Project 3: Creature Physics
Watch the demo here.
Where the idea came from
I originally wanted this project to include physics in a playful way like in the project Crayon Physics. Later, when looking at examples of interactive projects during class, I noticed the various experiences that could be created just through drawing on a screen. I eventually decided to combine the two ideas (physics and drawing) with this project.
My work process
Programming for this project was difficult for me. I ended up looking at various examples of source code from the Processing website. After figuring out the code, I was slowly able to implement my own physics and spring simulators.
My self-critique
Although the project is engaging and fun, it still feels unfinished to me. The “scribble monsters” could be more interesting by changing their expressions or by interacting with one another. I believe I could easily take what I have now and eventually create something more engaging like a game or phone/iPad application.
Hi Gabi – here are the group comments from the crit.
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Fun! really fun!
I like the way the faces grow at the centroid.
I’d like to see more work applied to the faces: better articulations of facial expressions. There are a lot of opportunities here!
Having the creatures at the very least bounce of each ofther and blink would make this piece more interesting. As it is, it’s very very adorable! Although the creatures all look very sad and dead. 🙁 Maybe determine the angle of the mouth and the location of the eyes and mouth by the curves of the shape. But, very nice! I could waste a lot of time playing around with this…hehe. –Amanda
Agreed, I wish the creatures could collide. I do like the fact that any shape can become a face. They should blink though, and maybe even have the pupils follow the mouse?
In box2d, look at filters in the manual, to control what collides
They should also pile onto each other. And have some kind of mass.
I agree with the comments about adding blinking and collision and the interaction. One good example of this type of simple creature would be Golan’s alien creature project, see their eyes: http://www.flong.com/storage/experience/newyear/newyear10/
simple but Fun idea! would like to see more dinamic interaction movement rather than just calm faces..
I really like how the spiral ones whobble.
Building off what Golan said, I would also like to see some differences in the faces besides the mouth. The eyes all seem to have the same slant, which is somewhat frustrating.
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Comments from 2010/04/07
Gabi
I am really intrested what would be the architectural form and its connection to the music.
For this piece in particular, it feels like it almost needs to be several different forms: one for each section of the song, since they’re so distinct. It would be good to come up with some sort of static way of representing rhythm and tempo.
I wonder if you could make the notes which represents the cirlces pop in and out when a note is pressed? And, I do agree that it may be cool to have the dots scattered across the canvas. Maybe in a addition to the notes themselves you could also death with the repitition, volume, etc. Maybe have the dots move around in accordanec to the time signature? (Have the dots move in a square for 4/4 etc.). Maybe you could also do something with how many notes occur per second? Great, great start though! Just keep investigating the attributes of midi files! 😀
(I wonder if you could add color too? Although the grayscale theme is pretty slick!)
interesting concept, but the visualization needs work
Visualization definitely needs work, even though the core “concept” — generating a static form, viewed after the music has generated it — is solid.