Inspirations this week.

Both my inspirations this week are games made in scratch along the same lines as my final project.
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/ms_program/138051
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/OJY321/40995

inspired

My first inspiration this week is the new Apple Siri for the iPhone. It's pretty incredible stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4D4kRbEdJw

My second inspiration this week is an old video from apple 24 years ago that predicts siri quite astonishingly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WdS4TscWH8&feature=player_embedded#!

more inspirations, just hanging out on this here blog.

My first inspiration this week is the Music Generator from Tone Unit from max msp. It takes 4 songs and generates music based off the 4 put in.

http://toneunit.com/music-generation

My second inspiration this week is called Noodle Bot. It's a series of patches that can be used in ableton live. I chose this because it shows the versatility of the program in use with other programs.

http://cycling74.com/project/nwdlbots-pronounced-noodlebots/

This time, on Inspirations

My first inspiration is a compilation of super slow motion videos. I chose this as an inspiration because by merely slowing it down it brings it to be an art form of sorts.



My second inspiration is a good example of the type of things we did in Theory and Practice last year. It uses processing to have the projections change based on the movement in the area.

Next inspirations.

My first inspiration this week is from a video game called Team Fortress 2. This game started as part of the orange box for xbox 4 years ago. Since then it has developed into one of, if not the most community driven games ever. At first they started updating the game and keeping it very hush hush until the release, but recently have been implementing community made aspects into the actual game. Even more those who's submissions make it into the game get paid for when that is purchased for use in the game. Still more impressive is that the game is completely free. You have the option of purchasing things through the game with real money to quicken your advancement, but there is absolutely nothing that is only accessible through purchasing. The most impressive part though is just this past week the game announced an update where, through the game you can make, tweak and submit things for in game play, all for free, and if they get chosen to be in game, they pay you.

My second inspiration this week is the throwable panorama camera ball.

blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/10/throwable-panoramic-ball-camera.html

the video is much better at explaining it than I so I'll let it do the talking

Online Curator

Processing is a free program for all major operating systems that allows anyone to manipulate their computer in ways before unimaginable. It doesn’t actually change the computer, but it allows the user to program software, plugins and applications that can do nearly anything the programmer can imagine, as long they can figure out the code to make it happen. On top of this it can be used to make images, sounds, videos, and games and because of this many programmers have learned how to utilize the software and make it into art. Due to it’s tremendous capabilities Processing offers many options to artists that are impossible through conventional art forms, therefore making it an influential new media.

Strata
Robin Lawrie




Strata is an art installation that was made by a group of people working with processing. The artists took pictures of famous religious paintings and made them appear to shatter and get destroyed. They took these pictures paintings from churches and cathedrals and went over the whole image and sliced it into hundreds of tiny triangles that they could then manipulate separately from the rest of the painting. They then went about changing the picture into a 3D object, resembling mountains, and then had all the triangles explode outward. Once completed they installed it in churches and cathedrals again, probably so it could have some deep rooted, break free from religion message.



Oasis
Yunsil Heo and Hyunwoo Bang



Oasis is a really neat piece, being part art, part toy. It involves a screen underneath a layer of black sand. When the black sand is pushed away to reveal the screen beneath tiny aquatic animals come to life and swim around their environment. As you expand or condense the area the life forms either become more crowded, or are given more space and more life forms will grow. Another neat aspect is if you apply sharp movement to the screen, the life forms will react as though they were startled fish. I'm not sure exactly what they did to have the lifeforms understand their boundaries, but it's pretty neat either way.


Visual Complexity: 
Mapping Patterns of Information
Manuel Lima
 

Visual Complexity is a book by designer Manuel Lima, which is filled with information pattern maps. These are images generated based off data, which allows people to have a visual reference of what the data means. The book is filled with these images that can be anything from olde fashioned family trees to inspirations and other artists works that "evoke and translates networks." The reason I believe that this is art, is because the book is filled with these brilliant little visual maps that are thought provoking, even only at a glance.

ElectroPlastique
Marius Watz
VIDEO

ElectroPlastique is a piece that was developed by Marius Watz and tends to be more of what I think of when I hear "video art." It is merely colors and shapes moving, bumping into one another and changing because of it. This can be done through processing using algorithms and mathematical equations. This technique can also be used with video feedback, which can lead to some very cool effects in your art.

Body Dysmorphia



Body Dysmorphia is a project using Processing and the Microsoft Kinect. It is not so much art as it is someone just experimenting but I chose to include it anyways to show what it can do. The main reason it can be used as art is because it promotes interactivity which turns any piece into performance art, whether the person interacting knows it or not. He goes through several different phases including a semi-invisble camouflage, more fluid movements and a oil painting like filter. Processing can be used with the Kinect to do all sorts of things, which makes the combination of the two a unstoppable duo.

