tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28294989054120088002024-03-13T06:25:07.842-07:00Artful ComputingDr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-11814216245225669062012-01-26T20:16:00.000-08:002012-08-01T15:09:49.056-07:00New NewsWell, it appears our Computational Art class was featured in a Centre News story, which you can read <a href="http://www.centre.edu/news/2012/computational_art.html">right here</a>. If you're a visitor coming from there, welcome!<br />
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This blog, "Artful Computing", is the main course blog, which I posted various updates to throughout the three-week term... but you may find it even more interesting to check out some of the students' own blogs, which are featured on the sidebar at right. <br />
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Regarding a few of the pieces mentioned in the news story:<br />
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<li>If you want to watch Bryan Lindsey's short artistic film <i>Cyborg</i>, check out his post here: <a href="http://bryanscomputationalart.blogspot.com/2012/01/end.html">http://bryanscomputationalart.blogspot.com/2012/01/end.html</a></li>
<li>If you want to read about how Rachael Reynolds created the "Time Floats On" pendulum, here's the scoop: <a href="http://rachaelscompdesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/project-progress-update-2.html">http://rachaelscompdesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/project-progress-update-2.html</a></li>
<li>But these just scratch the surface of the students' creations! If you dig deeper, you'll find home-made claymation videos, shape/photomosaics, unique fractals, artsy computer games, particle systems, and more...</li>
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If you have any questions, please feel free to email me: forrest.stonedahl<at>centre.edu.</div>
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Enjoy, </div>
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Dr. Forrest Stonedahl</div>
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Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics</div>
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Centre College</div>
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<a href="http://forrest.stonedahl.com/">http://forrest.stonedahl.com/</a></div>Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-20932954779642709262012-01-24T15:43:00.000-08:002012-01-24T15:43:56.851-08:00Fin, finis, finale...I am pleased to report that the "Computational Art Fair" was a great success. The students showed off a variety of unique/interesting projects that they had pulled together in only a little over a week. Some of them were quite impressive. Attendance was also good -- I didn't count, but I would estimate that around 40 guests came throughout the event, along with a photographer & a writer from the college's communications office.<br />
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I'm afraid these photos don't do the artworks justice at all, but here are a few pictures nonetheless!<br />
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Anyway, I hope you enjoyed following along a whirlwind tour of Computational Art, and glimpses into the CSC 271 course here at Centre College. I'll be signing off blogging (for the present anyway), and going back to teach some more traditional courses (<i>Algorithms</i>, and <i>Discrete Mathematics</i>) for the Spring term...Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-19985720835440286802012-01-23T10:41:00.000-08:002012-01-23T10:42:20.761-08:00PenultimateThis was the last day of regular class, but the final presentations and Computational Art Fair/Exhibition is tomorrow! If you're in the area (i.e. Danville), come to the Ewen Room in the Campus Center between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday, January 24). The students have been working very hard, and I expect the quality of their projects will reflect that...<br />
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During class today I showed off a potpourri of remaining topics or neat projects relating to computational art. So here's a collection of bookmarks to browse through, for your entertainment/enlightenment:<br />
