much less cluttered and aesthetically pleasing. I wanted a simple hollow cylinder, but I couldn't find anything on thingiverse.com that matched my specifications, so I designed my own pedestal using tinkercad.com.

I rendered a solid cylinder and then centered a smaller hollow cylinder within the original cylinder to create the shape. I printed it on the Prusa i3 printer and Maker Space TA Gage cut a few mouse holes on the bottom to allow my alligator clips to pass through to my touchpad ports.

Next, I searched for Youtube videos that corresponded to the sounds I wanted to create, converted them to MP3 files using a Youtube to MP3 converter, and then used the Audacity application to adjust their volume, length, and converted them to 2200 HZ, 8-bit .wav CPB compatible files. I then created a folder of these sounds and loaded them onto the CPB so that I could call upon them later in my code.

To connect all the pieces together, I used Mu Editor to create a code that would play the specific sounds I created when activated on the CPB board using capacitive touch. The code is attached below!

I also connected my mini speaker to the board using 2 alligator clips attached to the audio out and ground ports, and connected my CPB to a battery pack to make the board mobile. Finally, I attached Chicago Bulls colored red, black, and white alligator clips from my touchpads to the shoes so that when the ends of the clips were touched, the sounds would play.