AI & Me: Creating New Tools

A behind the scenes look at how AI has helped my productivity as a small business offering motion capture services.

I've seen and heard a lot of conversations recently about AI - the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

As a small business owner with a passion for tech and creative solutions, I'm often looking for ways to make more use of my time, be more productive, play to my strengths, and automate any repetitive but time-consuming tasks. I've recently upgraded my digital equipment to include an industrial-sized laser cutter, embroidery machine, and coverstitch machine, a welcome addition to my growing set of 3D printers, sewing machines, overlockers, and digital plotters.

Whilst I love a spreadsheet, I'd much prefer tinkering with my machines than tweaking and formatting cells.

With the mantra, "Work smarter, not harder," in mind, I was able to create a very bespoke calculator for my tape retaping service with the help of AI. It took some trial and error in knowing what I needed and asking the right questions, but I was very quickly able to calculate how many strips of tape I needed for a user-defined number of markers, the overall dimensions of tape required, with calculations tailored to the specific size and type of marker, how many plotting mats were needed, how long it would take, the overall cost of tape and labour, and much more. All with a few clicks.

AI didn't do the work for me. The vision, the initial data input, asking the correct prompts, testing, and tweaks were all me. But instead of spending days, weeks, or months learning Excel inside out, I was able to knock up a fully functional tool in about a day, which frees up my time to create and takes out the guesswork.

There's a lot of work that goes into my retaping service. Sure, it looks easy, but planning, preparation, precision of application, and attention to detail is needed to produce high-quality work. Great markers make great mocap.

#GetMocapReady #MocapMakers