Updated site

Hi everyone!

My project site is updated. I have added in the "artsourcing" projects that others have made. Check it out and see what people have been working on.

SHARE

http://share.media.mit.edu/


Share is an experiment in designing a networked programming tool for distributed communities of practice.
It is an IDE that automatically shares all the code you write with everyone else that is using Share, and keeps track of how that code is used. Thus allowing you to see the network that grows around code you contribute to, borrow from, or just happen to be interested in.
Share is built upon processing!

remixed

Hi.

Another quick update. In this class I have really thought a lot about the nature of artistic visualization. My theory is that it is almost viral. Movements spread and catch on as fast as people can see them. What better way to track something like this than by using code?

I have been reaching out to the processing community and sharing code with them. My idea is to mutate the sketches I generate by letting these become more of a collaboration. 

Tomorrow I will post the first of these experiments.

other types of tools for artists/designers

Hi everyone. As you all know, my work in class is all done in Processing. I thought it would be good to also mention other tools designers can use in somewhat similar ways to Processing. Maybe these are tools you would want to check out for the future? This will also be on my processing blog in greater detail - I thought that people interested in Processing would also want to know what else is out there. I haven't found a good source that lists them all together in a clear way. 

openFrameworks (oF) - I have  not yet made anything with openFrameworks but it seems like the openFrameworks library and the Processing library have many similarities. Just as Processing is built upon Java, openFrameworks is built upon C++.  Unlike Processing, openFrameworks does not have an IDE built in.

pure data (pd) - Pure data was introduced to me by Pat Pagano. He's worked with it forever and uses it to create immersive visuals, control lighting, and create interactive art. I have done a little work in pure data. Pure data is a graphical programming language - the programs you create look like flow charts rather than lines of text.

processing progress

For this class I am working on presenting all of my Processing sketches in one place. The most user-friendly way to do this was to create a blog that also functions as an interactive portfolio. Plus, I plan to continue working in Processing and updating the blog portion with information as well as great resources.  Blogger seemed like an obvious choice and something I could upgrade as much or as little as I would like - wordpress was another option but seems to reject a lot of simple html editing as well as not displaying the java applets correctly.* I'm still working on how everything looks but please check out http://processingprogress.blogspot.com/ . These sketches will also be on http://www.openprocessing.org/ because I hope to work collaboratively in the future with other artists.

*It seems like a lot of people have had similar problems with wordpress from what I have looked at online. Will blog more on that later.

but what is it going to look like?

Hi everyone.

My drawing tools in Processing are coming along slowly but I realize now that I haven't addressed something just as important as doing research and putting in the time to learn - I haven't discussed how this will be presented! If their is one thing I have learned from Tufte, how you display everything is key to effective communication. I mean, I could just show everyone some lines of code but that's not exactly the goals of this project. I want to show the research as well as the tools I am developing.

The beauty of Processing is that it is java based so it's perfect for the web. So I have decided to make a website/blog that is easily updatable and easy for others to use. Processing sketches can easily be displayed as applets on blogs. Wordpress has some very simple clean templates that I can adapt to what I want so I think that this is where I'm going to put my work. Eventually I would like to buy my own domain and transfer all of my work there. I haven't decided if I am going to go the paid route, it seems like with the amount of data for this one project I would not have to. Plus, I have used blogger for several years and I would like to see if their is any difference.

GUI for Processing

In response to Francesca's post here is a little sample of a GUI that can control x parameters by simply feeding the value of the sliders into whatever you need to change. Thanks Anton for integrating Zoog with Handles:-)

For now only the first two slides do something (change the size of the head) but you can download the source, open it in Processing and assign the other sliders to change color, position or whatever you want in your project. For example in the code:

ellipse(300,70, handles[0].length * 2, handles[1].length *2); handles[0] (the first handle) changes the size of the head in the X dimension and handles[1] in the Y

The reason it is multiplied by 2 is simply to extend the range since in the original code the handles are only giving values from 0 to 89 which was too small a change for the head. Experiment with that. Enjoy

Source code: Handles_Control

project update

I have been exploring making my own drawing tools within Processing that are similar to certain imaging editing programs but more custom to what I want to do. The following compositions were made very simply using the mouse and is less than a page of code. The idea is similar to an example on the Processing website. The actual drawing tool is a flower with five petals. I would like to add a GUI that would allow me to simply change the size of the ellipses and the range of colors. Any help would be appreciated.

visualization tool - need feedback

Hi everyone!

