I saw 1tbsp at the Dallas club venue, It'll Do, so I decided to use the Mother Board Room Set Up to create effects for that show. This is the song that I chose to create a relief projection mapping for: Song: 1tbsp - Best of Me I picked out effects that had colors that reminded me of their album art colors, which are bright pastels and black and white imagery.
Technique:
I wanted to have high energy for this piece, so every effect that I chose was very flashy. I added controls to the opacity and scale of different materials in each scene to create a pulse sensation to go with the beat of the music.
I edited the code created by Jason Beyers for RainbowCircle so that it would appear as CMY lines by multiplying the output color by 20.
Interpretation: This projected relief has been an exploration of lighting for electronic dance music venues or clubs. The colors are referenced from the album art, and the bright and pulsing energy of this projection would accompany the performer, 1tbsp, very well.
Link: https://youtu.be/SMlQBDJbg08
SETUP 02
Concept:
This is a rotoscope animation that I created of my friend in 2021. I felt a connection to this song by Liv.e when I was going through severe depression. The reverberation of this song made me think of water. The concept of this animation is about feeling tearful and falling into cyclical depression. The small bowls that are a part of the relief represent glimmers of hope and the viewers are welcome to toss pennies into the bowl to offer their wishes for peace. Song: Liv.E - I Been Livin'
Technique:
I was using the double projector, and I wanted to avoid having the animation in the center so that the blending would not be an issue. I liked the decision I made to have the animation mirror on the left and right. On the projection, the right side is darker than the left, I think this could be adjusted with the projector settings in the future. I used a black cloth to cover the floor so that the projection would appear brighter. I also used Tupperware containers for my bowls of water. In the future, I would like to use a larger bowl of water and have a motor or some sort of rig to make the water move on its own. I would really like to have consistent rippling effect in the water. I used the blend mode Multiply to add effects to my animation and each scene cue.
Interpretation:
I enjoyed hearing Professor Scott's interpretation of this piece of this being similar to a libation. I do interpret this piece is an offering of peace to those who are struggling with depression or tearfulness.
The overall projects deals with matters of human disfunction.
Project 1. "Island"
Concept:
Any area of land smaller than a continent and entirely surrounded by water. Islands may occur in oceans, seas, lakes, or rivers.
The surrounding sea is a barrier to some forms of life but acts as a carrier for others, which, once established in their new home, frequently develop new features in their isolated surroundings.
Applying this concept to humanity and our society, whether it's regarding safety, interpersonal relationships, or other social factors, we are more in a state of setting our own island, isolating ourselves from other individuals, hence amplifying the feeling of loneliness, depression, and reluctance of facing the outer world.
"We are islands ourselves, isolated from each other."
Techniques:
For this project, the overall environment would fit appropriately with the floor projection and 2 of the face-like polygon objects. I feel the need for all 2 of these objects to emphasize the relative comparison of two individuals.
Relief mapping a large area requires at least more than 2 projectors, and the main challenge was blending the overlapping projection screen graphics naturally. I did this by making a quad that covers the whole projection area, duplicate it so I can try experimenting with different compositions with left and right, and added 2 projection areas which for each of them.
It took a long time to precisely match the overlapping place enough so it will seem like two screens are in the right place.
Then I got the 3D modeling that matches the polygon object from elearning, imported into MadMapper, and aligned 2 of them so it could match with the real space.
After the basic settings are done, I played with all sorts of settings, applying the materials and surfaceFX I modified in appropriate places,
Interpretations:
Final Output:
Project 2. "ADHD"
Concept:
ADHD.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
ADHD symptoms arise from executive dysfunction, and emotional dysregulation is often considered a core symptom. It's associated with other neurodevelopmental and mental disorders as well as some non-psychiatric disorders, which can cause additional impairment, especially in modern society.
Although people with ADHD struggle to sustain attention on tasks that entail delayed rewards or consequences, they are often able to maintain an unusually prolonged and intense level of attention for tasks they do find interesting or rewarding; this is known as hyperfocus.
Though this is identified as a mental disorder, I feel that it is a rather helpful and enjoyable one for artists like me, for the fact that such thing can branch off to various ideas normally I couldn't think of, making all the inner and outer chaos occurring in the mind an enjoyable event that doesn't make in state of boredom.