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<ul><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LChmQjR0O0&feature=related">Evolving Darwin's Gaze</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlaUNl-MqXM&feature=related">Psychedelic Windmill</a></li>
<li><a href="http://penrose.dmf.unicatt.it/youtube.html">Animated Penrose Tiling with Ray-Tracing</a> </li>
<li> <a href="http://kevinkarsch.com/publications/sa11.html">Rendering Synthetic Objects </a>(the video is jaw-dropping!)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/carlo_ratti_architecture_that_senses_and_responds.html">TED Talk on Architecture that Senses and Responds</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/50-great-examples-of-data-visualization/">50 great examples of data visualization</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.momentonearth.com/mosaic/">A moment on earth mosaic</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.complexification.net/gallery/">Complexification (gallery of computational art)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://nifty.stanford.edu/2009/stone-random-art/">Random Art (nifty programming assignment)</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://cs.nyu.edu/%7Eperlin/">Home page of Ken Perlin</a> (Noted Computer Graphics Wizard)</li>
<li><a href="http://archlandscapes.com/2009/inspiration/12/andy-goldsworthy/">Andy Goldsworthy (environmental art)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRPUv8V22o">Computer music from very short programs!</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/sodarace/SodaCartoon_index.html">SodaCartoon</a> (semi-finished project on non-photo-realistic rendering)</li>
</ul>Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-24076887367284380942012-01-20T14:29:00.000-08:002012-01-23T06:54:44.535-08:00Computational Music, Sound, and Poetry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tdpmusic.com/www.tdpmusic.com/Timothy_Polashek_files/shapeimage_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="http://www.tdpmusic.com/www.tdpmusic.com/Timothy_Polashek_files/shapeimage_1.png" width="320" /></a></div>This morning we had our second guest speaker, <a href="http://www.tdpmusic.com/">Dr. Timothy Polashek</a>, of Transylvania University. Dr. Polashek is a computer music specialist and composer of electro-acoustic, instrumental, and vocal music. He discussed several of his projects, including fixed-media videomusic works, interactive and algorithmic music works, multimedia installations, and computer generated poetry. He frequently writes his own computer programs to produce aspects of his works, and he demonstrated examples for us in the C++, Max/MSP/Jitter, and Csound computer languages.<br />
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Dr. Polashek also directed the <a href="http://www.transy.edu/music/STUDIO_300/">STUDIO 300 Festival</a> in Lexington last September, which had an impressive array of digital art and music works and performances. Keep your eyes out for the 2012 edition of this fascinating event!<br />
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In the afternoon, we finished our last round of "art critiques", giving peer feedback on final project progress. Now it's just a rush to the finish, at the final Computational Art Fair/Exhibition next Tuesday. The students are working hard on their final projects, and I anticipate great things being accomplished over the next 3 days...Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-59389557836906282352012-01-19T17:45:00.000-08:002012-01-19T17:45:23.739-08:00L-systems, computer-aided oragami, and computational clothingA nasty technological hiccup (the classroom projector not working) prevented us from having student pair presentations this morning, so we had studio/lab work time instead. The projector was fixed before the afternoon session, so we were able to enjoy presentations on the beauty of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-systems">L-systems</a> (Lindenmayer systems), and computational paper folding (oragami/kiragami/polyhedral nets) (e.g., <a href="http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/%7Ectg/Projects.html">JavaGami</a>), and wearable computing/fashion (e.g., work by <a href="http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?cat=5">Leah Buechley's research group</a>)...Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-79314655944635026722012-01-18T14:41:00.000-08:002012-01-18T15:02:44.158-08:00Theater, Music, Dance, and deceiving your eyesToday we had group presentation on computation and robotics in theater (see, e.g., <a href="http://opera.media.mit.edu/projects/deathandthepowers/">Death and the Powers</a>), as well as physical robotic music and dance (e.g., <a href="http://newsroom.intel.com/community/news/blog/2011/09/16/robotic-orchestra-hits-right-notes-for-industrial-control">this automated wonder</a> from Intel, based on the rather famous 2004 "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR8Oz8Pp8hI&feature=related">Pipe Dream</a>" animation by Animusic).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cnx.org/content/m13784/latest/Graphic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://cnx.org/content/m13784/latest/Graphic2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">an autostereoscope</td></tr>
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This afternoon I showed the class an antique <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscope">stereoscope</a>, and discussed the mechanism behind <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereogram">autostereograms</a>, which was popularized by the Magic Eye (TM) book series. Fun stuff!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA3vmdAeovRDxdDZ0RtlYeI-25cPIIkraYSa_ZmExW6Fc1eEWn8vWCseZ8RiS4U4POY4WReEfU2FIBqxGCuySTMIIvj4UhAQ_4VLuXO8RxmML-LK5hIMXhktnZK8AILg2B9QnuvoOl-iks/s1600/AutoStereogram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA3vmdAeovRDxdDZ0RtlYeI-25cPIIkraYSa_ZmExW6Fc1eEWn8vWCseZ8RiS4U4POY4WReEfU2FIBqxGCuySTMIIvj4UhAQ_4VLuXO8RxmML-LK5hIMXhktnZK8AILg2B9QnuvoOl-iks/s640/AutoStereogram.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An abstract autostereogram created using NetLogo, by having the "butterfly" agents start at the left hand side of the screen and move forward differentially depending on their y-coordinate. You may have to view the original size image to get the 3D effect to happen...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-75193980964306416392012-01-17T15:52:00.000-08:002012-01-17T15:52:19.498-08:00Frogs, Dice, and the Art of Computer Game DesignThis morning we had an invited speaker (Pang Hartman, Centre class of '97) come present to us about her work (as co-owner, Vice President, and Creative Director) at <a href="http://frogdice.com/">FrogDice</a>, a small indie computer game development company based out of Lexington, Kentucky. She gave an interesting talk, emphasizing some of the benefits of a liberal arts education for game designers.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.centre.edu/news/2011/img/frogdice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="68" src="http://www.centre.edu/news/2011/img/frogdice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
In the afternoon, I demonstrated the use of the "qtj" (QuickTime for Java) NetLogo extension, and how it can be used to incorporate webcam input into your art piece (on Windows & Mac only, unfortunately). Then we settled in for some studio time, with students working independently on their final projects.Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-7515913027469887822012-01-16T21:12:00.000-08:002012-01-16T21:12:23.646-08:00Final Project Proposals & Group PresentationsToday we had small group discussions with students peer-reviewing each others' final project proposals. <br />
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We also had the first two group (pair) presentations on special topics, which were the <a href="http://www.processing.org/">Processing</a> language, and the <a href="http://unity3d.com/">Unity</a> & <a href="http://lumion3d.com/">Lumion</a> game/rendering engines.<br />
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I'm afraid I have no new visuals to include in today's post...Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-24953066795723123382012-01-13T21:03:00.000-08:002012-01-13T21:05:43.825-08:00Snowflakes & 2D moviesToday Centre student Everett Boyer gave a short guest lecture to our class, describing his joint research work with Chris Robinson and Dr. James Kelly about the formation of snowflakes -- a topic that combines art and science through the beauty of nature.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJtR8eJYtPJJxfXBdHa2O_RUsF8olg0qzyzuMLkRauqtKC8nS9FZty-qXeAsh1geoHvriNoq9VSwxsWOPAHS-wEhDqcHRZ-pBeHIIDbJEAee-2btmWny5QtBc6AZORBlcHZRLBVDzJJio/s1600/everett_snowflake.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJtR8eJYtPJJxfXBdHa2O_RUsF8olg0qzyzuMLkRauqtKC8nS9FZty-qXeAsh1geoHvriNoq9VSwxsWOPAHS-wEhDqcHRZ-pBeHIIDbJEAee-2btmWny5QtBc6AZORBlcHZRLBVDzJJio/s320/everett_snowflake.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of Everett Boyer</td></tr>
