"Hey Janet": Neotropolis J.A.Net Device

Every year in the heart of the California desert, a neon-lit city of the future emerges and becomes home to a population of technologically enhanced beings. This is Neotropolis.

Me in my Neotropolis persona, armed with an EXUS railgun, with my J.A.Net badge proudly displayed.

I first attended Neotropolis, or simply "Neo" as it is known by it's enthusiastic populace, in April of 2024. I had become enamored with the imagery and video I'd seen from previous years, but didn't know what to expect from the experience. So I tried to go in with an open mind, and just said yes to whatever came my way. And one of the things that came my way was the question, "Would you like to become a Janet?"

The Joint Accommodations Network, or J.A.Net, is a network of beings whose purpose is to be of service to the citizens of Neotropolis. Janets, as it's members are known, are assigned a distinctive ribbon, and should a citizen of Neotropolis be i need, they have simply to call out, "Hey Janet!" and any Janet in earshot will appear and offer aid (There are, it should be noted, "Bad Janets", who may twist their response in humorously malicious or mischievous ways, or "Broken Janets" or may behave in unpredictable manner).

As I'm planning to return to Neotropolis in 2025, I started to think of how I might incorporate my Janet role more intrinsically into my Neo persona. While the badge is cool looking enough for what it is, I thought it could get a more suitably cyberpunk Neotropolis treatment. My immediate thought was of a sort of necklace or lanyard. A technologically enhanced ID badge. The ribbon itself has a metallic iridescence, and is translucent which I thought would look cool if backlit. So I started devising a concept in Sketchup.

I enjoy asymmetry in design. It breaks from expected norms and just has more visual interest for me. That was the approach I took with this project, and I had a vague idea of the shape it would take. From that I just let it emerge spontaneously, with the main constraint being the dimensions of the ribbon. I wanted the Janet title to be featured in a window with backlighting, while my J.A.Net ID number would appear in a secondary, unlighted window. The circular detail near the top of the front window was added to accommodate a grommet that protruded from the ribbon. While I ended up removing the grommet entirely, the greeble looked like it was serving some function so I kept it there. I also had to block out room for a coin-cell battery pack, a small switch, and provide room for a string of fairy-light LEDs. The total thickness ended up being around 13mm, which was actually perfect for the impression I wanted to make with the device.

Once the design was finalized, I downloaded the STL file and printed it on my Prusa Mk3S. This was the first time I had tried a technique called "ironing" in which the printer uses the hot nozzle to smooth the top layer of the print. It actually worked really well and I think made a big difference in the later sanding. As is often the case, the 3D model did not fully account for the physical realities, and a few manual adjustments were needed post-print (i.e. I cut off some pieces to fit the battery pack).

For the finish on this piece, I tried something new. Or, new to me at least. Which is using graphite powder to create a gunmetal gray appearance. I started with a gloss black undercoat, and then while the paint was still tacky, I put on a nitrile glove and used my finger to burnish in the powder. The tacky paint grips the powder while the powder itself helps your finger not stick. The effect is subtle but striking. I added a layer of satin clear coat over the graphite, then used a silver paint pen to add some weathering.

I failed to get photos of how I set up the internals. To make the display window, I cut a piece of thin clear plastic from a package of brownies. That provided a surface on to of the ribbon to create the impression of a screen. Then behind the ribbon a placed a second piece of the thin plastic but this one was "frosted" by sanding it with 800 grit sandpaper in order diffuse the light from the LEDs. To add further diffusion, I also included a thin sheet of plastizote packing foam.

The lighting itself was a string of LED fairy lights. These are the type of LED strings you would get for cheap arts & crafts or party decorations, but I modified them by adding a switch between the battery pack and the lights. The switch is mounted on one side of the casing, so it can easily be turned off and on. I had included two square "buttons" in the original model. These are simply flat square pieces that set into depressions in the case design. I printed them out using transparent PETG, so that the LED light would illuminate them as well as the Janet ribbon, and the mall holes on the opposite side of the face. Alongside the various greebles I'd included, this gave a really nice impression of some kind of functional interface.

The final detail to add was the lanyard. I had scavenged a bunch of perfectly good thin nylon straps many years ago from some ghillie bags being used in a Halloween Horror Nights house I helped to dress. They already had the closures attached so I just incorporated some attachment points into the model, and modelled and printed some small slider bits to make the strap lengths adjustable.

This ended up being one of those rare projects than turned out almost exactly how I had initially envisioned it. As I'm writing this, my plans for attending Neotropolis 2025 are a little in doubt. But I'm so hoping to make it there and to get to wear this through the corridors of MegaBlock 1.