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All The Way Down

Projection mapping piece in three parts. The title refers to the concept of infinte regression in the universe, and the motion of the animation, descending the staircase.

produced by: Jude Marcella

Introduction

Projection mapping piece in three parts. The title refers to the concept of infinte regression in the universe, and the motion of the animation, descending the staircase.
 

Concept and background research

Having a background in animation/moving image, I worked with my intuition on this project to expand on my preexisting visual language. I wanted something textural, flowing, alive and dancing (to no music- as the presentation was in silence.) In order of which I created them, my three sketches are based on: a sin wave example by Zach Lieberman, a Lissajous curve example and an oscillating circles project. I put the Lissajous at the beginning, a dynamic strobing and quickly mutating complex shape to grab initial attention. The oscillating circles, having originated from a very simple base code, turned out to be perhaps the most complex and beautiful of the sketches, turning from a white background to a black which slowly envelops the pastel coloured fan shapes in an unexpectedly organic-looking shadow. The sin wave, being the most colourful, I thought to put last as a soft red climax.

Technical

I am very pleased with how the project turned out, especially when physically projected onto the staircase model.

Being limited and frustrated by my lack of understanding of openFrameworks gave me a kind of enhanced creative freedom as I searched for points I was able to start modifying from and building on. The process of the project was really an exercise in corner-cutting, borrowing and 'stealing like an artist' as I was unable to follow my usual purist (and less successful) approach to making something. I am as yet unable to comment on the technical merit of what I coded in each sketch. I had to pick apart and break things in order to see which parts of the sketches do what, and was able to modify them in interesting ways (sometimes intentional, other times happily accidental). I am not yet able to come up with an idea and know how to build it from scratch. Above all, though, the project gave me confidence and motivation to carry on building my skillset and experiment further.

 

Future development

I am very happy with the aesthetic of this outcome, and I believe this is largely because it came out of improvisation. I would like to unite the practice of open experimentation/trial and error, with the groundwork I already have in 3D graphics and animation. The visual themes I am interested in can be combined in so many ways and I would like to explore that as much as possible. 

Self evaluation

I am very happy with the aesthetic of this outcome, and I believe this is largely because it came out of improvisation. The worst aspect, aside from being unable to code, is that I could not make my perfectly sized thumbnail for this page appear on the blog. 

References

Zach Lieberman sin: https://youtu.be/bmztlO9_Wvo?t=367

Lissajous curve: https://sites.google.com/site/ofauckland/examples/20-lissajous-curve