Author: Evie

Blog 5

I love this project because of how absurd the music is. I think people put a lot of stake and emotion in music, but a computer doesn’t. Despite this, I think people will always find patterns or emotion in sounds that are utterly random. A computer can make music that a human would never dream of, because we want things to make sense. Computational music doesn’t make sense (or at least the stuff I have seen so far). 

The project I looked at was Playable Decagons. The creator had a visual of an octagon and corresponded things like its orientation and size to specific musical notes. When the decagon is manipulated it will play a funky song of mashed together notes at different tones and timings. It sounds horrendous from a music theory standpoint, but I couldn’t help dancing along to the weird sounds halfway between spaceship violin and ocean roar.

Evette LaComb

Looking Outward #3

For this week’s Looking Outwards, I looked at Neri Oxman’s Mediated Matter group. This project was active 2010 to 2021. One thing I liked about their project was that their designs were inspired by nature. I think there is a pattern in generative art, where people often aim to make things that don’t look like they were made by people. The ability of a computer to pick absolutely random values is something humans have difficulty with, but emulates the natural growth of things (to some degrees at least). This is one of several projects I have noticed that emulates the structure of veins in a leaf. 

My favorite project from this group is Aguahoja III. This piece inspired me because of how beautiful it is. It looks like a plant from an alien planet. This sculpture doesn’t just look nice though, It also uses interesting materials and holds an interesting message. They took the idea of leaves to the next level and actually 3D printed this with cellulose, chitin, and pectin. The result is a tough leather like material that fits beautifully into the computer’s design.

Seeing things like this makes me excited to bring ideas to life. It sucks when ideas can only be digital, but when they can be brought into real life through sculptures and visuals, it makes me excited for all the cool stuff we will have in the future.  

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/aguahoja-iii/overview/

Second Project

here is my silly little thing $$

sketch/a>

My favorite part was randomizing colors and being surprised when the program generated nice color pallets.

//Evette LaComb
//Section D

var chin = 120;
var nose = 1;
var shirt = 150;
var hairR = 0;
var hairG = 0;
var hairB = 0;
var skinR = 0;
var skinG = 0;
var skinB = 0;
var mouthY = 130;
var mouthW = 30;
var mouthH = 5;
var eyeD = 20;

function setup() {
    createCanvas(200, 200);
}

function draw() {
    noStroke(); //apply to all bellow 
    background(195, 216, 212);

    fill(hairR -70, hairG -70, hairB -70); //HAIR COLOR  
        rect(35, 50, 130, 150); //background hair 
    fill(skinR +70, skinG -70, skinB -70); //SHIRT SHADE 
        ellipse(100, 200, shirt, 150)//shirt
    fill(skinR -70, skinG -70, skinB -70); //SKIN SHADOW
        triangle(60, 125, 140, 125, 100, 175); //neck
        ellipse(50, 93, 45, 45); //ear left
        ellipse(150, 93, 45, 45); //right ear

    fill(skinR, skinG, skinB); //FACE 
        ellipse(100, 90, 100, chin);//face
    fill(195, 216, 212); //forhead cover (hide top of head poking out of bangs)
        ellipse(100, 25, 100, 100)

    fill(hairR, hairG, hairB);
        ellipse(70, 64, 85, 55); //left hair Bang
        ellipse(130, 64, 85, 55); //right hair Bang

    fill(hairR -70, hairG -70, hairB -70); //Mouth and back hair shade 
        ellipse(100, mouthY, mouthW, mouthH); //mouth
    fill(skinR +70, skinG -70, skinB -70); //same shade as shirt 
        ellipse(100, 115, 20, 20); //nose

    fill(skinR -70, skinG -70, skinB -70); //EYE BAG 
        ellipse(75, 106, eyeD +5); //left eye
        ellipse(125, 106, eyeD +5); //right eye
    fill(195, 216, 212); //WHITES
        ellipse(75, 103, eyeD); //left eye
        ellipse(125, 103, eyeD); //right eye
    fill(hairR -120, hairG -120, hairB -120); //PUPIL
        ellipse(75, 102, eyeD -7); //left eye
        ellipse(125, 102, eyeD -7); //right eye
}

function mousePressed() {
    chin = random(120, 150);
    shirt = random(150, 200);
    hairR = random(0, 255);
    hairG = random(0, 255);
    hairB = random(0, 255);
    skinR = random(0, 255);
    skinG = random(0, 255);
    skinB = random(0, 255);
    mouthY = random(130, 145);
    mouthW = random(10, 35);
    mouthH = random(5, 10);
    eyeD = random(10, 30);
}

