small realization

while talking to other students about there work today I've found out that there is 2 pieces in the same room that make sound. so unintentionally my work will react with theirs which is pretty cool. it also made me realize that my work being reactive it is adaptive it can fit into a situation where sound is present where the other 2 pieces may battle for recognition mine can step back react and hopefully benefit from them.

THE EASING WORKS

it is working that bit more smoothly ! :D

tests

point hand test

this sketch of the hand was inspired by Buhm Hong by just drawing the points there is lines created by us mentally joining the dots. i don't think it has the apparel of the layered hand but it works a lot faster so possibly have to figure out how to make it look like something i want to show. 
I've added a colour changer when sound reacts as well as the points moving this ends up in a visually interesting effect. the movement of the pixels has a strong resemblance of things blowing in the wind with points over lapping other ones and swirling. 

looking at this piece with my concept in mind of freedom under constrictions i think this hand shows a great sense of freedom as an image but it will always go back to the shape of the hand (when sound stops) and there for i quite like it. there are constrictions to the viewer but they are the one that lets the points float and move. i guess ive just striped it down to the motion in the piece it has lost its depth and complexity something i without i am not happy with.

word and execl

I've managed to get all the code into processing in just over 3 hours which is better than 3 days wooo. the answer was shifting the code into tables and then back to text in word. so for example i told word to convert the text into a table making columns at the spaces so then this enabled me to separate the 3 points that made triangles. then select those columns and convert back to text then split at commas this split between the x and y points. back to text then finally split at decimal points this gave me the columns of x full number coordinates i need for int() finaly adding another column onto the end and converting back to text with commas at the columns the empty one at the end put commas on the last digits.

the good news is that the hand works ! ... but the bad news is that its incredibly slow i need to try and find ways to speed it up currently I've tried all the triangle classes  (TRIANGLES) (TRIANGLE_STRIP) and (TRIANGLE_FAN) the fastest is triangles so I'm going to keep with that. putting no shape class in makes it work faster when there is noFill() but with fill() it is even slower than drawing with triangles. if possible i don't want to change the complexity of the drawing something i could try is making the perspective point a different vector this means the sound doesn't move those points and it should take a 3rd of the points out because x and y stay in the same place.

...

ive put the perspective x and y coordinates in the code looks like this
int xB = 1490;
int yB = 317;
thats before the setup()
then i draw it by putting this into the beginshape(triangles)
 for (int i =0 ; i < (y.length); i+=1) { 
vertex(x[i], y[i]);
 vertex(xB,yB);

the computer runs through the array looping between the vertexs until y.length (or the amount of points y has) this joins every point to xB and yB ... but my theory of making it work faster was wrong im not sure why possibly because it has to make a triangle shape then fill it out of 2 vertex rather than 1 ... but im pretty much baffled and out of my depth with this one.
as well as making it slower it also joined the empty gaps between the fingers (image) this has messed up the layering and it dosent work but possibly potential to make it look like a continues line drawing if i take the xB and yB out.

Buhm Hong (research)

in the stuggle to find new ways to make my piece perfom faster i rememberd this artest from a gallery i had visited in berlin ,Buhm Hong.
his work like mine is bold black on white but instead of lines he uses dots. these dots make up the forms from patterns and links created by the constellations of different size dots. the exhibition i saw had one of these pieces in the window so when inside the light shone through and created this capturing glow resembling something like stars.

to me these woods of black containing stars are enviroments to explore and gaze just like when you look up to the stars you can feel a sense of scale that powerfull scary feeling of how small we really are. in the Weston society it is common to have a drive to make a differece to leave a mark for when we die but the scale of the universe hits me with realistion that it wont matter a thought that gives me a strange feeling with content.

i think I'm going to see what my digital hand looks like as a star or dot formation and see if it works faster hopefully pulling that resemblance of stars within the piece.

Construction

construction of the hand in illustrator i just want to show the depth and layering of each section i personally find it nice to beadle to see behind the the visible. 
the layering of the triangles turned out to be more complicated than i first thought. i have to take in to account what happens when each one of these triangles will move so the dont just need to fit in the section there are in but also when they overlap other sections do they cut through. this needs to be all relative if there a massive sections or one triangle that out layers the wrong ones around it when it moves it could look rubbish. this became esspecially hard to judge when the lines would be at a certain angle that made them have to go behind the one underneath when in a 3-d form it wouldnt work.

i  now need to find a way to take the code into proccessing without painstakingly selecting each point and putting commas between pages of numbers.
this hand has 32 pages of points 8 more than the falling man this amount of points moving to I've sound is probably going to work too slow but i will just have to hope ... but this could fall flat on its face

