Student Area

marimonda – LookingOutwards-02

“cclchh” by Manolo ide

This piece to me by Manolo ide just was really visually fascinating to me because of the almost topographical nature of the gradient shapes. I really like the almost optical illusion nature of this piece and how it feels almost three dimensional, when I first looked at this I just imagined myself laying down on top of this image. Very nice.

I also found this project by Zach Lieberman that I found really beautiful, I don’t know if it is generative but the way this project plays with typography is gorgeous to me, especially the way the texts organically disintegrates.

junebug-LookingOutwards02

Manolo Gamboa Naon’s “a02”

I chose this project by Manolo Gamboa Naon because I just love the idea of trying to replicate Earth’s complicated and beautiful nature through technology. I appreciate this piece’s intricate details and the amounts of layering that occurred. I love the complementary colors of red and green that contrast each other beautifully, and the layering of artifacts creates almost a visible texture.

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I chose Helena Sarin’s work, as I like how the work represents human taste, while taking advantage of the computational medium. The organic lines and composition makes you believe that this was a doodle, but the intricate ‘maze’ in each blob was made possible through the precision of a computer.

I enjoy simple and honest graphical forms, and this piece seems to achieve that in an interesting way.

Project link

 

mokka – Looking Outwards 02

Adaptations

Any visual that can make my mind wonder all the things that it could be always will have a special place in my heart. It makes me think: what is what is adapting? Is it my eyes or is it the artwork? I truly enjoy watching Sophia’s exploration of artificial lifeforms and nature itself.

Adaptations by Sophia Crespo(@sophicrespo91 on IG)

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‘10,000 Bowls of Oatmeal Problem’ is when a generator fails to produce visually unique outputs to a human eye, even if each output is unique in its computation. It draws its metaphors from bowls of oatmeals, as looking at 10,000 different versions of oatmeals does not intrigue the viewer to look at the granular details of each bowl of oatmeal.

I think this scenario can become a problem when you know that each output needs to be distinct from every other output. For example, if a generator produces game characters in a multiplayer game, each one has to be perceptually different from each other. Without the difference, players will become confused and frustrated, perhaps killing a player on the team by accident.

On the other hand, this problem can actually benefit scenarios when you want an output that changes over time. Procedural landscapes are a good example. When watching a procedurally generated landscape in continuum, you don’t want the user to be startled by starkly different images produced every 2 seconds. Instead, you want enough similarities between each image to maintain the identity of the place you produce.

Artistically, this problem can be solved by identifying the exact attribute you want to be different in each output. After narrowing down your goal, then you can go into the codebase to tweak the problem at hand technically.

Toad2 – LookingOutwards1

Fluid Leaves – Reinoud van Laar

Fluid Leaves is a project made by Reinoud van Laar for tea boutique, ‘Tee & Cupp’ in Xian. This project generates prints of non overlapping leaves in a fluid pattern similar to that of tea leaves floating in water onto paper cups.

The elegance of each print initially drew me into the project such as the delicate shapes and simplistic color palette. I also found the application of  generating patterns that are not each perceptually unique while also having perceptual difference as a great means of branding for the tea shop since the shop could maintain a uniform look while ensuring each customer has a drink that is special in its own way.

This project uses programs such as Geomerative, ControlP5,
Toxiclibs, and Mesh and applies topics such as Perlin noise, displacement maps,  and fluid dynamics to create the water like movements. Each leaf is made in Processing by randomly varying certain characteristics of each leaf such as the traits of each vein and stem to create unique leaf shapes. Additionally, the liquid feel of the pattern is created by fluid dynamics mapped to vector paths.

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via GIPHY

Full video: https://vimeo.com/254393034

hash2ash by panGenerator is an installation that uses multiple modalities to convey a unique, individualized interaction between the visitor and the installation. As a user inputs their selfie onto the given link, a granular display of their selfie appears on the big display, and as soon as the image appears, all the particles that make up the image start to fall and disintegrate. The digital rendering is accompanied by real falling pebbles (“ashes”) underneath the display, adding an auditory and tangible experience to what is considered as a very virtual act of taking selfies. The essential idea of the project is to convey the fear of losing all your digital records due to technical failures.

This project is one my favorites, as the digital and physical rendering are beautifully linked together through code. I like how controlled the “waterfall” effect is on the screen and how the animation precisely matches the falling grains below the screen. Each grain feels alive when you take a closer look. I’m inspired the way the computation imitates real life physics, yet opens up a vision into a fictional world.

I’m not sure how many people were involved in making the piece, but the studio that produced this is a relatively small organization, so I imagine less than 20 people were involved.* I’m fairly positive that the artists developed their custom software to develop it.

*EDIT: panGenerator is made of only four artists!

 

 

gregariosa-Map

 

Project link

This map preserves the past and the present. By generating seeds of fire before their eruption in a never-ending forest, the map reflects how memories overlap and intertwine to create new versions of ‘places’ in our head.

Technical Process:

From the start, I knew that I wanted to create a level of depth in my map through overlay of elements. After scouring through some videos online, I decided to manipulate and repeat variations of recursive circles. By randomizing the distribution, color, size and other elements, I was able to convey a sense of dreamy haze that come with remembering an event and the place.

 

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Description

This is a terrain generator which generates random terrains with different levels of heights. It also generates two types of trees of various sizes with random positions on the terrain.

Process

I was inspired by this dynamic webgl example and decided to create a static version. I first created the terrain using PlaneBufferGeometry and displace the vertices of the plane randomly when generating different results.

Then I used the positions of the vertices of the plane to place the trees onto the terrain. I decided to use a set number of trees but tweak the sizes and dimensions of the results. Each type of trees has its own set of positions and is regenerated when space bar is pressed.