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Generative Study 1 Final

Naomi Takatsuka Koh

Thursday, Sep 24, 2020 - 04:26:31 pm

@ naomi's portfolio

Materials

Other than using magnets to create spontaneous movements, natural materials were chosen as inspired by Fujimoto Yukio’s work. These include seashells, wood, and corals.

Sounds

While playing with the different materials and listening to their sound, I noticed some materials make higher pitched sounds and some lower. With this, I decided to make the chimes have 3 differently pitched tones, classifying them Read more →

Categories: Final Project | Process | Research
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dejan.grba
Class notes recap In addition to sonic/acoustic qualities of your chimes, their visual and kinetic qualities are important parts of the overall experience, so take that into account in further planning and designing. You need to include some more sound sources. In order to create a complex generative dynamics, you need to pay a lot of attention and to invest some time in coordinating/calibrating all the mechanical aspects and factors of each individual chime suspension and of the whole system. Add some external device which will initiate and sustain the interesting generative sound experience. It can be a mechanical device like metronome, or an electromagnet for more variable options of generativity. You can start with a mechanical device, and once you construct a well functioning system around it, proceed with an electromagnet which can be controlled by analogue means (potentiometer) or digitally through a microcontroller and sensors.
dejan.grba
You should also try to assemble your chimes so that all the acoustic objects are hanging (none are on the surface), except in the setups where you have a relatively heavy but acoustically very efficient object.
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Exploratory Sketch Final Iteration

Samuel Ng

Wednesday, Sep 23, 2020 - 10:30:04 pm

@ SAM

Movement with Neurons

A quick recap of my sketch, I wanted to depict the movement of the non-linear and unpredictability element of fish movements. To make my idea possible, I used processing as my medium.

Research

I started by exploring the various behaviours and movements of the fishes influenced by their neurons’ connectivity. I felt that it is essential Read more →

Categories: Process
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dejan.grba
Good progress, nice observations in What I have learned..., and excellent post! As for your idea to use particle movement for creating abstract drawings, a quick initial referenc for inspiration and reflection is Casey Reas (a co-initiator of Processing, together with Ben Fry). I will provide more examples as we move forward.
dejan.grba
Class notes recap Sound/music, just like all other formal elements of an artwork, have to be there for a reason. The more meaningful and relevant that reason is, the more chance the final work has to be successful. Continuous coloration changes in groups of particles is somewhat confusing and mainly aesthetic rather than functional. However, coloration will make sense when you simply apply one distinct color to all members of each species. It is good to be both respectful and critical with the works that inspire our creative projects. As we go along, I will provide you with more examples on parametric and particle-based generative drawings/visuals.
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Exploratory Generative Study — Update

Praveen Ramesh

Thursday, Sep 17, 2020 - 04:03:28 pm

@ prav

Contacts:

I will be working with 5 contacts (the few I mainly communicate and have some sort of emotionally intimacy with in this current period). It is significant to note that these dynamics might change over time and completely disappear too — this however will be part of tracking the transient role we play in each other’s Read more →

Categories: Process
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dejan.grba
The new overall structure seems fine. Circular instead of rectangular grid is an improvement, exactly for the reasons you outlined. You can decide weather to go for circular or spiral overall composition of charts as you go along and collect enough charts, so you can test it out visually. In general, a spiral structure suggest the open-ended nature of emotional transactions more clearly, while with a circle you will induce the idea of enclosure, weather in temporal or broader conceptual context. It is important that you find the way to differentiate the participants not only geometrically by also by color, for easier tracking. You need to designate the keyword(s) for each feeling being charted to clarify each chart and help the viewer build their own interpretation of the relations. Also, you need to add date/time stamps to each chart to communicate the temporal dynamics without physically distorting the overall composition of all charts. You need to find the way to do this clearly but unobtrusively. You can think about enhancing this initial concept into an interactive data-viz system for your following generative art project. If you decide to go in that direction, you need to find the way to address the topic: surprise. However, this continuation idea is only a suggestion on my part, and it is, of course, completely your decision. Anyway, we can discuss it further next class if you want.
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Generative Art First Iteration | Progress Report 2 | Once Upon a Huh?

Joey

Wednesday, Sep 16, 2020 - 03:15:44 am

@ jznki

Week 2 has better progress!

I managed to fix up some of the errors I have faced after chugging a whole cup of homemade starbucks coffee.

