Technology – Lannix Design

AI Vehicle Camera Mount – Take 2: Part II

Nick — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 21:30:33 +0000

The AI camera frame has been mounted to the Arrayen Suzuki Jimny and we’re all very happy with the result. The guys have sent over some pics for me to share with you and have reported that it is rigid and strong which has inspired confidence in its ability to keep the very expensive 360° camera safe.

There was talk of getting the aluminium frame powder-coated but as we all know, time is money and the camera was needed for a job before that could happen. It would look neat coated black to match the camera and roof-racks but for now the bare aly frame will be durable enough.

The Jimny looks tip top wrapped in the Arrayen company logo and with the camera mounting frame fitted.

The finished camera frame fitted to the Arrayen Jimny.

Thanks to Brett at Koda metal for the top notch fabrication work. Check out his Instagram below. Check out the Arrayen website too. They do some really interesting work with AI using data collected by drone and the vehicle mounted camera you see here.

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AI Vehicle Camera Mount – Take 2

Nick — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 21:30:39 +0000

My friends at Arrayen who do infrastructure monitoring using AI have asked me design a custom frame for their 360° camera. You may have seen the first post where we came up with a simple fix for the cheap frame that they already had for the camera. Well it turns out that that frame is a little flimsy for what they need causing the camera footage to be shaky and unusable.

So I was put to task again to come up with a solution that would be rigid enough for them to use. They now had custody of a new vehicle that would be used for data acquisition, a Suzuki Jimny. The Jimny has a roof rack fitted that the new frame would be mounted to, so I took some measurements and got stuck into it.

Test fitting the new frame on the Arrayen Jimny.

The original camera frame that was too flimsy.

The design is simple enough, bolting onto the rack between rungs. The top plate is designed to the two camera mounts that Arrayen have for the camera, a rigid one for smooth terrain and one that has built-in damping to isolate the camera from the cars vibrations. I’d say the dampened one will be used most of the time, with the rigid one as a backup.

I enlisted the help of a gun fabricator, Brett, who I used to work with in a previous job. He was keen to take on the job and came through with a great looking frame for us. Check out his Instagram below. He does some amazing work.

We’re all very happy with the result and I’m looking forward to getting some more pics later with the frame installed permanently and the Suzuki vinyl wrapped with the Arrayen livery. Check out their website if you’re in need of asset management using the latest AI tech.

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AI Vehicle Camera Mount

Nick — Tue, 30 May 2023 21:30:50 +0000

Some friends of mine have started a company that uses AI and machine learning to monitor infrastructure for their clients. Their company, Arrayen, have scored a contract that requires the monitoring of road infrastructure and so a new 360° camera was acquired for the job, similar to the one Google use for their Street View app.

The camera mount utilizes suction cups but the cups were too big to fit within the structural ribs on the vehicle’s roof. My friend Chung asked if I could help out coming up with a solution to get the camera mounted to the car.

Laying the final coat of paint on the mounting bracket.

So I brushed up on my stress analysis and multi-link machine design theories, and had my CAD software fired up for Chung’s arrival… After looking at the mount they already have and the car it was mounting to however, it became clear that the problem could be solved with a piece of steel strip with four holes in it.

The camera mount attached to the camera car, sans camera.

After a quick sizing up of the bolts we had to use, I found a scrap piece of steel and took to it with my drill and grinder. All we needed to buy was some countersunk screws that fit into the existing camera mount legs. Honestly the part that took the longest was waiting for the paint to dry!

It did feel good to come up with a solution for them so quickly and have it be so elegantly simple.

If you’re in the market for asset monitoring using AI and machine learning to detect anomalies in your expensive capital, check out Arrayen.

arrayen.ai

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I Bought A New Camera

Nick — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 21:30:37 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about where I want to take the business and I’ve always known that the 3D printing side has limited scope for expansion. 3D printing was always going to be just the start and something I could do for some income while being a full-time stay-at-home dad. Things have slowed down somewhat lately mostly due to the arrival of our son and continued house renovations but the lack of space available for building projects is also getting to me.

Everything needed to film 4K video and take beautiful pictures. Actually that’s not true… So much more is needed!

I’ve always enjoyed filming what I’m doing and once the back shed is built I’ll have a lot of projects to get stuck into. All the pictures and video I’ve produced so far have been captured with only my cheap Android phone which doesn’t do too poorly but I wanted be able to make 4K video for YouTube. For this purpose and for the allowed budget I decided on the Nikon Z30 over its competitors, the Sony ZV-E10 and the Canon M50. I felt that the Canon was more expensive without much advantage over the others so it was down to the Sony and the Nikon.

