DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Final

For this project, we had to create a a form that entails an exploration of structure, processing it into noise. We had to learn and understand the difference and the relationship of structure and noise and incorporate this into our final images. For my final, I developed my idea of the sound waves of music subsuming it with structure and noise. I started off with little squares that were perfectly far apart from each other, same size and same colours. There were also hundreds of bigger squares with a blue stroke behind it to create the straight line going across. I have also added extra circles behind all of this to decorate it more, and to add texture. They aren't the main part of my form so I lowered the opacity of them quite a bit and is only clearly visible throughout the end. Moving right along to the second image, we can now recognize that it is a sound wave, comparing it back to the first image. The second one though is when the I started to slowly break up the form that it is in. But this stage is what I like to call 'the calm before the storm', simply because that's exactly what it looks like. 'The calm' is describing the part where it is structured, it is a constant beat without too many things going on. Leading onto the next image though however, is when we can notice a big difference between this one and the first 2. This is the start of 'the storm'. I blew up all the squares a lot bigger randomising the sizes and positions that they would go in. I then repeated this process with the last image too but now it is completely unrecognizable compared to the start of this process. This is, 'the storm'. I liked how the grey squares all layered on top of each other, and being that I made it so it has an opacity really did help with the effect. We can now see in the last image that the circles have appeared as well, adding to that texture of it. With the research that I have done, I did end up incorporating the colour blue to it, since it's the colour we recognize with music. I am very pleased with my final process, since it's something that looks awesome and something that makes sense to me and I can relate to. We look at the big picture and we can see that there is a song playing. It starts off with a calm and constant beat then all of a sudden it changes completely and the 'drop' (dub step reference) comes in.

DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Research
Colours

http://vikiworks.com/fave/data/images/2009/11/4094470768-36760a8c9e.jpg

The last part of the research I looked into for my final model was the consideration of colour. For this project, we have to incorporate colour into it unlike project one where it had to be black and white. Since my theme or style to my final is to do with music, I researched around to what colours are associated with music and sound. But I could tell from my earlier research from searching up 'music visualizers', I discovered that the majority of the colours used were blue. In one of my post I noticed that the three images I had uploaded were all blue. So I also had a look at music players and what colours were in them. I looked at the 2 main ones people used and that was iTunes and Windows Media Player. To my surprise, they both had a default theme of blue! The iTunes logo had a blue musical note on it and the menu and selected items were blue. This was the same for the Windows Media Player as well. So there's no doubt that my final process will have blue in it.

http://www.maclife.com/files/u58/itunes2.jpg

http://cdn.freewaretools.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/quuxplayer.jpg

DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Research

I had a look on openprocessing.org to see if I could find further inspiration there. I found 2 java scripts that I thought were interesting and could possibly incorporate into my final. The first example that I looked at was called 'Nebula'. It was a 3D visualisation which warped and spun around within a frame. What captured my interest was the shapes and objects this person has used. It is actually quite structured, with different shades of the colour cyan ranging from shapes to create the true 3D effect and shadows. This gave me the idea of using basic squares within my process to create a structured image, which then blew up to something more noisy.

'Nebula' - http://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/1412

The second one I had a look at was called 'Abstract Interactive' and basically it starts off as a blank page/canvas and it requires the user to interact with it by clicking on it. Every time you click on it it creates wild lines spreading everywhere ranging from the colours pink, orange, yellow and blue. I proceeded to design what looked like a process for this project. The thing I liked about this one is that it keeps the same type of shape within one click of the mouse. This is demonstrated on the left hand side. On the right hand side I just went wild and dragged the mouse click all over it, which still kept the same shape but was layered on top of each other. We can definitely tell the difference and although it keeps the same shapes, one is definitely structured and one is noisier than the other.

'Abstract Interactive' - http://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/14231

DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Research

I continued my research with sound waves and music visualizers and selected the coolest looking ones that I could find online. The thing I liked most about all these is that they can be either structured or noisy. You can change them up a little bit and they either become more noisy or more structured. The first one is just a repetition of one shape, it looks like it has been layered on top of each other and every time it has changed in size. The second image shows another constant abstract like form that is coming out of a speaker. Although the shapes aren't exactly the same, they stay the same size and colour through out which makes sense when we look at it. The last image is a sound bar visualization. What I particularly like about this one is the use of a basic geometric shape to create something structured and noisy. It changes with the beat of the music and can range from either or structured and noisy, creating a cool effect.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3613/3294675558_537a208b25_o.jpg

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/exhibitions/thebeatgoeson/resource/graphics/large/istock_soundwaves.jpg

https://www.photospin.com/content/illustrations/full/235_2772715.jpg

DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Research

This was the first time I attempted loops within my code. What loops do is that they make it easier for you to draw more shapes with less lines. For example if I wanted to draw a square 100 times, most people that have just started using the program would draw a square 100 times. Loops are a more efficient way of doing that. If you use a loop you only have to draw one square, then by adding a loop to it that shape can be repeated as many times as you want. I have demonstrated this below on the first image.