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We also talked about:<br />
<ul><li> How to export 2D movies from NetLogo, and transcode them into a reasonable format/codec using lqt_transcode (from Ubuntu's quicktime-utils package), and a bash script I wrote that uses ffmpeg and x264. </li>
<li>How to do simple generative/algorithmic music using NetLogo's sound extension.</li>
<li>Final projects & upcoming group presentations on special topics...</li>
</ul>P.S. I also stumbled across this charming piece about lawyers, computer scientists, and IP copyright law... <a href="http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23">http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23</a> <br />
<ul></ul>Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-65863182389987539072012-01-12T19:50:00.000-08:002012-01-12T19:50:19.652-08:00Tripping fields...Today our class took a field trip to see three museums in downtown Louisville: the <a href="http://www.21cmuseum.org/museum/default.aspx">21C Museum</a>, the <a href="http://www.kentuckyarts.org/">Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft</a>, and the <a href="http://www.louisvillescience.org/">Louisville Science Center</a> museum. From my perspective, an enjoyable time was had by all. (But then again, my students are all fairly polite, so they might not have told me if they didn't enjoy it...)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqZhj0SnDQ-gpTtuwpjqxBV00wj2c-IAQ1AA-vaLeMouO_S2LYOINmESsxz_Y-p_kDPYYXc_2R9m0_rdUAFRvZ95y2kOcxEPZCf70GgmJFLZbMDqjaZ-N2x0GDbddEpEq3upRTKuoZz8pi/s1600/P1140204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqZhj0SnDQ-gpTtuwpjqxBV00wj2c-IAQ1AA-vaLeMouO_S2LYOINmESsxz_Y-p_kDPYYXc_2R9m0_rdUAFRvZ95y2kOcxEPZCf70GgmJFLZbMDqjaZ-N2x0GDbddEpEq3upRTKuoZz8pi/s320/P1140204.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We saw red penguins (but unfortunately no purple cows)...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and I played with interactive computer art/poetry...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsB6IcHzE2QKan9-YFSW1GJqaDsw13XT5shSYhgh1Lf6-cKib9hZeF3qpRBE7-dIKP19BQ2-2nKWpGzSJm0VeQ8yF6i0eOzor2re86Grf9rDKEiZ_JjquXa7Fm0GxmQyop7dFuj2OgO7y/s1600/P1140256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsB6IcHzE2QKan9-YFSW1GJqaDsw13XT5shSYhgh1Lf6-cKib9hZeF3qpRBE7-dIKP19BQ2-2nKWpGzSJm0VeQ8yF6i0eOzor2re86Grf9rDKEiZ_JjquXa7Fm0GxmQyop7dFuj2OgO7y/s320/P1140256.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and spelled out CENTRE with translucent oversized LEGO bricks...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-43123122545326364072012-01-11T19:25:00.000-08:002012-01-12T19:39:40.941-08:00CinematicsToday was a fun day in class -- I brought in a small <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxinoscope">Praxinoscope</a> that I had purchased, and talked about how animations are made up of individual frames. I found a marvelous resource about the <a href="http://www.precinemahistory.net/index.html">pre-history of cinema</a>, which I highly recommend to everyone. Be sure not to miss the contributions of Leonardo Da Vinci, as well as all of the crazy contraptions of the 1800s (there's a Zoetrope and a Thaumatrope, as well as a Praxinoscope, you see...)<br />
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Then we whipped out the cameras, tripods, and modeling clay, to do some good old fashioned "claymation" in groups. I know at least one of the groups posted their claymation creation to their blog, and hopefully the others will as well.<br />
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In addition, I discussed how to create movies of 3D scenes using raytracing to take individual snapshots, and then compile them all together into a video. Here's an example video, ray-tracing an evolving scene from NetLogo's <a href="http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/Flocking3DAlternate">Flocking 3D Alternate</a> model.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxe64Ct1j8AJr68FaZK_nYE6eNBgm6bqI7yTstPkSlRb3t7pVDITY7T4R9Fxm2wegkF88Zb8YrjtuXEZnGsfQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