Errors I managed to fix:

Having 2 clickable options that will fade after the person interacting has clicked one of the options. Originally, I planned to have 3 options but due to time constraint, I shall stick Read more →
Categories: Process
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dejan.grba
Good work Joey, and well prepared progress update! Two-option selection is all right, of course, that is as long as there is more than one option offered for selection, the intended illusion of coherent logic is projected on the visitor/reader. Keep it up!
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Generative Sketch and Study Updates

Alina Ling

Wednesday, Sep 16, 2020 - 01:06:39 am

@ Alina Ling

SOUND OF STONES

Project: Creating an instrumental system that uses visual data of textures (stones) to generate sound in real time

For the project, there are two parts: 1. Converting three-dimensional forms into visual data 2. Connecting the data with audio for real-time generation

Generative Sketch

Over week 5, I experimented with the  depth image and raw depth data from kinect to processing to see what Read more →

Categories: Process
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dejan.grba
Alina, I am glad to reiterate what I told you in the class: Great work on your exploratory generative study, and thank you for an exemplar process documentation work! (...if only the links were active, ha ha!). Keep it up! Your complete strategy seems fine, and I agree that you should try to explore the Kinect scanning and exploit to the max. Although its range and precision ate not intended for small objects relatively close by, maybe you can calibrate the whole setup so that it can work well even with stones, for example. This would entail lighting conditions + position for Kinect (probably fixed) + the "stage" for the object which will be sonified + the distance + plus shifting/tuning the input data in code. There is a chance that this setup works well for stones, in which case you can concentrate on refining the physical setup and the code for more robust sonification and overall generative experience instead of re-focusing the generative system around RGB+L and IR sensors. I like the idea of inviting visitors to pick up the stones on their way from A to B, to be scannified in your work. In that regard, although it is not directly related to your work, look up Hiroyuki Masuyama's 01.01.2001-31.12.2001 (2002): https://youtu.be/-8e7pSPYZVg. For sonification, I don't believe you must use Python. You can go from Kinect via Processing to SuperCollider using OSC. Here are a few quick links: http://www.erase.net/projects/processing-sc/ https://funprogramming.org/138-Processing-talks-to-SuperCollider-via-OSC.html https://youtu.be/0af9NupBQS0 You should expand this with your own research. If you encounter some difficulties there, please let me know, and I will ask Philippe Kocher (who is our next guest speakerand an expert on SC) to try and help you out. I hope this helps.
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Phototropism: First iteration

rachbuttybutt

Tuesday, Sep 15, 2020 - 04:03:43 pm

@ beagles & golden retrievers

Done using processing.

In this example, the light source is coming from the right. Hence the tree branches out towards the right. They are created from adding branches from previous branches, with the trunk being the first “branch”.

At the end of each branch, there is a 60% chance for the next branch to grow to the right, and 20% to the Read more →

Categories: Process
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dejan.grba
Rachael, this is a good start, and all the observations you have made for enhancement and further development are relevant, so please go on and address them. Once you do that, you can go further, by creating an external object in Processing, which generates the growth factor (or growth influence) similar to a light source in nature such as the Sun. The influence of this object can then be varied, for example by moving it around the stage with the mouse, and by controlling its strength via keyboard or on-screen slider. Moving forward, you can add more than one light source object with different characteristics, time-based variability (like
dejan.grba
...the actual sunlight, etc. For further development, you may try to expand your system into a 3D space. You can do all this in Processing. I hope this helps.
dejan.grba
Look forward to seeing the demo!
dejan.grba
Since we had no time to do progress update on your exploratory generative studies in the online class last week, please post it here before Tuesday 22 September 11:59 PM so I can give you some more feedback before you finish it up for the class next week. If you need to discuss it live before next class, do let me know so we can set up a quick Zoom meeting. At the latest, of course, post your final version before Wednesday 23 September 11:59 PM.
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Movement with Neurons – Second Iteration *Updated*

Samuel Ng

Tuesday, Sep 15, 2020 - 10:42:17 am

@ SAM

Sketch Exploration/Changes

Reactive Trails

I have modified the particle trails to be more reactive based on its speed. For example, particles that are moving slower will have a shorter trail; particles that are moving fast will have a longer trail.

Initial Appearance of the Sketch

The initial sequence of the sketch is modified, whereby particles will “explode” with some particles leaving outside the sketch Read more →

Categories: Process
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dejan.grba
Good progress, Samuel. In addition to my previous suggestions that you still may want to try and work out, here is a simple one, applicable to both 2D and 3D geometries: different colors for different species.
dejan.grba
Look forward to seeing your live demo!
Samuel Ng
Hi Prof, I have added a video demo of the simulation. Thank you!
dejan.grba
Very good! One of the possible elaborations of the particles' behavior is to add some wiggle to their trajectories. This can be a slight sinusoidal offset to the main trajectory vector of the particle, with some inertia to the tail. Fish locomotion: https://youtu.be/bdm-SdIG8kk. However, this one is more on the aesthetic side, so first explore the enhancements that we discussed previously.
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Project 1 Generative Study Process

Naomi Takatsuka Koh

Monday, Sep 14, 2020 - 09:22:15 pm

@ naomi's portfolio

This generative study aims to using magnets to manipulate natural objects to create spontaneous and random sounds

The first trial was done using corals. The magnets were initially hanging side by side however the attraction was too strong which did not cause movement, and I had to move the hold the magnet instead to manipulate the hanging magnet.

