November 2017 – Page 12 – [OLD FALL 2017] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

creyes1-Project-12-Proposal

Text stroke included for clarity

For my final project, I was interested in experimenting with typography and, similar to the projects I cited in my Looking Outwards post for this week, giving a sense of motion and dynamics to a medium that’s intended to be static.

Taking this idea of fluidity in a literal sense, I’d like to create a piece where type that is given and edited by the user serves as vessels for water particles dropped from above, gradually filling the shapes and revealing the text. If a character is deleted, the particles remain, but drop into the water below, slightly raising the water level. The text itself would not be visible (stroke in the image is provided for clarity), and would rely on user input from the mouse to spawn particles to fill the shapes and give form to their thoughts, so to speak. The biggest challenges here would be to essentially build a loose physics engine from the ground up in a manner that could support having this many objects on-screen, as well as potentially developing a typeface specifically for this project to allow for contours to serve as barriers for the particles.

While not feasible for this class, but a thought for the future, I’d like to see this be a kind of collective journal across users – with the anonymity that the internet provides, it’d allow the user to send out their thoughts for others to fill and uncover, filling the pool underneath with the collective consciousness of its users.

jknip-SectionA-LookingOutwards-12

The two projects I identified are David Yen’s “Fantastic Elastic” and Sasj’s “Geometric Animations”.

Fantastic Elastic Video

Yen’s Fantastic Elastic (2017)

Yen’s work features a combination of processing, PBox2D, and Geomerative, where he creates a program that draws fritzy letters that react to user key input. The letters he creates also dance to the rhythm of the music. I really enjoy the fun nature of his work and would love to incorporate forms of user input in my own project. An interesting opportunity would be for them to play with color and orientation of letters more, which would have made for a more dynamic interaction.

Sasj’s Geometric Animation (2017)

Sasj is a dutch interaction visual designer that posts geometric animations daily. She uses processing and enjoys working with geometric forms — multiplying, dividing and colliding them. The animations she creates run on their own pace with no user input.

The differences between her work and Yen’s are the control over user input, along with the type of sensory experience you would expect to have — Sasj’s may be more visual, whereas Yen’s may be both visual and auditory. This may be an opportunity Sasj could have investigated in — incorporating input or sound into her work to make it more dynamic.

http://halfconscious.com/interactive
http://sasj.tumblr.com/

akluk-Project 12- Proposal

For my final project, my partner and I have decided to create a series of animations that are time sensitive every day activities. We also wanted also have it as a very colorful vibrant, colorful and cartoonish style to make it fun for the user to see. We also wanted to incorporate involvement of the audience with the animation. Some examples of animations we wanted to make is like cooking an egg, making toast, baking a cake. Below are some inspirations and drafts of our ideas.

partner: Jessica Nip, jknip

Inspiration for style and possible animations

rkondrup-Looking-Outwards-12

I am very interested in generative artwork which produces different landscapes or forms. Two artists whose work inspires me are Glenn Marshall and Markos Kay, both of whom work heavily in generating complex images of 3d landscapes and forms. While I do not believe I am experienced enough in coding to generate believably 3d works, I nevertheless am very inspired by the possibilities of illusory distance and atmosphere produced in the following generated images. I also am interested in how lines, colors, and images can combine to form some greater image seen from a distance, as was done by Glenn Marshall here:

or how lines can be animated to gradually illustrate a final image, like here:

Above and beyond all else I wish to produce something which is dynamic and pleasing to watch, and which extends, in some way, beyond the 2d frame of the html window.
by Markos Kay

merlebac Looking Outwards-12

Link to Outreach Programme on the Rwandan Genocide

Links to testimonies from survivors of the genocide

Testimony of Adeline a Survivor of the Rwandan Genocide

The two pieces of media that I was inspired by were the Frontline Documentary Ghosts of Rwanda and the primary sources from the Outreach Programme on the Rwandan Genocide. I first saw the Ghosts of Rwanda documentary in my sophomore year of high school. We were doing a unit on genocide and inhumane atrocities. The documentary highlighted the atrocities committed during the genocide, as well as the lack of response from the media and the United States as a whole. The exerts from the survivors are something that I wouldn’t consider to be art. However, I feel that for a project like this it is important to include stories from people who experienced the genocide. To me, these stories are something that no amount of artistic vision can compare to. Despite being vastly different sources, the two documents that I chose have a large amount in common. They both cover the experiences of people who suffer during the genocide, and hope to preserve the stories of the people that died. One criticism that I would have with Ghosts of Rwanda is that I wish it questioned some of the people in America who opposed intervening in the genocide.

akluk-Section A-LookingOutwards-12

The first project that I have chosen to write about is “I want You to Want Me” by Jonathan Harris. It was created in 2008 and was installed in the Museum of Modern art during valentines day on 2008. It is an interactive exhibit where every balloon is a unique dating profile/story where the user can choose which story/profile to view as well as the background of the display. I Want You To Want Me aims to be a mirror, in which people see reflections of themselves as they glimpse the lives of others. Below is the link to the project.
Link to project 1

The second project that I have chosen to write about is Oily Stratum by Jared Tarbell. It was created in February 2003. It is a simple animation that is based on the laws of physics and tries to describe how to merge irregular objects based on cohesion and globual size.