Gwen Vanhee

Sebastian Neitsch (research)

Sebastian Neitsch is a new digital artest and he really shows some pertential for the mediem the images to the right are of one of his resent projects where mechanical arms from the roof glow and follow around. this really shows the diverserty of proccessing although im making 2d animated imagery as long as somthing is electrical i could pertentoly translate it into sculpture and i think that is where i want to head in the futre but first i need to build the strong building blocks to the moveinto 3-d. on the foundation course i have found that for me to really be happy with my work i like to see it move. movment in art work especially reactive really caqptures me and i feel this piece is harnessing that by getting your attendtion then locking onto you. the sculpture is reflecting your intreast in it right back at you. a comincation between man and mechine looks to the future and asks how equal are we as we become more inderpendant on computers and mechines are we becoming more like them. my recent drawings have been like how a computer draws ... but does a computer everdraw there is always a person behind it creating that drawing but the style of the tools are what people look at when deciding wether its made ona computer or not.

he has also created this sound reactive room by mapping patterns onto the wall with a projecter they move , shake and destort to the sound recorded in through a drop down micriphone. this is exactly how i intend to make my sound reactive piece using live sound from the gallery space to produce movment and excitment in the imagery. the patterns hes chosen is unlike mine. he has taken what could be a wall design and made it surprise people by shifting colour and shape. mine is a piece of art (i think) when reacting or not.  projection mapping as well as the sound reactiveness intreaguse me becuase of the entirety of the walls are covered in his imagery the light changes the space of the room as well bring an entire new dimension to the work and i imagen could be quite hypnotisiong to witness .

extracting from illistrator

exporting.svg files from illustrator i am able to use the drawings in my code but i need access to each individual point so it can move with sound. so i have opened the .svg file in text edit so i can see the code and find the points that make up the form.
 Im going to try and make the falling man image sound reactive. i can use a data array to plot the points one array for x axis and one for y axis. then i should be able to add "in.left.get(i)*200" to the x and y with stored points. so it should be elegantly written somthing like this:

 "triangle (x[i]+in.left.get*200,y[i]+in.right.get*200);"

I've also figured out that the middle number of the array should be the amount of points but instead of counting everything i can write it like (x.length) this tells the computer the amount of points in x is the number i want there.

 getting the points that make up the drawing from the .svg file as become more time consuming than i first anticipated becuase the code is written differently from the proccessing i can not simply copy and paste it in. instead i need to command+doubleclick every point on the x axis in order and then repeat for y axis. becuase the buffersize is int i have to make x and y int this means i cant use decimal points, there probably is a way but i am running out of time so this is a small example of what should be happening.

.svg

polygon fill="#FFFFFF" stroke="#231F20" points="1132.655,378.347 1138.701,313.936 1013.674,354.385 "/

polygon fill="#FFFFFF" stroke="#231F20" points="1132.655,378.347 1138.701,313.936 1020.624,352.925 "/

polygon fill="#FFFFFF" stroke="#231F20" points="1132.655,378.347 1138.701,313.936 1020.624,352.925 "/

proccessing
int[] x = { 1020,1138,1132,1020,1138,1132,1013,1138,1132 };
int[] y = {352,313,378,352,313,378,354,313,378};

ive also had to reverse the points because i think processing layers it in the opposite way. this seems ok but i have 25 pages of plotting points to go through this could get boring to say the least.

angled perspective

taking inluence form chin i decided to revisit my hand form and take his blue cones but destort them. i found that trying to destort the perspective lines like it would do in 3-d hard to comprehend and in certain parts (thumb) the pattern has gone wrong as i got the layering wrong. this mistake has opened up a new sort of negetive imagery that i quite like. notice how the thum is being echoed within the lines buy translating them to a new possition.
this drawing was alot to do with the procdcess and not knowing what i am going to end up with. i like this becuase i have to make conferdent decisions and stick with them throughout the piece. for example i didnt know i wanted to shift the perspective points for different sections of the hand but by letting my self explore this i have found a new pattern and and new proccess.
i also have had an idea to turn this into a website design. because of the coners in the perspectiv lines and the different angles it give the oppurtunity when moved to create planes if i spread a section out i could have enough space to create a gallery space on the hands. it would work like a drop down menu but for each perspective panal made by the lines like a file. i dont have the know how of how to make this just now but would like to try and make it over the summer and documenting these ideas is key to evolving as an artest.

