Safwan Chowdhury Project 4 — Music Visualization

Concept:

A good friend of mine and frequent artistic collaborator, Trevor Dean Stewart, is a composing student at Columbia College Chicago. He shared a recent composition named Beam for the New Music Ensemble there, and asked me to develop some visuals for it.

Beam is an extremely complex composition which contains a great deal of synthesized or electro-acoustic music written and performed by Trevor himself, as well as the analog work of 19 other musicians in the Ensemble — it ended up being over 50 tracks when arranged in Logic Pro and Ableton Live.

He and I sat down and listened through an initial mix of the composition and divided it into 6 movements which had a distinct sonic and emotional character, and some of which were mostly digital or alternatively mostly analog. We talked through some of the ideas he had for visualization and some of the things which came to mind when he listened to/arranged/wrote the music.

After I walked him through the many options for generative/modular/parametric media native to MadMapper, I moved onto designing and programming the visualization.

Process:

Splitting the different compositional movements into individual pieces (defined by particular musical phrases or the predomination of a particular instrument, for example), I began to design visual compositions and record to Scenes in MadMapper. 

Over the course of the composition, I created nearly 300 quads/triangles/circles/surfaces in MadMapper. I used different media and applied different effects/blend modes to those surfaces or groups of surfaces to achieve the goal of creating different elements for each movement which seemed to "map" or follow the musical phrases or particular musical instruments.

After recording 25 scenes — some of which were 30 seconds, some of which were 2.5 seconds or instant transitions — I began the process of programming the show control in QLab.

The first step I took was to "slice" the audio file in QLab which made it extremely easy to get timecodes in a format compatible with QLab's auto-follow cueing functions. I divided the track up into sections where each one was equal to the length of one of the movements of the composition.

From that point, I tracked each MadMapper scene and scene transition based on the timestamp of the song when played as an audio cue within QLab. Each OSC cue fires a particular scene within MadMapper in time with the song and allows for fades to take place internally in MadMapper. However, I could have included the fades within QLab and not in MadMapper — either choice would have been fine.

This image displays all of the cues and control times on the right hand side.

This image displays some of the OSC controls as well as the way the show control operates when the song has been played/the MadMapper composition has began.

Interpretation:

I feel like I was able to augment the sonic achievement Trevor made with such a complex composition by creating what I think is a pretty complex MadMapper visualization. I learned a lot about using Mapper as an animation tool and have become pretty familiar with the ins and outs of cueing when making changes to the built in media as well as to the geometry of surfaces.

As far as the show control, I am not sure if the array of auto-follows in QLab was the most intelligent way to time each cue's action. It definitely worked. However, it was challenging to make changes to the timing of an individual cue because it caused a potential need for change in the timing of cues that fell after the initial changed cue.

Nonetheless, I'm happy with the composition and am glad to support a talented artist with techniques developed over the course of this semester.

Safwan Chowdhury Project 3 — Architectural Mapping

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e79jE1AbuN0

Concept: 

I was given the opportunity to serve as Co-Production Design (focusing on projection and show control) for the recent Theatre UTD production of Oedipus the King at the school of Arts and Humanities. Collaborating with Director Michael Cleveland (who took point on sound and scenic design), we decided to use projectors to transform the metallic and stark scenic design. The set of the play is largely defined by the presence of the large palace doors and dais center stage and the scaffolding which surround that centerpiece. It was my responsibility to augment the emotional effect of the actor's performances and other technical elements (namely sound and lighting by Christopher Treviño).

The production of the play had a contrast between the formal elements — translated Classical Greek dialogue and the turn-of-the-20th-century costuming (by Michael Robinson) — and the experimental elements by way of sound, light, and projection. This contrast was intended to develop a sense of foreboding in the audience, who know the terrible fate which awaits the tyrant Oedipus but can do nothing, of course, to stop it.

Process:

I used MadMapper to complete the projection mapping and used QLab for sound mixing and overall show control/programming. 

First, we determined that a rear projector would address the palace doors, which had the benefit of creating interesting silhouettes when characters entered the scene. For every other part of the set, a front projector (with an extreme wide throw) hung above the sound booth was used.

