THIS TIME

December 16, 2012

NYU ITP SHOWCASE

~it was rad~

As an assignment for my Digital Arts & New Media class, I was required to attend the NYU ITP Showcase. ITP, which stands for Interactive Telecommunications Program, is a masters program at NYU that offers courses in animation, comics, digital imaging, analog circuits, video sculpture, HTML5, and FLYING ROBOTS?! Basically most anything tech/visual art related. Seriously, look at the website, it’s awesome.

Anyway, as I was saying, I went to the end of the semester showcase today and it was pretty incredible. A lot of the projects involved use of Unix with 3D visualization, Ableton Live for real-time interactive audio projects, and Arduino microprocessor control hardware. (Don’t worry, I only vaguely understand this stuff, too.)

One of my favorite projects was one by James Borda in which an individual could stand in front of a screen with a virtual DRAGON/FLYING DINOSAUR on it and control it’s flight by flapping their arms, and breath fire by blowing into a microphone-like sensor. It was kind of Xbox Connect-like, but Borda used Unix to program it. The project was called “Smaug’s Revenge.” Here is the link to the project on the NYU ITP site: http://itp.nyu.edu/shows/winter2012/smaugs-revenge/

More info:

jamesborda.com

@jamesborda

Another favorite project of mine was one by Yu-Ting Feng and two others (unfortunately, I did not get their cards or meet them.) Inspired by Taoist Tai Chi, the project was titled “Life Cube,” and involves an individual/performer stepping into a large cube of cloth on which abstract visuals (which start with the image of a glowing egg cracking into strips of light) are projected. The individual wears a belt sensor that detects their movement and speed and reflects them accordingly in the visualization. Yu-Ting and co also used Unix. Here’s their link:

http://itp.nyu.edu/shows/winter2012/life-cube/

More info:

feng.tina7542@gmail.com

A cool project for friends to experiment with is one by Andrew Cerrito, Mary Fé, Colin Narver, and Azure Qian entitled “The Collective DJ.” (I didn’t get a picture for this one, unfortunately.) With this project, a wooden board with aluminum foil hands hooked up to microcontrollers that interact with Ableton enables multiple individuals to start and stop different tracks (synth, bass drums, snare samples) by pressing their hands into the aluminum ones and high-fiving. HOW COOL IS THAT! I really wish I had a picture of it now… Anyway, here is the link to their project:

http://itp.nyu.edu/shows/winter2012/the-collective-dj/

More info:

http://thecollectivedj.tumblr.com

Congratulations to participants of the ITP showcase, and thanks for making awesome things!

3:28pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZK-OSxZUBEJM

(Notes: 3)

October 17, 2012

Before he came to lecture in our Digital Art & New Media class, I didn’t really know anything about Ken Perlin aside from the fact that he is a professor of computer science at our school, which I found out via a Google search from my phone on my way in. Now, thanks to Wikipedia & other interwebs, I know that :

- Ken developed an algorithm for a recursive pattern called Perlin noise, which is used in CGI for video games and so many motion pictures that it would be pointless for me to try and name them.

- He used to work in the computer generated animation department of Mathematical Applications Group, Inc. where he worked on the original Tron, which is really, really cool.

- He was featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art. I did a little archive digging and found this page on the Whitney Artport (I see what you did there, Whitney) that has examples of his work. Play around with the links. They’re interactive and intellectually stimulating ~~and seeing that at the Whitney would be way better than the time I went to see Cory Arcangel’s Pro Tools for a contemporary art class.~~

- He gave an interesting lecture for a Microsoft Research event about computer gaming as an educational resource.

- He is an avid blogger and sometimes he writes poetry :

“Grace Notes (annotated)”

Grace notes (The girl has got an eagle eye)

That Ginger snaps (Gilligan’s Island is gripped with fear!)

While Cherry blossoms (I’ve heard she’s even grown an inch)

When Destiny calls (Using free minutes, i might add.)

And Lily pads (Accounting has called the FBI)

As Scarlett letters (Her penmanship is lovely, so I hear)

But Rosemary leaves (Poor poor Pierpont Finch)

When Victoria falls (Can England be saved? It’s all too sad.)

I’m sorry that I’ve waited too long since the lecture to say much about it but Dear Ken Perlin, if you read this, I think you should come lecture for our class again and maybe show us the interactive projection demo we weren’t able to see the first time.

9:04pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZK-OSxVV8OXf

(Notes: 1)

Filed under: ken perlin computer science design new media technology danm nyu

August 7, 2012