{"id":1069,"date":"2021-09-22T12:25:19","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T16:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/?page_id=1069"},"modified":"2021-09-28T08:40:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T12:40:37","slug":"5-shape","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/offerings\/5-shape\/","title":{"rendered":"#5: Shape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Please respond to these prompts before the beginning of class on Wednesday, September 29.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>1. Blob Reading<\/h3>\n<blockquote><p><em>A blob is a raw amorphous form<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a potentiality<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is an indeterminate destination<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a liminal manifestation of the inexplicable<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is neither this nor that but points as is<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a transitional state of being<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a subtle deconstruction of preconceptions<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a real-time negotiation<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a polite refusal of hierarchy<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a poetic irregularity<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a vague matter of existence<\/em><br \/>\n<em>A blob is a sensitization to nonlinearity<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/theaccomplices.org\/portfolio\/entering-the-blobosphere-a-musing-on-blobs-by-laura-hyunjhee-kim\/\">Laura Hyunjhee Kim<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Please read one or more of the following excerpts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Entering the Blobosphere<\/em>, by Laura Hyunjhee Kim [<a href=\"http:\/\/theaccomplices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/BLOBS-KIM-EXCERPT.pdf\">online<\/a>][<a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/BLOBS-KIM-EXCERPT.pdf\">PDF<\/a>]<\/li>\n<li><em>Blobjects: Beyond the New Fluidity in Design<\/em>, by Steven Holt and Maria Skov [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/22260328\/Blobjects-Beyond-The-new-fluidity-in-design-Steven-Skov-Holt-and-Maria-Holt-Skov-2005\">online<\/a>][<a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/blobjects.pdf\">PDF<\/a>]<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Good Shape&#8221;, from <em>The Nature of Order<\/em>, by Christopher Alexander [<a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/good-shape.pdf\">PDF<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In your blog post for Part 2 (&#8220;Blob Family&#8221;, below) please <strong>add<\/strong> a sentence about something that caught your attention or influenced your thinking from these readings.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>2. Blob Family<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_1367.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1072\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_1367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_1367.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_1367-640x465.jpg 640w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_1367-768x558.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The objective of this prompt is to develop your skills in the control of expressive shape.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Write a program<\/strong> that generates various compositions of &#8220;blob families.&#8221; Your blobs must be closed curves, constructed of vector data, and at least one of them must be filled with some sort of hatch. For inspiration, consider works by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=jean+arp&amp;tbm=isch&amp;chips=q:jean+arp,g_1:composition:qkKObJ-meXw%3D&amp;hl=en\">Hans Arp<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=Joan+Miro&amp;tbm=isch\">Joan Miro<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guggenheim.org\/exhibition\/hilma-af-klint\">Hilma af Klint<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%40zachlieberman%20blob&amp;src=typed_query\">Zach Lieberman<\/a>. <em>Now<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Run<\/strong> your generator a few times to produce different compositions. <strong>Collect<\/strong> screenshots of some of your favorite compositions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Select<\/strong> a particular composition you like, <strong>export<\/strong> it as an SVG, and <strong>render<\/strong> it with a pen plotter. <strong>Do<\/strong> some quick tests with your materials before plotting.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consider<\/strong> your materials! You are welcome (but not required) to use colored inks. <strong>Use<\/strong> nice (heavy) paper. <strong>Note<\/strong>: <em>You are prohibited from using standard white printer paper<\/em>. You are welcome (but not required) to use colored paper. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/golanlevin\/DrawingWithMachines\/blob\/main\/machines\/hp7475a\/README.md\">plot with the HP7475a<\/a> if you want to use multiple colors, and if you have time.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Photograph<\/strong> your plotted composition with your phone or other camera. Be sure your composition is plotted before the beginning of class on Wednesday, September 29.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Hints:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>There&#8217;s no single correct technique to make a blob.<\/em> You are welcome to consider possible techniques including (but not limited to) making polylines made from particle systems; making high-order Catmull-Rom or Bezier curves; tracing the contours (2D isolines) of metaballs; concatenating elliptical arcs; calculating a Cassini ellipse, <a href=\"https:\/\/mathworld.wolfram.com\/Cranioid.html\">cranioid<\/a>, or other parametric curve from Mathworld; simulating a smooth ropelike contour using Verlet integration, etc. Some possibly helpful Coding Train videos can be found below.<\/li>\n<li><em>There&#8217;s no single correct technique to fill (hatch) an arbitrary shape.<\/em> You are welcome to use a <a href=\"https:\/\/rosettacode.org\/wiki\/Ray-casting_algorithm\">point-in-polygon test<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/rosettacode.org\/wiki\/Bitmap\/Flood_fill\">flood-fill algorithm<\/a>, or an API\/library of your choice, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/CreativeInquiry\/PEmbroider\/\">PEmbroider<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/plottertools\/hatched\">hatched<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/shapely.readthedocs.io\/en\/latest\/\">Shapely<\/a>, etc.<\/li>\n<li><em>There is no single correct technique to construct an &#8216;attractive&#8217; form or an attractive composition of forms<\/em>. Devise your own principles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To document your work, the requirements are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Create<\/strong> a blog post on this website. <strong>Title<\/strong> it <em>Nickname-BlobFamily<\/em>, and <strong>Categorize<\/strong> it, <em>05-BlobFamily<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>In your web page, <strong>write<\/strong> 100-200 words about your process. Be sure to give credit to any libraries or code that you used from elsewhere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Include<\/strong> a sentence or two about how the reading(s) and\/or inspirational viewings, above, influenced your thinking.<\/li>\n<li>In your web page, <strong>embed<\/strong> the screenshots of some of your compositions (including un-plotted ones).<\/li>\n<li>In your web page, <strong>embed<\/strong> a photograph of your final plot.<\/li>\n<li>If appropriate, <strong>embed<\/strong> a photograph of a detail view of your plot (for example, a detailed view of the hatching).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Some possibly helpful Coding Train videos:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Coding Challenge #36: Blobby!\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rX5p-QRP6R4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Coding Challenge #28: Metaballs\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ccYLb7cLB1I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Coding in the Cabana 5: Marching Squares\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0ZONMNUKTfU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please respond to these prompts before the beginning of class on Wednesday, September 29. 1. Blob Reading A blob is a raw amorphous form A blob is a potentiality A blob is an indeterminate destination A blob is a liminal manifestation of the inexplicable A blob is neither this nor that but points as is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/offerings\/5-shape\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;#5: Shape&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1069"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1175,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1069\/revisions\/1175"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}