Then, I mapped out surfaces for all of the different elements of the set, first creating master masks omitting all parts of the stage that would never be contacted by projection. I duplicated those masks and then further masked out individual elements of the set —

• palace doors
• stage floor
• dais/platform
• palace doorframe
• stage left scaffolding
• stage right scaffolding
• the canvases hung off of the scaffolds

— these elements all had individual surfaces created for the maximum control possible.

Above photo depicts the pre-visualization within MadMapper for a particular cue.

After completing this mapping/masking, I developed looks for different scenes/moments in the play and recorded individual Scenes within MadMapper. In several cases, I duplicated surfaces in order to get smooth transitions from scene to scene — ending up with several copies of the palace door quads for example.

I made extensive use of the internal visualization tools in MadMapper - using specific parametric/modular generators as motifs in the design - as well as found media for certain elements.

After completing the design, I implemented each of the programmed Scenes in the show control via QLab and OSC addressing. I made extensive use of auto-following in QLab in order to associate sound and projection cues with each other since many of those cues were relevant to the same, specific moments in the production.

Interpretation:

This experience gave me some wonderful experience in applying the lessons learned this semester to linear performance art. I do wish the footage gathered of the production (snippets of which I compiled in the embedded video) represented the projection better — it was much more evident in the theatre than it was in certain shots. That being said, I am still extremely happy with the work and the level of cohesion achieved with projection and the other elements of the production design, especially the lighting design.

Great thanks to all involved with the production, including but not limited to those named in the program available here: https://buff.ly/3soW0dD

Samuel Estep Proj 3

 

Concept: For my project I wanted to try to turn a few boxes into small buildings and animate various elements to go with music.

 

Technique: I taped white paper to a few boxes so they could be used as a surface to project onto.  Two of the boxes (the ones on the right and left) were mapped with a 3d model while the third was a basic surface.  The windows and doors are actually two surfaces, one for the frame and one behind the frame that gets "lit up" when it's triggered by midi input.  To control all the windows I used the virtual midi setup from my last project (albeit with different music).

Interpretation: I decided I wanted to have the windows set to light up with different instruments, with each instrument seeming to move around the buildings.  This was incredibly time consuming and I'm not sure I'd do it again.  The biggest issue I ran into is that my window lighting needed to be planned in advance, something which I didn't do.  The result is that I was running out of space despite many of the windows being unused.  Another issue that I discovered is that you can't control FX for a group, so each window has to be controlled individually (I was using brightness to make the windows "light up").  While this is time consuming, it isn't a big issue unless you want multiple controls for the same parameter.  Speaking of wanting to control one parameter with multiple control inputs, it's just not possible.  To put it another way, if you want to control a surface's opacity with two different inputs so that you can have two different effects depending on the midi input triggering it, you're out of luck.  So my plan to reuse windows and color them per-instrument flew out the window.  All that said, I'm okay with how it turned out, I'm just disappointed because I feel like I got held back by the program.

Low relief project Akhil Mulukutla

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Concept: 

When I started this project, I was stuck trying to find the right object to project onto. The idea to use this bust of a bulldog in my room came to me after testing 3 or 4 other objects. I wanted to challenge myself but also keep the freedom I had so I went in with no plan. Instead I watched a couple tutorials and got straight to work. I wanted a futuristic vibe going to match the song I was choosing, Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk.  I also wanted the bust to stand alone and not add any videos so that the actual animations on the bust show better. Overall spatial scanning was tough with this object but I did what I could to make it look cool.

Technique:

I tried using spatial scanning but found that adding quads and circles was way easier in getting the shapes I wanted. It took quite a while longer than the shoe project but I feel like it was worth it for the final product. The visuals are all elements in Madmapper that I layered to make a cohesive piece of work.

Interpretation:

While my experience was similar to that of the shoe mapping project, I feel like I enjoyed messing around with visuals on this project more. I'd like to work more on other more complicated shapes so that I could get more experience and learn to make more seamless visuals.

 

Bayang Flores Project 3: Relief Mapping

Concept

    For this project I didn't have very many ideas as to what I wanted to do. I was kind of lost on how to proceed, but wanted to work with objects that I could either create or had readily available.

