Chromosonic: Textile Fabric That Changes Colors
Chromosonic: Textile Fabric That Changes Colors
A textile designer from Budapest has come up with a brilliant creation. This is an interactive electronic fabric that can change colors on hearing sound or being touched. Known as Chromosonic, this fabric can change colors much like a chameleon. Numerous electronic devices within the fabric make it possible to change colors.
This amazing fabric has been created by Judit Eszter Karpati from Hungary using a combination of computer programming, electronic devices and engineering. It also has two moving text displays that can change color and pattern when they are heated up or pressure of any kind is applied.
The basic interest of the designer is in textile design that has the capacity for dynamic changes in surfaces and structures integrate interactive technologies into textile fabrics. The fabric comprises arduino which is a micro-controller with power supply of 12 colts and 20 custom printed circuit boards. These drive and control 4 industrial 24V DC power supplies. This is what causes the two handcrafted textile to become hot. The textile are woven with nichrome wires and screen printed with thermochromatic dying. Pre-programmed patterns are revealed through this process.
Users can also leave traces on the surface through touch. Patterns are generated from sound files and static patterns when heated yield dynamically changing patterns. Further research is needed to make the fabric wearable. Ambient content is presented through the medium of two slow moving textile displays. There are also environmental impulses which lead to some kind of reaction in the fabric and it follows an animated change in pattern. This fabric changes colors within seconds with the help of electronic devices.
Innovations in the field of textile design and fabric making are changing the way people see fashion. With the advent of computer-aided designing, there was a massive change in the manner fashion designing and the clothing industry advanced. Now, new changes in the field of technology are even changing the way that people can dress themselves.
Maybe enterprising textile designers like Karpati will even find ways to make such fabric wearable. It would be quite an advancement in the industry. The idea of having priceless jewels and gems covering a dress is old school now. The latest trends involve using technology in the field of fashion designing.
This is so much more advanced than the hypercolor t-shirts which were a big hit during the 1990s. Changing colors with infinite precision requires technology. Chromosonic has two advanced technologies. Firstly, the textile is dyed with thermochromatic ink that changes the color based on the type of temprature and nichrome wires that are embedded within it. The fabric changes color only when the wires heat up.
Much like the hypercolor t-shirts, Chromosonic can also change colors if it is touched. Real time ambient sounds have also displayed changes in the fabric color. This wondrous fabric was created by Karpati using a two textile installation for her Master's project.
Another interesting feature of Chromosonic is that it has the ability to blend into the background much like a chameleon. Though one is sure to stand out if one wears this fabric. Whether it has relevance for mass market use remains under dispute. But this fabric has a lot of potential applications for furthering technology in the world.
