ofxUI is an addon for openFrameworks (version 07) by Reza Ali that easily allows for the creation of user interfaces aka GUIs. ofxUI also takes care of widget layout, spacing, font loading, and widget callbacks. ofxUI can be easily customized (colors, font & widget sizes, padding, layout, etc)

Continue reading.... ofxUI – New GUI addon for your openFrameworks projects [openFrameworks]

Bowyer is a new company by Vadik Marmeladov, Sergey Filippov, a man known as “The Client”, and Ilya Kolganov. In this interview we talk through their first collaborations, philosophy, process, commercial projects, and future plans.

“Craftmanship is attention to details. Luxury is attention to unnecessary details.”

Typical phone games and apps retain a certain average appearance with a target on mass-market appeal. Design is usually not a priority, and as a result, often mediocre. Unlike the fashion industry, for instance, app development is young enough that nichés have not yet developed fully. Seeing this gap in the industry, Bowyer wished to target luxury markets.

“About 2 years ago while working on a commercial website we came up with a simple app for a luxury brand,” Vadik explained. The screen would be completely black, and through in-app purchases, individual diamonds could be bought and populated on the screen. The concept would be a reflection of physical diamonds: holding no real value other than the inherent scarcity and cost of ownership.

Continue reading.... An Interview with Bowyer – UIDesign + Funware + Luxury [Theory, iPad, Interview]

Karl Bartos (electronic musician, ex-Kraftwerk, co-composer of songs like The Robots, The Model, Computer World,…) and Masayuki Akamatsu (media artist and author of various iPhone apps) created a 16 step music sequencer now available for free on the AppStore. Created in support of Red Cross site, the app was presented in the form of installation in Kyoto comprising 35 iPads and inviting guests to download the app to the iPhone and use the room as an instrument

Continue reading.... Mini-Composer [iPad, iPhone, Sound]

Another year of iPhone/iPad development but there haven’t been many apps that have caught our eye as there have been in the past. Nevertheless few that stood above the rest, both in their conception and how they make us think about technology. As an increasing number of apps saturate the AppStore, now in their 100s of thousands, we’d like to remain optimistic that this platform will continue to grow and not just by large development studios and those that reiterate but rather as an exciting, creative and above all – “innovative” place to push ideas to.

10. Composite [iPad, openFrameworks]

Inspired by the neo-dadaist collages of Robert Rauschenberg, James Alliban’s Composite allows you to remix your surroundings to create graphic compositions. Users can paint pictures using live video stream by simply pointing their iPad towards your subject drawing over it. Pixels are captured and transfered onto canvas. A different way of looking at painting.

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9. Photo/Nykto [iPad, openFrameworks, Games]

Photo/Nykto is an experimental game conceived by Annelore Schneider and Douglas Edric Stanley as part of the “Unterplay” project at the Master Media Design —HEAD, Genève. Edric describes at as a game for nyktophobes and photophobes. It is played by switching on and off the lights in order to avoid reaching the edge of the screen. Photo/Nykto is one of the few apps that explores interaction with the device beyond the device itself. We like to think of it as “spatial interface” one that allows iPad to become an aggregator of physical activity.

Soon in the AppStore

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8. Planetary [Cinder, iPad]

Created by the collective consisting of Ben Cerveny, Tom Carden, Jesper Sparre Andersen and Robert Hodgin, Planetary by Bloom is a way to explore your music collection using planetary system. Application, created using Cinder framework allows you to navigate dynamically created by information about the music on your iPad. Fly thorough the stars that represent your favourite artists, visit planets (albums) or listen to the moons (tracks).

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7. Windosill [iPad, Games]

Previously available for Mac and Windows, we are glad to see Windosill by Patrick Smith (Vectorpark.com) finally make it’s way to the iOS.  An adventure puzzle game filled with peculiar objects, your task is to resolve abstract but yet logical puzzles to progress from room to room. For fans of the original, this is not just a simple port. The Windosill for the iPad was built as a native iOS app and customized the behavior of every element to the iPad’s touch interface. Bonus features include a sketchbook gallery of concept and development artwork, the option to instantly skip to any room you’ve already completed and two special settings, unlocked when you complete Windosill: Complex Gravity, which allows you to manipulate objects by tipping your iPad, and See-Thru Mode, which makes everything translucent (giving you a sneak-peek into how Windosill is put together). Fantastic addition to the AppStore.