Tofer chin (research)

tofer  chin talks about being an artests is as much as being a good buisness man than it is to be creative. his work like mine contains alot of graphic design qualitys. i like how he creats depth within his images making the seperation between the cones and the flowing lines as strong as can be. this image reminds me of stalignites in a cave there dauting pressence above our heads. having the cones facing downwards i think gives power to them over this flowing pattern where as if they were at the base it would be a much more passive image. there is a relationship between the cones and the flowing pattern the curves tened to go around the height of the cones this creasing also adds power the the cones becuase they are pushing down on the lines. the destortoin of the lines then creates a new form underneath much like when i tryed to create fomrs with finger prints the same priciple of curviture depthe applys.
chin as well as painting spreads his work into different mediems and creates large enviroments of his illusionistic landscapes put the viewer directly into his pictures. this bouncing between media i think rusults in a more certified peice of work. taking the best factors from each mediem or even just using the same proccesses can create new and exciting creative imagery for ideas to be put across.

trying to add curve

its wroking (ish)

it is reacting to sound and the triangles are moving how i want them to. but there are some major problems i can only create them in straight lines using the array i have and for some reason only up and left although that is how it looks but actually I'm drawing the triangles on the bottom layer first then telling them to build inwards. This requires working out how much the array will go across and adding from the center triangle. This way of layering is my biggest worry if i am to start trying to build the organic forms with these triangles. The way it is layered between the shapes is completely successful and it seems it runs through the entire array code until it reaches the limit defined this looping creates that layering because it only draws one triangle at a time.

next i am going to try and find a way of curving the line they are drawn on.

getLineIn()

the best way to make a sound reactive piece ive found is using the minim class in processing and the get.Linein(). i can use the buffer size ( that ranges in this case 0-512) to create the movement i need in theory. this is the example proccessing gives today i need to work out how it works so i can manipulate it to draw sound reactive triangles.

ive managed to get a line of triangles working by drawing a triangle and replacing the first 2 points with "i and i+in.get.left(i)*200"  by making the points i this calls the array that draws from 50 to the buffersize (512) in intervals of 5. i think the layering may affect my control but i will have to do more experiments. there is a couple of errors that keep coming up about the buffersize in the array that i am going over or under i guess because the sound comes in wave there is both negative and positive numbers coming in.

but for the first day i think it is looking promising and should be possible (hopefully)

proccess

I've always followed a form of some kind when drawing the finger prints and wanted to see what happened if i just did it as i went along. be driven by the process of the lines and subject to error. 
starting with the print i then chose to draw a line to one perspective point but stop at 5cm and the shifted to another perspective point 4cm and the switch to the final. what ended up happening because i was doing it stage by stage i was loosing track of certain points and there for having less and less to draw to the next perspective point a thinning began to appear dew to the layering of the lines. i find this very interesting because it is following a visual pattern rather than a structural and is not bound to the principles of 3-d but still has the illusion. the structure look mechanical like wires going into an engine or veins going into the skin branching out to reach every point. i really want to make a full body version of this taking the vain idea further possibly not worrying about body parts being joined but the veins link them up. its an exciting form of abstraction and merge of mechanic and organic influences.

the movement within the drawing i think is focused on the creation from the perspective point because of the build up i can see it animating easily into the finger print and back again following the lines. i need to start to try and create movement with my drawing this week and the plan is to use the volume of live recorded sound to move points along the x and y axis so the higher the volume the more the movement theoretically it should be possible but i will see.

another colour test

Going for an under water cell type feel.

Robert Hodgin (research)

robert hodgin created the itunes visulizer metosphere somthing that inspired me in to making a sound reactive piece in the first place.

robert hodgins work often collaberates with music he builds sound reactive or manually controled enviroments that he dysplays to add a visual sense to the music.

Into the Trees (the piece to the right) was made to accompany i violinest and was dysplayed in a makeshift rusted olf drive in cinima. the piece created is manually controld by hodgin live so by pressing 3 he can tooggle trees to grow or not by press space bar a shockwaqve is sent through the landscape. this live control makes for a more varied and controled piece and suits live events for me to put my work into a gallery space i need my code to be able to react live to the sound.

the idea of the piece is to follow a path into an ever evolving landscape that changes to the mood of the music. it's buety is quickly noticed as it starts with sun rays shining through the trees.

 aphex twin a conish electronic music artest is renound for his intense and sensual overloading gigs. hodgins visual have a massive part to play in this hectic but fun expirence. as an artest i need to find a way of making money with my work and live events like this would be ,i think, an amazing way. now im just excited to get started.