blog 02

Screen shot from n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com

Section D 

Evette LaComb

Nervous System – Jessica Rosenkrantz

  • Regarding the project, what do you admire about it, and why do you admire these aspects of it?
    • The company states they are, “a generative design studio that works at the intersection of science, art and technology”. They have several concepts highlighted on their site, but many utilize an interactive program to create one of a kind jewelry pieces for the customers. The first item I looked at was a custom earring made out of a honeycomb structure. The program allowed me to choose the outline of the cells, divide the cells, as well as apply “forces” that swirled and manipulated the cells further. What I admire most is how they allow the customer to have a creative hand in the final product they are receiving. The concept not only spreads the work of the creator, Jessica Rosenkrantz, or that of  the program alone, but the interaction between the three.
  • What do you know (or what do you suppose) about the algorithm that generated the work?
    • I would guess the program I interacted with used a visual generation system. The forces probably manipulated the arks and positions of the visual features to some mathematical formula. The Interface interacted with the human to change variables in the code that displayed the final product generated on the side display.  
  • In what ways are the creator’s artistic sensibilities manifest in their algorithm?
    • Jessica Rosenkrantz, is credited as the founder. From looking at the work on the site, I think there’s a clear inspiration from the interaction of computational and organic creation. The designs are based on grid systems that end up looking almost like a ptree dish, or growing plant. In particular one of their projects was originally developed to simulate the generation of veins in leaves, and later became a tool for art.

https://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/projects/sets/networks/

project 1

this is my project

sketch

The most interesting part of this project was finding ways to creatively layer shapes to make new ones.

function setup() {
    createCanvas(200, 200);
    angleMode(DEGREES);
    text("p5.js vers 0.9.0 test.", 10, 15);
}

function draw() {
    background(195, 216, 212); //LIGHT MINT
    noStroke(); //apply to all bellow 
    fill(70, 45, 45); //DARK BROWN 
        rect(35, 50, 130, 130); //background hair 
    fill(100, 169, 150); //DARK MINT 
        ellipse(100, 200, 170, 150)//shirt
    fill(200, 162, 146); //MEDIUM FACE
        triangle(60, 125, 140, 125, 100, 175); //neck
        ellipse(50, 93, 45, 45); //ear left
        ellipse(150, 93, 45, 45); //right ear
    fill(225, 196, 183); //LIGHT FACE 
        ellipse(100, 90, 100, 120);//face
    fill(195, 216, 212); //forhead cover (hide top of head poking out of bangs)
        ellipse(100, 50, 100, 50)
    fill(130, 90, 70); //MEDIUM BROWN  
        ellipse(70, 64, 85, 55); //left hair Bang
        ellipse(130, 64, 85, 55); //right hair Bang
        ellipse(100, 130, 30, 5); //mouth
    fill(200, 162, 146); //MEDIUM FACE 
        ellipse(75, 106, 25, 25); //left eye
        ellipse(125, 106, 25, 25); //right eye
    fill(230, 130, 130); //PINK
        ellipse(100, 115, 15, 10); //nose?
    fill(195, 216, 212); //LIGHT MINT
        ellipse(75, 103, 20, 20); //left eye
        ellipse(125, 103, 20, 20); //right eye
    fill(70, 45, 45); //DARK BROWN
        ellipse(75, 102, 13, 13); //left eye
        ellipse(125, 102, 13, 13); //right eye
    //fill(225, 196, 183); //LIGHT FACE
        //rect(55, 92, 90, 7); //brow 
}

My Inspiration

Evette LaComb
Mario Kart 8

  • What do you admire about the project, and why do you admire these aspects of it?
    I admire Mario Kart 8 because of the fluency of interaction between the player and the system. I enjoy the customization of the cars as well as the choice of tracks. I enjoy the random features such as the ability cubes, as well as the skill based aspect of the game play.
  • Who created it and how long did it take them to create it?
    Nintendo created the game directed by Kosuke Yabuki. The game took two years to develop.
  • To the best of your knowledge, did creating this project require the development of custom software/scripts, or did the authors create the project using “off-the-shelf” (commercial) software?
    I believe Nintendo used custom software
  • What prior works might the project’s creators have been inspired by?
    The project’s creators were inspired by previous games in the series as well as other racing games of the time.
  • To what opportunities or futures does the project point, if any?
    I think this game points to a future of racing games, as well as party games. The random features of the game make it less serious, and I think a lot of Nintendo’s games especially in the Mario universe reflect that. Hopefully we can look forward to more surprising and exciting games to play with friends and family in the future.
  • Provide a link (if possible) to the work, and a full author and title reference.
    https://mariokart8.nintendo.com/