With this one I experimented with putting more variables inside the loop. What I did was I drew a line, and added 'count' and 'space' to in it. This would mean that every time it drew another line on the page, the line would get bigger and the space between the line would get smaller. It resulted with a really cool effect.

The last one has a similar code to the previous one, but contains more variables within it and also has floats. But I added a 'random' variable within it so that the shapes could change positions as it flowed through the box. This also worked with adding the random and count together to change the colours in each rectangle as well.

DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Research

I decided to further my research with sound by conducting my own cool little experiment. Since I looked into sound waves, it gave me the brilliant idea of looking into visualizers that were used in popular music players these days, like iTunes or Windows Media Player. So what I did is relating what I said in one of the previous post was the type of music and genre that the song is, can relate to either it being structured or just plain noisy. So I fired up iTunes on my Mac, I chose to experiment with the 'Classic Visualizer' instead of the new one, since the classic made more recognisable shapes and it felt like it understood the music better. 

Starting it off I chose to pick a classical song. I played the most calm song that I thought I had which was a beautiful piece by the famous Japanese pianist Yiruma. I chose his song 'River Flows In You' and to my surprise, iTunes gave me this visualizer of what pretty much looks like a river flowing in me! What are the chances. But as we can see here it is a very calm shape, 2 colours have been used and it's almost repeated through out the whole screen. There is nothing noisy about this, especially if you're listening to the song at the same time.

With the second song, I had to pick something that I thought was going to give me a noisy image. Of course I chose dubstep as the genre and ended up picking Skrillex's song 'Kyoto'. Straight away I wasn't surprised when the first thing that came up was this image below. We can definitely tell that this is not a calm song. It created wavy shapes everywhere with different shades of colour, along with a blurry background that didn't make sense. 

As we can see from this little experiment that I had conducted, that sound too can have both structure and noise. By just looking at these 2 images, you don't even have to have heard the song before to know what they sound like. But also an interesting factor that captured my attention was that the first image I thought, can easily be transformed into the second one. This would be great to use as an example for my coding, working with something that looks like sound waves or a visualizer to create a cool looking final. 

If you want to hear the songs from these artist to know what and why I conducted this little experiment, I have added 2 links here that will take you to youtube so you can listen to the difference and will get you to understand completely my point. 

[Yiruma - River Flows In You] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBXk5GngmY
[Skrillex - Kyoto] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86khmc6y1yE

DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Research

http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/images/loudspeaker-waveform.gif

I continued to research my idea of sound for my project, by looking at sounds waves that are described for our hearing. With the image that is showed above, it shows 2 different ways to look at how sounds hits out ears. The one on the bottom is what I say is the structured image. It is a constant shape that 'repeats' itself throughout the whole process. However the one above it is what looks like sounds waves coming out of a speaker. We can immediately tell the difference between the 2 images, with the top one being more noisier than the bottom. This is because in this diagram they described that random waves from speakers can differ all the time and don't really have a structure to it, but putting it in a simpler term turns it back into a structured form just because of the simple shape of it. 

DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Ideas and Brainstorm

I started off to think about what objects and shapes can be used to turn from a structured image, to a noisy one. Any geometric shape whether it's the square or ellipse could easily be used to create a nice looking process for this project. For instance starting off with only a few shapes with a couple shades of colours for a structured image. This can then lead onto a whole lot of things. The shapes could multiply to fill up the whole grid, or they can change sizes and pile on top of each other. But of course to do any of this or to even think about it, we must consider what we are trying to show for a start. Originally I had an idea to make something with a lot of lines and to use the colours originated from 3D images. But I figured that I can come up with something more interesting than that and something that wouldn't be too hurtful on the eyes. I decided to look into sound. Sound is a great example of structure and noise, since it can be either one. Structured sound would be something that's constant. Like a constant beat in a song. It could be calm and slow, also something that's understandable. Noise on the other hand could be something a sound that's all over the place. Relating it to music it could target genre's like dubstep, the sound of dubstep usually isn't very structured and is very confusing. There are a lot of different types of beats and drops as they would say within the music. 

DSDN 142: Project 2

Structure and Noise

Structure is the repetition of objects and shapes, which have been thought about and organised clearly and neatly. Noise on the other hand, is a lot more "grungy" compared to structure. A good example is when you flick into a TV channel that has no service, you get a fuzzy black and white pixelated image all over the screen that doesn't make sense. Also, the more colours that's involved within the image, usually indicates that it's noisier as well. If you had a bunch of little squares which were just black and white, it'd be quite structured because it's repeated and recognisable. However, if it had maybe 4+ colours spread out each square it'd be quite confusing to look at, making it a lot more noisier. Another factor relating to the squares is that scale can effect how noisy an image can be. Usually a bunch of smaller objects or shapes put together tend to be a lot noisier but bigger shapes slapped on top of each other can also be taken as noisy. 

