Created by Andreas Gysin, the following is a canvas version of the 2006 program which was written in lingo. The first version resulted in more than 4000 balls between 2006 and 2007 and now it’s your chance to contribute using the new three.js javascript 3d engine version.

Play the little buckminster fuller and build your own ball or browse the archive with the ‘p’ and ‘n’ buttons.

Continue reading.... Paint a Ball [Javascript]

Created by Teehan+Lax Labs, Touch Vision Interface is a combination of software and hardware to allow realtime manipulation of content on a remote device via touch interface on a mobile device. Instead of purely using mobile device screen as an input, the user views the remote content and applies the content simultaneously, better know but not necessarily a form of AR.

I can still recall the first time I saw an Augmented Reality demo. There was a sense of wonderment from the illusion of 3D models living within the video feed. Of course, the real magic was the fact that the application was not only viewing its surrounding environment, but also understanding it. AR has proven to be an incredible tool for enhancing perception of the real world. Despite this, I’ve always felt that the technology was somewhat limited in its application. It is typically implemented as output in the form of visual overlays or filters. But could it also be used for user input? We decided to explore that question by pairing the principles of AR (like real-time marker detection and tracking) with a natural user interface (specifically, touch on a mobile phone) to create an entirely new interactive experience.

Continue reading.... Touch Vision Interface [openFrameworks, Arduino, Android]

(A Generative Art Lost Chapter)

Through the process of writing Generative Art there were various tangents and miscellaneous-mad-shit that, usually in the name of brevity and clarity, ended up on the cutting room floor. What follows is one such tangent reworked into a brief tutorial. In the week that the Processing 2.0 Beta gets its release this would seem an appropriate time to share this on CAN, as it mentions one of P5-2′s coolest features: publishing to HTML5.

The tutorial is in three sections:

1. “… A Practical Guide Using HTML5″

To me, the why is always as important as the how. So first allow me to explain why this is relevant, even though it didn’t make the book.

2. Processing to JavaScript – The Ridiculously Easy Way

HTML Canvas for Processing Users. The two minute version.

3. Generative Art in JavaScript – The Harder, But Still Ridiculously Easy, Way

Cutting out the middle man. How you might get started with nothing but a JavaScript enabled browser to hand.

Continue reading.... Generative Art In HTML5 [Processing, JavaScript, Tutorial]

Justin Livi uses Processing to create images that mimic traditional watercolor on heavy weight paper on the border between abstract and representational.

Like Geode, the streaks remind me of layers in rocks, but this one I feel breaks from that boundary. The various colors evoke landscapes, seascapes and skyscapes. The pseudo-abstract qualities feel rather Japanese – an association I am quite pleased with. In my opinion Japanese artists have produced some of the best water-based images to date.

Visit justinlivi.net/watercolorsediment/ for more information including a Processing applet where you can generate new “sediment”s.

In the multifaceted world of iOS apps for iPhone, iPad and the iPod Touch, artists are beginning to carve a niche in the crowded landscape of Apple’s Appstore. One trend amongst software artists is to repurpose work that was originally written for desktop computers into small, compact versions that run smoothly on these mobile devices. Although some of these artist-designed apps utilize the location-aware and networked capabilities that these devices offer, several artists are revisiting the interactive and non-connected aspects of their art. One such piece is “Yellowtail” by Pittsburgh-based media artist, Golan Levin. Reexaming his project “Yellowtail”, originally released in 1998 as part of his “Audio-Visual Suite” of applications for the desktop computer, Levin has recreated the piece specifically for the iPhone. From his description: “Yellowtail repeats a user’s strokes end-over-end, enabling simultaneous specification of a line’s shape and quality of movement. Each line repeats according to its own period, producing an ever-changing and responsive display of lively, worm-like textures.” The experience of using Yellowtail is a fluid reminder of what made software-based art such an immersive experience back in the day. Also revisiting his old screen-based work from the 1990s was Scottt Snibbe‘s who has released several apps for the store that have even made it to Apple’s top download list. Maybe as Golan has said in the past, it’s about time for Apple to introduce an “Art” category to the store. Current artist apps are automatically put into the “Entertainment” category of the store which is true to some degree, but hardly does most of these apps justice as a designation.

At its core, Yellowtail it is an interactive software system for the gestural creation and performance of real-time abstract animation. Using a playful animated transformation of the user’s gesture, the software produces an ever-changing and responsive display of lively, worm-like textures. More general information about Yellowtail is available here, and a whole heap of really technical and historical context is here.

Yellowtail was originally developed as a skunkwork project at Interval Research Corporation (1998) with support from Michael Naimark, and later at the MIT Media Laboratory (1999-2000) with support from John Maeda’s Aesthetics and Computation Group (ACG). The iOS ports were developed in openFrameworks and were created with the assistance of Max Hawkins, Lee Byron, Jonathan Brodsky, and enabling support from the OF iPhone crew (Memo Akten, Zach Gage, Theo Watson, Zachary Lieberman, and many others).

