Category: Section E

adev_LookingOutwards 09

jiaxinw-SectionB-LookingOutwards 04

Cloud Piano

I was looking through some of the posts and I found this one particularly intriguing. I am extremely drawn to the idea of the natural world represented through computational means in a very human way, that make these natural phenomena more present with us as humans. This is particularly striking because it provides a whole new sensory interaction with a natural phenomenon that is so elusive, so erratic and so notoriously mysterious.

I also really appreciate this because of it’s simplicity and innocence. It has truly been created from a place of curiosity and wonder and appreciation. I love that it takes this childhood fantasy and makes it accessible to us in a way that purely provides joy and pleasure.

It’s also really interesting that it sounds so beautiful and playful without sounding over-written or composed. It sounds like the most perfect string of serendipitous notes.

hqq – secE – LookingOutwards09

Rachel Park sure can look outwards. 

I’m really inspired by a project she found when researching in Week 7 called Digital Calligraffiti:

^Video trailer for the project

Calligraffiti isn’t necessarily new or groundbreaking – in fact, it’s become an important movement in the development of the underground organized abstract vandalism movement. However, in this project, the Public Art Lab did things a little differently. Digital Calligraffiti is a project that bands together refugees with visual and graphic designers to create art and computational visualizations to raise awareness of social justice issues.

The project acts as a canvas for refugees to express issues that they face in a universally noticeable medium. The installation took place throughout public spaces in Berlin in 2016 and served to help normalize the voices of refugees in a country whose influx of Syrian refugees proved to be a contentious point of debate to native Germans.

The project uses a computational derivation of a font scheme to allow refugees to partner with visual designers to create uniquely serifed and expressive works of art.

I’m inspired by pieces like this because it bands together designers with those whose voices are often silenced. These kinds of partnerships use computing for social good to help raise the perspectives of the underprivileged to the forefront of the public eye.

adev_Project09_Portrait

 

 

 

Project_09_adev

//Aisha Ghei Dev
//adev@andrew.cmu.edu
//Project-09
//Section E



var myPortrait;

function preload() {//loading baby photo
    var myPortraitURL = "https://i.imgur.com/GszICUU.jpg";
    myPortrait = loadImage(myPortraitURL);
}

function setup() {
    createCanvas(500, 500);
    background(0);
    myPortrait.loadPixels();
    frameRate(10);//low frame rate for faster processing.
    noStroke();
}

function draw() {
	//random position values
	var px = random(width);
    var py = random(height);
    var ix = constrain(floor(px), 0, width-1);
    var iy = constrain(floor(py), 0, height-1);
    //colour at specific pixel
    var theColorAtLocationXY = myPortrait.get(ix, iy);
 
    fill(theColorAtLocationXY);
    var sqDimensions = (random(10, 50));

    rect(px, py, sqDimensions/2, sqDimensions/2);
}

   
//Writing nickname
function mousePressed(){
	fill(255,0,0);
	textFont ("Georgia");
	textSize(28);
	text("$$$PAISHA", mouseX, mouseY);
}

For this project, I wanted to do something light and fun and kind of poke fun at myself. I chose this baby picture of me that I think is hilarious.

I played around with a few iterations of my code and I liked the one with the text the most because it makes is even more personal with a funny childhood nickname.

elizabew – Looking Outwards – 09 – sectionE

I decided to look through my friend Rachel Farn’s work, and I found her discovery of the media visual artist Alex Mcleod to be interesting. I found that her focus on his piece Mystic Pond (2010) really drew me into wanting to read more about the artist — this image of the piece looked unreal.