DSDN 112: Project 1

A-Maze-ing Textures

Exhibition Description:

This custom created maze is designed to focus solely on the ‘touch’ sense. The main idea behind my object is that the user needs to interact with it by only using their finger. In order to get through to the end of the maze, the user must stick to and feel the same texture on the maze and to use it as guidelines. By taking away our sight, all our other senses should improve, which makes it perfect for the textures I have added in to be more recognizable. I investigated different types of materials and discovered that sandpaper would be the most suitable to use since I am working with wood, it also has several different smoothness. My object involves a lot of concentration, since there are some tricky parts within my design which could either send the user back to the start, or end up in a loop. This experience could range to be a very enjoyable feeling of satisfaction in completing the maze. It can also lead to frustration, however. 

DSDN 112: Project One

Prototype Presentation

For this studio we had to bring in our prototypes for our first project. I developed my first model more into an actual interactive maze, based on the feedback from the previous time. I made it out of cardboard still, creating a 30cmx20cm size maze. The walls this time were a little shorter compared to my last, this way people could interact better with it regardless of their finger lenghts. I incorporated sandpaper into it again, using 3 different types that were all coloured black. The way my maze worked was that you weren't allowed to look at it, you had to use you finger and feel your way to the end. The only way to do that is to stay on the smoothest sandpaper, if you felt a different texture then you'd know you're going the wrong way. 

These were some of the feedback & suggestions that I have received:

-- Make the maze walls even shorter than they were, only since the flat part of your finger has more feeling in it than the tip of it. This way people won't be confused on the material textures.

-- Also another problem with the maze walls is that they were cut up in a way that each corner had extra bits sticking out of it. This gave way to a very confusing maze, as each time you touched it you were left wondering if it was the edge or it was the end.

-- Trying to switch to a different material altogether. People suggested that the sand paper that I had used was too recognisable. In a way I did agree with this because when people were testing it they got through the maze too fast, I needed to make it more of a challenge. I will continue to investigate further materials like wool and silk etc.

-- Related to the sand paper, someone said that it confused them every time the ran their fingers over it because of the way I had cut it. The same material was next to each other, but there was a gap between them where I had cut and stuck it down. This gave the user the idea that it was a completely different material. A good way to solve this was to get a big piece of sandpaper, and stencil out the whole maze so I didn't have to cut any of it.  

-- One great idea that someone suggested was to confuse people into doing loops around the maze. Opening up a part of the maze so people would start going into circles would give my maze a frustration factor, which is also what my tutor suggested. 

-- Another idea that someone mentioned, was instead of having so many walls, have and use grids instead. This simply means that it's an open maze but the only way to get to the end was to follow the right material, by moving from square to square or grid to grid.

-- One main thing that was also brought up was an indicator to where the start and where the finish was. People were confused when they were doing my maze, simply because they didn't know where and when they reached the finish. So people suggested that I added an award or something similar to indicate you when you reached the end. I was thinking something to do with sound, that or I could be mean and add a mini zapper to zap your finger.

-- The last thing that I asked my classmates, were if I should 'black-out' my maze, or just simply use a blindfold. People chose the blindfold instead, since it was more of a efficient way of taking out the 'SEE' sense.

DSDN 141: Project One

Storyboard

This is my storyboard that I designed for project one. It simply explains my ideas on what I did and what experiments I have conducted with paper.

DSDN 141: Project One

Final Images

With my first surface I chose to layer the paper really thickly almost the size of a short book. I then burnt each page, and got rid of the ash. This is what I came up with. I like how the pages turned into a different colour and looked more 3D, giving it an awesome surface to look at.  

My second experiment was simply cutting paper and shredding it. I chose to work with this surface because it really defined itself throughout the photo I have taken, giving it matching shadows and patterns. This is my favourite image and I have gotten good feedback from it during my presentation.

My last surface was me experimenting with paper and water. This is my version of the paper mache, once again layering the paper on top of each other whilst it's been soaked in water. This gave it a really cool surface where some of the paper looked like it had a lighter opacity than the rest, plus the random layers gave it a cool light effect.

DSDN 112: Project One

Research

So I've decided to stick to my maze idea for my project. I have researched types of mazes and what material to go with for the base of it. Cardboard was my first main idea to work with, but I figured it might be a bit thin and light. I will have to experiment more with different types of cardboard, but another alternative that I had thought of was wood. Balsa might be a bit too weak as well, but really easy to work with. The best chance I have is to use that hard thin wood kind of like MDF, which would most probably look the most presentable. 