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In case I haven't mentioned it recently, my strong affections for POV-Ray have not dimmed...<br />
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That's all for now, since we have to be off bright and early tomorrow for our museum field trip day.Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-86425788008688907412012-01-10T18:09:00.000-08:002012-01-10T18:09:51.141-08:00A traced ray of sunshineTo start things off, we discussed/critiqued a couple of 3D designs students had been working on, including <i><a href="http://bryanscomputationalart.blogspot.com/2012/01/inception-pictures.html">Ivy / Green Molecule</a></i> and <i><a href="http://rachaelscompdesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/four-sided-pyramid-sol-lewitt-blue-hued.html">Blue-Hued Pyramid of Spheres</a>.</i><br />
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Next, I demonstrated another technique for making self-similar fractal images using scaling and translating of bitmaps - note quite the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droste_effect">Droste effect</a>, but related. Here's an example involving a photo of Princess Gabrielle, a Siamese cat I have the pleasure of close acquaintance with.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ARF3XH0GyeW6DN2P_InOnSPuzJoQ1585v5pqCoH-khlD4v6GDuR1pSGFUHAs6m61SGb1HGjfFbSs6GRfmyAO_survZsR_u-7oEtKI2KAcK9AQ-vJJ8VON5bBK7OFKijckAvLfDReFNhH/s1600/gabby_fractal_triangle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ARF3XH0GyeW6DN2P_InOnSPuzJoQ1585v5pqCoH-khlD4v6GDuR1pSGFUHAs6m61SGb1HGjfFbSs6GRfmyAO_survZsR_u-7oEtKI2KAcK9AQ-vJJ8VON5bBK7OFKijckAvLfDReFNhH/s400/gabby_fractal_triangle.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Can you find the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpinski_triangle">Sierpinski Triangle</a> lurking somewhere in there? <br />
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For the majority of the day, though, we moved on to discuss ray tracing, POV-Ray, and generating ray-traced images from NetLogo. Here's an example of image-mapping the same photo used above onto several simple shapes, rendered with POV-Ray.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4jGqgSghGCXOCua-GG_awcbkn87XBYNoDbf1c7Loe5rVKWFeE1KZz7A5gxPnAcTnOSONl3Hb0R4gljwpBRbw3Nbbsypeywcc2VmfTgWy8QuoPlBqJtC1X9IAoVazaCeeqRDeo5cKdeadK/s1600/test.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4jGqgSghGCXOCua-GG_awcbkn87XBYNoDbf1c7Loe5rVKWFeE1KZz7A5gxPnAcTnOSONl3Hb0R4gljwpBRbw3Nbbsypeywcc2VmfTgWy8QuoPlBqJtC1X9IAoVazaCeeqRDeo5cKdeadK/s400/test.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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And another test image, the scene created with NetLogo, and rendered with POV-Ray. The composition is rather random, I admit, but it shows off several ray-tracing features, including transparency, specular highlights, reflection, shadow, texture mapping, and using a "sky sphere" for background imagery. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAS2rIy0JDnRQ1BiCObzRvv_Jw3k-orFzNBTeXNCY6IeQfT4ySInXi5twv2roQt4MavCTy5fj3fhZeoNznxPy7ybXfzFupm_WS1wuImj4hWpcylMQsxARs7GFHyPR3gsk8-JKew1TZbVOk/s1600/test.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAS2rIy0JDnRQ1BiCObzRvv_Jw3k-orFzNBTeXNCY6IeQfT4ySInXi5twv2roQt4MavCTy5fj3fhZeoNznxPy7ybXfzFupm_WS1wuImj4hWpcylMQsxARs7GFHyPR3gsk8-JKew1TZbVOk/s400/test.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Tonight the students will be creating self-similar/fractal 3D shapes, which they will then render with ray tracing. So keep an eye out for some neat imagery, which will surely be appearing on the student blogs soon!Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-36966540345230083272012-01-09T16:30:00.000-08:002012-01-09T16:33:10.535-08:00Dada, Close, Photomosaics, and FractalsWe covered a lot of ground today, starting with demoing students' artistic computer games (some more plainly art-centered than others).<br />
Then we followed up on the weekend reading assignment of Tristan Tzara's "<a href="http://www.robertspahr.com/teaching/gen/tzara.html">How to Make a Dadaist Poem</a>", by using a Python script I tossed together to do the modern equivalent. Just for fun, here's the poem we created out of the first part of my previous blog post... (it helps if you read it in an overly dramatic voice).<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">KIND ARE<br />
