Submission *a

I think we had a good result there. We managed to edit and put all the work that we have done until now in our site : The Code Unknown site !

We have sections where we explain our project, through the manifesto and our aims and through the technologies that we have been using. We also try to give an explanation about out "sphere" and how we have been using it. In the section of work samples we exported some videos from Processing; they are not interactive but I think give an essence of how the final result maybe. I think we have a vision of how things are going to work and be and now we have to make it happen!

Thank you all for the really good work!

p.s. I think the logo of the blog is about to change.....:D

Manifesto(?) sketch(?)

Our manifesto (draft?)

This is the manifesto I have written after our morning meeting, the discussion and the ideas we shared about it. I tried to summarize the general ideas (I put them in the parenthesis)we had in a shorter phrase which each one of us will analyze later.

I do not know if you like the idea of the game metaphor. We can change it if you don t agree :-)

     Feel free to edit, suggest, etc,etc. In my notes I only have 5 general points, so I added one that I remember Zafeira suggested about the aim of our project (if it is only for the beauty, etc.). I am not sure I remember it correctly, so Zafeira?

The _code unknown manifesto

1.       1.The most promising games are those which seem simple, but have complexity as a hidden element. (the user is not aware of what is happening in the background, potentials).

2.       2.Without our programs and tools, we cannot play. (Our digital artwork is inextricably connected to the programs we are using, which are these programs, why we use them, etc)

3.     3.  Playtime is realtime and it never ends. (Realtime output: endless connection between the programs used.)

4.       4.We don’t like playing alone. (through interactivity we all are involved in a creative game, dialogue between user, artist, artwork, the artist cannot produce the final result it depends from each user’s creativity)

5.       5.We don't play only for the joy. 

6.     6.  Successfully designed games affect the participant’s perception. (Touch, vision, hearing. How we extend their thoughts/feelings, surprise)

I

S

 

Documentation directed by Ray (sequel)

This is an update of the videos that Ray has been into :

Ed-CoUn, DAY4 test clip from EdCoUn on Vimeo.

Test clip, DAY5, Ed-CoUn from EdCoUn on Vimeo.

Ed-CoUn, test clip, presentation day from EdCoUn on Vimeo.

Ed-CoUn, test clip, DAY6 from EdCoUn on Vimeo.

Ed-CoUn, test clip, DAY8 from EdCoUn on Vimeo.

Submission 1

Yesterday our group met to discuss the format for submission 1 of the DMSP. With the deadline a little over a week away there was plenty to discuss. Having viewed the submission brief the general consensus was to create a submission that included many of the options highlighted which stays true to the digital media theme! Over the next week we plan to collate our resources and our work in progress as well as clarify our 'manifesto'. The submission will be a combination of these three areas hosted in a web format. Most likely word press as it will be easier than coding from scratch and this also allows to focus more on the content.

On a personal note I have been plugging away at the granular synthesis engine that will form a big part of the audio content of the project. Having mapped alot of control parameters to the logitech controller and having seen other people attempt to interact with it, I've realised that I will need to work hard on the usability of the system. Right now I'm modifying the engine and control parameter mappings to allow the 'user' to get the most out of each button press.

It has raised many questions about this type of interaction and also about tactile interfaces in general. I intend to beta test the new (and improved :P) program over the next week, as feedback from people who are unfamiliar with the system is invaluable. I will also start experimenting with different sound sources and hopefully create some taxonomies of output based on these input types.

Additionally I need to start developing the ambient part of the audio system which focuses on FM and wavetable synthesis methods. It should prove very interesting as a generative algorithm will have to be developed solely for this system. A busy week ahead!

Pete

Processing progress (2)

I am experimentasing with the code of Heliosphere as well. Until now the most important things I 've done are:
1. The sphere is moving around itsself with the mouse movement.
2.The sphere can be moved to the background, to the front and to the side with the mouse movement.
3.The sphere has a constant very quick movement.
Next step: I will try to stop the motion of the sphere and try to zoom and unzoom it.
I will update soon.

Processing progress(1)

I am writing a new post here in order to share some processing progress. After studying a lot the code of the Heliosphere (which is formed by a 3d array(!!!!!)), I managed to change it a bit. These are really good news "Yes we can manipulate THE sphere". What I did was to create the sense that the sphere has a pulse, maybe by cheating a little. By changing the position of the sphere in the z axis it looks like it is actually having a pulse...it felt good achieving that and now I'm ready for move 2! Loukia has done some pretty good progress with the code too. I think she will share her progress too!

Meeting Audio Exertion Group

Today, after the presentation we met the Audio Exertion Group and talked a bit about our projects. Gareth, Matt and George made us think more about the interaction between the sound and the image (that was also Jule's point today)..we should try to figure out what is reacting to what is it audio to visual, is it visual to audio does the user control both of them? I think these questions should be answered while we continue working because they form important issues of our project...let us see..

Thursday's show and tell

We would like the final output of our project to be a projection | installation with the participation of the user. The projection is going to be the result of an audio and visual combination and we aim to have the sound interacting with the image and vice versa and also let the user control and change them.

Our installation will include sound created by the use of granular, FM and wavetable synthesis techniques, engineered in max msp, and produced in real time through the use of tactile interfaces such as the Logitech wingman controller.

The user will also be able to manipulate the visual result (with the use of the same interface) which is being created through Processing.

