The coding programme that we have learnt this week is called Quartz Composer. This programme is very different from the previous two programmes we have learnt to date. Instead of being word based in which the coder inputs lines of code and then compile to see their composition, Quartz uses a more visual flow graph approach. The coder chooses a patch and then links the output functions of it to one another patches' input to create the code. I'm not going to lie, this programme was somewhat complicated at times, however the potential of this programme over the others is far greater..
A video of my composition. I wanted to try and emulate a music equaliser..
My design process using the programme Quartz Composer is as follows:
In this screenshot I have experimented using the start orientation parameters within the line family patch. I have changed the values of the x-axis orientation and y-axis orientation from 0,0 to 50, 100 respectively. This in turn has turned the geometry accordingly.
In this composition I want to use more linear, straight lines rather than anything with a curve in it. Therefore I experimented with the orientation values further until I came to 5000 for both the x and y-axis rotation which gave me a really interesting shape.
Next step was changing the z-axis orientation to 5000 as an experiment and it created these horizontal lines also. Personally I feel that that this is more interesting than the above, especially once I increase the line count - it will create a really funky look.
Next parameter to be altered was changing the start stroke colour of the lines from white to purple. This in turn has created this interesting gradient as it transitions from bright purple, through lilac and into white - due to the fact that the end colour is white still.
RGB values of: R: 128, G: 0, B: 255
Changing the attraction force from 2 to 5 has meant that the lines become a lot closer to one another at the origin. As opposed to the above which is quite evenly spaced throughout, having a 'cluster' at the origin could create a really effective effect later on down the track once I start adding interaction to my composition.
Playing with parameters is pretty much a try and see experience in which I have changed the end position of one the x-axis from 1 to 0. This has created a circular cluster due to the fact that by changing this value has meant that the lines end at the centre of the canvas - i.e. the origin. I am not really keen on this look, therefore I will change this value back to 1 to go back to how it was before.
As I stated above, I have changed the a-axis end position back to 1 in order to get the aesthetic that I am looking for again. I have also changed the end colour from white to cyan. I feel that these two colours really 'pop' on the black background and complement each other quite well. I have used the 'Sky' preset colour from the crayon colour palette.
RGB values of: R: 102, G: 204, B: 255
Last step in altering the parameters of this particular line family is changing the line count from 100 to 1024 (max). This has resulted in a really interesting 'prickly' looking composition. Sort of reminds me of a hedgehog to be honest. The purple and cyan colours really work well together and blend in nicely at the origin.
I have added an audio input patch - volume peak, into my patch to the start length of my line family. The more noise that there is, the more that the lines fluctuate. This screenshot shows it when the noise is a bit quieter.
This is the same as the above screenshot however instead of linking the audio input patch - volume peak, into the start length for my lines, I have linked it to the end length.
Continuing on from the above screenshots, I have now linked the volume peak output to both the start and end length of my lines. This has created an almost look of a music equaliser in which as the acoustics get louder, the lines get longer and gets back to the earlier screenshots above. The below are a couple of screenshots of my composition in action..
The last step to my design process was to add a math index path into my code. Before this, I felt that the decibels needed to really make my music equaliser looking composition to actually work, had to be really high. Thus a lot of noise. Therefore I have decided to add a bit of math in, so that every noise that is picked up by the microphone on the iMac is then multiplied by 25 and then is linked to both the start and end length. This makes the interaction a lot more pronounced and effective than before.
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