I turn to my computer...

...and see how my line drawing algorithm manages to reproduce an image of Kate Bush.

Here's a video of the whole process...

and a few images...

Who is it?

So there is this facebook competition to reproduce a Bjork album cover with the prize of tickets to see her at Roskilde.

I thought I would give my line drawing algorithm a go at this but I think it will be invalid because the rules forbid the use of 'digital tools'. This is a shame as:

• I created the digital tool.
• It's quite biophilia inspired (quasi-evolutionary process and the image sometimes seems to grow crystalline-like).
• I was looking forward to seeing her at Primavera but she had to cancel.
• I can't draw.

Oh well - here is the result anyway...

And here is a video of the image being grown...

Worth doing anyway. I'll catch her on the next tour.

Angels of Monte Carlo

I love the work of this chap who layers packing tape onto glass to create images like this.

I thought I would have a go at writing a program to do the same. Initially tried to have a genetic algorithm placing virtual pieces of tape to try and match a target image. Results weren't great. Think I would need a massive population and an awful lot of computation to get anything half decent. I'll probably try again some time though.

So I tried a Monte Carlo approach. My code starts with a blank image and draws a random line (either black or white, random start and end, random thickness). If the line makes the image more like a given target image, it is retained other wise it is discarded and another random line is drawn (and so on).

I gave it a target image of the Angel of the North because I thought the clearly defined shape should be quite easy to find. Here's what it looked like after running for half an hour or so...

and then after around two hours...


More detail in the second image but perhaps not as pleasingly 'arty'. Quite pleased with how they're looking though. Am going to try a few different target images and see what I get.

Damped Springy Drawing

Added some damping to my earlier springy drawing sketch. Might take a while for the image to emerge as it can start very feint. Click to get a new one!

Springy Drawing

Thought I would have a go at first generative artwork. Dusted off some old A-level physics about springs and came up with this.

A pen draws circles and starts with a random velocity. Pen is attached to a spring in the centre of the screen. The screen wraps around and you can get interesting effects when the pen moves off the edge.

Click to get a new one.

Markov Chain Graph

This sketch aims to show the state transitions through a simple markov chain. I'm thinking of a component of a bridge (or whatever) which can have one of four condition grades. In each year, there is a probability of moving to the next worst condition grade.

Each blue plot represents a different run through the chain. The black line is the average state transition.

Move the mouse around to control the speed, and the persistence of each plot. I was interested to see if I could visualise the distribution around the mean - not sure it quite works.

Hello World

So I've started this blog to share the work of myself (and others I guess) in the fields of generative art/data visualisation.

Been interested in this stuff for some time and finally got around to giving it a go.

I've chosen to learn the Processing language (mainly after seeing the amazing results produced by the Substrate artwork some years ago). So the goal is to produce beautiful work like that, but got to start somewhere.

I started here - my first Processing sketch. Click on the area below to draw some circles. Circles get bigger the further down the screen you are, and more transparent the further left you go. Right-click to clear the screen.

Not too exciting, but learned how to draw to the screen, and handle mouse interactions.