    I decided to try and bring one of my pieces to life by projecting onto a prop I wanted to create for a cosplay. This is Star Guardian Soraka's staff from the game League of Legends. One of the characteristics of her staff is that the star changes color, and is filled with magic and light. I wanted to project onto my 3d printed star to see if I could achieve the same effect. 

Process

    To create my relief mapping, I first had to create the model for the star. I ended up making an .obj based on Soraka's staff, converted it into an .stl and printed it on my Ender-3. Once printed, I mounted it to the wall with a pushpin, and used a Canon T6i and MadMapper to spatially scan the object. 

    Once that was done, I used the spatial scan image as a background reference, imported the .obj into MadMapper, and calibrated the model to create a UV map for the print in real life. I created a separate quad for each face of the star to have the projection wrap around the object properly and then added a wireframe outline to each of the faces.

    After that, it was just a matter of what I wanted to project. 

Interpretation

    I ended up just adding the release music for the skin line as a background sound.

    The first scene features a magical girl transformation sequence in the center of the star (from a different character, but the same skin line). I overlaid and feathered out two different backgrounds to create a surreal magical feeling, almost like the star is glowing, suspended in another dimension. 

    The second scene features Soraka herself in the background. I used the Serpentine FX animation on the lines and the MadNoise effect in deep pink and yellow on the faces. In doing this, I was trying to make the star feel dynamic and alive. For the outer points of the star, I used the color pattern effect to have the colors shift. I also added a square outline outside of the star to better frame it and have it stand out from the background. 

For this project, I regret not investing in a more powerful projector. The transformation sequence came out looking really cool when I was mapping it on my desktop. However, once projected, a lot of the detail is lost due to the lack of lumens. At least I'll know better for next time! Regardless, I honestly had a lot of fun with this project. I was definitely lost for a while, but in working on this I had a chance to explore both blender and pepakura for a little bit. I'm still a fair beginner when it comes to literally every aspect of this project-- the modeling, the projection itself, UV mapping and such--but it's a really interesting course of study and I enjoy learning more and more about it.

Khadeeja Zulqarnain: Project 3 Relief Mapping

 Concepts:

For this project I wanted to use video to create something home-y looking and nostalgic to me. I used old video from a family trip to Pakistan two years ago and chose a song with an upbeat but calming vibe (Chaku Chidiya by Lifafa). The second comp is similar to the first but the footage being used is from over ten years ago so I thought of this as a kind of time machine accompanied with soft orchestral music (BTS Spring Day).

Techniques:

I wanted to create a more intricate mapping surface, but to me the content was more important than the surface in this case and so I ended up using a plain white box. 

I first mapped the three planes of the box using the plain grid. I then edited my videos into three montages for each of the planes. I then created a single surface to map my background onto. With this I layered a solid color, an animated surface, and then an audio reactive surface to create depth. I then varied them to create my different cues with the videos and my end scene. 

For the second one I did the same background mapping concept and instead of mapping all three sides with video, I only did one since the video was already edited and I didn't feel I needed to cut it up.

Interpretations:

For the first composition I only used white and green for the background because those are the colors of the Pakistani flag. I wanted to make the video look like it was jumping around and have them all playing at the same time to create a hectic feel which correlates with how it feels to travel overseas. 

The second composition is much more calm than the first and I used light pink/ rose-y pink for the background to make a reference to 'rose colored glasses'. I accompanied it with soft piano music (BTS Spring Day). I layered a cloud media over the video to add to the nostalgic feels.

The end scenes for both are white noise to emulate older TVs when they wouldn't have signal. 

Composition 1:

Composition 2:

NUNO SERGIO PROJECT 3: RELIEF MAPPING

Concept:

 

For this project, I wanted to focus on music and visual interaction. I chose the Spanish pop song, “Eres Para Mi” by Julieta Venegas and I accompanied it with psychedelic type visuals with vibrant colors. 

 

Techniques:

 

The techniques I used were similar to the shoe mapping. I mapped my relief object, (which are a couple of foldable drawer organizers) created my cues on madmapper, and automated all of these cues using Vezér. I also tried spacial scanning my relief object, but due to their dark color, my results were kind of useless. 

