christianmeinke.com » Designing With Code

Morphing Surfaces

CM — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:23:21 +0000

While sorting sketch folders and workspaces some days ago, I came across some rough Processing drafts based on eskimoblood’s Surface library. It’s more than 2 years ago, that I was utilizing this inspiring source of 3-dimensional surfaces and objects for the last time, but I couldn’t resist to give certain aspects another spin.

In previous experiments I completely missed out on the morphing functionality provided by the library and just after some quick testing of available surfaces I came up with some quite interesting forms and results. Combinations of two surfaces – a 1st more complex like a Tranguloid Trefoil and more simple counterparts (i.e. Spheres) turned out to be a valuable source and basis for further sketching.

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Current versions and prototypes are combining rotation and scaling as well as growth-like animations using the underlying mathematical structures (see Paul Bourke) and qualities of certain surfaces.

While still being impressed by the aesthetic value of generated forms and artfully arranged elements, I’m already thinking about using underlying procedures and algorithms for more applied usage in upcoming projects.

See more stills of created generative forms at Flickr.

Synket Vinyl Artwork

CM — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:55:06 +0000

Phew… Almost a year passed by since my last post. Time to bring this tiny little white space back to life. To continue the line of bloggings filed under ‘Designing With Code’, I’ll upload some documenting pictures of artworks for a 12″ vinyl series I did some months ago. Graphics are based on sketches that utilize Andreas Koeberle’s Surface Library for Processing.

Besides designing the logo for Berlin based label Synket, I did numerous experiements and sketches to find a visual aesthetic that fits the approach and style of the musical projects. I ended up with a really stripped down version based on rotating horizontal and vertical strips of a shell surface that feels simple, yet complex in it’s own unique way.

Below you’ll find a few more pictures of the final products. High-res versions are available at Flickr.

Read more about concept and idea behind at the project page.

Textured Surfaces

CM — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:05:13 +0000

I’m currently testing the texture implementation of Andreas’ surface library in combination with various blending modes (already documented and described by Robert Hodgin a few weeks ago – Mini-tutorial: Additive Blending pt. 1 / pt. 2). After increasing the Eclipse startup memory settings, I was able to load even highres textures and to write 3000x3000px stills using the TileSaver class by Marius once again.

Especially the alpha blending modes and corresponding coloured textures led to interesting results that are woth further tests an analysis.

As usual a selection of various stills (based on TrianguloidTrefoil and Shell surfaces) is available at Flickr.

Still images: TrianguloidTrefoil_01 and TexturedShell_02 sketch, 2007-06-11

Ghost in/of the Shell

CM — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:42:10 +0000

For the design of a 12" Vinyl series I utilized once again Andreas Koeberleâ€™s Surface Library for Processing. The following stills are showcasing a few basic sketches (work in progress) that ‘ll be extended with additional color and typography for 12" discobags and label stickers. After a few first sketches and experiments I got excited by the calligraphic aesthetic of single elements and objetcs as well as by the spatial diversity.

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The form is generated out of single parts and horizontal strips of a mathematical shell (originally created by Paul Bourke in 1989 and ported to a Processing library by Andreas Koeberle) multiplied and animated by using a rotating particle system.

Stills: Shells sketch, 2007-05-09

TwistingBoxes • Processing Sketch

CM — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:19:07 +0000

A few days ago I made some basic experiments with 3D Primitives in Processing while keeping an eye on temporal processes and time shifting. I also tested eskimobloods color import class, that allows you to import .cs and .act palette files into your Processing sketches.
These palette files can be exported from all popular graphic programms or by the help of online services like Color Schemer and ColorBlender.

The results can be seen below in the form of low-res stills and video footage – high-res versions can be found at Flickr.

Related Resources…

Color workshop by Joshua Davis
Colorstripping.joshuadavis.com – Color Array Tool

Stills: TwistingBoxes sketch, 2007-04-03

Video: Screencapture of TwistingBoxes.

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* Update

Extended the TwistedBoxes sketch by the use of modified L-system algorithms. High-res stills are available in the Processing set at Flickr.com.

