Method: Java, 3D printing
Pennies come in a variety of lightness and darkness from bright and shiny to dull and brown. It occured to me that one could use the varied brightness to create an image out of pennies. I would just need a method to evaluate and database the pennies, then I would need a method to map the pennies to the proper parts of the image, and finally I would need to physically affix the pennies to a board or surface.
Scanning pennies with a flat bed scanner sounds easy… the problem is in locating the pennies once they are scanned. To solve this I created a penny tray and 3D printed it. I developed a java program to read the scans, and separate each penny into a database.
Each penny was given a number which offered a one-to-one relationship between the image and real penny. On the tail side of the penny, still sitting in the tray, I would stick tiny stickers with its associated database numbers. In this way I amassed a database of 2800 pennies.
The second piece of software I wrote evaluated pictures and assigned pennies to the new penny montage. The montage software splits the target picture into small parts and reduces each part to its average brightness. It then tries to pick out a penny that directly relates to the part’s brightness. If unable to find an exact fit, my software will search up the penny database (sorted by brightness) to the next available penny, and at the same time search down to do the same. Eventually all the picture parts are filled with a distinct and available penny.
The output of the montage program is an image consisting of each penny in each position needed to create the physical collage. Pennies are then affixed to the board (in this case a 18 inch by 24 inch clear plexiglass). One by one the pennies are placed. In order to completely cover the area two distinct layers are used one offset on the other.
Steve Thought
Trestris ,
Dice Drawing,
Chia Graffiti, 
Penny Collage, 
BOGL Buddy