 

Interpretation:

 

This was probably my favorite project we have done. Though my relief object was really simple, it gave me extra time to make more cool effects and practice my automation skills. The “Eres Para Mi” song is a song my mom overplayed throughout my childhood. Though I hated it at a time, it has grown on me and puts me in a good mood every time I hear it. This project is really just a visual representation of what this song makes me feel

Conner Hill Project 3: Relief Mapping

 

Concept:

I started this project with the corner of my bedroom ceiling in mind. There is a rectangular drop down on part of the edge of my ceiling that I thought would be the perfect place to map. I wanted to add more appeal though, so I thought that I could get some more depth and geometry if I cut out shapes and taped them to the ceiling. Now I can have more things to map and create more of a landscape. I wanted all of my visuals to be audio reactive to the song Gnomad by Schmoop and jade Cicada. This song is a high-energy halftime drum and bass song so I wanted to have lots of white on the buildups to signal that there is something coming up and then go all red and white on the drops so that I can match the energy of the song.

Technique:

I started out by cutting out my 3D shapes from poster board. I wanted variety so I did two different triangular prisms and a cube. I then noticed that there is no round geometry in the scene, so I hung up my poi. The balls at the end of the rope made for a perfect way to hang the balls right at the base of the triangles so that it looks like they are hanging from the triangles. Once everything was set up I put my projector onto the tripod and began the process of creating layers that I could map onto the shapes. I started with the walls and then worked my way up to the smaller shapes that I had cut out. I then turned most of my quads into line layers as well to give them some more depth and accentuation to their edges. Once things were mapped, I started adding in video clips that matched the energy and madness of the song, and then I set up their speed parameters to bump to the bass hits in the song. This gave the visuals lots of "pop" and made things feel more custom.

Interpretation:

I LOVED this project. I want to build custom 3D stages for concerts, so this was a great way to get a feel for how I can build things to map on and how I can work my content for music. I also learned about how important projector positioning is when you are trying to the spatial map so that your videos aren't too stretched. 

 

Concept:

For this project, I spent most of the time stuck with few or no ideas as to what to create. For the relief, I got the idea to use sticker vinyl from where I work. After testing with it, it looked nothing like I had hoped and decided to use cut up boxes to help 'stiffen' the relief. This created the triangular look I originally hoped for with just the vinyl. As for the projection,  since I was low on ideas and time I decided to just mess around with the MadMapper FX settings for different medias and create some cool animated textures. Though, after I started doing this idea (on Sunday night) I had an idea to create a small animated scene to animate and project but due to my 'self imposed time constraints', this idea will have to wait.

Technique:

The shape of the relief was simple enough to where I did not feel the need to use spatial scanning. Placing the vertices of each surface was actually very easy compared to the shoe from the previous project. As for the visuals, they were created as separate scenes with different MadMapper FX attached to them.

Interpretation:

Since I didn't leave myself enough time to really do what I wanted to do, I still tried to create something I wouldn't have been able to a couple weeks/months ago. MM is pretty hard to create animation in since there's no timeline, but using generators and numbers has taught me a couple new things about animating that I can use in the future.

Ysatis Muniz Project 3: Relief Mapping

 

Concept:

For my project I wanted to go for a kind of space and future retro vibe based on the song Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa. 

Technique:

I didn't have much to work from, so I just put together some stuff. I didn't have a complete white canvas so I just used one that was hanging on my wall. I had a little square bucket so I hung it up on my wall by using some ribbon and tying the bucket to it. I then pinned the ribbon to the wall. I used my canvas to cover the ribbon by having it lay vertically on top of the bucket at an angle. I also included a circle mirror that I had at the bottom just for funsies.

Also, I had to move my desk and take some stuff off from my walls to create a space where I could do my work and also be able to have a background.

Interpretation:

In Dua Lipa's cover art for Future Nostalgia, she is in a spaceship in space, so I tried incorporating space into my composition. I also included a lot of pink because Dua Lipa wears a pink suit in the cover art. In her album, it has a sort of retro feel to, so I tried to mesh together the retro and space vibes, as well as a bit of a futuristic kind of aspect to it as well. 

Eduardo Garcia Project 3

I spend all of my time working on these projects because this class has opened up a new world for me to enter. My heart beats faster when I think about it. Using technology to create art is my life. I have a huge thirst for success in this world, I can sense a shift.

