Category: SectionB

Xu Xu – Looking Outwards – 05

Alexey Kashpersky is a 3D digital artist who has experience in creating CG artworks, large amounts of 3D models for televisions, and 3D printing studios. His series of Virus artworks are intended to raise awareness, such as this Hepatitis C artwork. While visually pleasing to the eye, the video was intended to capture attention, imply the hidden dangers of an undiagnosed HCV infection, and generate awareness of this bloodborne pathogen. Through thoughtful abstractions, the morphological form of the Virus is created in order to express the hidden dangers of this virus, yet still portraying a certain amount of realism. VR was utilized to create a sense of realism in this piece of work. I admire the attention to detail and the cleanness of his 3D artworks, which I can only imagine he used certain 3D modeling softwares to create these artworks. It is apparent that the virus is deadly, despite its beautiful form and colour.

Outside of the digital world, Alexey is a strong believer in living a healthy lifestyle – one which would allow him to live life to its fullest. He says, “…perhaps one day, I will decide to go diving along the coral reefs or explore thousand year-old caves at the ends of the Earth.” But for now, he’s happy to show the world where his imagination takes him through his art.  (Autodesk)

Siwei Xie – Looking Outwards – 06

Gerhard Richter’s 4900 Colours: Version II at Serpentine Galleries, 2008

Gerhard Richter is the German visual artist who created “4900 Colours: Version II” in 2008. The 196 square panels of 25 colored squares was conceived to be configured in a number of variations, from one large-scale piece to multiple, smaller paintings.The development of 4900 Colors was influenced by Richter’s grid paintings in 1966.

I admire how rigorous the process of generating randomness is. A computer program assigned a color to each square drawn at random from a palette of 25 colors. The 196 panels can be put together to form one huge display, or in the Serpentine exhibition were arranged at random in sets of four to form 49 10x 10 displays.

Creator’s artistic sensibility manifests by how “non-random” the panels look, with some dominated by particular colors which are often placed next to each other. But the whole point of “pure” randomness is that apparent patterns are expected to occur.

Original source here.

Sewon Park – LO – 5

Image result for typography portrait christopher haines
-A less typical Typography Portrait by Cristopher Haines used as cover of Computer Arts Magazine #111

One project produced through the use of computer graphics are the series of typography produced by Cristopher Haines. Although there are some significantly less complicated versions of such work, Haines utilizes his background in photography and digital art to create a more advanced form of portraits drawn through words. Through this work, Haines demonstrates mastery over Master Adobe Illustrator and a unique sense of style.

Typography portraits are interesting in that it can utilize words to deliver meaning. As such they are sometimes used in political campaigns. However, Haines attempts to show the convoluted nature of a human mind with a disorganized array of letters that combine together to create a disturbing face that eerily represents a woman’s. Such style puts his project at a completely new dimension from the simple works of typography portrait into a new realm of art.

Emma NM-LO-05

Andreas Wannerstedt Instagram

“Waves” (2019)

"Waves by Andreas Wannerstedt

I like this project by Andreas Wannerstedt because it is so mesmerizing, yet simple. It causes a little tension for the viewer because the ball could get off pace and run into the poles. However, it never does, which makes it difficult to pull away from watching it. It reminds me of the now popular ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos. It is meant to relax the viewer. I also really like the design of it. The color choices work well together to make the video feel softer and more soothing. The algorithms must have been thought out to make sure that the speed of the balls never hit the poles as their speed also stayed constant. The creator’s artistic sensibilities are shown through color choice and object choice. They could have chosen different objects that move in a repetitive, hypnotic motion, yet they chose cylinders and balls.

Fallon Creech-LookingOutwards-04

Video demonstrates how a user would interact with the machine

“Weather Thingy,” a sound project designed by designer Adrien Kaeser, uses climate-related events to modify and control sounds, which ultimately produces a string of various and unpredictable effects that update according to weather data. This machine utilizes two primary parts; a weather station consists of various climate sensors, and a custom-built controller assigns parameters to sound effects. The weather data interpreted by this machine can also be visualized on a screen and even allows the musician to control the amplification of the sound.

