[Tech Crafts] Assignment 1: Idea
A mat or rug is usually made out of fabric. Most fabrics are made out of twisted tread, which can be from animal nature or vegetable property or, of course, synthetic fiber. The more firmly it is twisted, the more firm the thread is, which makes density of a fabric higher, but of course this also depends on the structure of the fabric.
I am thinking of a mat that responds to body heat, the thread or fabric structure loosens when detecting heat, so it becomes soft for your body part (most likely your feet in this situation) can enjoy its’ softness. The color or textile can also alter.
[Renatured] Fleeting Landscapes
Christie and I chose Sanford R. Gifford’s, A Gorge in the Mountains (1862) as a representation of ideal, pristine nature. Gifford was of the Hudson River School and he is described as artist that didn’t focus on a specific waterfall or mountain, which was the trend at that time, but rather focused on the atmosphere and light in his paintings. We focused on this point and tried to return this pristine moment back by projecting this image into the air and mist on a roof top.
Why air and mist? We agreed on the idea of pristine being a state that can change very quickly and easily. Air and mist changes it’s state very rapidly, so we tried to capture the “pristine moment” through this process. Timing was very essencial when we were trying to capture on camera.
[Renatured] Umbrella : Idea Brainstorm
Johann, Sarah and I decided to elaborate on fungi, plant/mycorrhizal language and public installation.
How the fungi system grows and how we benefit from them was our key interest, and we tried to implement that into our city environment. Below is a visual sketch of our idea.
City Fungi Cycle (Creative):
1. Broken umbrellas are the seeding point.
2. Wet surface (ex, rain)+ electrical cable network = ideal environment for growth
3. Grows on the electrical cable wires(ex, Light post)
4. Fungi grows in the form of an umbrella.
5. People can pick the umbrella fungi off the light post when needed. (this is how we benefit from the city fungi)
6. People may throw the umbrella away again, making it another seeding point.
Here is some more inspiration:
http://www.thecoolist.com/dry-tech-the-20-coolest-umbrellas-youll-ever-see/
[Renatured] Being Gum Spot
Tak and I decided to give a pamphlet tour of a city block from the viewpoint of a non human, in our case, gum spots. We talked about how the gum spots got there, and what they experience daily. We went through a couple of iterations, such as..
1. It was spitted out by human. – parasitic relationship between gum and man.
2. It is a reproductive organ. – there is a fungus system underneath.
3. It a battleground, view of neutral state and aggressive state, good and evil.
and we settled on number one.
Gum spots are made by humans being idle and spitting it out anywhere on the block. Through the pamphlet you can experience their view points (what they see all day and night) and what they think.
Here is the graphic layout:
Cover
Content
[Nature of Code] Segmented Memories
You can download the sketch here: segmentedMemories
My final ended up to be slightly different from what I had initially proposed.
Now, 15 creatures are wandering on a screen, illuminating an image/memory that is hidden behind.
You can only view the parts of the memory as the creature wanders upon it.
Creatures are contained in an array list. Each creature is calling 6400pixels surrounding itself and brightening the pixels. With significant help from Professor Dan Shiffman, I had to constrain to call just the surrounding of the creatures because the frame rate drops to under 10 when not constraining the limit.
I have referenced the “separation and seek” example, which can be viewed below.
Next step is to let the creatures wander closer to each other, letting a bigger part of the memory get exposed.
[Nature of Code] Final Idea
I wish to make creatures that are attracted to a certain color. Once the creature reaches the color, the color will be sucked out by the creature.
These are the visuals I decided to work on.
1. Image before the creatures attack color.
2. Creatures being attracted to color.
2-1. Working on the behavior of the creature.
3. Image after color is sucked out.
**** One more thing!! *****
I like the idea of a peek hole, where you have to look into and discover the creatures moving around. (or maybe more like lighting a flashlight into darkness.) So, in the end, I wish to add a layer of black and have a distance around the mouse to have it transparent in order to let the viewer navigate over the image via mouse.