Link to project 2

The two projects are similar in that they both abide by certain physical rules, one is more based on data that is unrelated to physical rules while the other is based on physical properties, which is impressive.

aerubin-Project-12-Proposal

For my final project, I would like to create an interactive viola that allows the user to play the viola digitally. The instrument will be controlled by either the mouse or the keypad, depending on which would make the instrument easier to play and more intuitive for the user.

As a viola performance major, I have pondered how great it would be if I did not have to lug my instrument around or go walk the way to CFA to practice. The solution would be to create a computer program that would allow me to practice in the comfort of my own home without carrying my instrument around. The interface would include a digital depiction of a viola that would show the four strings to the user. Then, when a note is played, the location of that note will change color or “light up” to have a visual representation of where the note would be played on an actual viola.

merlebac Proposal

A sketch of what my project might look like.

Trigger Warning: this post contains a violent and graphic image.

For my final project, I would like to do an interactive mural of the Rwandan Genocide. It would by a 400 by 800 canvas split into two sections. The bottom section would be an image of Bill Clinton with one of his statements on the Rwandan Genocide. If you clicked on the image it would play a recording of that statement. The upper half of the canvas would be a bit more complicated. It would contain a checkerboard pattern of images of the genocide, and names of the survivors. If one of the images was clicked on it would enlarge to encompass the entire upper half of the canvas. If you clicked on the name of a survivor, it would play a recording of their experience. The main message would be to show that the genocide was an immense atrocity, and it went mostly ignored by the Clinton administration. Completing this would be a challenge, but I don’t think it would be impossible. The biggest obstacle that stands in my way would likely be the amount of images and audio files that I would need to store in preload.

Image result for rwandan genocide — An image I would possibly use for the upper half of the canvas.

The Story of Hilaire: a Survivor of the Rwandan Genocide

ablackbu-Project-10-Proposal

For my final project I want to make a particle grid that is randomly connected by lines that the user can break. In my imagination it looks something like a web between the particle dots and when the user scrolls over the connectors, they break.

Here is some of my inspiration:

I aso want to incorporate sound into my project. Right now I’m thinking maybe if you were to press a key that a sound would go off and the dots would either grow or shrink.

There are a few things I need to iron out while making this. I think it will be a good chance to really dive into for loops and randomness. I am very unsure how i will be able to create lines going from some particles to other particles in a for loop.

Finally color will be used so that the feeling the user gets when “playing” with this program is calmness.

creyes1-LookingOutwards-12

Process video of Generative Typography by John Oquist of IBUILDWORLDS

Created by John Oquist for the 35th Type Director’s Club Annual in 2015, Generative Typography features clouds of particles formed in the shape of typographic glyphs, to then be exerted on by some kind of force created by the program. What arises from this is a set of striking letterforms with a strong element of motion that is rarely seen in typography. The initial letter itself is created with a wireframe in the 3D modelling program, Blender, then populated with particles, and movement is added with the help of the particle system baked into the program itself.

In-program view of model deterioration

What I really love about this project is that the organic, fluid nature of the deformation against the rigidity of typography creates an incredibly compelling letterform, which I’d hope to echo in my own Final Project.

More of Oquist’s work can be found on Behance, Dribbble, and the IBUILDWORLDS website.

Full alphabet of Buchstabengewitter

Similarly, but in a two-dimensional space, Buchstabengewitter created by designer and programmer Ingo Italic and Letters Are My Friends in 2012 warps letterforms in a different way, and focuses on the transition between letterforms.

Experiments of the Letters of My Friends opening animation using Buchstabengewitter

Created, animated, and morphed in vvvv, each glyph slowly bleeds into the next as the contour of the letterform is connected to the contour of the surrounding circle. The implementation seems fairly simple, but the effect that it creates is profound and engaging. However, I do wish that there was some variation in its execution since it seems fairly simple to implement – what other effects could be created, and is an internal typographic contour necessary to create these glyphs?

Static images of the full Buchstabengewitter alphabet