Mariah Wood - Relief Mapping

The concept for the following pieces was based on a desire to explore madMapper's capabilities. I had also enjoyed setting up audio inputs from last project so much, I decided to make it an integral part in a majority of my works.

I first began with the small mask relief sculpture because I was interested in the negative space around it. The sculpture, though small and less intricate compared to everything else in the room, was the perfect "blank canvas" to experiment with and get the creative juices flowing. Not knowing immediately how to begin, I mostly just played around with layering and masking new materials that I haven't messed with before (posted below).

This piece had none of the special animations with it, however, I did play with the lines and line animations. This was when I figured out you could do much more than make a bunch of lines shake, but make the animation move to the music, too!

Unfortunately, the computer's microphone was jaded and so all of the input doesn't show up visually or is even detected by the program at all.

For this piece I learned that you could also add an audio input control on the position of the light on the 3D model. Instead of the face's geometry being statically lit, I added that extra touch so every polygon can be seen depending on the bass of my music.

Professor Scott once asked me in a previous project for one animation to "reveal" another underneath it. I managed to figure this one out using the Particle animation set on "Negative" FX, so its brightest points will become transparent. For the layer underneath, I used a combination of the Tunnel Points and Wisps.

For the sake of the demonstration and audio malfunction, I set the sensitivity to an extremely high number in order for the animation to happen at all.

I wasn't done yet! I wanted to do another setup on the Medallion because of what I wanted to project on the positive space this time. Even though I was having a lot of fun with music, I wanted to create a piece that felt more dramatic and artistic than fun and energetic.

This piece is slow and calmer than my other works because I wanted the viewer to look at it and feel contemplative. I illuminated the fist on purpose to focus on the association of its power as a symbol of hope and strength to minorities in our country. That there will come a day when social equality is achieved despite the hardships and the violence.

And finally, the piece that is the fruition of what my experimentation has come up with. An audio-dependent animation that takes you through a trip in time and space! The starfield has a slight jitter to the bass, but its speed is directly influenced by the music's amplitude, so the louder it gets, the faster the stars travel. Same thing applies to the tunnel points in the medallion and outside of the fist. Inside the fist was the Spectrum F*r that was already set to react to amplitude and made some interesting flame-like jumps and waves to illuminate the geometry.

This one was the most fun to make because of how exciting it is to see the whole space jump alive with several different elements involved.