Website Design Liskeard

Architecture is a common aesthetic of everyday life, we see it in magazines, online and we are encapsulated within it in every day. 

But what happens when this space is deconstructed into data, how do we revisualise it?

The matrix is one of the many examples that try to tackle this by representing the world as digits and code:

Original image source

An example of the change between data and the real world is visualised in the following video.

Things to look at, Marcus Novak

Whilst performing DNA based research online i have come across UK based digital artist Stanza and many of his DNA based artworks. Below i have included some examples taken from http://www.genomixer.com/about/works.htm any quoted text is text by Stanza.

http://www.genomixer.com/
“Welcome to Genomixer where you make your own mutants using Stanza Dna profiles. My DNA data is used for sound mappings, and generative sequencing processes. Code made by code extracted from blood. Dna portraits and dna artworks.” source click here

http://www.genomixer.com/dnaspace/index.htm
“A 3 d generative space playing through variations of dna in a morphing 3 d architecture. Move around it and the shape moves with you. Click through and load new behaviours or wait and new codes are loaded into the architecture.Generative 3d dna architectures. Based on my dna profiles. A building whose construction is based on genetic identity. The true family home, a gentically engineered morphic 3d structure. These are example protoypes for a real space. A space where the virtual becomes real. ” source click here

http://www.genomixer.com/cloned/beeb/index.html
“Infected and cloned sites include the tate, bbc, and the ica. These sites have been cloned and infected with stanza dna. Issues around mutation and genetic modification complicates issues of IP and ownership. Who has the right to do this. These sites have been modified with my dna.CCATAGGATGTTGATCGCTCGATGCTTCTGCTCGATCGATCGGCTTCGCTCCTCTTCGCCTCGAGCTCG” source click here

As things are starting to develop on the project in a more DNA inspired way i have decided to research what other DNA projects exist and how the relationship between DNA and a building can exist, and its importance.

The first project i stumbled across was “WEB2DNA”  Click to launch.

WEB2DNA will take you website, analyze it, crunch it to little bits and spit it out as a graphic representation of a human DNA.

The brightness of the lines is determined by the importance of the tags in terms of structure.

• H1 is brighter than H2, which is brighter than H3.
• TABLE is brighter than TR, which is brighter than TD tags.
• Images and flash elements appear as 70% white.
• New HTML tags like STRONG and EM is brighter than older ones like B and I
• UL, OL and DL is brighter than their LI, DT, DD
• DIV layout is brighter than table layout

Basically a semantically rich site will appear brighter than one with messy old-style code.

You can also determine the richness of text on a site. A site the focuses on (text) content is one where the DNA patterns is large (filling many containers), but contains a lot of empty spaces between the lines (empty space is the individual words).

Below i have included a mashup of 3 DNA images created. This is genereated from the Minimalistic Designs website:

Click here to see live version.

This project is a n in spired project of DNA 11. A brilliant concept in my eyes but it does leave one wondering what they are doing with all of our DNA / fingerprint data?

A notable rising net artists has to be Aaron Koblin with projects such as “The Sheep Market” and most inspiring to my field of research House of Card’s Music video, interactive data viewer, and source code - http://www.aaronkoblin.com/work/rh/index.html. “With Director James Frost (Zoo) and a bunch of other great people, lasers and sensors were used to create a 3D data “music video” for the band Radiohead.
The project was launched as an Open Source project on Google Code. An interactive online viewer (created with Aaron Meyers) allows for interactive 3D investigation of the data online”. By visiting the website you can explore the radio head video in a 3d environment. The video below gives a great explanation to how the video was created and its purpose.

BBC data visualisations:

I began thinking about the data obtained from the Portland Square building (in Plymouth University) using the Arch-OS system, could this data represent the DNA of the building. The system/data almost acts as a way of recording the buildings make up, its activity and a way of seeing how the building works.

I pondered on the idea of representing this DNA as audio. Whilst crawling the Internet i discovered a brilliant piece of software that converts DNA structures into midi sequences. Bio2MIDI by Algorithmic Arts.

I firstly began by fetching a set of results from the Arch-OS feeds page and returned the following results:

0 19.95 0 31.6 0 33.9 202.48 -245.08 -213.96 -269 229.64 111.14 2 156.14 42.59 19.7 58.29 23.13 56 21.95 64.25 12.52 2.82 20.25 21.05 16.89 20.48 21.25 22.12 19.88 21.03 21.39 18.73 0 4.09 17.59 71.61 4.17 243.64

Obviously this didn’t resemble any DNA structure at the moment it is a group of data sets which have no relevance to a DNA structure. For this to work i would need to construct an algorithm of defining a 10 character structure for example “ASDVVDFDDP”.

To encode the new DNA structure i formulated an algorithm which would replace numbers and characters with letters.

Before you notice it i have left out 14.

• 0 = A
• 1 = B
• 2 = C
• 3 = D
• 4 = E
• 5 = F
• 6 = G
• 7 = H
• 8 = I
• 9 = J
• 10 = K
• 11 = L
• 12 = N
• 13 = O
• 15 = Q
• 16 = R
• 17 = S
• 18 = T
• 19 = U
• 20 = V
• 21 = W
• 22 = X
• 23 = Y
• 24 = Z
• . = P
• - = M

Using this structure the original data set produced these results:

aupjfabpg addpqvcpej imcefpaimx dpjgmcgjxj pgelbpbecq gpqecpfjup ffipcjypof gwpjfgepcf npfccpicvp cfwpafrpij vpeiwpcfxp pnupiiwpad wpdjtphdae pajspfjhbp gbepszdpge

After putting it into the Bio2Midi converter the following file was created.

