Pierre Commenge aka Emoc creates knitted like photographs using Processing. The application, with no UI, follows deterministic rules where every pixel of the picture is given pictorial qualities from its components in a color space.Â

Continue reading.... Paysages [Processing]

Inspired by the childhood memories of artworks on their bedroom walls, Here to There is a project by Emily Gobeille & Theo Watson (Design I/O) created two years ago, now available as a limited run of prints.

For the project, the duo developed a suite of software tools using openFrameworks to programmatically build elements based around concepts like algorithm, permutation, cause and effect, and topology to name a few. More than 25 mini openFrameworks applications were created that would output graphics as postscript. The graphics outputted by the OF apps became the basic building blocks for the posters, which were combined with character design, narrative and illustration, to create the story of the two worlds of Here To There: the ‘City’ and the ‘Jungle’. Some of the apps would process input input images, while others were drawing tools which would be used to create custom elements for the posters. One app loaded NASA height map images and outputted terrain contours at different elevations (the posters include contours from the moon and a volcano in Hawaii). Another app used a 2D physics engine to create pulley systems and circle packing which featured heavily in the final design.

Theo writes that at the time when these were created there wasn’t a system for generating vector graphics in openFrameworks so the team developed addon now known as ofxVectorGraphics. This addon allowed you to draw graphics to the screen using OpenGL and then do an identical screen dump of the graphics to a postscript file. It is now one of the bundled addons that comes with the openFrameworks download with next update to include output options as pdf and svg.

“Jungle” and “City” are the first two in a series of experimental posters for children that combine science, nature, algorithm and design, to feed children’s imagination and curiosity. Here To There combines programmatically created elements with illustration and character design to tell a multi-layered story that feeds both hemispheres of the brain. The posters explore concepts of algorithm, permutation, cause and effect, and topology (to name a few) and these elements become the building blocks for the different worlds and the stories being told.

The posters are A1 in size, printed using staccato offset, on high quality, satin finish, 100 pound stock. They are a limited run of 250, sold as a pair and come numbered and signed. You can order one here.

To read more about the project, visit the project page.

Contest

We have a pair of these posters to give away. There will be one randomly selected winner who answers this question correctly:

Name the spatialisation algorithm used in the centre circle in this image:

Email your answers to: info[at]creativeapplications.net with “Here to There Contest” in the subject area of your email. Winner will be selected by random this friday and notified by email. P+P included.

Contest now closed. We had 44 entries and 28 correct answers (Voronoi). The random winner is no 22 – Daniel Berio. Email is on it’s way…

Inspired by Brandon Boyer’s recent IndieCade talk, Anthony Grajirena together with his brother Rob made this quite wonderful little iPad game/poem. To look around : swipe the screen, To interact : tap, To shoot : touch, drag and release. Enjoy.

Under the full Hunters’ Moon
of a late October night
a young Joseph Sound
collects the spirits
of the beasts
he has come to know
in order to seek
council in the dark.

Hunters’ moon is an interactive illustration and a drawing that shares an idea through game mechanics. It is best heard with
headphones and played patiently.

Anthony Grajirena : Art, Sound, Design and Code
Rob Grajirena : Design and Code
Anton Legoo : Support

/via @brandonnn

Platform: iPad
Version: 1.0
Cost: $1.99
Developer: Internal Landscapes Preservation Society

Launched in 2007, Poolga today is a must destination for iPhone wallpapers. It brings together both small and big names in graphic design and illustration, offering wallpaper downloads of selected works for both iPhone and iPad. Recently Poolga has also launched tseventy.com, in the similar spirit, hand picked photography edition from selected photographers from around the world.

I’ve known Juan for a while now and I am very pleased to see that their first iPhone app is now available in the AppStore. Beautifully executed, the app is pure Poolga. You swipe up for artist info, swipe left for next image, save image to library, tweet and a quick link to artist’s website. Simple, clean and all you could ask for.

Juan writes:
For this first edition we have invited our friend and recognized Art Director Luis Mendo from Goodinc.nl to propose a group of artists who’s work he admires. He came back with a list of very talented illustrators from all over the world whom we then invited to participate in this experiment. Their art looks beautiful on the screen and we’re sure that you will be happy to take it in your pocket wherever you go.

Full list of illustrators in the Poolga Collection #1: Anthony Zinonos, Christopher Bettig, Hine Mizushima, Hiyoko Imai, Izuru Aminaka, Jorge González, Jose Luis García, Julia Guther, Matthew Taylor, Lotta Nieminen, Nathan Manire, Ryan Peltier, Taizo Yamamoto, Tatsuro Kiuchi, Mogu Takahashi.

