We adore this hybridised fish-tank and LCD screen. Known as the ‘Fish-eye’, the project was build by Thomas Hudson, a developer at the Oregon Museum of Science & Technology.
The Fish-eye is a fascinating creature. Unexpectedly, the LCD monitor is situated at the front of the tank, and the Raspberry Pi software superimposes the fish onto the display. “A Raspberry Pi Camera Module sits on top of the fish tank, looking down,” explains Thomas.
The full article can be found in The MagPi 46 and was written by Lucy Hattersley
Fish have a tranquil, calming effect, and watching them glide serenely around a tank while you work is awesome. And if you want to watch space fish, then the Earth or Moon make great fishy backdrops.
“I built the tank out of acrylic using acrylic glue,” Thomas tells us. “It is amazing stuff: fairly toxic, but it welds the acrylic together so it is watertight.
“The monitors were free,” he adds. “One from a free box on the sidewalk and another from a friend. Everyone is getting rid of 19-inch monitors right now.”
With the custom tank constructed, Thomas stripped down the LCD screen and fixed it to the front of the fish tank.
“The camera captures live video of the fish from the top view and streams it live to the LCD on the front of the tank. So when you’re looking at the front of the tank, you are looking at both live video of the fish from the top view while watching the ‘real’ fish as seen through the LCD screen.”
The Fish-eye uses quite a bit of bit of software to achieve its unique effect. It runs a picture program called Feh (feh.finalrewind.org) to flash full-screen images of space fish on the Moon. Oxmplayer is used to show the live stream and also recorded video of the fish. Finally, the Raspberry Pi runs a surveillance script based on Motion MMAL to identify moving fish and attach bubbles to those fish displayed on the live video feed.
“I worked on the project for about a month,” reveals Thomas. “Two shows were happening, so I made two Fish-eyes. One [was] for an annual electronics art exhibition called ByteMe! 5.0; the second was for the Portland Winter Light Festival.”
This intersection of moving life and still pixels gave the project its artistic message. “It was important for something to [be] living in the box,” explains Thomas. “This is juxtaposed against how much time we spend staring at a ‘box’ that is not living, and is very much dead, with the exception of all those electrons buzzing through them and the cold emitting light.”
The Fish-eye was retired after the Portland Winter Light Festival was over, and the goldfish returned to a regular tank. “It was a sculptural piece,” says Thomas. “I feel that kids got it right away. They loved the idea of ‘fish on the Moon’ and ‘fish in space’.
“I think there is something very beautiful about having depth to your monitor. You can still focus on your work, as the screen is crystal clear.” Indeed, we think the Fish-eye is a fabulous display.