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6. OscilloScoop [iPhone, iPad, Sound]

Created by Scott Snibbe and Graham McDermott and originally designed by Lukas Girling, “OscilloScoop” is a culmination of about 15 years’ effort trying to create musical creation tools that is more like a video game. The process began back in the 90′s at a research lab when Scott Snibbe and Lukas Girling worked briefly with Brian Eno and Laurie Anderson on some of the concepts. The app, playfully called OscilloScoop, presents a trio of brightly colored stacked spinning crowns. Touching a crown trims or builds up its edge, like a spinning disk of clay. As you carve into this disc, the music changes, and you effortlessly produce hip hop, techno, electro, and other recognisable forms of music. Scott Snibble describes the process much like a DJ spinning records, but you create original music of your own, rather than merely cutting between tracks.

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5. The Infinite Adventure Machine [MaxMSP, iPad]

The Infinite Adventure Machine by David Benqué is a computer program which generates fairy-tale plots. Based on the work of Vladimir Propp, who reduced the structure of russian folk-tales to 31 basic functions, the project addresses the difficulties of automatic story generation which David explains remain an unsolved problem for computer science.

Not available – Prototype

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4. field [iPhone, iPad, openFrameworks, Sound]

Created by Rainer Kohlberger with sound by Wilm Thoben, field is an abstract audiovisual app that uses realtime camera feed as input. Brightness, saturation and color are interpreted, and translated into a constructed grid. The realtime image triggers different sounds as you pan around. Included are five different modes which you can switch through by double tapping the screen. Very addictive and playful take on  live video as medium to generate both visual and sound patterns.

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3. Last Clock [iPad]

Originally created in 2002 by Jussi Ängeslevä and Ross Cooper when at the Royal College of Arts in London and developed for the iOS by NewMediology (Danqing Shi), Last clock is a clock app that uses popular slit scan technique to keep you in factual time, human time and remote time. Just like any other analog clock, the app has three hands: one for seconds, minutes and hours. The hands, however, are made of a slice of live video that gets scanned to the clockface. With different refresh rate for the three hands, the three time circles reflect the rhythms of the space at different temporal resolutions. The app also allows you to stream the last clock camera feed over the internet.

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2. Sword & Sworcery EP [Games, iPhone, iPad]

The long awaited “21st century interpretation of the archetypical old school videogame adventure” by Superbrothers finally hit the AppStore this year. The response was amazing quickly became one of the most popular games of the year. If you haven’t had a chance to play with it, xmas break seems like a perfect opportunity. Easily the best iOS game this year.

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1. Björk – Biophilia [iPhone, iPad, Sound]

Having seen many apps over the last few years, I don’t think anyone expected Biophilia. If you don’t know about it, is an iPhone/iPad release of Björk’s latest album created in collaboration with Scott Snibbe and her longtime design collaborators M/M (Paris). Comprising a suite of musical pieces and interactive artworks, Biophilia is a unique experience where different elements are weaved together with both sensitivity and precision. The experience is unified, building on different layers of visuals and sound. It’s a simple must! (Read also our special Making-of Virus)

Stilla is a new collaboration between Patrick Juchli and Bernhard Frey, an iPhone app that combines photography with 3d projection. The app allows you to take multiple photos from different views, remembering your orientation and positioning those photos in 3d space related to another another. Not to be confused with traditional panoramas, Stilla allows you to blend multiple images in 3D space on the same axis.

Continue reading.... Stilla [iPhone]

In collaboration with Rump-Recordings, Futura Epsis 1 (the collective behind GRID) have just released QDD, an iPhone game and music promo for Quasi Dub Development’s newest LP “Limousine to the Guillotine”.

The app combines game mechanics with unlockable tracks featuring remixes from artists like Thomas Knak aka Opiate, Jason Forrest , Kim Hiorthøy, Guido Möbius and Loopspool (Tied + Tickled Trio). Task in the game is to destroy enemy cells by firing particles from your own cells. As you fire the particles your cells reduce in size which can then be merged by applying multitouch to the screen. Each enemy cells has a lifeline and they also fire back. As you complete the level, next level and remix unlock.

Made with Objective-C and OpenCL. Effects made in After Effects.

More screenshots and demo video below.

Continue reading.... QDD [iPhone, Sound, Games]

Lost in Lace is the name of new exhibition at the Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. It is a collection of “New approaches by UK and international artists” featuring 20 names including Nils Völker, Reiko Sudo, Chiharu Shiota, Suzumi Noda, Atelier Manferdini, Naomi Kobayashi, Diana Harrison, Michael Brennand-Wood, Annie Bascoul and many more.