I respect the control that Kaeser gives to musicians using this machine; while the machine does force the user to interpret the climatic impact on the composition of their music, it gives them the control to both override and reuse these effects throughout. It insures the artist still has creative freedom, but encourages them to acknowledge factors beyond their own control.

Image depicts the various instruments through which sound is interpreted.

Siwei Xie – Project 05 – Wallpaper

sketch

//Siwei Xie
//Section B
//sxie1@andrew.cmu.edu
//Project-05-wallpaper

function setup() {
    createCanvas(400, 400);
    background(236, 214, 180);
    
}

function draw() {
	//use Nested Loop to create shapes
	for (var j = 0; j < 13; j++) {
        for (var i = 0; i < 12; i++) {

        //maroon circles
        noStroke();
        fill(185, 88, 84);
        circle(i * 46 + 15, j * 30 + 15, 20);

        //yellow triangles
        fill("yellow");
        triangle(i*40+65, j*40+20, i*40+5, j*40+50, i*40+35, j*40+50);
        
        //white verticle lines
        fill("white");
        rect(i*46+15, 0, 3, 400);

        }
    }

    noLoop();
}

Nested loop is a very useful tool when creating repetitive patterns. It was fun to design an aesthetically pleasing image by balancing the colors and shapes of different elements.

I researched wallpaper or tablecloth patterns on the internet first, then tried to design my own image. I set the overall color to be soft and harmonious, by using a combination of pink, maroon, light yellow and white. The shapes I used include triangles, circles and rectangles, which overlap on each other to create a harmonious pattern.

Sydney Salamy: Looking Outwards-05

The piece I chose to discuss wasn’t really given a name, but was described as procedural mesh splitting using tyFlow, created in 2019 by Tyson Ibele. tyFlow being a particle simulation tool used for 3ds Max and created by  Ibele (instagram username _tyflow_). The work is a video showing a series of limbs and a face. These are slowly torn apart to reveal the insides, which are a gold substance that acts like a balloon.

  • I really enjoyed the work for the imagery. It starts off with what looks like a pretty realistic limb with a long gold cut on it. But then expectations are subverted as the limb pulls apart into two. This goes on throughout the video, with the only things really changing being the parts being ripped and the angle of the shot. So I guess what I admire about it is the subversion of expectations and what it’s caused by. Ibele takes something familiar like body parts and then makes them act very differently from how they’re supposed to act. I like how this kind of idea can be applied to so many different things and be taken in so many different directions. It  allows interesting imagery. No one would be able to see an arm or face act like this anywhere else. The way the gold parts reform really caught my as well eye since the result was stuff like a leg with three feet on the end, again, something that couldn’t really be see in real life.
  • I suppose the algorithms that generated/rendered the work must have been pretty complicated. The imagery in the video was very detailed, and the “jiggling” physics of the body parts seemed realistic, with a lot of different movements having to be generated.
  • The creator Ibele works a lot with 3D graphics, and his artistic sensibilities can be seen in the similarities between these works. Looking at his his pieces, it seems many of them kind of deal with “subverting expectations”. What I mean by this is that he’ll show something like a person or objects like Legos, and then he’ll make them act in unexpected ways. For example, he’ll have the person be made of ribbons, and as they walk they’ll unravel and fall apart. Or he’ll show water being poured or a small explosion taking place, but they will be made of Legos.