Images retrieved from:

http://www.binkybunny.com/Portals/0/Shop/Maze%20Grid.gif
http://www.tackyliving.com/graphics/travel/MarbleLabrynth.jpg

DSDN 141: Lab 2

Photography: Failure

For this lab we had to experiment with a material and push it's properties until it basically fails as a material. I chose glass in this instance. I dropped a shot glass smashing into pieces, this shows that glass fails as a material if it is hit too hard, and it unusable afterwards. 

DSDN 141: Project One

Development

I further developed my ideas with paper, because it seemed like an interesting material to investigate. I messed around with a phonebook at first, trying to saw it in half and cut it into pieces, but that was unsuccessful. So i decided to burn the pages to see what would happen and what it turned out like afterwards. It gave a really cool contrast and textured effect throughout the surface. I tried this again with normal white photocopy paper, within this experiment I noticed that it showed up more through the normal white paper, making it look cooler. Throughout the developments I also continued to look at wood, hammering down and squashing it which gave it a rough surface in the end.

DSDN 141: Lab 1

Draw

For the first lab of this paper, we had to look and investigate the properties of paper. We weren't allowed to make an object that was recognizable, so we pretty much had to screw up a bit of paper and draw it to our extent. This is what I came up with for the first lab.

DSDN 112: Project One

Proposal


Straight away I chose to do the sense "TOUCH" as I find it interesting to explore, plus I am able to incorporate other senses within my experiments at the same time. My plan is to build a maze that requires the user to run their finger through it, to get to the end. But there is a catch. The user is blindfolded, and the maze has several different types of materials inside. I have been experimenting with different types of materials already from my prototype model, and I have gotten feedback that the types of sandpaper are quite noticeable, which is a good thing since I am looking for a difference. The way I am building this is in order for the user to get to the end of the maze, they must follow a certain material, either soft sandpaper or wool etc. If they happen to stumble across another strange material like a rougher sandpaper or thumbtacks, then they definitely know they're going the wrong way. The further experiments I will conduct will involve what I can use to build the core of the maze. Also if there are more efficient than getting blindfolded, for example hiding the materials within the maze so it's noticeable to the naked eye. 

DSDN 112: Project One

Interim Presentation


Storyboard

DSDN 142: Creative Coding

Project One


Final


After creating my first form, it wasn't that long until I was underway to creating an adaptable system. It was a fast and extensive process throughout making my 25 final forms. What I liked about the form I created was that once I tweaked it one little bit, it exploded into making several new ones whilst still keeping its identity.

DSDN 142: Creative Coding

Project One

This is the final shape that I have come up with and designed, it consist of 12 coded lines, creating 4 points with a cross in the middle. I will continue to experiment with the different variables and offsets to construct more adaptable forms within this first shape of mine. But I am happy with the final shape result that I ended up with. 

DSDN 112: Creative Coding

Project One Research Continued

I found this java script called "sea of lines" on open processing.org and I was fascinated by how much movement and varieties that this process had. It was all made by lines which were moving everywhere and anywhere together, and it gave me the idea of what shape to do for my project, one that was an adaptable form. A 4-pointed star. 

http://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/14085

I'm choosing to do this because just from thinking about it, I have already realized that it has edges that can extend, it could turn into a square shaped object, it can even be transformed around to change the shape completely. I have researched images of how stars (not specific to having 4 points) can be adapted and changed to suit it's purpose. These images I found pretty cool. 

DSDN 112: Project One

Research


So I went on and did experiments with the materials that I had previously mentioned. I Played around with 1.5mm cardboard, 3 types of sandpaper, rubber bands and that keyboard cover made from either rubber or silicon. First off I had to carve out the main parts for my experiment. This was only the prototype so it's not entirely perfect. So with this experiment, I wanted to explore the differences between each materials, and their textures and how we react to it from the feel of our fingers. To do this, I made 3 columns. The first column was just separate square cutouts with each single material inside each hole, this way we can feel what each material feels like individually. I started it off with the softest sandpaper I could find in the first hole, then a medium rough leading to the roughest you can find. After the sandpaper were rubber bands which were cut up, followed by the keyboard cover. There was actually a noticeable difference between the two, the rubber bands being harder to touch than the keyboard cover. The second column is a bit like the first but there are no gaps between each hole nor material. The third column was again like the second one but it had a curvy shape instead of one straight line. What I noticed once I ran my finger through the second column was that you don't really notice that change in material as much as the third. Since it was only a straight line, you find that you run your finger through it too fast to even notice. But with the third column you have to follow a windy road whilst detecting the change in feeling within your finger tips. I shall continue with this research, like I said it's only a prototype tester so I will investigate more materials.