Second structure using an Read more →

Categories: Process | Research
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dejan.grba
Naomi, these initial trials point to three important aspects: mechanical, sonic, and elaboration as you progress with this study, and possibly elaboration through the second generative artwork assignment (if you decide to continue expanding this work). With the mechanical, you need to find the most effective suspension materials (strings), and the ways to suspend the objects and magnets, which will probably depend on the character of individual objects you choose. You need to do some brainstorming and experimentation for this. Sonic qualities of the objects you select are, of course, crucial, just like in regular chimes. This requires experimentation as well, but you can aid it by doing some research on the sonic characteristics of various objects that you can and would be interested to use. For elaboration, one possibility may be to combine several suspensions (objects with magnets), each with its own magnet, carefully balanced into a static configuration which can be generatively disrupted by slightly moving one of the suspensions or by introducing another magnet into the structure. Another possibility, perhaps for further elaboration, would be to use electromagnet(s) whose magnetic strength can be varied by the electric current which itself can be varied by one or more input parameters - analog or digital. With such unstable system as with several plain magnets, one electromagnet is enough for creating interesting disruptions. Electromagnetic "signal", for example in electromagnets used in electric guitars, is rich and can produce multilayered outcome. If you want to follow this idea, you can start with Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnet), and you should also talk with Vladimir on Thursday because he has been experimenting with electromagnets a lot. I hope this helps.
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Project 1: Generative Study First Iteration | Once Upon a Huh?

Joey

Thursday, Sep 10, 2020 - 06:16:58 pm

@ jznki

Just to recap, I am making a generative storytelling project via HTML, CSS and JS Coding. The story progresses randomly despite the reader seemingly picking options to progress the story, giving them an illusion of autonomy or fate. This story will be centered around a parody of Fairy Tales.

For week 1, I basically crafted the structure of the HTML code Read more →

Categories: Process
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dejan.grba
Joey, You have a correct strategic outline for your project development. So, it is crucial that you have your page contents manipulation completely under control. Once you have that working, your hierarchy should be: 1. Specific text contents: keep the narrative snippets simple/short but witty and effective, 2. Visual components and images (if any) and 3. General design aesthetics. For the page contents manipulation you need JavaScript or jQuery DOM (Document Object Model) manipulation methods and techniques. This video tutorial shows some nice things you can do with DOM just with JavaScript: https://youtu.be/wiozYyXQEVk. I suppose you can do all you need with JS only. Here is the official reference page for jQuery DOM manipulation: https://api.jquery.com/category/manipulation/. Here are some of the jQuery methods with tutorial: https://www.tutorialsteacher.com/jquery/jquery-dom-manipulation. And here: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/jquery/jquery-dom.htm. Start with JavaScript, search StackOverflow for your specific needs, and do the web search. I am not sure if you need to use Bootstrap for this project, but it is up to you. I hope this helps.
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Exploratory Generative Study

Praveen Ramesh

Thursday, Sep 10, 2020 - 10:49:41 am

@ prav

Themes

Shared Emotional Space, Virtuality, Latent Influence/Connections, Indirect Affect, Intimacy.

Concept

Exploring how our screens and phones have become augmentations of our psyche and emotions. Our phones are vessels that hold all the information about our lives — private and public.

We leave both digital and physical traces on our phones.

Physical: Fingerprints, the pressure, speed and direction in Read more →

Categories: Process
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dejan.grba
Hi Praveen, check this out: http://sites.bxmc.poly.edu/~lukedubois/projects/index.html?id=selfie
dejan.grba
Praveen, You need to develop a clear structure and methodology for this project, and apply them. Here are some suggestions: 1. Select contacts: probably your most frequent and most interesting chat contacts in this period. 2. Select keywords to track: several (not too many) emotionally relevant but frequent enough keywords in your chat sessions. 3. Select a reasonable time frame for recording, establishing relations and making graphs. You may include a list of contacts and keywords in the final project. Contact names can be aliases, of course, while keywords have to be real. 4. While you collect the data, play with the design of the graphs. The design should be simple but informative/telling, and please try to avoid dryness. There are many excellent examples of representing relationships in modern data visualization techniques, so look that up online for inspiration to find your own style. You can also search for relational maps in data visualization. Also some of these books, some of which should be available at the ADM Library: Halpern, Orit. Beautiful Data: A History of Vision and Reason Since 1945. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015. Klanten, Robert, N. Bourquin and S. Ehmann, eds. Data Flow: Visualising Information in Graphic Design, Berlin: Die Gestalten Verlag, 2008. Klanten, Robert, N. Bourquin and S. Ehmann, eds. Data Flow 2: Visualising Information in Graphic Design, Berlin: Die Gestalten Verlag, 2010.Lima, Manuel. Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011. McCandless, David. Information is Beautiful. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2010. McCandless, David. Knowledge Is Beautiful: Impossible Ideas, Invisible Patterns, Hidden Connections—Visualized. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2014. Rendgen, Sandra. Information Graphics. Cologne: Taschen, 2012. Steele, Julie and Noah Iliinsky. Beautiful Visualization. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, 2010. However, please do not lose yourself in books (you can always return to them later), but pay attention to the project as a whole. 5. Select a reasonable time frame for rounding up the project: final assembly and presentation of the graphs. I hope this helps.
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