Sean Leo – Project 06 – Abstract Clock

sleo-project-06

//Sean B. Leo
//sleo@andrew.cmu.edu
//Section C

//Project 6
//Abstract Clock

function setup() {
    createCanvas(600, 600);
    pixelDensity(1);
    frameRate(1);
  }
  
  function draw() {
    
    var S = second();
    var M = minute();
    var H = hour();
    
    var s1 = map(S, 0, 60, 0, 255);
    var m1 = map(M, 0, 60, 0, 255);
    var h1 = map(H, 0, 24, 0, 255);
    
    
    loadPixels();
    for(var y=0; y<400; y++){
      for(var x=0; x<400; x++){
        var index= (x + y *width)*4;
        pixels[index+0] = y-m1;
        pixels[index+1] = h1;
        pixels[index+2] = x-s1;
        pixels[index+3] = 255;
      }
    }
    
    updatePixels();
  
  }

I started thinking about abstracting the concept of time itself. Instead of viewing time as an exacting and regimented number, what if it could be displayed more like a feeling or mood? What if by looking at a display we could have a sense of the passing of time rather than knowing what time it is exactly?

I created a color field that adjusts it’s rgb values over time through a pixel array. No second is the same composition as the next though the change is subtle. Below you can see the progression of time over the day and familiar timestamps.

I think there are a lot of artistic applications of this project; mainly using the generated color field as a light source. Rather than a reading of time in a specific format: a watch, wall clock, microwave, etc. A lamp emitting the color field would affect the room it is in a subtly convey time passing.