Drawing and Animation for Live Performance – on Stage, on the Street and on the Net.

Tagtool

Do it yourself!

1. Hardware

Three different types of the Tagtool have been developed so far:

Tagtool "All in One" Black
Tagtool All-in-One: This version achieves our goal of being as easy to use as a music instrument. It combines the controls, the drawing area and the computer in one compact case. It’s ‘turn on and draw’, so you can show up at a gig and get going with virtually no setup time.

tagtool mini
Tagtool Mini: Tagtool Mini is a compact box that contains the Tagtool controls (used with a computer and a graphics tablet). Find out how to build your own Tagtool Mini at Instructables or download Fanijo’s guide (PDF).

Interdependenzen
Tagtool Suitcase: Tagtool Suitcase contains the controls for the tagtool and a graphics tablet (used with a separate computer). Find out how to build your own Tagtool Suitcase at Instructables.

 

2. Software

The software required to use your Tagtool is called Nodekit. It features a visual editor that lets you customize your Tagtool setup – the different components of the software are displayed as nodes, little boxes that have editable parameters and are connected with each other to form the Tagtool patch.

Nodekit Logo
Download Nodekit Version 0.7.5 | Source code on SourceForge

Older Nodekit versions

Requires Windows XP and Microsoft .NET framework 2.0

Tagtool Arduino Program | Boarduino Version (by S. Thongrong)
This needs to be uploaded to the Arduino board so it works with the Nodekit Arduino node.

Instructions:

  1. Download the Arduino environment from Arduino.cc
  2. Install the virtual COM port – navigate to the “drivers\FTDI USB Drivers” folder of the Arduino installation, right-click on “FTDIBUS.INF” – choose “install”, and do the same for “FTDIPORT.INF” – restart your computer.
  3. Start the Arduino environment and open the .pde file (Tagtool Arduino Program).
  4. Upload the program to the Arduino.
  5. Start the Nodekit. If the Arduino isn’t recognised, try placing the cursor in the “Port” field of the Arduino2 Node and press enter. That’ll refresh the connection.

To switch between fullscreen and windowed mode, press Alt-f.

If your drawing area doesn’t cover the whole screen, here’s how to fix that.

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3. Controls

A Tagtool is usually operated by two people – an artist (using the actual Tagtool) and an animator (using a gamepad to move the drawings around).

Click here to see the full instructions.