Sound Reactivity LAB

In this sound reactivity patch made with Lexi, I animated three orbiting circles to music. The movement of each circle is generated by Sound Frequency Bands which through using a combination of Smoother, Limit-Scale Value and Color Maker RGBA. The movement idea came from using Spinner and Wave Generator, which is finally filtered through Motion Blur at the end. I really like the way the movement reacts to the beat by jumping in and out of orbit in a symmetrical way.

My biggest takeaway putting this together was actually the usefulness of the Limit-Scale Value. I also realized I was not clear on what limit min/max vs. out min/max meant and Lexi helped me to understand.

IZZ feeding sound practice

In this practice, I fed into isadora sound files of my own humming, the sound of my heart beat and footsteps. The raw numbers from the sound frequency actors were manipulated through the limit scale, calculator and smoother actors, before being plugged into the shapes actor, changing up the location, scale, rotation and color of the objects. I also used duplicated user actors to create multiples of the same moving object.

Audio Project

My goal for this short project was just simply playing with audio related actors.
I randomly picked up multiple values from Sound Frequency Bands actor, and connected them to many kinds of outputs such as shapes, positions, and colors transitions/transformations.

Even there was no order in those many connections between input and output values, the final video shows synchro with the music (of course, as inputs come from the music).

Especially, the intro part of Blue Train by John Coltrane clearly shows it (as it has the rhythm of the peak and the silence).

I really enjoyed the project, and got the sense of how I can deal with sound actors to use audio data as input or trigger.

Lawson: Audio Visualization

Here’s my audio visualization project!

Link to Isadora and Sound Files:

https://buckeyemailosu-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/lawson_647_buckeyemail_osu_edu/EiouevvOn99IlmKdcooZq9gBWtffANWgKvOl8XfZ60E7NA?e=9kqVLL

Sound-Reactive Project

For my sound-reactive project, I used analyzed the input from the microphone and used different parts of the audio spectrum to shade different parts of a moving visual “shooting star-like” field.

Ultimately I wasn’t able to get any audio routing software working on the ACCAD computer I was using (permissions, etc.) Fortunately though, I have prior experience with software like this, and I feel comfortable incorporating it into future projects (on my home desktop).

Link to Isadora file:

visualizer 2.izz

PP1: Experiments in Synchromism

In this first plunge into Isadora, my main goal was to get to know the program through experiments in seeing. Using ‘synchronism’ as a guide (an art movement that draws analogies between color and music), I focused on orchestrating colors and the pacing between shapes. 

In the first scene, there are three elements at play: the pink transformer emerging from the depths, a green pulsing square sponge, and a blurry animated layer that gently envelops the two. [CG mentioned that the shapes had an organic feel, this may have something to do with the way they ‘breathe.’] The pacing of each shape was an important part of this scene, as a response to the prompt’s challenge of 20 seconds. I felt that if I could let the viewer watch the emerging pink transformer with anticipation, they would get the idea that you have to ‘wait and see’ rather than assume the loop will continue. In the programming, there was a wave generator altering color (+alpha), scale, and facets.

In the second scene, which was meant to be a continuation of the play of pacing, I encountered some technical difficulties (which Alex helped to resolve!) I wanted to create a prism where each square undulated at a subtly different speed so that they would influence the color of the next layer. You would ideally see all the layers in an unending loop, it sounded like a harp in my head. This worked for a good while until I created a new scene and then everything synched to one pulse, erasing the careful layering I had done earlier. Having spent so much time on that, I felt quite frustrated and gave up. The programming for this section comprised of a multitude of squares using wave generator influencing color + alpha. I placed each square so they would overlap with three vertically and three horizontally. Next time, I’ll make the squares very small rather than overlap so they act like pixels.

To be continued.

Conclusion: I learned a lot! I love the suggestion of the class to arrive at a place of clarity. Perhaps, another shape could emerge that is an amalgamation of the prism. I also really enjoyed seeing everyone’s interpretation of the prompts and was particularly impressed by the imaginative storytelling in every project. Kudos!

Pressure Project 1: Square Race

My idea for this project came about when I was considering how to create a drama that held viewers’ attention for at least 30 seconds. So I thought, why not create a race?

When the “Go!” button in the control panel is pressed, the race starts!