I very nearly went for the Sony as it was slightly cheaper and in a lot of ways better than the Nikon, e,g. it’s less prone to overheating and it has included software to eliminate camera shake. What made the decision to take the Nikon though is its better weather resistance and superior rolling shutter characteristics. Weather resistance is important for creating content in the workshop and back shed where there will inevitably be some dust around. Rolling shutter for those who aren’t familiar is a method of capturing an image by scanning rapidly from top to bottom of your subject. All digital cameras at this price point will use this method to capture images. The lagging effect it creates when panning the camera quickly is far more noticeable on the Sony than on the Nikon. In most circumstances this isn’t a problem but since I intend to capture motorsport in the future this is important for better results.

Now that I have the new camera, it’s time to get familiar with it and take some footage. While I’ve always had an interest in photography and videography, I am by no means an expert and so while the baby is sleeping I can take some of that time to learn how to operate the camera manually and how to setup scenes to get a good-looking result. I’ve uploaded a video sample to YouTube that I’ve captured using manual settings at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, and at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains while on holidays recently. I think it’s vast improvement over the old camera phone but let me know what you think! Check it out via the link.

I’m itching to get stuck into some more projects that I can film and potentially get a proper YouTube channel going. We’ll see!

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Learning Blender For Better Renders

Nick — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 21:30:19 +0000

Coming from a technical background I’ve mostly used parametric 3D modelling software such as Solidworks, Inventor, SolidEdge and Fusion 360. These software packages are great for producing technical drawings based on the 3D models you create from given or acquired parameters. In simpler terms, parametric models start from a two-dimensional sketch and are then extruded to become three dimensional.

Blender is a 3D modelling program that uses meshes that enable a more free form style of modelling. This let’s the user create natural objects such as people, animals and natural landscapes that can look very nice and this style of modelling is used by Disney and others to create movies such as Toy Story, Cars and Finding Nemo.

To round out my 3D modelling skills, I’ve been trying my hand at Blender to create some more visually interesting and artistic renders. Let me tell you, the learning curve is pretty steep when you first start out in Blender especially if your mind is used to parametric modelling. Like everything though, it can be learned and the best way to learn Blender is to do. Also, there’s the Blender Guru who has a great tutorial series that shows you how to model a donut. “A donut?”, I imagine you’re asking. Yes, this series is regarded as the best for Blender noobs and I have to agree that it covers the basic features of the software in enough detail to allow you to create a video that you can be proud of. Check out mine!

The result of the Blender Guru tutorial series.

I dabbled with Blender a few years ago and enjoyed it quite a bit but it became harder and harder to justify the time spent mucking around with it. Since starting Lannix Design I’ve come up with some ideas that require the use of Blender to create the kind of imagery I envisioned. Luckily the models created in Fusion 360 are able to be imported into Blender, combined with other 3D models and rendered using its superior rendering engine. The images in the gallery below have all been produced in Blender by myself.

Another video render. I don’t recall who made the tutorial sorry.

Take a look at the Blender Guru donut tutorial series if you’re keen to have a go yourself. Link here.

The gallery below shows a few of the renders I’ve produced with Blender both for Lannix Design and for fun or practice. Let me know what you think!

Bye

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Artificial Intelligence Art

Nick — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 21:30:40 +0000

Artificial intelligence has been making the news lately, some of it good and some of it bad. For some, AI brings killer terminator robots to mind or that chess robot that broke a boys finger recently. Whatever you think about AI, it won’t be going away any time soon. Some of the AI projects that choose good over evil are to do with creating artwork.

I stumbled upon an AI art generator recently and thought I’d give it a go. Might make for some interesting content or at least some decorative stuff for the website. The website is called NightCafe and it is able to generate pictures from whatever words you feed it as well as cross your existing photos with famous works of art.

I had some fun crossing our website logo with some of the available artworks and they look pretty good I think. The seed phrase generator was interesting too. I used words such as ‘3d printing is the future,’ and ‘3d printer night city’ to create some pictures. Check out the gallery below you’re interested in seeing my creations. It’s fun to see what goes on inside a robot’s mind.

Check out the NightCafe website here.

Our website logo crossed with the Bitcoin Goddess artwork

Technology – Lannix Design

AI Vehicle Camera Mount – Take 2: Part II

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AI Vehicle Camera Mount – Take 2

Gallery - AI Vehicle Camera Mount - Take 2

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AI Vehicle Camera Mount

Gallery - AI Vehicle Camera Mount

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I Bought A New Camera

Gallery - Unboxing The New Camera

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Learning Blender For Better Renders

Gallery - Blender Renders

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Artificial Intelligence Art

Gallery - Artificial Intelligence Art

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