Generative Art – Week 3

And thus, the third week ended. It had its hits and misses, but I learnt new stuff and I’m especially content with the three dailies at the end! And now, without any further ado:

#015: Probably a Metaphor for Something

On the other hand, maybe it isn’t. Let’s… let’s just skip this one, okay? I guess it’s safe to say that it didn’t go where I wanted it to go.

s15_03_15_probably_a_metapher_for_something_01

#016: Hypnotic Eye

This one didn’t really go where I wanted it to go either, but luckily, sometimes cool things happen while you’re experimenting. The video recording didn’t have a high enough frame rate to show how it smooth it really looks, but I recommend downloading the processing sketch or an executable – it feels pretty hypnotic full screen and with a high frame rate.

s15_03_16_hypnotic_eye_01      s15_03_16_hypnotic_eye_02

s15_03_16_hypnotic_eye_03      s15_03_16_hypnotic_eye_04

#017: Circuits

This one is inspired by a chapter of Generative Design about stitching together simple SVG shapes in a grid to form more complex patterns. I wanted to try making circuit-like images, so I designed my own shapes in Inkscape. Fun, but man, this took some time doing for the first time – the sketch uses 36 shapes, and everything had to correctly align. I like the results though, some parts look really interesting!

s15_03_17_circuits_01      s15_03_17_circuits_02      s15_03_17_circuits_03

s15_03_17_circuits_04      s15_03_17_circuits_05      s15_03_17_circuits_06

#018: Cloudy Tunnel

Another one in the category “I thought this would look better”. It’s kind of like a more boring version of #013 (Fissures). Oh, and it serves as a reminder for me – I wanted to go somewhere entirely else with that, but I forgot my goal along the way because I didn’t keep switching back to my reference.

s15_03_18_cloudy_tunnel_01      s15_03_18_cloudy_tunnel_02

#019: Insect Generator

Ha, this one is fun! Originally I just experimented with using perlin noise on circle drawing, but then I realized that the results look kind of like insects with the right parameters. While I experimented further, I discovered that a certain parameter makes them look very alien and glitchy. That parameter is part of the sketch now, slowly escalating on each result, leading to a tour from normal earth insects to otherworldly abominations.

s15_03_19_insect_generator_01      s15_03_19_insect_generator_02      s15_03_19_insect_generator_03

s15_03_19_insect_generator_04      s15_03_19_insect_generator_05      s15_03_19_insect_generator_06

s15_03_19_insect_generator_07      s15_03_19_insect_generator_08      s15_03_19_insect_generator_09

#020: Forest of Lights

One of the few sketches where I have a concrete inspiration – this time from the manga Soul Eater. The trees with the light balls on top of it fascinated me, so I tried my hand on generating something similar. It was a bit hard to get something decent looking despite using 2D graphics without cool premade lighting effects and shaders, but in the end a bit of cheating (the tree shading is totally randomized and even though they are reminiscent of low-poly models, they are fully 2D, haha) got me close enough to where I wanted to go!

s15_03_20_forest_of_lights_01      s15_03_20_forest_of_lights_02      s15_03_20_forest_of_lights_03

s15_03_20_forest_of_lights_04      s15_03_20_forest_of_lights_05      s15_03_20_forest_of_lights_06

#021: Gradient Skyline

And the last of the pack! This one uses palettes again to create interesting color combinations, but this time I’ve learnt my lesson and picked them by hand. Also, for the first time: Gradients. And pixel line shifting.

The following palettes are used (and highly recommended): Thought Provoking by Miss_Anthropy, cheer up emo kid by electrikmonk, Ocean Five by DESIGNJUNKEE, fresh cut day by electrikmonk, (◕〝◕) by sugar, Dance To Forget by joy_of_summer, Storming Psychedelia by Bionic Blender, Gamebookers by plamenj, A Dream in Color by madmod001, Hymn For My Soul by faded jeans, Koi Carp and 400 Lovers by Tzadkiel, it’s raining love by tvr, vivacious by plch, antidesign by death—of—design, mai by lovelyrita and Pop Is Everything by jen_savage.

s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_01       s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_02      s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_03

s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_04      s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_05      s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_06

s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_07      s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_08      s15_03_21_gradient_skyline_09

Download

Windows (32 bit)

Windows (64 bit)

Source Code (GitHub, MIT license)

Instructions:

  • Probably a Metaphor for Something: Watch. Contemplate. Close. Move on and try something else.
  • Hypnotic Eye: Left-click to restart.
  • Circuits: Left-click to refresh.
  • Cloudy Tunnel: Left-click to refresh.
  • Insect Generator:
    • Left-click to refresh (and increase alien glitch)
    • Right-click to refresh (and reset alien glitch)
    • Mouse-wheel or +/-: Cycle through coloring options
  • Forest of Lights: Left-click to refresh.
  • Gradient Skyline:
    • Left-click to refresh.
    • Right-click to refresh, but keep palette.

If you’re not on Windows, fret not; for some reason I can’t compile for Mac and Linux, but you can just download Processing and open the sketch files. It’s really straightforward. If you need any help doing that, just send me a mail or comment here.

And now, once more into the fray! I’ll do a fourth week of dailies, and then I’ll change the format a bit. I’ve got some experience with smaller sketches now, but I wonder what I could do with more time – so instead of daily sketches, it’ll be one or two bigger sketches a week. But for now, you can look forward to the next and last round-up of dailies next Sunday. See you then!

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