<br />
air as<br />
you certainly<br />
their<br />
necessarily<br />
require class performing<br />
inspiration from yesterday<br />
how<br />
instance count interaction<br />
these about for algorithm by walkers<br />
and art<br />
sand a art talked some<br />
not algorithmic<br />
we<br />
in computer bit may they art unplugged in<br />
<br />
driven of wind computational generative might a<br />
<br />
an they book computational<br />
with<br />
my and take amazing</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi382QePQRSxmnCDw9Jx2VwttRgQCBL-GZzqOlgiTLVm-A_6oWY7ZidWZgQzaN1TsHVH-7apO0H44c48SpGojgpTPv-Vd9XV4CgeAcD54Uwi8znKuY5geratmMYg-LlKKRMI0T9W9eNaflT/s1600/filter_watery.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi382QePQRSxmnCDw9Jx2VwttRgQCBL-GZzqOlgiTLVm-A_6oWY7ZidWZgQzaN1TsHVH-7apO0H44c48SpGojgpTPv-Vd9XV4CgeAcD54Uwi8znKuY5geratmMYg-LlKKRMI0T9W9eNaflT/s1600/filter_watery.png" /></a></div>Next we moved on to discuss Photoshop (or Gimp) style image filters, and the manipulation of pixels. I demonstrated how to implement a couple interesting image filters in NetLogo. For example, at right is a "watery" filter effect rendered on the photo of a certain computer science professor I happen to know.<br />
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This segued into a discussion of photorealism and the work of <a href="http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/june97/close1.html">Chuck Close</a>, and how it was <a href="http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2004/12/history_of_phot.html">inspirational</a> for the development of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photomosaic">photomosaics</a> (which should probably have a "TM" placed after it, courtesy of Robert Silvers...)<br />
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We then went on to create ShapeMosaics, where a photo was created out of a large number of colored shapes... like this butterfly of butterflies below.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByoXtaLXAasXeWaQ36qQ5MNArnpCCAu-61Xpkg9YQuKV3lKNBCVzHlmaPNwPx6brIPVg4vFjNH43d7LYmCVwgX1w1euk8dxA_4PqcT8DurXQtuN4lwb2F4LzWwg3s8Ly7zCWrP6uha8mh/s1600/butterfly_mosaic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByoXtaLXAasXeWaQ36qQ5MNArnpCCAu-61Xpkg9YQuKV3lKNBCVzHlmaPNwPx6brIPVg4vFjNH43d7LYmCVwgX1w1euk8dxA_4PqcT8DurXQtuN4lwb2F4LzWwg3s8Ly7zCWrP6uha8mh/s400/butterfly_mosaic.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you can't see the smaller butterflies, click on the picture to enlarge it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
And finally, we talked a little about recursion and <a href="https://www.fractalus.com/info/manifesto.htm">fractal art</a>, and generated a few recursive trees...Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-82084059788537698512012-01-07T19:56:00.000-08:002012-01-07T19:56:06.584-08:00Computational art unpluggedYesterday in class we talked a bit about how algorithmic/generative/computational art may not necessarily require a "computer". For instance, you might take inspiration from <a href="http://wimp.com/kineticsculpture/">these amazing wind walkers</a>... they are performing an algorithm of some kind, driven by their interaction with air and sand. And they certainly count as "art" in my book.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>We also did an exercise where students had to make up (and write down) rules for coloring in a sheet of graph paper with colored pencils. After doing this for a while, they had to trade sheets with a classmate, and see whether they could (using just the written rules) figure out what grid square to color next (and what color to put there). Are the rules underspecified? Is English ambiguous? And how easy would it be to encode these rules in a computer? During the afternoon, several students tried to do just this, while others worked on creating an art piece that had certain restrictions on which language elements they must (and couldn't) use to create it. We also spent some time fighting with Shapeways, which apparently doesn't appreciate uploading 3D models consisting of fairly large numbers of spheres?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7pexF2O2XN2EWIPSl_esV7eAR6sisOMEegPBJ1hk1nFEDDwX94jE5j5Yw3Apwv54lBinu7ohWgLqUrEUywWlWBUeATrL_bs1f_iU7W8QBOxQOqPtxw-irKSTapueuTCuDG1S-SILnZL2s/s1600/ImageTest+view.