LookingOutwards-12 – Page 7 – [OLD FALL 2017] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

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(Jason Rohrer, “Inside a Star-Filled Sky”, 2011)

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-are-video-games-art

Jason Rohrer is a computer programmer and a game designer that not only produces games for its original purpose, but also as art. He codes creative games that are usually sold and played in the public domain, but also combines a series of them to exhibit as art works. Most shame came from the public who thought that games could not be art. However, Rohrer still believed them as artworks because creation of games was no different from painting to him. When I saw his works, I was inspired to create something similar to the pieces in his exhibitions. Similar to the format of the Pac man game, I wanted to have vivid graphics but a simple mechanism that kept the game running. Rohrer’s games and visuals were a great inspiration for me.

(Jenova Chen, “Flower”, 2009)

http://jenovachen.info/flower/

Jenova Chen is the designer of the playstation game, “Flower” that was released in 2009. Although this game is an actual game, it is largely considered as an art work for its aesthetic value. The interaction of the game with the players isn’t about winning or competing for a prize. The wander and exploration through the landscapes and the stunning visuals were the initial goals of this game. As visuals are important for the final project I’m planning, I wanted to get inspirations from the way she portrayed her objects. Her project was beautiful.

jennyzha – looking outwards 12

For looking outwards 12 I already decided the type of projects I was looking for since I was relatively set on what I wanted to be my final project – an interactive digital coloring book.

http://whichlight.com/

First in my search, I found “whichlight,” who focuses in interactive and technical art. His passion, however, is something that comes across extremely clear not only in his work but in his about me statement: “I make media and products that invite people to be expressive, playful, and creative.” It was this optimism and happiness so clear in his work that I was drawn to his work and that further inspired my own idea.

His projects are playful, colorful, interactive, and just make people happy – exactly what I want for my project. Nonetheless, one thing I realized from viewing his projects is that there isn’t much purpose, but rather they are generally fun things to do while passing the time. Maybe adding some kind of “goal” in his projects would help drive more usage?

http://www.nanikawa.com/projects/everygallery

The second project I found interesting was by a company called Nanika, “founded with the aim to explore interaction between man and machine beyond traditional input and output.” Of their collection, the EveryGallery project for Nokia was one of my favorites.

The idea was mixing the old with the new, framing digitally rendered photos with antique-esque frames to complement each other. While the the idea behind it was beautiful, what I found great about the project was actually the technique of brushstrokes. It sparked an idea for my own project of varying brush strokes somehow, making the process more independent for the user and to have more range in final project. Additionally, I think something Nanika could have incorporated more was the end user, possibly having pictures of them drawn instead of a pre-made stranger.

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As I plan to work on an interactive pixel game, I looked at two popular games that I personally have played before: Fez designed by Phil Fish and Flappy Bird developed by dotGears.

The games definitely have their similarities. The obvious trait being the use of pixel art on both projects. The games both also create a character that is easily recognised by the audience. However, Flappy Bird can be seen as a much more simple game. While Fez requires the player to crack the puzzles by utilizing 3D-space in a 2D game world to find loops and holes, Flappy Bird only requires people to do one task of not hitting the pipes. Still, both games are challenges to their players. I look forward to creating a game of a similar caliber with a lovable character.

sijings-lookingoutwards-12Project Priors and Precursors

The two project I chose for this week is both down by Fernanda Viégas, namely the “Wind Map” and “The Shape of Song (2001)”. I was interested to do things related to data visualization. However, I want to create the visual part with more interesting and attractive elements and Viégas’ projects is a much more complicated version of what I intended to accomplish. Although both projects are about data visualization, one source came from the environmental concern of how wind travels, and the other one is about visualizing a song. The first one is about visualizing an invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us—energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future.

Images from Hurricane Isaac (September 2012)

Images (whole shot) from Hurricane Isaac (September 2012)

For the second project, the wind map shows the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US. The Shape of Song began as a quest to “see” musical form. He created a visualization method called an arc diagram that highlighted repeated sections of music–or of any sequence–with translucent arcs. The overall distribution of pattern gives me inspiration for making my possible work looks like. Similar to “Wind Map”, I also want to get inspirations from natural data which describes some changes.

Overall, I liked both projects. The only suggestion I have for the second project is to have the sound placed eithere side by side to the project or played as a background music. It is really cool to see the visual element, but I will even appreciate more if I am able to hear some corresponding music.

Here are the links to the projects:

The link of the “windMap” project

The link of the “The Shape of Song” project

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Curious Vase is a project made by Mianne de Vries and consists of a group of vases within each other. You need to break through the outer vase in order to see the second layer of the vase beneath and so forth. Each vase has up to 3 vases hidden inside. I like the concept of this vase in how you need to break through the outer layer in order to reach the second type of vase beneath because it started giving me the idea for my game. I wanted to create a game in which blocks were used and destroyed based on the movement of a ball. At first, I wasn’t sure how to make this game work, but then I realized, I could just use this breaking system to increase the difficulty of my game, which I will talk about more in my proposal.

The second project I found was the Surface Tension Lamp, created by Front.I found this project very intriguing in how it used bubbles. Bubbles change colors all the time due to the fact that it catches light and reflects the room or area like a multi colored structure. This bubble gave me the idea of changing the colors of my blocks on my game depending on the difficulty. As you continuously hit the block, the color fades and it will disappear just like how a bubble does. This project made by Front looks relatively simple but I like the simplicity and meaning behind the creation of this work.