Yellowtail can be experienced (with source code) in this interactive Java applet.

or

Download Yellowtail (Full-screen PC .exe, 2000)
This is the full-screen, sonified version of Yellowtail, the first instrument in the Audiovisual Environment Suite (AVES). [196k zip file, for Windows2000/XP. Requires 700Mhz+ CPU; an nVidia geForce or other OpenGL graphics card; and a Soundblaster-compatible sound card.]

Platform: iPhone/iPad (Universal)
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99
Developer: Golan Levin

Created by Mario Gonzalez and currently in development, RibbonPaint is a drawing application for OSX. Instead of resorting to traditional brushes, RibbonPaint uses a ribbon like shape, always deforming as a drawing element. As you move your cursor across the screen you are continuously deforming the ribbon (the brush), trails are left behind on mouse down. Different colour modes are also included although I thought I’d stick to black and white with my examples, too beautiful to spoil with colour (right click – open in new windows for full size goodness).

The idea behind RibbonPaint is to create a paint brush that could not exist in real life. Based on the movement of a ribbon, a small hand movement is exaggerated as the energy moves outward. Amplifying relative force on each segment, while decaying its absolute force. It is inspired by a few young kids I saw playing in the park with long ribbons during the summer.

Created by W+K in partnership with Marvellous and Greyworld, Spit Paint is a recent installation at the Nokia World held only few days ago in London. Shown at the show was an app running on a new Nokia N8 allowing you to apply digital paint to a wall, in this case a 6m by 3m wall of LED lights. You could also apply paint via a “digital bucket of paint” provided at the installation with a specially designed control panel to record a face over which the paint would be applied (see videos below).

The N8 app includes three modes: “tap” – where you use the device’s touchscreen to dab paint on the wall,
“throw” – which uses the device’s accelerometer and the N8′s nicely accurate compass to flick paint on the wall and “blow” – which uses the device’s accelerometer, compass and the microphone to spit the paint.

The app is still in beta, so no date yet for when it will available through the Ovi store.

(Photo by Toastwife)

(Photo above by Toastwife)

Created by James Alliban and inspired by Cubist work, Fracture is an iPhone application that allows you to paint cubist style portraits using your own photographs. As in cubist art, the photos are analysed according to their colour composition, then broken up and re-assembled to new triangle based composition not loosing the sight of the original subject. In Fracture, you can choose up to six different photographs from your library of camera, preferably from different angles and create new photo assemblages. Various options are included such as the ability to adjust outline and shape alpha, blur the content of triangle, average the colour and other. By “drawing” on the screen you endlessly overlay your photographs with segments of the six photos generating unique and very successful cubist like composition.

To see more examples, visit Fracture Flickr group.

Created using openFrameworks.

See also Self Portrait? and the WiiMote portrait generator by James.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99
Developer: James Alliban

Amit Pitaru has just announced on his Twitter that Sonic Wire Sculptor for the iPhone has just been submitted to the AppStore is now available! For those that might not remember, back in 2003, Amit created a musical instrument which ended up being shown in museums and galleries all around the world. Together with Zach Gage, great effort has now been placed in reworking the app to bring it to the broader audience. Where to see and play with the Sonic Wire Sculptor you had to have visited the gallery, soon you will be able to enjoy it right on your iPhone. We were sent an early beta version and although not all features were complete, we absolutely loved it.

In a nutshell, the Sonic Wire Sculptor turns your 3D drawing into sound. It is about exploring the connection between visual and audio compositions. You draw on an endlessly rotating workplane, which translates the position in coordinate system into sound pitch. The best part of Sonic Wire is that it allows someone with no musical or drawing background to create interesting compositions. The app requires headphones, without them you may only hear limited audio, especially on the low (bass) tones. The video below best describes it best, Amit does a great job in talking about it in a much more exciting way.

Features that are especially exciting is being able to share your creations via email or twitter with other users. These are automatically loaded into your app being able to play them or “draw” over them. Some examples are provided by the wonderful James Paterson, which even without sound look absolutely amazing. If you are familiar with our much loved Rhonda, another tool Amit originally built with James around the same time, you will see the correlation.

Considering the app has been submitted Today, we expect it show up in the next 3-4 days. If you would like to know as soon as it is out, follow @sonicwire on Twitter.

This iPhone version was lead by Zach Gage with Amit‘s support. Zach Lieberman and James Paterson also helped bring the wonderful Sonic Wire to the masses. I can not recommend it more..an absolute must. Once out, please share you creations in the comments below.

Sonic Wire Sculptor

Created using ofxIphone and openFrameworks open source libraries.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $3.99
Developer: Amit Pitaru

Formerly known as MousePath, IOGraphica was created by Moscow designer Anatoly Zenkov to brighten up the routine work. Posting it at Flickr caused informal interest and afterward Anatoly Zenkov and his colleague Andrey Shipilov decided to evolve the app.

IOGraphica is an application that tracks your mouse movements and converts them into a single image showing all the paths you have made with your mouse. The idea is that you just run it and do your usual day stuff at the computer. Go back to IOGraph after a while and grab a nice picture of what you’ve done. Besides the mouse path, the application also tracks your idle time, displaying it as circles of varying radius depending of how much time you spent away from the computer. You can either use blank canvas or tell application to capture your current desktop as an underlay.

Find out more info + download Mac, Windows or Linux (java) versions of the app, see iographica.com