Working at the MTS centre gave me a real passion for visual performance. Building and running content on the the digital screens for hockey games was fun, but I really wanted to do something that was a little more personal. I started learning about VJing and visual performance. One of the things I discovered was a TagTool, a DIY project that combines a graphics tablet with a game controller. I already owned a Wacom tablet, and I had taken electronics class in high-school. I purchased the electronics components; sliders an ardriuno board. (Cost: 40 bucks)
That was almost two years ago. It wasn’t until my art school portfolio came up that I made a dedicated decision to finally try and put it together.
The case was constructed out of plywood. The top of the box was a little tricky, and I had to cut the slits for the sliders by hand with an electric hand saw. Painted black due to the fact that it will probably be used in room with the lights off and a projector going.
The electronics assembly wasn’t too difficult, however, the wires going from slider to slider were a pain. Having to solder two wires on to one leg of the slider was made easier by the use of my third hand.
When I first started the board up, moving the sliders would make the adruino lose power and turn off. I asked the Tagtool GoogleGroup for help and found a solution pretty quickly. I had soldered the wires to the wrong legs of the sliders. After I remedied this, the Tagtool worked perfectly!
Here is a demo of the final product. I didn’t purchase fader knobs when I bought the sliders, and I still have not been able to find any that fit. I’m thinking of making some out of different objects.
Tagtool Mini Demo from Rylaan Gimby on Vimeo.
Looking forward to performing with this thing. The first show coming up is at the Rocker on June 19th.