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For the final project, Hae Wan and I plan on collaborating on making generative graphic design. We have access to a domain name, so we plan on making this generative design program a web experience people can use. Specifically, we are interested in the generative designs to be used as greeting cards, which the user can print out or send the digital interactive version. The latter may give us opportunity to use sound. Design studio Muir Mcneil and School of Design alumnae Rachel Cheng have both worked with generative graphic design pieces.

Rachel’s following project builds a set grid system that varies based on pre-determined parameters. I think her logic behind the program system is quite robust, and we have an opportunity to improve upon it by adding randomness with various random and noise functions.

Above: examples of generative posters from her system

Above: her parameter system for generating posters

Muir Mcneil emphasizes geometry and patterns in their work, with the use of repeated lines and circles similar to past projects Hae Wan and I have done with turtles and pixels recognition. At a glance, their work has a certain tone to it that may not fit “greeting cards”, so we have room to explore how varying color, lines, or even mimicking real life shapes would have a clearer theme.

Above: screenshot of sample work from their portfolio website

mjanco – Looking Outwards 12 – Section B

In this week’s Looking Outwards I looked at Camille Utterback’s piece Untitled 5, an installation from 2004, and Adrien M and Claire B’s piece XYZT from 2015.

I was very interested in how Utterback’s piece is so fluid and organic while still being based in algorithms. Her installation sets up animated mark making that is influenced by the movements of the viewer. A viewer can move and have the visuals respond but not in an extremely direct way, there is a slight mystery to the connection between the viewer’s movements and the resulting marks. I think it’s interesting to try to create a visual that contrasts with the aesthetic associated with computers. I like the thought process of how to program a visual that appears as if it came from the human hand, or a physical event of the natural world. Utterback’s piece accomplishes this exceptionally well, and it inspires me to create a similar aesthetic result.

XYZT is a similar installation, as it is an interactive piece that allows viewers to interact within a space to produce visuals around them. The concept is this piece is that digital light landscapes are produced across 4 different dimensions: horizontal(X), vertical(Y), depth(Z), and time(T). I thought this was a great concept, as Adrien and Claire take the immersive qualities of their piece and stretch it farther than most, creating a next-level immersive experience. Again, I love the organic quality of the white light aesthetic in this piece, and the human interaction adds a level of fluidity that contrasts with the algorithmic nature of programmed art.

http://camilleutterback.com/projects/untitled-5/

https://creators.vice.com/en_au/article/3d5e39/xyzt-axis-interactive-light-art-installation

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The Mylar Topology

This is an audio-visual piece intended for panoramic projection and spatial sound. This a piece in the form of visual music. It generates shapes based on the audio data interpreted by an algorithm. The artist, Paul Prudence, likes to do live performances because the visual produced in each performance is different each time due to how it is computed.

Paul Prudence has performed his work internationally and exhibited ways in which sound, space, and form can create intriguing cinematic experiences.

For the second project I will be looking at the interactive phone piano app Magic Piano by Smule. It is a relaxing app that contains several songs to play. Music notes are queued and prompted by little beams of light and the user must tap on them to play them that composes into a certain song. A user could also control which notes to play and the rhythm and speed.

I think the first project I looked at, the Mylar Typology, would be more immersive if the audience could also interact physically with the project. I think these two projects are great precedents to study for my final project, I would like to make a system that generates visuals from sounds generated by the user.

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o.T., Astana Contemporary Art Center, Artists & Robots, 2017

Galerie Mitterrand, Paris, 2017

http://www.kogler.net/kunsthaus-bregenz-2000-projektion#

Peter Kogler, an Austrian artist, works on floors walls and ceilings with ling designs illusion for 30 years, bending spaces in unnatural ways. He manipulated box-shaped space to virtual maze of time and space. He creates undefined movement and sense of insecurity in spaces for people to experience in. He sees computer for artists as “liberated from many physical limitations of all former media”. He explores the new dimension in architecture.

I am interested in the idea of allowing people to question what is real and what is not. what is important and what is not. What values do we hold on. Human can be manipulated with visual easily, we only think what the normal spaces are like based on what we are used to. If we exposed to more of what diverse perspective spaces, will we be comfortable in those spaces one day?

‘Oscillate’ – Thesis Animation of Sine Waves by Daniel Sierra 2015

Sierra is a digital artists, designer, and creative coder who specializes in audio visualization, animation, and mixed reality experiences. In Oscillate, he was interested in the emergence of complexity in sound from fundamental sine and cosine waves, using tools like Houdini, Reason, Nuke, After Effects, and Processing.

In Oscillate, I am intrigued by how he presented the elements in we encounter daily to this delicate form. Moreover, he added on his own audio sound design to the original visualized sound elements. The splashes, strings, and lines create a great tension in between.

I liked how Peter Kogler and Daniel Sierra play with 2D and 3D with natural elements in space, giving the sense of mysteriousness and delicacy.

Looking outwards 12

Following images are from games: Galaxy on Fire , and Star Citizens. These games are consisted of open world with the main story with a battle phase occurring through out the game. It is consist of adventure and beautiful space view and creative illustration of planets, space ships, and alien cities. Galaxy on Fire is mainly battle based game that takes place in outer space. It is a rather overly simplistic story for a game that shares similar genre to other space game that involves exploration and battle. Graphic is nice but the negative thing about the game is that travel between solar system was slow, battle was not tense enough to keep tension of game. Only attracting facts of the game was the graphic; in contrast, Star citizens is a more open world based game, which is close to MMO RPG in space. This game is still in the process of development, but early access are available, and they propose a interesting dynamic of game plays with overwhelming graphics.

My main project will be close to convey similar exploration feeling of the beautiful space and interactivity with user/player.