colour testing

by taking photos of my drawings i can take them into photoshop and start editing them how i would with a photo. the aim was to create a cell like feel so the background was fluid and parts of the form have been blurred to boost the illusion of depth. the colours I've created from the shadows of the paper and different photo filters, color selection , curves, hue and saturation, invert and level filters. using masks I'm able to paint in where i want the effects using a large soft brush i can fade them into each other creating a smooth feel.

creating the gold from the original blue i overlayed some blurred out layers of the same images to create the glow making it less intense on the outside to create a focus point in the middle. then using multiple layers of colour selection and photo filters i was able to tweak it into this rich glowing gold.

although proabaly the most visually interesting the gold one is not my favorite and i much prefer the subtlety of the blue faded one. this was made after the gold one using the same effects blurring out to create depth and adjusting the shadows and noise layers to create a background but i've washed away everything major making the image simple and letting the form do the talking rather having an overpowering colour scheme.
the next stage is to try and take my drawings into processing and begin to make them sound reactive i might be able to recreate this colour scheme in processing if i overlay some png. files of  noise and blur the image in processing but we will have to see as i haven't ventured into image adjusting coding very much.

It's good to print stuff out

today i printed the computer triangle drawings out onto photographic paper the quality of line was really impressive compared to the pencil ones but it did lack that organic feel you get with drawing although i am drawing similar structures the build up of the pencil creates a much more interesting experience. being able to see them all in relation to each other i can really see how the simplified figire creates a more powerful feeling of constriction and freedom at the same time where the hand almost looks wild in its complexity its too much.

falling and lines

 constructing the lines it was obvios i needed to try and exaggerate that pulling form that gives the figure so much movement. so attaching the lines the the points either side was the first thing to do. but unlike the other drawings i felt there wasn't a right angle for them to be. it most suited the upward facing (bottom) image dew to falling the lines are catching the figure stopping it from being able to fall but overall i don't think adding these lines to this image gives it any more maybe on this occasion simple is better.

falling person

this is a lot more simple than the hand and i think it benefits from it only using the outline and small details i think ive successfully found the balence i need that allows the complexity to not over rule the image.
the finger print person in my sketch book was the main influence to keep myself from going over and drawing in the sleeve for the arm. the lack of form creates this wing because that is what the structure allows for. i think this is a great metaphor for finding freedom within constriction by showing your self less you gain less attachments less restrictions. 

i chose t put the source triangle in the center of the torso trying to cover the lungs and heart of the figure because i think that's the source of are being (other than the head of course) and there for to place the source triangle where every thing branches out from seemed logical and i think it works quite well. something that i didn't really expect to happen  was the the closeness that was created around it almost sucking the rest of the figure in rather than forcing it out. it works quite well though separates it from reality and creates an obvious restricting factor. at the same time this squeezing exaggerates the rest of the form outwards so there is a balence happening between the structure and the figure. this unintentionally represents possibly the balence we strive to find in life between friends and work or structure and freedom.  

I chose the figure to be falling because there is that sense of nothing when you fall as a skater i do it a lot and there is a crazy feeling where you have no control over whats going on. everything is concentrated on the landing (on my board or face) nothing else matters when your falling because hitting the ground in the right way is essential. because of this powerful sensation i am always inclined to involve it  my work although most people probably wont have the same perception its my own expression of escape and escaping is freedom 

source triangle hand + lines

the final composition I've used the same line structure as the cell triangles because of there success of creating that feeling of constriction but there angle can at the same time become pushed into a sense of freedom for the triangle form.
I've also angled the form so the source triangle is level this makes it feel as a base structure I guess because of its boldness it has the most presence. I have began to question what my art work is because the more digital get the more i seem to be going into graphic design and this is a perfect case. the center triangle could easily hold a logo and it could become a website or t-shirt design. I've always been close to the design side of art dew to my use of the computer but i don't think I'm fully graphic design i should try and find out what the difference is and what I see my self as. 

source triangle hand

 

complete, the hand is now entirely made out of triangles from one source triangle. the first thing i notice about this pattern is the flowing curved lines have been transformed in to restricted form and because of this there is a strong sensation of explosive movement. the lines act like blur lines seen in cartoons all coming from the source triangle.  this feel of explosive movement makes it feel held back or stored like it could release at any moment and fits quite nicely with my project idea. 

the negative and positive space created by the triangles swap to create the shape of the hand i think this works best in the fingers i chose to keep this minimal factor trying to keep it to a minimum to be noticed as a hand but keeping it realistic at the same time.