"A party in our mind"
Techniques:
With 3 projectors(One for the head and other 2 for the background) Janus Head Map Setting had the most large projection scale for me to play with. I was able to get the format of the Janus Head project from e-learning, and this project also needed an import of the 3D obj/fbx file and UV file along with it, otherwise the project won't open properly.
So to make a feeling of "A party in our mind", I got some use of materials and surface2D vfxs that's more rather... "uncontrollable", including the ones that i modified with visual coding.
From a public material library, there is this material called "Glyphs" a grid of random alphabets and signs. This is the main property I use for the whole project since it appropriately expresses the feeling of craziness happening in the mind. An unaligned words and alphabet randomly happening everywhere. I just had so much fun with this. Based off with this material, I mixed with 3~4 various layers with different combinations of opacity settings for the background and make it precisely interactive with the background music.
Then I got to learn about the DMX lighting method and how to modify via madmapper from professor Scott, and I was able to modify the led lighting to let out a graphic as I wanted, and was able to add audio controls, just like I did with the regular quads.
I have been photographing dead animals I find on the street since two years ago. Some of them were eaten by other animals and some were run over by cars. Currently, I am working on a series where I paint their images on old plates.
When I signed up for this class, I had the idea of making an animation of a running rabbit projected onto a plate. I worked on it since the beginning of the semester. I used the rotoscope method and drew frame by frame from the video. Finally, I added the picture of the dead rabbit that I've found on campus.
I was going to project the video of two hands holding a knife and a fork in front of it, but when I was working on the project in the 3D Lab, Anisha suggested that I can perform that act live instead of using a video, and I agreed. I did. :)
The two portraits:
To me, this wonderful sculpture represents a man and a woman who are connected by their brains and share all their thoughts with each other, but at the same time they have no way to communicate verbally.
For this, I chose a song from the joint album of Mehsa Vahdat and Sam McClain called: "Meditating over a Photo".
The most important thing for me was that this collaboration is between a man and a woman, one singing in Farsi and the other in English.
Technically, I didn't know that the calibrated version of this file was available in eLearning, and I calibrated it myself and tried to create lines in the brain using "Grid/Mesh Wrapping". This helped me to practice everything that was in the tutorials and I am very happy about that.
My aim with 'Window' is to convey the inherent duality between digital and physical art. It serves as a visual portrayal of this conflict, offering a glimpse through the window into a world where motion design contends with static painting, minimal pattern and maximal abstraction, systematic geometric shapes collide with chaotic impasto. Despite these seemingly contradictory elements, my objective is to reveal their coexistence within this monochromatic presentation. Guided by a specific rhythm dictated by sound, 'Window' seeks to evoke emotion and provide viewers with a harmonious and thought-provoking experience.
This project wants to explore the artist’s creative and living space. Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and his room made me think of the artist's creations and the environment in which they create. My living space might also be squeezed when I am creating, and the boundaries between reality and dreams might blur.
The first step of this project is to convert real room photos into line drawings. The second step is to project these line drawings onto a canvas using mad mapping. Based on the projected shapes, tape is applied. Then, I created 12 scene transitions according to the 12 two-hour periods (a traditional Chinese method of timekeeping).
The music, "Farewell," is by a Chinese rock band from the 90s named Tang Dynasty. This song is also linked to meaning of the end of Van Gogh's era. Even though that era has ended, we always cherish the brilliant days of art.
After Project 1, I knew that I wanted to do something more performance-based project for the next one. I made a demo session on Ableton with some Techno/House beats and I hope to use that with MadMapper
First, 3D Model. For this project, I wanted to use a .obj mask to tape. I have almost no experience working with 3D objects, so I went to our good friend Google for help.
Candidate 1: Too complex, too many small lines.
Candidate 2: Not exactly a 3D mask, but the lines are solid.
After importing the .obj into Madmapper, I started taping.
After the basics, I tried different textures from the library to build scenes.
As usual, I synced up the internal clock in MadMapper to Ableton via Ableton Link. Additionally, I added a midi channel sending midi signals to MadMapper
Inside Ableton: Sending Midi (Visual Trigger)
Triggering a scene through Midi - Mapped on MadMapper
The Ocean is a vast, mysterious dimension that takes a large portion of the earth itself.
