The Collage Roller is a brayer (or small paint-roller) about 3 inches wide that can scan and capture data when you roll over an image, pattern or texture. The data is stored within the roller where it stays until the user decides to "print" the image, pattern or texture out by rolling it across an interactive surface.

This prototype is one of many that was produced during an investigation of future devices that might serve as a substitute for traditional collage making tools, like scissors and glue.

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The programming for the Collage Roller was developed using processing. The scanning of imagery is supported by a web-cam attached to the roller, and the printing experience is created through the use of a infrared tracking and projected print surface.

 


The Collage Roller served as a valuable prototype, in that it communicated the concept behind the tool to disabled artists and gave them a chance to respond to the experience, which they controlled. Through multiple trial runs I learned that a roller might not be the optimal form factor for users with restricted mobility. Additionally, pushing buttons proved to be difficult for many participants.


A number of users found that the Collage Roller offered greater benefits to them when they used as a pattern-making tool.


The idea of turning a brayer into a collage device came directly out of probe where I gave artists various tools in order to observe how they might use them. Here an artist uses a brayer to reproduce paint patterns and textures repeatedly on his work surface.


Over the course of its development a number of iterations were made of the collage roller.