After today's class I realize that I might need more feedback from others to complete my short paper and to tweak my project. Since I am actually creating a tool, I want to know what you guys see as problems with image editing programs. Are the options in them too varied? Does the machine ultimately have too much control of your image? Are you an author or a co-author?

I have a problem with how image editing programs work. Most of them seem to revolve around editing photos, not creating new works of art. While, I use Photoshop to present and "clean up" finished drawings, I rarely use it as a tool for creating compositions. Does anyone else have this problem? It does not really serve me as an artist. It seems like you have to adapt to them, rather than they suit your needs. I am creating a program/software/application that can organize and reconfigure my own artwork, sort of like a new collage tool. Simplicity is key for me. I want to create new work from my own sketches.

I want it to be more intuitive and easy to use, Perhaps one day another artist would want to work this way with their own artwork. Or, I could easily collaborate with other artists by combining my artwork with theirs. What would you like to be able to do?

okay i thought the last thing i posted was cool, until i saw this

processing with a midi controller

sorry im like spamming our blog

I wanted to see if I could get Processing to analyze the color in my drawings and then make generative art of this information. This was WAY easier than I thought it would be. Another step closer. Next I want to make a program with a GUI so you can toggle between more than one image and blend them.
So I went from this:

To this:

And this:

To this:

Harmonic Fluids

This is related to the post before the previous, and I find it fascinating. The sounds are generated using an algorithm which is made available for your use if you can understand it! I believe the ray-traced animation was done with 3D Max.

You can download the source code HERE and learn more about this project.

The closest I have gotten to do something like this was by using SuperCollider with which I was able to create very realistic water sounds from scratch but to be honest it was by the time-honored TR method (you guessed it: Trial and Error). Of course I could have put a microphone under water and let nature do the math...but it would not be half as fun for the microphone!

I strongly recommend downloading and using SuperCollider even if you have never attempted to write a line of code. Just by playing with the parameters, as you can do in Processing or PD you can learn an awful lot. (And if Pat is around ask him to give you a push)

information anxiety collage visualizer

I realize now that working with the information stream that is twitter is not very appealing to me. It's a little too single-faceted. I don't think it is the type of data that desires to be made sense of. What is appealing is working with Processing and making use of it's ease and design for artists. Getting very good with the Processing language is one of my major goals in life. What is appealing about twitter is it's properties of dissemination. I would like to get better at explaining that both with traditional media and new media.

Information anxiety is a theme in my own artwork and I have perhaps thousands of sketches and no practical way to compile them or analyze them. In a way, these sketches are like twitter for my brain! They have iconography in them, often include text, and are diary-like.

I would like to create a program/softeware/application that can organize and reconfigure my own artwork, sort of like a new collage tool. I want to create new work from my own little crazy sketches. I want it to be more intuitive and easy to use, Perhaps one day another artist would want to work this way with their own artwork. Or, I could easily collaborate with other artists by combining my artwork with theirs.

This is an evolution of my first project that I would like to become a multi-semester endeavor. I would eventually like it to be projected in the REVE aas well as digital prints made. I would like to learn how I can make generative art utilizing these new media techniques while still maintaining my ideas of aesthetics. Also, twitter and other social media techniques could be implemented as I now know how to interface twitter with Processing.

The painting above is by Julie Mehretu, not me!

OOPS!

Thanks Ashutosh for the math. Play with the code! Make sure to remove the comment tag at /*the beginning and at the end */ which I had to add to prevent blogger from nagging!