Photoshop Mashup

My mashup started primarily because I was looking aimlessly through creativecommons.org and came across the picture of the astronaut driving the lunar rover. I found it at NASA's website, which interested me because I found out that everything NASA has is public domain unless specifically stated otherwise. I knew at once that I needed to incorporate him into some sort of race. I started out with pictured from nascar, but couldn't find one where the street was the right angle.  I then started exploring the idea of having him driving past a bunch of jockeys in a horse race. Again no luck finding one where the ground was at a proper angle. After that I found a nice road picture on flickr of a road that had a good curve. I had the idea of having him zip past an Amish buggy, but I couldn't find a picture that worked, and it's probably for the best that I leave religion out of it. I found the awkward carriage jockey and decided to use him. After putting the pieces in place I realized that his hand was awkwardly doing nothing so I flipped it, making him wave, which still looked weird so I fashioned his hand into the finger.
The biggest issue I had with this project was the lighting. Since the picture from the moon was taken on the moon, where there's only one light source parts of the astronaut are completely blacked out by his shadow. Since I couldn't change the lighting on him to fit the project, I had to change the lighting on everything else to match him. That was difficult because the jockey and the road both had different shadow schemes too. All of the shadows on the ground are fake, as well as the wall shadow because the road's picture was taken at approximately noon. On top of this I had to fashion the front right tire out of the front left tire because it was completely blacked out as well as clear out the wheels on the buggy and put speed spokes in there. After that I added some smoke around the tires to make it seem as if he were accelerating very quickly. The very last thing I did was flip the image horizontally, which put the buggy on the correct side of the road to be driving on, and the astronaut on the correct side to be passing him. It turned out to be a pretty difficult project, which amounted from a simple idea of putting an astronaut in a race. Personally (and I'm not one to usually toot my own horn) I think its hilarious.
If forced to explain it in today's society, which is so bent on figuring out hidden meanings, I guess I would have to say that this is a portrayal of modern technological advances happening so quickly that older still useful methods are being thrown to the side, disrespected. The astronaut speeding past the jockey represents how quickly technology advances, and the fact that he's flipping the jockey off portrays new technologies as being disrespectful and or ignorant of old methods.

Inspirations 3

My first inspiration is a mash-up/remix between a The Dark Knight movie poster and the McDonald's trademarks. I think its funny and they did a good job.
click here


My other inspiration this week is  mash-up between saw and wallace and gromit.

Inspirations 2

My first inspiration is actually one I found a long time ago, which uses found footage to make new ideas, also known as remixing. I like this because it's huge category for film making and has been around since the early 1900's. The technique is called Mash-up Trailer.



My second inspiration is an inspirational flier someone left up on a street corner somewhere. It pretty much speaks for itself.

New Media

Media can be defined as any form of mass communication through which ideas are formed, transferred or argued. The difference between new media and old media is largely based on whether or not the media is electric. According to Manovich there are 5 principals that separate new media from old media; numeral representation, modularity, automation, variability and trans coding.
Numeral Representation means that the media can be described mathematically, or are subject to algorithm manupilation. This means that when you break it down to the most basic form it can easily be read as mathematical equations.
Modularity means that the media is formed by many tiny other things, such as pixels or as in the art form of stippling. Unlike stippling though the building materials can be rearranged quickly and easily to form different media which is called Automation.
Automation is an interesting principal because it only works out because the first two principals are present. Is one of the most important principals that separates new media from old media because it allows rapid changes to be made, which allows more media to be produced at a greater speed.
Variability is also similar automation because it cannot happen without the first two principals either, and it allows quick changes to be made through automation.Variability says that because the media is the sum of a whole then each of the individual pieces need to be able to change as well.
Trans-coding says that small changes to individual building blocks, or the algorithms associated with them, can be cause massive overall changes to the entirety of the media.
 Manovich then goes on to say that in all reality this is all possibly because of the invention of computers. That and through computers so many different forms of media have been formed, and in all reality created the opportunity to make endless amounts of new media too.

I think my favorite principals are automation and variability because without them new media wouldn't be that different from old media. These principals aren't just talking about computers either because television use both these aspects perfectly, and have been since they came out. Modularity is also key in televisions, and its been becoming more and more relevant ans technology evolves. being a film major and knowing how digital cameras, projectors and monitors work made those principals the easiest to understand. In all reality I did not find this reading immensely difficult or enlightening as I have taken many technical courses in digital media before, however, I did find it interesting to hear it summed up as Manovich did. I believe this is a good reading for an introductory level course, as with this one, so I believe the assignment was worthwhile, even if just as a refresher.

RIP Response & Inspirations 1

I had seen RIP! A Remix Manifesto a few times previous to our in-class viewing, and even this time I managed to still find out new information I missed or forgot the first few times, although most of the major points were review. The part that always gets me the most is the record label companies going after people pirating music but not paying the bands any of the settlement money. Worse still is the record labels slapping copyrights on everything a band produces and doesn't let them have any say in what happens with them. That kind of corporate greed disgusts me. It makes me want to get caught stealing music, get taken to court and agree to pay them only under the condition that the money goes directly the band. Otherwise I'll tell them where to stick it and they can haul me off to jail... but lets hope it doesn't come to that.

My first inspiration this week is the Super Mash Bros mash-up duo. They tend to mix rather raunchy songs into popular pop songs that are normally directed at a much different audience. This one is Meet Me at Fantasy Island.



My second inspiration is reggae group known as Easy Star All-Stars, and while they don't remix songs with computers or midis, they recreate/perform popular songs as reggae songs.