Sydney Salamy: Project-04-String-Art

My process started with trying to figure out how to get the strings to “curve” (or have the illusion to curve). After drawing a bunch of hatch marks didn’t work, I studied the photos on the blog of the 7th grade teacher until I understood the pattern. After a bit of experimentation, I was able to get the formula for my for loop. Then I just kept modifying it and adding colors till I was satisfied.

sketchsydsal

    var lx = 20;//width divided by 20
    var ly = 15;//height divided by 20

function setup(){
    createCanvas(400,300);	
    
}

function draw() {
    background(255, 150, 213);

    //red heart
    fill("red");
    noStroke();
    ellipse(width/2 - 23, height/2, 50,50);//left heart bulb
    ellipse(width/2 + 23, height/2, 50,50);//right heart bulb
    triangle((width / 2) - 55,height / 2 + 10, width / 2,(height / 2) 
        + 60, (width / 2) + 55,height / 2 + 10);//base of heart
    
    //makes curve on top right
    for(var i = 0; i < lx; i += 1){//sets up increment and # of elements
        stroke(247, 25, 25);
        line(width - lx * i,0, width,height - ly * i);//draws lines
    }
    //makes curve on top left
    for(var j = 0; j < lx; j += 1){//sets up increment and # of elements
        stroke(250, 90, 96);
        line(0 + lx * j,0, 0,height - ly * j);//draws lines
    }
    //makes curve on bottom left
     for(var t = 0; t < lx; t += 1){//sets up increment and # of elements
        stroke(255, 150, 175);
        line(width - lx * t,height, 0,height - ly * t);//draws lines
    }
    //makes second curve on bottom right
     for(var z = 0; z < lx; z += 1){//sets up increment and # of elements
        stroke(255, 201, 201);
        line(height - lx * z,height, 0,height - ly * z);//draws lines
    }
    //makes second curve on top right
     for(var z = 0; z < lx; z += 1){//sets up increment and # of elements
        stroke(255, 201, 201);
        line(height - lx * z,0, width,height - ly * z);//draws lines
    }
}

My Sketches/Rough Drafts

Nadia Susanto – Project 04 – String Art

sketch

/* Nadia Susanto
   nsusanto@andrew.cmu.edu
   Section B
   Project 04 - String Art */


function setup() {
    createCanvas(400, 300);

}

function draw() {
    background("black");
    for (var i = 0; i < 100; i += 5) {
      //green line
      strokeWeight(1);
      stroke(29,151,98);
      //negative slope
      line(i - 50, -i, i*2, 300);

      //blue line
      strokeWeight(2);
      stroke(28,60,116);
      line(0, i + 20, width - i, i*3);

      //dark green line
      strokeWeight(3);
      stroke(1,50,36);
      //positive slope
      line(0, 350, i + 200, i*2);

      //red line
      strokeWeight(1);
      stroke(189, 3, 0);
      //right negative slope
      line(i - 50, -i, width, i + 20);
      //positive slope
      line(100, 400, 400, 50 + i*2);
      //left negative slope
      line(0, 50 + i*2, i*4, 100 + i*4);

      //yellow line
      stroke(218,149,1);
      strokeWeight(1);
      //negative slope
      line(350, i - 50, 400, 100 + i*3);
      //positive slope
      line(300, 400, 400, 100 + i*2);

    }

}

I was inspired by the tartan pattern and tried to code it similarly to this picture above. It was a challenging project because it took me a while to get used to it, but overall I am pretty happy with the result. It was fun experimenting with all the different curves and lines that can be a result of just changing a single number or variable.

Julia Nishizaki – Looking Outwards – 04

The project I chose to look at is called Soft Sound, created by EJTECH (Esteban de la Torre and Judit Eszter Kárpáti). Soft Sound combines sound with fabric in order to play with textiles as an audio-emitting surface, and to create multi-sensory interactions. For example, not only can the fabric project sound, but the vibrations caused by the sound interact with the textile, causing it to throb and move. Soft Sound creates “soft” speakers by applying laser or vinyl cut copper and silver coils onto fabric, and running alternating current through the coils.

An example of EJTECH’s Soft Sound technology in use – the coils project sound, vibrating the fabric

I found this project interesting and inspiring, as not only does this project turn sound into a more tangible artefact, since you can feel the sound’s vibrations through the fabric, but it’s also done in a very open-ended manner, allowing for the technology to be applied to a variety of different uses, from e-textiles for wearable technology, to more traditional applications at home and everyday.