Chance-based Systems Presentation

Presentation Critique

edit:

Based on feedback, I would like to add further explanation that I thought I had posted explicitly prior, but indeed, had forgotten. Screenshots and planned future work still follow.

Concept and Purpose

Microscopic Monumentality: 

One of my inspirations for this project was the feelings I experienced when I encountered these large hung canvases of chip art only to discover that they were taken of actual microchips. It was an interesting change of perspective that was provocative, at least personally. Part of this project was my hope to recreate this experience for others, but without access to a larger display that wouldn't also block my motion tracking, I wasn't able to achieve this.

Systematic Aesthetic

I'm rather fond of mechanical, rigid, rectangular and angular aesthetics that drew me to using chip art as the vehicle for this expression in the first place. My biggest qualm with myself during the project was that I could not further the aesthetics; I simply didn't start early enough to have the time, but it's on my roadmap.

Artistic Participation in the Technical

Lastly, an idea I've been exploring in a more literal fashion is how to allow those who are daunted by the technical to be able to participate and enjoy it in a way that bridges that fear gap. This is the hardest of my goals to implement for two reasons:

1. The aesthetics have to be far more representational and evocative of something actually technical. If they don't look technical, why would anyone necessarily consider them technical?
2. Because the project hinges on chance, there's a difficult balance in allowing for audience participation without direct influence. If the crowd drives the simulation knowingly, it loses much of its chance; if they do not feel any influence over the system at all, how do they actually experience it? How does one keep an audience interested enough to evoke wonder and yet perplexed enough that they never encroach actual understanding?

I look forward to the opportunity to resolve these issues in the future, perhaps for a gallery type installation.

end edit.

Screenshots:

Without Outlines:

Analogous Color and Hue rules:

The following were generated on successive runs of the system for approximately 1.5 minutes

Planned Future Work:

• Work around opacity problems inherent in Processing 2.0 (right now)
• Fix fading functions to quickly fade new items and outlines in and out
• Parameterize color profiles instead of selecting random ranges for more interesting palettes
• Add perlin noise textures to improve visual complexity and aesthetic appeal
• Experiment with adding lines on randomly selected objects to move toward visual target
• Make or find a back-lit projector so a monitor does not need to be used
• Use depth-based tracking instead of image-based tracking
• This might help the system react much more effectively in the presence of larger crowds, where it appeared to falter. I had designed the system to work well with casual viewers, but I didn't anticipate such a large group being so close and enthralled ;]
• Make fullscreen
• Create system to more quickly/easily test and simulate so I don't have to wait for it to fully run