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]

Inspired by the neo-dadaist collages of Robert Rauschenberg, about a year ago James Alliban decided to write software which would allow him to quickly paint using using a webcam. In March this year, when the iPad 2 was released with both a front and back facing camera, James saw this as an opportunity to make a mobile version.

Composite allows you to remix your surroundings to create compositions. Users can paint pictures using live video stream by simply pointing their iPad towards your subject drawing over it. A variety of control over the brush and video stream is offered to allow for a range of different aesthetics. These include brightness, contrast, colour offset, alpha, blur and thickness.

More images and video below.

Continue reading.... Composite [iPad, openFrameworks]

Thermochromic Clock by CW&T is a 4-digit 7-segment timepiece. Each segment in the display is made with a length of nichrome wire and then covered by a thick layer of black thermochromic paint. Time is displayed by applying voltage to the nichrome wire. As the wire sustains an electric current, it heats up the surrounding thermochromic paint, causing it to become transparent.

See also their wonderful Pen Type-A : A minimal pen on Kickstarter + the 1Bit 1Hz CPU project.

CW&T are Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy. CW&T creates multidisciplinary work that leverages technology to reconsider the ways we keep time, construct and interact with space. We are artists, architects, programmers, industrial designers, hackers and engineers packed in a small and efficient bundle.

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.

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)

Partly inspired by Gerhard Richter’s series of overpainted photographs, Untitled Painting is a web application by  Thomas Traum with music by Tim Hecker, “Azure Azure” from his album Radio Amor. Set it to your own preferred location, paint over the landscape with the colours of your choice and embed it on your own blog.

Untitled Painting by Thomas Traum, 2009.

Latest creation by Benjamin Ducroz with sound design by Samuel Acres is a beautiful piece bridging digital and analogue in the form of this minute or so animated short. What may appear as a digitally generated animation is actually frame by frame composition created out of hand effected print-outs. See images below + watch the clip in HD.

See this + more wonderful work at ducroz.com

Built with openFrameworks, Alex Beim and Tangible Interaction keep on making the graffiti wall better and better. This is a little demo of the new stencils function they have added together with new interface to load brushes (spray paints). The video was shot at Draw by Night, a Vancouver event organized by Myron Campbell.

For more projects and their recently launched new site, see tangibleinteraction.com

See also:
Graffiti Analysis 2.0 [openFrameworks]
EyeWriter [openFrameworks]

“Body Paint” by Mehmet Akten is an interactive installation and performance allowing users to paint on a virtual canvas with their body, interpreting gestures and dance into evolving compositions.

Custom software analyzes live feed from infra-red cameras in real-time, and converts shape and motion into colors, drips and brush-strokes. The software was written in C++ using the open-source toolkit openFrameworks and computer vision library openCV.

The installation is designed to work with any number of people and is scalable to cover small or large areas. The interaction is very simple – movement creates paint. Hidden in the simplicity, are many layers of subtle details. Different aspects of the motion – size, speed, acceleration, curvature, distance all have an effect on the outcome – strokes, splashes, drips, spirals – all modifiable settings in the panel Memo built (see photo), but are left up to the users to play and discover.

While the installation is suitable for a single user, when multiple users are present a new dynamic emerges between people. A user-to-user interaction is born when the audience start playing with each other through the installation, throwing virtual paint at each other, trying to splash their friends, working collaboratively to create shared artwork, or mischievously trying to vandalize others’ work.

I have unfortunately missed the installation at “Exhibit X presents Pebbledash” event in Stoke Newington (London) in June this year. I am nevertheless assured by Memo that there will be more events in the near future.

You can read more about “Body Paint” on Memo’s website memo.tv/body_paint

Mehmet Akten is a visual artist, musician and interaction designer with a focus on creating emotional and memorable experiences. Using programming as his primary artist’s tool, he develops technology to create new instruments, and explore alternative ways of performing visuals and sound. more about Memo

See also Reincarnation [openFrameworks]
and MSA Remote [iPhone]

“Body Paint” Installation at “Clicks or Mortar”, March 2009 from Memo Akten on Vimeo.