Created by Javier Arce, Laszlito Kovacs and Juan Carlos Cammaert
Curated by: Luis Mendo
Music by: Lullatone

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: Free
Developer: Poolga

The Pirata Boat Race pits two teams against one another to row themselves to victory. With up to ten shipmates split between two vessels, the aim is to propel your boat to the finish line before the other team, using your iPhone as your oars.

The experience is much closer to console gaming than usually found online. The site itself acts as a hub, allowing multiple people to huddle around the screen, snap the QR code on their iPhones and propel their boat via the built-in accelerometer.

To play the Boat Race head on over to piratalondon.com/boatrace and download the free app from the App Store.

(Thanks Pieter)

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: Free
Developer: Pirata London Ltd

Radiobones is the first visual radio created by guppies in the dark. Instead of looking away once you press play, Radiobones includes a skeleton which dances a routine between ballroom dance and pogo which you set in the settings panel. The app allows you to add your own radio stations, flick between them and set a routine for the skeleton. My only comment would be to include no sleep function and it is somewhat unfortunate that not many stations offer a URL stream of their shows. Other than this, Radiobones is now officially my favorite radio player!

RadioBones is a highly sophisticated piece of software but completely useless. (Except for those who have nothing else to do but staring at their radio) It does take full advantage of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The accelerometer, multi touch and high-res screen. Now it is fun to look at your favorite radio station. Download stand start playing.

Radiobones uses the physical engine “chipmunk” which was written by Scott Lembcke.

Guppies in the Dark is a young company founded by Victor Bergen Henegouwen. Together with Monique, Niels, Mirko and Arjen they form a strange but oh so innovative mix of people creating their own playground. We reject reality and substitute it by our own.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99
Developer: guppies in the dark

Inkstrumental is the latest iPhone/iPod Touch app from the London’s ustwo creative studio. A collaboration between ustwo and artist Jon Burgerman, Inkstrumental allows you to create simple musical tracks and share them over youtube. As the name suggests, the app is about attributing sound to drawings, ie ink. Jon Burgerman has illustrated 31 characters, each one attributed a sound or sample. You first browse the characters where clicking on them will produce a sound, then filling the “library” slots with the ones you’d like to use in your track (8 max). You can change the backing track by selecting a new one from the scenes. Some characters also change their sounds depending on the level selected. Then you enter the score with the loop where you tap on the characters when you want them saved to the loop.

Jon Burgerman has built a strong reputation through his recognisable and colorful artworks of ‘swooping, intertwining lines and hyper-emotional characters‘. The characters in Inkstrumental are very much in style with his previous work, diverse in colour and appearance. Inkstrumental is as much about his work with simple intention to make music creation fun and colorful. Yes, when it comes to music creation the app can be somewhat limiting, resulting in tracks always sounding like variations of the same tune. Nevertheless, if you are a fan on John’s work you will love Inkstrumental. Likewise, if you are like me with a young son/daughter, rest assured that Inkstrumental is a fantastic way to cheer them up. I started playing on the iPhone and my 7 month daughter absolutely loved it, giggling and repeatedly trying to put the iPhone in her mouth. Of course, this was interruped by her mom saying “I dont think that’s particulary intelectually stimulating for kids of that age, you should read her a book”. Mental stimulation and intelectual development to one side, Inkstrumental is about fun and ustwo with Jon have done a terrific job in bringing fun music creation to peeps of all ages. Whether I will play with it on my own, is somewhat questionable but that’s because I am more of a nanoloop type-a-guy. What I am certain of is that it’s definetly staying on my iPhone together with the other non so intelectually stimulating but awesome apps for my daughter.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $3.99
Developer: ustwo

FixPix a mini Game for iPhone/iPod Touch made by Delicious Toys (Mario & Andrew) in collaboration with the world renown pixel art group Eboy.

eBoy was founded in 1997 by Kai Vermehr, Steffen Sauerteig and Svend Smital. Based in Berlin and Vancouver, their complex illustrations have been made into posters, shirts, souvenirs, and displayed in many galleries around the world. They have worked with Adidas, Adobe, Coca-Cola, Diesel, DKNY, Nike, magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, Times, RolingStone and many other high profile names.