/*int NO_OF_CIRCLES = 10;

float[] theta = new float[NO_OF_CIRCLES];

float[] deltaTheta = new float[NO_OF_CIRCLES];

float [][] nextXY = new float[NO_OF_CIRCLES][NO_OF_CIRCLES] ;

//int [][][] colorOFCIRCLE = new int [NO_OF_CIRCLES][NO_OF_CIRCLES][NO_OF_CIRCLES] ;

color[] colors = new color[NO_OF_CIRCLES] ;

void setup()

{

size(400,400);

//setup first case then the rest

theta[0] = 0 ;

for (int i = 1 ; i <>

theta[i] = theta[i-1] + 15 ;

//setup first case then the rest

deltaTheta[0] = 0.01 ;

for (int i = 1 ; i <>

deltaTheta[i] = deltaTheta[i-1] + 0.05;

//offseting individual circle translations. Could be time based or random

deltaTheta[1] = 0.07;

deltaTheta[2] = 0.09;

deltaTheta[3] = 0.05;

deltaTheta[4] = -0.04;

deltaTheta[5] = 0.03;

deltaTheta[6] = -0.06;

deltaTheta[7] = 0.01;

deltaTheta[8] = -0.08;

//assign random colors to all circles

color c1 = color(102, 102, 0);

for (int i = 1 ; i <>

{

colors[i] = color(random(255),random(255),random(255), 125) ;

}

}

void draw()

{

float siz = random(255);

background(0);

nextXY[0][0] = 200; //mouseX;

nextXY[0][1] = 200; //mouseY;

smooth();

noStroke();

fill(0,0,255,126);

//draw first circle

ellipse(nextXY[0][0], nextXY[0][1], 60, 60); // Gray ellipse

theta[0] += deltaTheta[0] ;

//now draw the rest

for (int i = 1; i <>

{

fill((color)colors[i]) ;

nextXY[i][0] = nextXY[i-1][0] + 60 * cos(theta[i-1]) ;

nextXY[i][1] = nextXY[i-1][1] + 60 * sin(theta[i-1]) ;

ellipse(nextXY[i][0], nextXY[i][1], 60, 60);

theta[i] += deltaTheta[i] ;

}

try{

Thread.currentThread().sleep(10);

}catch (InterruptedException ie) {}

}

OPEN PROCESSING

This site is great for sharing and finding ideas.

http://www.openprocessing.org/

http://www.openprocessing.org/visuals/?visualID=2615

Learning Processing

I have been reading the Learning Processing book, and I was impressed of how well it explains processing. I never thought I could ever make a drawing through programming, but thanks to this book I was able to create my first Zoog. I would like to share it with you guys, but I don't know how to upload it. Any suggestions?

ART && CODE

The 2009 Art&&Code Symposium gathered together some of the pioneers of the open source tools intended to democratize "computer programming for artists, young people, and the rest of us."

The Art&&Code symposium series as well as the social network around it was created by Golan Levin, who is a Professor of Electronic Art at Carnegie Mellon and the director of the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. You can see some fascinating work of his and his collaborators here.

This video is the presentation of Processing, the program developed by Ben Fry and Casey Reas, which is one of the important open source visualization tools that we have at our disposal.

The presentation is a little long but make sure you get to the demos by the various artists they feature and whose work you will surely enjoy and might trigger some ideas of your own.

ART && CODE SYMPOSIUM: Processing, Ben Fry and Casey Reas from STUDIO for Creative Inquiry on Vimeo.

Bill's Brain

Talk about looking deeply inside yourself for answers, or what is the other one? it's good to be introspective? Bill Moorier's coded this interactive brain scan explorer to take a look at his own brain. I am sure our friend Twyla will enjoy this. Maybe an idea to implement in her site? You can play with Bill's brain here

As for my interest in interactivity and storytelling I see lot's of possibilities...hmmm. I can see googoles of data served by every microlayer, now, if I can only remember where I left my glasses...