Step into a world of lace like you’ve never seen before. See how the patterns, materials and cultural traditions of lace are represented through radical new approaches by UK and international artists. Featuring large-scale, theatrical and visually spectacular work, this exhibition challenges perceptions of what lace can be, involving the visitor in an environment where spaces become fluid and thread creates entirely new boundaries. Many of the international artists are showing in the UK for the first time and artworks will be breaking out beyond the bounds of the gallery, into public spaces.

As a part of the exhibition, and produced by Nexus Interactive Arts, Sembler have created a free iPhone application that allows you not only convert photos into lace but also interact with pieces at the exhibition. Included as a bonus features, which only unlocks when your GPS coordinates are matched to location, allows you to “explore the digital space these sculptures inhabit via your phone and body movements” – video below.

Continue reading.... Lost in Lace [iPhone, openFrameworks, Events]

Few months ago Berg posted concept material for Suwappu, their toy design project with Dentsu. The project is based around woodland creatures that talk to one-another when you watch them through your phone camera, a form of AR. Whilst still only a concept at that time, Matt Webb has posted latest details on Berg’s blog including the iPhone app internal beta, where you can see Deer and Badger talk as you play with them. The app was developed by Zappar, whose AR technology brought Suwappu to life. Interesting feature but not new to CAN readers is camera recognition of objects without QR codes using only the faces design of objects the camera is looking at.

The real jewels of the Suwappu project are the stories that happen between these toys inside this new environment, one that moves around and behind the toy as you pan around the characters. As Matt describes:

Seeing the two characters chatting, and referencing a just-out-of-camera event, is so provocative. It makes me wonder what could be done with this story-telling. Could there be a new story every week, some kind of drama occurring between the toys? Or maybe Badger gets to know you, and you interact on Facebook too. How about one day Deer mentions a new character, and a couple of weeks later you see it pop up on TV or in the shops.

Continue reading.... Suwappu Prototype [iPhone]

Since it’s launch in 2008, CreativeApplications.Net has become a prime source for latest in new creative software and platforms. It continues to play an integral part in the debate about digital art and software. Inspiring thousands of visitors daily, CAN has become an institution for creative app app development. Together with a number of high profile writers, we continue to influence both online media and printed press on the direction of new media and digital arts.

We are 3 years old tomorrow and to celebrate we are running a fundraiser. CAN takes 300+ hours a month to curate & edit, between the blog, Twitter and Facebook. Please help!

We kindly ask you that if you find any joy & value in CAN, please consider a modest donation by clicking on the PayPal button below..

All your donations go to CAN, for development and to continue to bring you great content.

Even better, every donation equal to or over $35 will receive CAN logo shirt – new dark grey style with light grey logo. The t-shirts will go to print in November, with estimated delivery before Christmas (all via our partner Allmightys.com). Once you have made the donation we will get in touch with you for desired t-shirt size and your postal details. P&P is included. (New CAN T-Shirt is only available through donations until October 31st).

UPDATE 07/10/2011: Tshirt are available in both Male and Female models.

…and as a thank you we are making all the CAN apps free for only one day. The special price starts at midnight on the 5th October around the world ending the day after. Here is what’s included:

SpringMesh by Ricardo Sanchez $1.99 Free
Interactive cloth for iPhone and iPad you can twist, pull and deform using multitouch or gravity.

SKTCH for iPad and iPhone by Filip Visnjic $1.99  Free
Generative drawing application for iPhone and iPad using 16 presets created by digital artists around the globe.

Voidie by Francis Lam $1.99 Free
Voidie is an abstract depiction of the Great Void for iPad and iPhone using a particle system which reacts to sound and illustrates the activity around it.

ANE by Brendan Dawes $1.99 Free
News browser for the iPhone that uses serendipity to discover articles.

asdfbmp by Kim Asendorf $1.99 Free
1bit Bitmaps are a special kind of art. Shuffle the pixels, play with them on your iPhone!

RetroScreen by Mike Tucker $1.99 Free
Inspired by the screensavers of an older generation, RetroScreen is an interactive incarnation designed for the iPad and iPhone.

Thank you!

Once in a while comes a photography app that does something really different. If you’re a fan of action sports or just like to take pictures of moving objects you’re definitely going to like this. Nabit lets you catch the right moment and turn it into an action sequence photo like we’ve seen in skateboard/snowboard/BMX magazines.

Nabit lets you capture action sequence photos with your iPhone. The next time your buddy nails a switch inward heel or your dog snags a Frisbee mid-air, Nabit and share it on Facebook and Twitter. Whether you nail it or bite it, nothing beats capturing it with an awesome sequence shot.

Continue reading.... Nabit [iPhone]