“We started working with pixels because we loved the idea of making pictures only for the screen. It’s the best way to get really sharp and clean looking results. Also, handling pixels is fun and you are forced to simplify and abstract things, which is a big advantage of this technique.”

eBoy FixPix is a puzzle game using the graphics of Eboy where you have to tilt your phone to solve it. There are about 100 different motives and many of them have a 3D effect (see video). In other words, this is an endless source of wallpapers for your iPhone and above all a very intriguing digital puzzle. Even though we have seen these kind of puzzles on the iPhone before, FixPix is most probably the first that is not only entertaining but allows you to explores the work of the artist. Artworks are not just cut up into slices but are amazingly layered compositions where at times you will need to study even the smallest intricate details to discover how things should fit together. Tilting your iPhone will uncover parts of the composition that you wouldn’t normally see in the finished piece. The process is very enjoyable even if you find yourself (if you are on public transport) pointing your iPhone at someone sitting across you in attempt to match the elements in the artwork.

When I was first told about the app I was somewhat sceptical. After playing with it for an hour or so with dozens of screen captures, I am trying to find ways to avoid regular daily interruptions eager to uncover all the progressively more difficult compositions. Each artwork is amazing by itself. Sure, there are fillers here but all together FixPix is a wonderful collection of eBoy’s work. From simple to very complex we have come to love, Mario and Andrew have done a terrific job in bringing eBoy not only to the fans but everyone else will also enjoy FixPix as much. See demo here.

I am not sure how far from submission FixPix is, majority of motives are in and facebook and twitter integrations are almost there. In any case I leave you with few images + the video and rest assured that as soon as it is available for download we’ll be all bells and whistles because this is really a must have. FixPix is now available!

To find out more about eBoy, head over to their site. To find out more about Delicious Toys, check out delicioustoys.de.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $1.99
Developer: delicious toys

The Creative Review Annual is a showcase of the creative work published by the Creative Review magazine. It includes commercials, identities, posters, magazines, brochures, websites, books, music videos, installations  and in other words an endless source of inspiration from some of the best projects of 2009. Over 90 pieces of work, each with multiple images, project description and full credits are included.

Each year, Creative Review magazine asks advertising agencies and design studios to submit their best work for our Annual, representing the highlights of the previous 12 months in visual communication. The best of those entries are selected by CRs panel of judges for inclusion in our Annual, the printed version of which goes out with the May issue of Creative Review.

Application concept, design and development by Russell Quinn.

Twitter communications based on MGTwitterEngine by Matt Gemmell and Twitter+OAuth by Ben Gottlieb.
Facebook communications implemented using Facebook Connect for iPhone.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $4.99
Developer: Centaur Communications Ltd

The long awaited Noby Noby Boy from Keita Takahashi is now available in the AppStore. We wrote about it few times in the past, most recently only few days ago with the release of wonderful videos but now we can finally immerse ourselves in the wonderful world Keita has created. What first started as a PS3 downloadable, described as a virtual playground than a game (fingergaming), Noby Noby Boy puts players in control of a stretchable, snake-like creature that can devour objects in the world around him. Keita first revealed his intentions to create an iPhone version of the at this year’s Game Developers Conference, since then we have been eagerly awaiting the iPhone release. I, unfortunately (still waiting for my PS3) never played the PS3 version but from what I have seen and read there was something that instantly drew me in. I don’t think these were the graphics or gameplay but rather the combination of both creating a world you are both unfamiliar and familiar with. A visual playground navigated by a creature as absurd as objects surrounding it. Is this absurdity that I enjoyed or was it the peculiar, unfamiliar and the exciting ‘never seen before’. I think it is my déformation professionnelle being an architect that always makes me question things but this may be why I enjoy things that sometimes are not clear nor easy to comprehend. At the same time some things do not need be understood to be enjoyed but rather it is our emotional response that may draw you in. If iPhone as an object of commodity fetishism, it is perfect for such absurdity. Whether this be only a self-expression, Noby Noby Boy takes over your device. If Apple would allow background processes, I could see Noby Noby Boy taking all the foreground. Your calendar would suddenly have a creature crawling all over it and while you scan for address book contacts there would be a fairy stealing all your numbers. Noby Noby Girl would grow so long, that you would have only a single chance to scroll to “z” and before you knew it the ‘A’ would spring back. You may ask why, and with that I say “why not”. The only limitations to Noby Noby Boy are iPhone hardware limitations or to be more correct is what Apple would approve. Noby Noby Boy makes use of GPS, Camera, Email, Music, Time, Photo Library, Safari Browser and so much more. I do not think there is an app in the appstore that makes use of iPhone services as much as Noby Noby Boy does. I could go on and explain what each one of them does but I prefer to leave that to you, to discover via each and every wonderful little pop up. If you already have the app, you know of all the things I mention here. If you ‘aven’t got it yet, well, time to stop reading this post, find the iTunes button below and buy now. This is the one for all. Noby Noby Boy, please save the world from this boredom!

p.s. It’s a GTD app too! =]

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $1.99
Developer: NAMCO BANDAI Games