Stills: TwistingBoxesFractal sketch, 2007-04-05

TileSaver Class For Processing

CM — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 00:04:32 +0000

After releasing ImageStitcher a while back, Maruis Watz finally posted the TileSaver Class to his Code&Form blog.
“The code works by panning the camera over the original viewport area, subdividing the image into tiles. This way, OpenGL’s limitations on maximum resolution can be circumvented.As long as enough memory is allocated, the images created can be very big indeed. …”

This clever piece of code could serve as a handy and creative tool for print projects I’m currently working on and I’m curious to see how things ‘ll evolve thanks to this tool.

Within this context don’t miss Marius’ SimplePostScript library for Processing that enables writing vector files in PostScript format. Another good resource for other importing and exporting extensions provides the library overview at Processing.org.

Image: RandBox00406 by Marius Watz, 2007

Surface Sketches And Experiments

CM — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:21:12 +0000

After a few hours of experimenting with Eskimoblood’s Surface Library I’m impressed by the multifaceted visual output that one can achieve with some basic utilisation of the built in surfaces and their methods.
Right after gaining a first insight into the concept and approach behing It feels like a valuable source for further experiments and food for thought for the next weeks.

You can also create own classes to extend the basic surface class. Anderas provides us with a brief still helpful tutorial that describes in a few basic steps how to create own surfaces.

Image: MoebiusStrip3, 2007-03-21

Video: Screencapture of the MoebiusStrip3 sketch, 2007-03-22

Surface Library For Processing

CM — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:26:16 +0000

Already published in 2006 Andreas Koeberle’s Surface Library for Processing seems to be good basis and starting point to dive deeper into the 3rd dimension of Processing and designing with code at all. After stumbling upon eskimoblood’s Flickr stream the aesthetic of his surfaces really attracted my attention and interest. I’m curious to see what I can get out of this promising library.

Andreas also suggested Paul Bourkes surface site to understand the math behind the different surfaces – which was also the main source for the math functions behind SurfaceLib. The website looks like a great resource for math related topics (not only connected to 3d surfaces) and is truly worth a bookmark and further reading.

Image sources: SurfaceNoise6 and SurfaceNoise2 by Andreas Koeberle, 2006

Processing Libraries Research

CM — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:57:36 +0000

Listed below you’ll find a Basic collection of useful Processing libraries as well as additional links and resources with a focus on sound output/realtime manipulation, video/vector/pdf export and extensions that enable communication through/between several data protocols and software interfaces like XML, MySQL, OpenSound Control (OSC) and Max/MSP.

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Sound

Ess by Krister Olsson
Sound library that allows sound sample data to be loaded or streamed, generated in real-time, manipulated, saved, analyzed or simply played back
jm-Etude by Daniel Dihardja
Provides functions to communicate with jMusic for easier music composition programming

Import/Export

SimplePostScript by Marius Watz
Writing vector files in the PostScript format
To understand how PostScript works, take a look at Zach Lieberman’s introduction (see the heading PostScript). Peter Weingarter has written a very useful PostScript tutorial. Download it as a ZIP file or read it online.
Adobe Illustrator Export by Allan William Martin & Mark Hill
Writing vector files in the Adobe Illustrator (*.ai) native file format
MovieMaker by Daniel Shiffman
Creates QuickTime movies directly from Processing

Data\Protocols

proMidi by Christian Riekoff
Allows Processing to send and receive midi information
proHTML by Christian Riekoff
Allows Processing to take an HTML document and change it from a linear string to a tree structure
proXML by Christian Riekoff
Allows Processing to read and write XML files
oscP5 by Andreas Schlegel
An OpenSound Control (OSC) implementation for Processing
MySQL by Florian Jenett
Faciliates communication with a MySQL database
MaxLink by Jesse Kriss
Enables communication between Processing and Max/MSP

For further information about writing and using external libraries, visit the discourse at Processing.org.

Image source: XFUNS – Processing images by Marius Watz, 2003