Here is the model of the stage used in Lady Gaga's Enigma show in Las Vegas which I created using simple shapes to reconstruct it with paper. I used my original work for all of the compositions projected onto the model.

Adan Morales Project 3: Relief Mapping

 Concept:

I had a Game of Thrones Stark House 3D mask mounted on my wall but it broke a few weeks ago. This project seemed like an opportunity to reassemble the mask and project light onto it to create a new perspective. I stripped away the concept of the tv show and instead I focused on the idea of the wolf. I chose green because it represents nature and the outdoors while projecting flames onto the outer spikes to represent the dangerous nature of this animal.

Technique:

I followed the tutorial from two weeks ago and created each quad individually to follow the shape of the mask. I used copyright free stock footage of fire for the outer spikes and a green material for the rest of the mask. Once all the shapes were complete, I created lines from them and activated a chase animation on them. I changed my setup from last time too, previously I had been using a camera setup in a different room and streaming the feedback via Wi-Fi so I could see how the projection looked on the mask. However, the feedback was slow and crashed repeatedly so this time I set up the mask right behind me so I could just turn around and look directly into the mask and see how the light worked on it.

Interpretation:

I wanted to work with the concept of stripping away the assumption that an object represents something else because of the logos attached to it. Once you remove the Game of Thrones brand from the mount plate, this mask becomes a regular wolf. Furthermore, I could move away from the grayscale palette that is associated with the Stark House and incorporate a more colorful palette that would give the mask an entirely different meaning. 

Cameron Steele Project 3: Relief Mapping

 Concept: 

Coinciding with the release of LSDream's EP High Vibrations, I decided to make a projection mapping for the titular track High Vibrations. Getting some elements from official art assets and mapping them to a truncated tetrahedron. Making sure to include sacred geometry and other mystical symbolism to fit the aesthetic of the song.

Process:

Using Rhino I was able to make a simulated environment so I could prepare my mapping before actually doing so in person.  Once I had a truncated tetrahedron I played around with the layout and began designing the map in madmapper. I then printed and cut out a paper tetrahedron using pepakura studio to make a physical tetrahedron for mapping.

I added in the 3d model of the tetrahedron was added into madmapper and aligned it with the physical paper tetrahedron. There I was able to texture the virtual tetrahedron with my video footage and convert the outlines to lines allowing for line animations.

Final:

The final composition was designed for sharing on social media like Instagram and TikTok so the video was designed in 9:16 aspect ratio for better casual viewing on mobile devices.

Afifah Mazhar Project 3: Relief Mapping

 Concept:

For this project I wasn't sure what concept I wanted to go with initially. I know I wanted to do something that showed duality between the two videos while incorporating similar aspects. For this reason, I began by playing around with different 3 dimensional shapes to see which ones I liked. I decided upon a single, straight on pyramid. I wanted this pyramid to be like the source of energy for the pieces. That is to say, I wanted it something going on in the background with the pyramid tying in to it; rather than it being the main focus.

Technique:

The first thing I did when creating the scene was create a variety of 3D shapes and choose which one (or ones) I liked best. Once I decided upon the pyramid I set it up where I wanted it in my scene. Next, I took a spatial scan of my scene. By doing this I was able to map accurately on to the pyramid. From here, I aligned how far and deep I wanted my background to be and masked out where the pyramid would be. Lastly, I added my scenes and queues in mad mapper and got everything aligned time wise (making sure things played in time with the music).

Interpretation:

For this project, I based my project off of the music video for the song Shelter by Porter Robinson. I picked this song because I think it perfectly displays the duality I was wanting to show. The first half of the music video is bright and happy and shows a girl living in a fantasy world. Where as the second half shows how the girl is living in an infinite loop, forever alone and with nothing new coming in to her life. I felt this theme was especially relevant now, with the quarantine most people have been in for over a year now. When it first started everyone was out creating things like their own bread of coffee, but as it has gone on, all that's been left is solitude and boredom.

Videos:

Koby Wheeler Project 3: Relief Mapping

Concept

For this project, I used the song "Heybb!" by binki to aid in creating an aesthetically pleasing relief mapping project. I wanted to create a minimalist form to spatial scan and map and then add in details through projection mapping. 