5 squares of differing colors race against each other, and the result varies every time the race is run. By far the most involved part of the project was the creation of the algorithm that propels each square. In the end, I settled on this:

The heart of the algorithm is just a straightforward ramp envelope. The square is simply moved slowly across the screen over the course of 30 seconds. The random, back-and-forth movement of the squares comes from the addition of random numbers to the envelope. I used a smoother on the random values to make the random movement of the square smooth rather than jumpy. A comparator is used to determine if the square is at any point the winner — if the horizontal position of the square (equal to the envelope output plus the random output from the smoother) is at any point greater than or equal to 49, the comparator’s condition is met, and it triggers a jump actor that changes the scene to the “victory screen” for the corresponding color (just some text):

While the outcome of the race is in fact random and changes every time, in truth, due to the nature of the algorithm, the first 29 seconds or so of the race don’t impact the result whatsoever. This is because the random number generator that determines the current random displacement of the square does not take into account the previous random displacement of the square. This also means that the race will always be perceived as “neck and neck” and “anyone’s race to win” until the final second, further escalating the drama of the situation. I think this gives the race appropriate casino machine vibes — an elaborate, meaningless show to create anticipation for an outcome that is actually only determined in a brief moment.

One thing I didn’t get around to adding were audio effects and music. I wanted to add a starting gun noise that played when “Go!” was pressed, some anticipation-building music that played during the race, and a victory fanfare for each square. If I were to do this again, I would definitely add these things.

Reflection on PP1

One of my goals for this project was to create an automatic transformation that keeps changing its shape randomly. So, my agenda was how to build a loop circuit which never repeat the same motion.

Firstly, I made some looping structures; Wave actor automatically loops so it was useful. Envelope actor has the ending point, but I found that if I connect end trigger to start trigger, it forms a loop circuit. Then, I can put Trigger Delay or the other Envelope actor to make the loop more complex.

Here’s an example of a looping part.

The next task was to insert some randomness. Random actor was one of the solutions, for sure. But I also used the differences between frequencies to make transitions seems random (it’s not actually random as different pitches make a long period loop, but it behaves like random on our eyes at least).

Here’s example; I used three Wave actors to change RGB values. As each frequency is different, the whole color transition seems random.

I found some actors to adjust values. For example, to make a star shaped polygon (an offset regular polygon) whose facets randomly change, I had to convert values generated by Random actor into integer even numbers. I used Float to Integer actor to get integer numbers and connect it to Calculator actor which multiplies it by 2 to make even numbers.

Throughout those process, I slowly realized that what Isadora’s chart of actors actually represents is definitely coding; accepting triggers, convert input values into outputs, and send values or signals to the next lines.

Also, it reminded me of building an electric circuit; make a loop of multiple signals by connecting modules.

For me, rather than a final output on Stage monitor (I’m certainly satisfied with it for sure), the realization of this sense (Isadora is coding/circuit building) was the biggest achievement.

Pressure Project 1: Sunrise

For Pressure Project 1, I created a short scene of a moon setting that transitioned into a sunrise using Isadora.

Step 1: The Idea

Coming up with an idea for this project was probably one of the hardest parts for me because I did not have any ideas when I first sat down to work, but after a few minutes of playing around in Isadora, I started to come up with ideas.

Step 2: Iteration

My first idea started with colored rectangles that I wanted to have change colors over time, so I started working on rectangle placement. While working, I got another idea that excited me more than the one I was working on and scrapped the original concept. This new idea was going to play with negative space and would be entirely in black and white. I spent a lot of time working on trying to make the very first scene look the way I wanted, with a half black, half white circle on an opposing black and white background, but the split color circle ate up way too much time and I didn’t end up getting it to work the way I was hoping. From the ashes of the circle rose another idea: a sunset.

Step 3: Sun and Moon

In the time that I had left with this project, I started by making one of the circles yellow with an orange outline and deleted the extra one. Then I started to play with the position of the sun in the sky, making sure the action was not happening too fast, as sunrise is a naturally slower transition. Next, I used the Envelope Generator++ and Color Maker RGBA actors to make the color of the sky change from black to a pink-orange, making sure that this was happening in sync with the change in position of the sun. To add another element to my project, I created a new scene with a light yellow circle on a black background that would be a moon. I made the action of the moon going down slightly slower than that of the sunrise and I also added a TT Polka Dot GLSL Shader actor in an attempt to give the look of stars, though I did not end up having time to adjust this very much.

Step 4: Timing

Figuring out the timing of everything in this project took a lot of time. Coordinating the sun rising with the background color change, making sure the action wasn’t happening too slow or too fast, coordinating this with the timing of the mood falling, then adjusting the transition between the two scenes was more of a challenge than expected. If one of my elements was off by a couple seconds, then something looked off, so I spent what time I had left adjusting timing on several actors. I finished off the project by adding a button to start the show, as I forgot how to make it loop, but I did remember how to quickly program a start button.

Isadora File & Screen Capture

Reflection

I feel like this pressure project overall was a good introduction to both Isadora and the idea of a pressure project. While I did choose to mostly use actors we had already discussed in class, I do think there was enough time to play around with unfamiliar actors as well. Most of my time was spent on playing with Isadora and working on ideas that came before this one, but I don’t consider that to have been a waste of my time. To me, this time spent on elements that did not end up in my final project was spent equally as well because the final product is just an iteration of my previous ideas. I would have liked to do a little more, but I am happy with my project overall.