Containing all kinds of life beings and ecosystems, it is a world of wonder and curiosity, and the deeper we go in, the question just keeps on growing.
Aside from that, the ocean also provokes various types of emotions, and this aesthetic is what I wanted to emphasize and implement in my project.
One of the forms of ocean we are most familiar with is waves.
Normally it has a feeling of Excitement, Joy, Refresh, and all kinds of positive emotions when encountered on the shores, but that's not all to this mysterious being.
Consisting of 3 Chapters(Cue), This project intends to concentrate on various types of deep and negative sides that the ocean is capable of offering in the form of waves. I wanted to visualize the chaotic synopsis that ocean waves are capable of expressing.
Hence, I named this project,
"Chaotic Waves."
Techniques:
After deciding the main theme that would go on for the overall cues, it wasn't difficult to come up with the shape that I'll be taping later.
What I felt drastically different from other projects was that my taping project needed to focus on more abstract and geometric shapes. A series of distorted lines with gradually either narrowed down or widened gaps and line width which resembles that of a wave.
Then I turned my design into line .svg format and implemented it in Madmapper.
The taping process was indeed interesting. Since my intended shape involves mostly curves, I tried to match the tapes precisely following every inch of curves in one go. This method resulted in tape lines that had three-dimensional textures that let each line "literally" pop out.
The most trouble I had with the project was figuring out the placement of the projector and getting the intended target surface to shoot the beam at. Because waves mostly happen on the surface of the terrain, I thought it would make sense the most if I shot the beam down the ground, and I had a huge, HUGE help from Professor Scott. Again, I want to thank him because if it weren't for him, this project would have been impossible to make it happen and I was so glad that I was able to express my ideas as intended.
Everything else after that was very intuitive.
Learning how to access audio control properly took a bit of trial and error since I had a hard time finding the preference section, to be honest, but after figuring it out, I had tons of fun playing around with them.
The project involves masking with lines, distorting the line layer with a noise animation effect so it would look like the wave is flowing beneath my very foot, and various ways of combining quads, footage and all sorts of effects in my taste.
Each cues has their respective audio source base that goes up to 1 minute or so, and I tried to maintain all 3 cues are based in monotone color schemes, and later I implemented a portion of the graphics that will portray each distinct highlighted color that will showcase the main respective theme each is going for.
Interpretations:
All 3 cues have their distinct themes of portraying different types of chaos the ocean waves offer.
Chaotic Waves Chapter One: Mysteriousness.
Getting inspiration from the Deep sea environments and a closed-in texture of various cells and plankton, I wanted to let out the magical, but scary scenery that the ocean can tend to let out and express the phobic side of it.
This cue symbolizes the Mental Chaos that the ocean waves could offer.
Quads and masks of circular cells with vivid color contrast that distort organically, and wave lines that respond to the music with intimidating shivering lines add up to the rather disturbing side of the ocean.
The music mainly lets out a shimmering synth sound and a distorted xylophone, expressing a calm, but psychedelic mood.
Chaotic Waves Chapter Two: Disorder and Chaos.
Getting inspiration from water particles when strong waves hit each other, the waves move more radically, distorting at a fast pace, and shattering recklessly, with color-inverted, extremely hue-saturated footage of waves masked outside the lines adding a more chaotic feeling to it.
This cue symbolizes the Physical Chaos that the ocean waves could offer.
The way the waves hit each other results in more chaotic waves that spread and layers each other until the calmness and the order of the waves are nowhere to be found and anarchy is all that's left for the ocean.
The main musical point I want to emphasize is the chaotic vibe that the saxophone solo spams you with. Alongside the watery echoey sound of the band, the saxophone will keep storming the music and it gradually gets even more crazier until the end of the cue.
Chaotic Waves Final Chapter: Reminiscence.
This cue symbolizes the Emotional Chaos that the ocean waves could offer, and among the 3 ques, this had the most emotionally hard time to develop through.
Colored footage repeatedly fades in the forms of slow-paced distorted waves according to sections divided by line masks transitioning to its monotone counterpart, trying to portray that behind gold memories, lays the sad reality that overshadows it,
The cue concludes by slowly erasing the memory little by little as time goes by, until it slowly fades completely at last along with the depressing musical score, Leaving a lingering impression and intended to let the hollow feeling stay with you in the end.