Process

I started by using cereal boxes to create a 3-sided pyramid form. I used a box cutter and cutting mat to cut the boxes to the correct and corresponding sizes. From there, the pyramids were put together and reinforced using duct tape. I didn't think that the projection would look great on the brown of the cereal boxes' interior so I chose to spray paint them white to get the desired surface. After a few coats of spray paint, they were left to dry overnight. The next day I hung up my black sheet for the background and taped the pyramids to the black sheet. Once this was done I ran into my first issue- I don't have my DSLR at my apartment here in Dallas. The solution was to (hopefully) find an app that could hook my iPhone up as a webcam to my Macbook. This is where EpocCam came in. The app allowed me to use my phone's camera as an input wirelessly on my Mac. So I attached my phone to the mount that I have just below the mount for my projector on my tripod and went through the spatial scanning process. After a few minutes, I had a spatial scan to work from. I really wanted to highlight the lines of the pyramid where the triangles come together, so I mapped those first as lines, and then added the triangles to fill in the space on each of them. I used the spatial scan to help guide my mapping. Once that was complete I was able to play with the content. I used all presets in Madmapper for the first composition to create a cool rainbow effect, almost like a prism. My second composition features a video I found online of six hands coming together to create a pyramid that I felt was fitting for the composition. 

Interpretation

I really enjoyed the building part of this project and bringing together a multi-disciplinary project. I haven't constructed any 3D art in a very long time, and so being thrust back into that space was very fun and then being able to apply projection mapping to that was the cherry on top. The spatial scan ended up being incredibly easy compared to what I thought it might be, although the spatial scan once finished wasn't super clear. I'm not sure if this was due to my camera's resolution or something else, but it was still very helpful.

Vanessa Le Project 3: Relief Mapping

 

Project 3 - Relief Mapping 

Concept

The concept for this relief project was centered around dreams and nightmares. The relief that I chose to project on were 3 pyramids that I made from paper and taped onto cardboard. Since my wall has an odd texture, my relief sculptures wouldn’t stay on the wall, so I pinned the piece of cardboard instead, and used that as an alternative “wall”.

Technique
The first thing that I did was create my pyramids and set them up with my projector. I had to clear some space in order to get the reliefs in view of the projector’s light.

I also wasn’t sure as to what I should have done for this project. I really lacked ideas starting off, but the idea of dreams and nightmares came to me when I saw a past project have eye animations on their relief sculptures. Although my project is more simple, I do like the fact that I tried adding more motion into my pyramids for the dreaming sequence and a different take on the nightmare sequence.

I used the spatial scanning technique to help with this project. Spatial scanning allows the MadMapper software to capture an image of the relief objects from the perspective of the projector directly. I found this very helpful. It allowed me to create animations in After Effects to fit with the pyramids in a precise manner. 

 

Interpretation

I felt as if this project was a little easier than the last, mainly because I didn’t have to focus on syncing with the music. Plus, the spatial scanning technique really helped with projecting light onto the relief sculpture and not having it bleed off the objects.

Nightmares

 

 

Dreams

Beverly Estrada Project 2: Shoe Mapping

 

Concept:

For this project I decided to use one of my block heels and use the song “Close to You” by Dayglow. I mainly try to focus on the beat of the song as well as the color scheme used on the music video.

Technique:

The set up consisted of my black desk and my black curtain as a background. I don’t have any other table, so I used my small storage drawer and 3 makeup palettes to level my projector to my desk. To record I used my iPhone 11 and placed it underneath my projector. That way it was leaning on something.

It took me a while to figure out how the scenes and cues work. So, I first started masking the shoe with different designs, which I used the ones provided by madmapper. After that I started working on the background designs. It did take a while to mask around the shoes and the actual shoe accurately. Once the designs were done, I started adding them to different cues. It took me a while to figure out how to change the parameters on each cue. I did have several issues where the cues were not showing up or were updating the wrong things.

Interpretation:

The song “Close to You” is an upbeat indie-rock song so I tried to focus on the beat of the song. In the music video the guy is using a light blue suit and the background consists of warm colors such as orange. I tried to keep the same color scheme within the first part of the chorus. Then the colors were changed in the second part of the chorus. I do use the siren effect to demonstrate the transition of the upbeat part to the calm part.