Fish Tornado by Robert Hodgin

Fish Tornado, an interactive VR experience that puts the user in the center of thousands of Big Eye Trevallie forming a toroidal bait ball, caught my attention. This generative artwork was created by Robert Hodgin and I was admired by how Hodgin wanted to see how close he could come to simulating this phenomenon with code and simulate in the Oculus VR headset. I admired this aspect because I have always wanted to know how a bait ball is formed and by the use of VR, I would be able to experience it directly.

The algorithm generated in this artwork is very cool in a way that the fish is aware of my position in the 3d world. The fish attempts to form a toroidal bait ball around me and I can stand in the center. Also, the fish responds towards me by treating me as a low threat predator and thus prevents the fish from traveling through the camera.

Hodgin further manifests his artistic sensibilities by adding a shark into the simulation. The experience of watching a fish form a toroidal bait ball around me is very relaxing with background music but its calmness breaks apart by an occasional passing of a shark.

Link

var eyeSize = 20;
var faceWidth = 300;
var faceHeight = 300;
var eyeWidth= 40;
var mouth=5;
var eyeball=10;
var nose=20;
var ear=150;
var inside=120;
var tongue=20;


 
function setup() {
    createCanvas(480, 600);
}
 
function draw() {
    background(200);// face shape
    fill(224, 211, 220);
    ellipse(width / 2, height /2, faceWidth,  faceHeight); 
    fill(252, 249, 243); //eye
    var eyeLX = width / 2 - faceWidth * 0.2;
    var eyeRX = width / 2 + faceWidth * 0.2;
    ellipse(eyeLX, height / 2, eyeSize, eyeSize);
    ellipse(eyeRX, height / 2, eyeSize, eyeSize);
    fill(0,0,0); //eyeball
    circle(eyeLX+5,height /2, eyeball,eyeball);
    circle(eyeRX-5,height/2,eyeball,eyeball);
    fill (0,0,0);//nose
    circle(width / 2, height /1.9, nose,nose);
    fill(224, 211, 220); //leftear
    circle(width/4,height/3,ear,ear);
    fill(224, 211, 220); //rightear
    circle(width/1.4,height/3,ear,ear);
    fill(245, 186, 227); //inside
    circle(width/3.7, height/2.8,inside,inside);
    circle(width/1.42, height/2.8,inside,inside);
    strokeWeight (2);
    fill(247, 134, 209) //mouth
    var mouth = width/7 - faceWidth * 0.5;
    ellipse( width/ 2, height/1.6, mouth, mouth/2);
    
}
 
function mousePressed() {
   
    faceWidth = random(200, 300);
    faceHeight = random(280, 300);
    eyeSize = random(20, 50);
    mouth = random(2,5);
    eyeball= random(7,19);
    hair = random(110,160);
    ear = random(140,170);
    inside = random(110,115);
}

I started off by using the original code given for this project. I randomly inserted numbers and variables to see how each code works out. Then I started to design the basic shapes and narrowed it down to the small details.

This is what I look like in the winter

function setup() {
    createCanvas(600,500);
    background(220);
   
}

function draw() {
	fill(94, 137, 230);
    circle(300,60,70);//binnie tail
	fill(94, 137, 230 );
    ellipse(300,150,170,200);//binne
    fill(238, 226, 201);
    rect(255, 330, 85, 95);//neck
	fill(238, 226, 201); 
	circle(300,250,200);//face
	fill(0,0,0)
	rect(230,190,50,10);//left eyebrow
	fill(0,0,0)
	rect(325,190,50,10);//right eyebrow
	fill(0, 0, 0);
	circle(256,224,30);//left eye
	fill(0, 0, 0);
	circle(347,222,30);//right eye
	fill(232, 206, 149);
    triangle(275, 275, 303, 220, 331, 275)//nose
    fill(238, 118, 214 );
    ellipse(300, 315, 65, 55);//mouth
    fill(245, 129, 75 );
    ellipse(300,500,350,250);//body
   


    
    
 

}

The word “computational projects” was first started off as questioning myself what it defines as. Computational defines as “the use of computers”, therefore I assumed any program or product that has been created by the technical ability of computers such as coding.

            Facebook.com; an online social networking service, allows users to sign up for free profiles and it connects friends, family and people through online. It also allows users to share pictures, music, videos, and posts to anyone who has signed up in the website.

            The founder of Facebook is a well-known billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg has started off making the website with a group of his classmates (Eduardo Savarin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes) who he has met in Harvard. His classmates included a programmer, spokesman, and investor in the website.

Zuckerberg got the idea of Facebook by first making a site in Harvard which helped University students get to know one another better through online. It only took 2 weeks for Zuckerberg to build the first version of Facebook. However, this did not come at ease since he was accused for stealing the “idea” of an intended social networking site called Harvard connection.

            Facebook.com was developed by a program called PHP. PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor and it’s a scripting language used for the development of web applications.

            Facebook’s future goal still lies in the reason why they built the website: connection. The main objective of Facebook is to give people the power to build community and bringing the world closer together. I admire the power Facebook brings to the world- enabling users to connect with the world easier than ever before and bringing comminutes together.