480 Blog

 For this last project, I decided to do Option 1 which was creating an interaction with live video and audio input. I wanted to create something with both the camera and an imported audio file, and continue the theme of song visualization from a previous project. I decided on using optical flow to create circle particles based on camera movement, and those circles/background would react to the beat of the audio file.  Aesthetic-wise, I stuck with one color on the circles to avoid it feeling overwhelming - but ensured the background flashed red each time there was a dramatic beat in the music. To prevent it flashing the entire screen, I used a Ramp TOP with a circular type so it's noticeable but not overwhelming. Meanwhile, the motion circles would scale based on the volume of the sound - small when there's a break in the music, and larger when the sound is in rhythm. Interaction-wise, it's just the camera motion so the performance is hands-free. I considered adding an addit...

 The artwork I chose to base inspiration off of was the "Untitled" circular pattern art, shown below. Considering the circles in the art were inconsistently spaced yet also grouped together, I thought I could play around with being able to change the spacing and grouping of circles in my scene. From the start, I also knew I wanted to incorporate the camera in some way - as well as having the mouse change the scene camera perspective to view the pattern in different ways based on user input.  Aesthetically, all the circles in the original static art had varying textures and colors, and I wanted to make those "moving", so I brought in Noise and turned off monochrome to add vibrant colors - and combined that with the video camera in a Composite TOP, which went to a Phong MAT to be sent to the Geometry. I made two circles, each expanded to be their own spiral pattern.  When it comes to interaction, the video camera RGB values from an Analyze CHOP are changing the backgr...