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7pexF2O2XN2EWIPSl_esV7eAR6sisOMEegPBJ1hk1nFEDDwX94jE5j5Yw3Apwv54lBinu7ohWgLqUrEUywWlWBUeATrL_bs1f_iU7W8QBOxQOqPtxw-irKSTapueuTCuDG1S-SILnZL2s/s320/ImageTest+view.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Color transformation of a lightning image...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I also demoed how to import bitmap images into NetLogo, and manipulate them...Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-46514504668363621382012-01-05T16:55:00.000-08:002012-01-05T16:55:54.777-08:00Another Dimension of ArtThe third, to be precise. Today we started to explore 3D generative art using NetLogo 3D, and also generating 3D scene files with a VRML output extension. Depending on student interest, we may very well "print" a few of them at <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/">Shapeways</a>. Here's a simple scene I threw together as an example during class.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BArOmiRsds4/TwZGe1xChvI/AAAAAAAAAq8/Qs2dMguFy1E/s1600/vrml.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BArOmiRsds4/TwZGe1xChvI/AAAAAAAAAq8/Qs2dMguFy1E/s320/vrml.png" width="320" /></a></div>Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-28014182808743158532012-01-04T17:32:00.000-08:002012-01-04T17:32:13.466-08:00Particle System ParticularsToday was fraught with unexpected technological snafus (including Blogger's inexplicable buggy failure to let Google Apps users, including Centre Students, upload images to their blogs). Nonetheless, some interesting ideas were still explored. We talked about cinema, particles systems special effects, <a href="http://grantkot.com/MPM/Liquid.html">simulated fluid mechanics</a>, and learned more features of the NetLogo language, including how to use "patches" to grow algae-like textures...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ozvbesYADek/TwT9X4axwZI/AAAAAAAAAqw/dDpUSopBi7c/s1600/AlgeaPatches_view.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ozvbesYADek/TwT9X4axwZI/AAAAAAAAAqw/dDpUSopBi7c/s320/AlgeaPatches_view.png" width="320" /></a></div>Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-27827391898799629412012-01-03T14:52:00.000-08:002012-01-03T16:30:51.734-08:00First dayIn class today, we talked about Arabic numerals, <style type="text/css">
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in;
</style><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khowarizmi, algorithms, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_cage">John Cage</a> and some other <a href="http://www.robertspahr.com/teaching/gen/genart.pdf">early examples of generative art</a> , </span>and we watched <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/12/what-is-generative-art-a-7-minute-pbs-micro-documentary/249617/%20">this neat 7 minute documentary</a>...<br />
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We also played with turtles and circles for a while using <a href="http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/">NetLogo</a>, which we will be using extensively in this course.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nioZQbDeLUg/TwOF2BEnqoI/AAAAAAAAAp0/1oRcxuGsNYg/s1600/circles.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nioZQbDeLUg/TwOF2BEnqoI/AAAAAAAAAp0/1oRcxuGsNYg/s320/circles.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
But I'm sure you can find more interesting images if you browse to the students' blogs listed on the right...Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-18056654146629350272012-01-02T06:59:00.000-08:002012-01-05T17:03:00.601-08:00Happy New Year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A1ApvZTBSQk/TwHFz2tZffI/AAAAAAAAApo/mX7oswCsmVQ/s1600/fireworks_nico_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A1ApvZTBSQk/TwHFz2tZffI/AAAAAAAAApo/mX7oswCsmVQ/s400/fireworks_nico_sm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i>(Artist: Forrest Stonedahl. Created with POV-Ray and the NetLogo Fireworks 3D model, with public domain Hubble space telescope imagery in the background.)</i>Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2829498905412008800.post-29520279951890350652011-12-29T22:10:00.001-08:002011-12-30T09:29:47.229-08:00TestingTesting... 1, 10, 11...Dr. Forrest Stonedahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00667016992539153810noreply@blogger.com1