Mystical Pond (2010)

I absolutely agree with Rachel that his art connects traditional artists and graphic animation. Alex creates “paintings” that push the limits of traditional artists while integrating modern technology into his work. The works show so much detail that it’s fun to look at one piece and try to dissect it. (His work Forest City (2011) reminded me of The Hobbit)

Forest City (2011)

To add to what she’s already written, I would also like to say that Alex’s work really grasps landscapes in an otherworldly way — some of his work reminds me of futuristic films. And while incredibly bright and colorful, there’s a hint of uncomfortableness from these unsettling works. It is almost like each photo describes a different world and it’s up to the viewer to figure out what kind of place it is. To me, personally, I find that most of them look like dystopian, sometimes even alien places.

 

CLICK HERE for Rachel Farn’s Looking Outward

Click here for more on Alex Mcleod

hqq – secE – project 09 – portrait

hamza

//hamza qureshi
//hqq@andrew.cmu.edu
//section e
//project 08 : portrait

var pic; //new variable for base image

function preload(){
    var URL = "https://i.imgur.com/uWj0FJC.jpg"; //url for image
    pic = loadImage(URL); //loads image from url
}

function setup(){
    createCanvas(480,480);
    pic.loadPixels(); //loads pixels of image to be individually interpreted
    frameRate(10); //pls dont be slow
}

//create circles
function draw(){
    var posX = random(width); //position of x and y coordinates of shape
    var posY = random(height);
    var colX = constrain(floor(posX), 0, width-1); //determines pixel color
    var colY = constrain(floor(posY), 0, height-1);
    var picFill = pic.get(colX,colY); //grabs info for each pixel in image
    noStroke();
    fill(picFill); //apply fill
    ellipse(posX, posY, 7, 7); //draw circle at random location
                              //colored based on the pixel of its origin location
}

//create target shapes when mouse is pressed
function mousePressed(){
    var posX = mouseX; //new local variable for x and y
    var posY = mouseY;
    var colX = constrain(floor(posX), 0, width-1);
    var colY = constrain(floor(posY), 0, height-1);
    var picFill = pic.get(colX,colY);
    var sz = random(10, 20); //new variable to randomize shape
    noStroke();
    fill(picFill);
    //scale(sz);
    ellipse(posX, posY, 10, 10); //new, larger central ellipse
    stroke(picFill);
    strokeWeight(0.5);
    noFill();
    ellipse(posX, posY, sz + 2, sz + 2); //outer rings of ellipse
    ellipse(posX, posY, sz + 7, sz + 7); //are random in size to change
    ellipse(posX, posY, sz + 9, sz + 9); //size
}

For my sketch, I used an image from Orientation this past summer:

I appreciated the variety of colors in this picture of myself and some great friends. I chose to create a dynamically drawn portrait that allows for a slightly modified outcome when the mouse is clicked. The sketch operates as it generates each frame, but each click produces a randomly sized target shape. This creates an oil-painting-like stroke when the image nears completion. See below:

 

mstropka-Looking Outwards-09

https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/a/2013/the-geography-of-tweets.html

For this week’s looking outward assignment I looked at Asher Blackburn’s looking outwards 7, which is a visual map of where people have tweeted from. This caught my eye for the same reasons that he wrote about in his looking outwards post in that the concept is very simple, but the resulting image is incredibly complex and interesting. The map has billions of points from months of data collection and when all of these points are plotted, the map begins to raise questions. For example, after looking at the map in detail you start to wonder about why certain areas send more tweets than others, why one person is sending a tweet in the middle of nowhere, and what is the content of these tweets.

It would be very interesting if the map were able to link to the tweets that were sent out at these locations. Looking at the map, I am very curious what users are sending out at these locations and times. I would like to be able to look more in depth and answer some of these questions with the help of the map.

LookingOutwards-09

gyueunp – Looking Outwards 05

The Looking outwards Im referencing

VOID from Chris Bjerre on Vimeo.