making the triangle hand

i think its working WOO! taking my drawing method to the computer has not decrease the time it takes but increased the playability with the lines and colour. structuring the hand is much easier as well but I am not sure if I'm loosing that important flow. i think it will be possible to make this from one source triangle without making the triangles to thin which will keep with the restrictions i have layed out to try to be creative in. 
the form of the triangles is wrapping the hand in a very visually exciting way i think there is a sort of gloopy feel that the fingers are trying to stretch away and become alive. pushing the boundrys and progressing something we do as humans invent and go to new limits i think this hand form is starting to capture that in a very minimal form. using a hand the triangles are more about the structure rather than expressive this means the concept becomes more on the form i'm creating than the structure its built with? and i'm not sure that's what i want but i will have to continue and see what comes out. 

triangle hand 1

 my first attempt of structuring the triangles into a hand. ive brokern a couple of "rules" so i don't think its a success but i have learned that is is possible to expand the pattern by slotting other source triangles in. ive tryed to keep that flowing nature of the previous drawings  but instead of being improvised i tried to hint on the form they are tracing.
there is a major fault in my process of drawing this hand and it lies in the layering. the layered structure of the triangles is one of the most important things to create and illusion of depth and because a hand is so recognizable this is crucial to get right. I've done another drawing(below) of the layered structure of the triangle pattern as you can see the thumb is the 3-4th layer down when it should be the top or bottom. but what exaggerates this is that the little figure is the top layer making all the other fingers underneath this inverts the curve of the structure of a real hand and there fore feels unnatural.
the next move i think would be start to draw it on the computer using adobe illustrator i would be able to adjust the layering of large groups of triangles pretty easily and i would build the structure by copy and pasting the same source triangle and stretching it out over a hand image so i can get the form tighter and more specific.

as you can see ive started to add a black fill into the source triangle and some others to see how it affects the form and weather it sets it back or in front. it definitely separates it from the form even when there is a lot of them they seem apart from the pattern if i were to add colour (red) i would have to be cleverly placed and possible very limited.  as well as colour i could fill it with cut up photos of the hand it self to make it more recognizable and also the shadow would increase the depth. but it would loose the graphic slick feel that i am currently creating and enjoying. i could try to add just one triangle of hand skin to give it a hint of what it is.

Rebbeca Ward (research)

seventeen is sharp
electrical tape, vinyl adhesive
06.19.09
kansas city, mo
charolotte street foundation/urban culture project

rebbeca ward intreasts me becuase of the way she makes and descibes her work she says it is process driven art by just reacting with the surroundings. we are taught to come up with a concept an idea behind are work. without that renforcement i thought it would be diffuclt to gain recognition. to me this is exciting to be able to just create from a matieral she loves (electrical tape) and not have a mojor concept over the top its just pure creatrivness. there is deffently a feeling of escape in her work i can tell she loves the repertition of the proccess and i do the same with my drawins it is rewarding to see somthing unpland bar a formula take shape before your eyes kind of like a gustalt drawing but at a controled level. it makes me wonder if i were to do the same proccess on defferent days would it turn out different dew to my feelings somthing that seems so cold and blunt (lines) i think could be quite expressive for example close together is a more clostrifobic and frustrated feeling where as spaced out connots a relaxed senes a contentness where there doesnt need to be an overpowering structure.
ward has produced her work in many different enviroments and each time i think she adds a little more to that space by reeating to it she creates reactive passive landscapes that are subject to the walls around them. i should possibly try and do this within my patterns and react to the things next to it.

reassurance in what im doing :D

kinda just says it all>>> NOVA the film

tri cell 2

this is my favorite drawing so far because of its complexity and feel of movement. the angle of the lines holding the triangle form make it feel like it's being pulled back and compared to the drawing before the triangle form is braking free it is escaping from the constriction of the lines and triangle. there for being successful in creating freedom under constrictions and rules like we do in life. its finding that feeling of being away from the standard routine that at any other time we follow.
this drawing as a smaller angle to the previous , still obtuse but having it less give it more of struggle to straight and the lines become dominant the angle also points to the right of the page, pointing to the future. In TV we often see if something is progressing it tends to travel in the right direction so for battle scenes the baddies could be moving to the left were the good guys will be moving to the right. using this in my drawing the lines pull the form back as it try's to travel right helps to tap in to that subconscious rule in are brains that it is good and bad.
there is a life like quality to the form like a cellular structure. i can imagine it being in an animated pool or under water or even a design for an under water robot.
(talk about the game flow)

the next move is to try and create recognizable forms out of the triangles. i will do this by either following the contours and shading of the objects or by using its outline but i must try and mimic the same sort of depth by layering the triangles correctly. it will be interesting to see whether it looses or gains any quality with a structure made.