Digital Picture Frame for Images and Videos

My name is Luke Carey, I am from Massachusetts and I would say that my personal aesthetic is a combination of many things. For instance I have  been interested in sneakers and shoes since I was in the 6th grade, which as I got older led to an interest in fashion in general. But since I am an engineer, I grew an interest in architecture and furniture design as well. Some of my favorite aesthetics are mid century modern furniture, travel, Japanese clothing, workwear and abstract expressionist painting. Here is a picture of me at the Denver Art Museum and my friend Ben and I in Vienna, Austria.

I live in a beach town, and have some of my best memories hanging out with family and friends in the water. This is a picture of my friends and I in the summer, and our boat that is named after my dogs.

What I find interesting is that my personal aesthetic drastically changes once summer is over. I usually wear a lot of workwear, oversized flannels, and outdoors clothing throughout most of the year.

I would say that this project is a little bit outside of my comfort zone but alike with my interests. It has aspects of engineering and art but is more based in the digital realm, and working with electronics. I would have guessed that I planned to make a piece of clothing or a bag rather than an electronic picture frame.

I want to make a digital picture frame that has the ability to display pictures and videos. The idea for making this has come from a couple areas, especially when thinking about creating a dynamic work. First my laptop lock screen changes everyday to show a new picture of a high quality landscape. Windows Spotlight shows me different places around the world, which is something I really enjoy seeing.

I am aIso inspired by the Samsung frame TV that I have seen all over the internet, however, this TV is really expensive and doesn’t play videos.

I am also inspired by a company called infinite Objects, who sells digital frames that contain a single looping video. I really like the idea of a moving piece of art, however I don’t like the price tag they sell the device at, or that you cannot change what is being displayed. So I think I can do it better!

Something else that excites me about this project is that I would be able to learn a program that I have wanted to learn; Blender. I can use Blender to create a couple infinite looping video animations that can play on the screen. Here is an example that I found on Instagram from user @shehanbope.

I also found a great tutorial on Youtube that shows the key commands for creating infinite looping animations in Blender.

Another tutorial I found shows how to make an animation that is very similar to “Squish Screen” by Frank Guzzone on Infinite Objects. From Tiktok user @georgedooley_

Here is an example of a homemade digital picture frame that is powered by a Raspberry Pi.

To make my own I have a short list of materials and software that I would potentially need.

Materials:

Filament for 3D printing a custom frame, or mounting brackets -> amazon or ITLL ~ $20

Vintage frame -> thrift store ~ $20

Elastic fabric straps ->fabric or craft store ~ $5

TV or Computer monitor -> marketplace or amazon ~ tbd

**Raspberry Pi 4 -> out of stock in a lot of places, resale on amazon is $150

**Amazon Fire stick -> amazon ~ $30

Software:

Blender : free

Solidworks : free

Raspberry Pi Software : free

Unsplash : free

Dynaframe Pro $5

** I don’t really want to pay $150 for a Raspberry Pi, because they are normally worth about $40 so I am going to look into an alternative. But I do want to make this a product that I can have for a long time and would like to do it right. The reason I would need a raspberry Pi is for the Dynaframe Pro application, which would allow me to play videos and display pictures. The real reason I want to use Dynaframe is because it has built in features for cross fading and fixing aspect ratios. Dynaframe would also allow me to have separate folders for each category I would like to display that can all be changed on a website.**

Depending on the price of the Raspberry Pi and the monitor I end up using, I believe that I could make this project for around $250. Which seems like a high cost, but is equal to what Infinite Objects sells their frame for. My project would be more versatile by being able to display whatever I wanted.

I think this will be a good project for me as I get to build a physical product and create on a virtual medium. Also Blender is something I have wanted to learn for a long time. The first steps I am going to take are familiarizing myself with Blender, and designing the CAD once I find a suitable monitor or TV.

 

Citations:

[Feature Image] ‘Infinite Objects’, Time Magazine, https://time.com/collection/best-inventions-2021/6112630/infinite-objects-nft-video-print/

 

[1] ‘Windows Spotlight’, Ryan Maskell, https://winbuzzer.com/2020/06/19/windows-spotlight-not-working-fix-it-with-a-reset-or-re-register-xcxwbt/

 

[2] ‘Samsung Frame TV’, Amy Skorheim, https://www.engadget.com/samsung-the-frame-tv-irl-153546368.html

 

[3] ‘Squish Screen’, Frank Guzzone, https://infiniteobjects.com/products/frank-guzzone

 

[4] ‘Wall Art’, Instagram user @shehanbope, https://www.instagram.com/p/B9JZoeXhGQ2/

 

[5] ‘5 Ways to Make Looping Animations in Blender 3.4’, Ducky 3D, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbkFn2yaOgg

 

[6] ‘How I made 3d visuals for Peggy Gou’, Tikok user @gerogedooley__, https://www.tiktok.com/@georgedooley_/video/7194922341342645505

 

[7] ‘Jumping of Joy’, Wolfgang Männel, https://www.thedigitalpictureframe.com/how-to-build-a-digital-picture-frame-with-a-raspberry-pi/