help? suggested resources, materials, relevant tutoring?

[thewinterdragon]

help? suggested resources, materials, relevant tutoring?

I am a writer and artist. I am interested in electronics but I know very little electronics and I want to make interactive art
I have a book called circuit-building for dummies. I am interested in learning electronics but I am having trouble learning from books.
My current goal is to build an electronic puppet and have it respond to a hologram.
First I would like to understand schematics, circuit-building, soldering and basic electronics.
Then I need to learn about microcontrollers and shoebox holography.
And to be able to understand the books on the electronic subjects.
I am also interested in learning to design embedded hardware.
My long term goal is to build electronic hardware to use via USB with the computer (one project I'm planning on connecting over a wifi network.)
Another long term goal is to build a life-sized walk-through electronic game environment.

Any tips on where to start?
Really good resources, online training, stuff like that?
I don't have much of a budget as I am currently an art student and working on a novel so I don't have a part time job yet.

 

[Laplace]

Are you an art student at a university? Does the university have an engineering department? Perhaps you can switch your major from art to electronics engineering. My impression from your statement of goals is that you need an EE degree so you can function as an engineer who also has an art hobby. As an art student you should learn to fathom the deep inner meanings of your creations. Not all art students achieve that and their art seldom rises above the level of craft. Will you find hidden meaning in the circuitry?

 

[Stuart]

All I can suggest is to look at online tutorials and videos, there are a lot of Electronics enthusiasts out there with a number of excellent tutorial videos online.
I am a student of Electronic Engineering and I would find the task you want to undertake difficult, myself.
As for learning about microcontrollers I would like to refer you to this tutorial I found, it really helped me when I first got into using microcontrollers in my electronic projects: Microcontroller - A Beginners Guide - Introduction


I know you said you are having trouble learning from books, however, if you start reading about electronics and continue to watch tutorial video's you'll probably find it easier to understand as they'll tie in with each other. The video's will help you understand the theory in the books and vice versa.

Good Luck,

Stu

 

[thewinterdragon]

thanks I'm probably at the research stage, I'm working on mostly digital art at the moment - animation and computer game art.

I'm actually at art college. I already have a degree in creative writing and am almost done with school. I've been studying digital illustration, now I'm teaching myself animation. But I have a lot of plans for electronic art, so hopefully I can learn enough to - after I've done some digital art, construct a physical project - using electronics.

Thanks for the link and comments.

 

[poor mystic]

You might find a few electronics enthusiasts at a meeting of the NZART (New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters) or through the local Linux Users' Group, which wass pretty active in Wellington 5 years ago when last I visited. The university notice boards (at Massey and Victoria) might also be a good place to post a notice.