This project was interesting to me because it shows how art & coding intersects with commercial product. Also the visuals were unsettling in a poetic way where the coding of pattern did not feel forced and the sole focus, more a tool used in a larger narrative. The part I found most interesting was Bjerre’s project titled ‘VOID’ which Gyueun linked in her post. I agree with Gyueun’s attraction towards the “simple yet complex visual structures” in the linked projects. Bjerre’s work aims to unsettle the viewer through visuals and audio and VOID was a project that did both of these things along with an original non-dialogue narrative.  

mstropka-Project09-E

sketch

//Max Stropkay
//Section E
//mstropka@andrew.cmu.edu
//Project-09

var underlyingImage;

function preload() {
    var myImageURL = "https://i.imgur.com/j59r16x.jpg";
    underlyingImage = loadImage(myImageURL);
}

function setup() {
    print("made");
    createCanvas(480, 480);
    background(0);
    underlyingImage.loadPixels();
    frameRate(20);
}

function draw() {
var size = 20;
    for(var i = 0; i < 480; i+=10){
      for(var j = 0; j< 480; j+=10){
        fill(underlyingImage.get(i, j));
        ellipse(i+random(-10,10), j+random(-10, 10), size ,size);
      }
    }


}

For my project I took a picture of my friend and replaced every pixel with an ellipse that is filled with the color of the underlying picture. This gives the image a sort of painterly feel. Then I made the ellipses move randomly to give the image a sense of movement.

LookingOutwards-09-LookingOutwards!


SEM scans of various plant seeds colorized

Supawat’s Looking Outwards Post

This week, I’d like to address Supwat’s Looking Outwards post from Week 5, where he writes about the magical microscopic universe uncovered through colored electron microscopy (SEM). It was really interesting to read an alternative perspective on one of the Miller Gallery’s most exciting exhibitions (in my opinion), World Within, created and curated by Rob Kesseler. What was most surprising to me when observing the artifacts and documentation of this photographic process is that SEM scans are taken only in black and white.

Here’s how it works: Through a an electric light filament, the machine shoots a flow of electron through a pair of electromagnetic lenses. The beam is varied and scans itself across the studied object. Depending on the position of the beam, an electron detector collects data from the secondary electrons that are repelled back from scan. After that, the image is run that through some filters that result in a extremely high resolution black and white image.

While these images are quite impressive on their own, without the sensibility of the artist who colors and shades these images, we wouldn’t be able to experience such evocative and beautiful colored imagery. It’s refreshing to find this kind of artistic collaboration even in the most dense and complex scientific studies.

Here is the tutorial Supawat linked that reveals the methodology behind coloring SEM scans:
Tutorial on Coloring SEM Scans

I took a gander and was truly blown away 🙂

Sheenu-Project 09-Portrait

sketch

// Portrait
// Name: Sheenu You
// Andrew ID: sheenuy
// Section E

//Variables
var sheenu;
var a =0;
var b =0;
//Loads Image
function preload() {
    var myImageURL = "https://i.imgur.com/JCe4MPY.jpg";
    sheenu = loadImage(myImageURL);
}

function setup() {
    createCanvas(480, 480);
    background(0);
    //Load Pixels of image
    sheenu.loadPixels();
    frameRate(120);
}

function draw() {
    //Variables that generate Image
    var x = random(width);
    var y = random(height);
    //Gets all those pixels and arranges into variable
    //Generates "Sheenu" pixel
    var image = sheenu.get(x, y);
    fill(image);
    textSize(7);
    text("Sheenu",x, y);
    //Generates random "You" pixel
    text("You",a,b)
    //"You" pixel genereator
  a += 20;
  if (a > width) {
    a = 0;
    b += 20;
  }



}

I wanted to do something with text, so I decided to use my name as a custom pixel. I guess you can say this portrait has my name (and face) all over it. I like how the text starts to appear like brush strokes or pastel as more text generates and creates the full image. I found it as an interesting effect I wasn’t aware of nor expecting. I also wanted to do something with my last name, so I made them generate in an orderly fashion but with randomly generated colors. The “You” is definitely a huge contrast compared to the “Sheenu”, which generates randomly and has a specifically generated fill. In the end, all I can say is that a picture is truly worth a thousand words (or names).