Possibly we are going to use this...

...documentation directed by Ray

Test clip, DAY3, Ed-CoUn from EdCoUn on Vimeo.

Test clip, starter, Ed-CoUn from EdCoUn on Vimeo.

and some more...

Silica-Esc from Vladimir Todorovic on Vimeo.

As the days pass by, it is becoming more and more clear between us, that visually, the team is leaning towards a sphere creation which could be manipulated in lots of different ways. Rotation, scale, colour change, dissolve, exploration, close navigation, explosion are some ideas put forward till now.

Working on physics simulations seems to be a great beginning for some of us to work closely on. There is a usefull free source example for us to start with, called Blopular found at openprocessing.com.

inspired by..

I think I can share here two (at least) inspirations of mine..

A Drifting Up from Reza on Vimeo.

Principles of geometry + AntiVJ: a stereoscopic show from AntiVJ / Joanie on Vimeo.

void setup() {...

Well it's true that he whole weekend was full of Processing..studying, experimenting, just trying to figure out how "this language is being spoken". I think that after all this I will be a bit closer to decoding THE code (decoding, recoding, just coding). It's the first time that I am trying to do visual stuff only by writing code and it's good to see that it doesn't only matter what you write but also how you write it. I hope I can see some results of all these things that I've been working on!

p.s.Keep up Loukia!

Processing, processing, processing...

I am about to finish my book "Getting started with processing", which is a quite cool 'introduction to making interactive graphics'. As I didn' t know anything about Processing before, I have to admit that it is a well written book, which only consists of around 200 pages -it's an advantage if you don' t have too much time and also are afraid of huuuuge books :-) So let's see now, how I am going to use the things I have learned for our project.I think I will start by trying to understand the source code of the Heliopshere: http://abandonedart.org/?p=824 having as an aim to reproduce something like this or finding ways to hack up this code. Will see!Fingers crossed, something good will happen in the next hours!!!

Diary

_DAY 4(01022011): Today we met at 13.00 with Jules to tell him our idea in order to give us helpful feedback. What we are thinking we are going to do is related to a sphere. It will be our main object and we are aiming to see it exist, be deconstructed and reconstructed through interaction, which will be either from the user either from the sound or from the combination of the both. Among the other things he suggested to examine, he gave us the idea of the remote control using tools like the logitech wingman or the 3d controller.So, for now we all are studying the programms we are going to use in order to manipulate the sphere and the sound and make the next step!

Hardware Hacking workshop with Yann Seznec

Peter and I as representatives of our team attended on Friday, 28th the hardware hacking workshop with Yann Seznec. During the workshop we created sound and light circuits. I really enjoyed the interesting things you can do using a great variety of sensors and other stuff. However, the truth is that without previous knowledge of the Max Msp software the second part of the workshop proved to be a little hard to follow for me. I suppose Peter will be the one to spread the knowledge about it to our team in our planned meeting on Monday.

Diary (sequel)

_DAY 2(20012011):After Martin's lecture about documentation we didn't have enough time for everyone to show what we had in mind or what examples we had found so only Ray showed us what he was thinking. Ray suggested that our final product could be a site where we could have a sort of a photo-chain that would express the linear process of our project. We all thought that we could use this idea for the documentation of our work and not for the project itself as we agreed that we prefer an installation with certain interactivity. As our meeting was really short we shared our links|examples on our Facebook group page and via mail.






_DAY 3(25012011):The first issue that was risen on our third meeting was about the roles that each one of us would have. Pete (as the only one with "sound experience") suggested that there should be more than one people invovled with sounds, so we agreed to work out who from the "visuals" will work with the audio part too. Then we started expressing opinions about the project which I can share through this post. 
*which are going to be our inputs?
*how is it going to start generate?
*is it going to be processing the language?
*select information and have a different result each time -> the element of surprise
*reverse of what you expect | less obvious results
*no lights | imposing result
*dialogue between the installation and the user
*one user / spectator per time
After having everyone's opinion we ended our third meeting by saying that : Ray and I (Maro) are going to work on the documentation apart from the code and that on Monday we are going to show each other some examples of what we think and are able to do about the project in whatever program we want in order to see what we have in mind.

Diary (?)

_DAY 1(19012011): Except from introducing ourselves and getting to know each other, we tried to express why we selected this project. "Challenging, generative art, creativity, getting familiar with code" are some randomly selected opinions that identify the multi_motivated team (!). Moreover, we enumerated the program languages that we know : max msp, javascript, flash (AS) in order to work out which one of them is going to write our code, but at that time we didn't have a result. When Jules met us he told us some examples such as the 77 million paintings by Brian Eno(it was a good inspiration searching about this). Day 1 ended by arranging another meeting the day after in order to express what we think should be the final output of our project : should it be an installation, a site or should it be projected, interactive?...many questions to be answered

Getting started

After having our third meeting at Alison house, we finally took the decision to start introducing ourselves and express, in public from now on, our views on our upcoming project.

So, while the code is still unknown let’s start by introducing the team. Here we are five DDM’s and one DCP student forming the Code Unknown group. We haven’t yet decided who is going to work on which exact part of the project(visuals, audio, etc) but I think that all the team seems to enjoy getting involved and learning new things.

Project Brief

http://sd.caad.ed.ac.uk/dmsp/10-11/?p=86