Click here to listen to the Arch-OS-DNA-Midi

Thinking again about the project i’ve decided to do some further thoughts about how an immersive experience can change the way we perceive data. Visualisations are of course representations of data sets within a digital environment, visualised by graphics and sometimes sounds. Can the shift in the environment that a user receives these visualisations change the way we feel about data. By placing the user within an immersive environment can we change the level of immersivness and cause the user to feel much closer to reality? If this is the case are we enabling a new dimension. And as I’m planning on using the universities immersive Vision Theatre (the dome), what is it that makes the dome different from any other visual environment?

Combining Visualisations and the immersive Environment hopefully the project will end up as an immersive Visualisation ………………….

A nice example of “real time” immersive video:

My initial ideas for my 4d project revolved around the slit scan photography technique. I decided to focus my attention to understanding the technique and seeing its true potential. Using Adobe After Effects i experimented with a number of effects, below i have uploaded an short exaple of sound powered slit scaning. Using sound we push the video into the future and back again.

(Original video click here)

Its obvious that the effect has much potential, offering numerous visual effects to which the everyday TV viewer does not get to see. Looking at previous projects and installations got me thinking to what the concept of Slit scan actually is. Quite simply we are capturing time over a period of time. With a still image we are collating a number of periods in time and re-collating them to form one representation of an event/past time.

With this in mind i began to ponder on the idea of representation and transformation.
I started off thinking visually for this project but really its the idea that counts, the concept is the base of the project so making it fit tightly to the brief is a must.

Data is something that we take for granted, no matter what we do nearly everything in our life is digitalised, from navigation to the way we purchase goods. Our movement is also one of these things that is digitalised. With most cities and towns harbouring numerous surveillance cameras we are constantly being monitored, but this data is often discarded, and never again seen. This survalance footage would be an ideal source to study transformation. Transformation of a space, behaviour and even atmosphere.

Using the Arch Os system installed in the Portland Square building of Plymouth (where better to get data from) i am considering representing the data of movement or activity within the building, the data that i will used is yet to be decided. Using the slit scan concept i will use the data from segments or slices of time, and of course reassemble into a representation of time its self on a space. I suppose this could be seen as slightly dadist as we are using ‘found’ objects but conceptualising them within a digital domain.

I’ve spent most of the morning researching into After Effects, playing with techniques and methods for realising my project.

I’m considering representing space and time through visualisations and below is one of my proposed ideas. It will use data and sound from a location over the period of a day, following my initial slit-scan idea.

More advanced version

This version uses sound to animate not only the saturation but the ammount of particles being generated.

Making it look nice!

Well i’ve spent another hour or so re-tweaking what i first started with. Below is a much improved version.

Exploring Time and Space Narrative through Slit Scan Cinematography

Project Summary:

The desired aim for the project is to create a multilayered representation of a space which is yet to be defined; initial thoughts are the possibility of architecture represented in the form of 3D modelling. As transformation has been the theme of this module I want to show the transformation of somewhere or something that we ignore and take for granted through the period of a day offering the user the experience to travel through time forwards and backwards, enabling a non linear narrative.

Output:

The end result will be a video demonstration of the interaction a human could have with a future system. This will demonstrate the notion of being able to document and explore time and space itself.

Inspiration:

The inspiration of the project has come from a number of existing “solutions” which try to capturing/represent time and space. Having a particular interest in photography one of the early concepts for capturing time and space was that of Henri Lartigue in the early 60’s with the invention of Slit Scan photography, which was later used in Stanley Kubrick’s, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Basing most of my research on this technique I was lead to the inspiring work of digital artist Alvaro Cassinelli. His interactive installation “The Khronos Projector” created “a video time-warping machine with a tangible deformable screen”. This was a physical environment in which a user can interact and move through time and space through the use of video based media.

Plan for work:

Working method:

To realise the project fully I will need to first define what the end result will be. Choosing my object/environment will be a crucial element to the project and will need careful consideration.
Storyboarding will be essential to the success of this project as elements will need to be synced correctly allowing for a unique narrative and user experience.
Technology/skill sets required to complete this project will probably require 3D Studio Max, Adobe Flash CS3 along with a range of video and photographic resources which ray require filming/capturing.

Criteria:

Basing the theme on transformation I wish to explore the transformation that spaces go through over time. The project will link directly to the module of 4D as it will be exploring time and space. Not only will the project match up to the technical aspects required but the conceptual thinking and process will also count as a major part forming the basis of the project. I will explore the field of digital time-based audio/visual media linking it closely to modern technology. In doing so I will not only hope to gain some extensive knowledge in a field that I am relatively new too, but will also be able to expand and develop on my technical abilities related directly to the course.

References:

At present only web references:

An Informal Catalogue of Slit-Scan Video Artworks and Research
http://www.flong.com/texts/lists/slit_scan/

Khronos Projector
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Khronos_Projector.html

Slit-Scan Photography
http://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-slit-scan.html

http://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-slit-scan.html

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Khronos_Projector.html

Directly linked to the 4d project that i am proposing. An amazing video.