Please feel free to send questions, samples, ideas, anything. This is NOT easy. And remember this class is about testing _ about process.
13 February 2008
Week 04 | Follow Up
Please feel free to send questions, samples, ideas, anything. This is NOT easy. And remember this class is about testing _ about process.
12 February 2008
Week 04 | Transitional
The idea of transitioning is not defined by either a step forward or a step backwards like progree or failure. This moment is rather a process in which there is a change from one state to another, that something has undergone a change in state. This idea is one that we can relate to common science. The principles between such things as solids, liquids, and gases is a common example of state change. The inherent properties of such elements remain the same, but the state of these properties as well as their method of interactivity change completely. This simple example can help us to understand the intrinsic method of transitioning information from raster graphics to vector graphics and our process for the next assignment.
(left) Block Works Sublimate II 2004 Mild steel blocks 194 x 53 x 30 cm (right) Domain Series Domain XXIX 2000 Stainless steel bar 4.76 mm x 4.76 mm 190 x 57 x 37 cm Antony Gormley describes his two pieces: “The Block Work Series makes physical pixelisations with a rising canon of four blocks, each eight times the volume of the one before, keeping the same 1:1:2 proportion as in the original Building series that only used one block size. They are all evocations of the inside of the body under the skin.” Similarly, the artist states about Domain Series, “I wanted to escape from the delimitation of skin (whether the exclusive volumes of the lead bodycases or the solid volumes of the body forms) and acknowledge of the body as a place of transformation.”
Think of vectors this way, moving away from the limiting factors of image. When we begin this project, the liberation of movement, dynamics, and dimension should become clear. The raster image evokes symbolism and value and image, which is why it was so difficult to move beyond the subjective information in each photograph. Here, with vectors, we will not be 'tracing' but 'mapping.' It may seem as thought we are working in reverse, which is again not reverse at all, but a transition. A change in state.
Look at the image below. The process is evident in the product. There is a coherence in this relationship and it is evident after having seen both side by side. This same value should be placed on our process. We are not creating a new, but rather transitioning between values and relationships. The original image and your mapping of that image should evoke a similar feeling of continutiy and curiosity.
Tim Knowles, Tree Drawing Larch on easel [x4] #2
Vector graphics are made up of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors, which describe an image according to its geometric characteristics. You can freely move or modify vector graphics without losing detail or clarity, because they are resolution-independent—they maintain crisp edges when resized, printed, or saved in a PDF file. As a result, vector graphics are the best choice for artwork, such as logos, maps, or other graphic products that will be used at various sizes and in various output media. It’s important to remember that the basis for a vector is always and underlying equation or coordinate system. Even something as simple as a line will contain the basic geometric information needed to 'plot’ a line. Bitmap images—technically called raster images—use a rectangular grid of picture elements (pixels) to represent images. Each pixel is assigned a specific location and color value. When working with bitmap images, you edit pixels rather than objects or shapes. Bitmap images are the most common electronic medium for continuous-tone images, such as photographs or digital paintings, because they can more efficiently represent subtle gradations of shades and color. Unlike vectors, bitmap images are resolution-dependent—that is, they contain a fixed number of pixels. As a result, they can lose detail and appear jagged if they are scaled to high magnifications on‑screen or if they are printed at a lower resolution than they were created for.
Begin by looking both at the individual instances that made up the composite as well as the composite as a whole for characteristics that interest you. Some suggestions would include looking for edges, changes in direction, movement, etc. you should focus on ONE quality in the end, so determine what is the most powerful quality found in the composition(s) and use that as the system of logic for you next step, the visualization. You are to now draw or “map” the found quality using vector lines in Adobe Illustrator.
One 17” wide x 11” tall .PDF file that visualizes the found quality from your filtered composites. Place your file in your “mybackpack,” making sure to list your instructor as a shared user for the file. Please use the nomenclature “A03_yourlastname_firstinitial.jpg” for the file name. If, for example, your name is “Bob Smith” you will save you work using the nomenclature “A03_Smith_B.jpg.” All files are due to your backpacks by 12:00pm Tuesday 19 February.
Late work will not be accepted. Please also print a black and white copy of your work and bring it to class.
(left) Block Works Sublimate II 2004 Mild steel blocks 194 x 53 x 30 cm (right) Domain Series Domain XXIX 2000 Stainless steel bar 4.76 mm x 4.76 mm 190 x 57 x 37 cm Antony Gormley describes his two pieces: “The Block Work Series makes physical pixelisations with a rising canon of four blocks, each eight times the volume of the one before, keeping the same 1:1:2 proportion as in the original Building series that only used one block size. They are all evocations of the inside of the body under the skin.” Similarly, the artist states about Domain Series, “I wanted to escape from the delimitation of skin (whether the exclusive volumes of the lead bodycases or the solid volumes of the body forms) and acknowledge of the body as a place of transformation.”
Think of vectors this way, moving away from the limiting factors of image. When we begin this project, the liberation of movement, dynamics, and dimension should become clear. The raster image evokes symbolism and value and image, which is why it was so difficult to move beyond the subjective information in each photograph. Here, with vectors, we will not be 'tracing' but 'mapping.' It may seem as thought we are working in reverse, which is again not reverse at all, but a transition. A change in state.
Look at the image below. The process is evident in the product. There is a coherence in this relationship and it is evident after having seen both side by side. This same value should be placed on our process. We are not creating a new, but rather transitioning between values and relationships. The original image and your mapping of that image should evoke a similar feeling of continutiy and curiosity.
Tim Knowles, Tree Drawing Larch on easel [x4] #2Vector graphics are made up of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors, which describe an image according to its geometric characteristics. You can freely move or modify vector graphics without losing detail or clarity, because they are resolution-independent—they maintain crisp edges when resized, printed, or saved in a PDF file. As a result, vector graphics are the best choice for artwork, such as logos, maps, or other graphic products that will be used at various sizes and in various output media. It’s important to remember that the basis for a vector is always and underlying equation or coordinate system. Even something as simple as a line will contain the basic geometric information needed to 'plot’ a line. Bitmap images—technically called raster images—use a rectangular grid of picture elements (pixels) to represent images. Each pixel is assigned a specific location and color value. When working with bitmap images, you edit pixels rather than objects or shapes. Bitmap images are the most common electronic medium for continuous-tone images, such as photographs or digital paintings, because they can more efficiently represent subtle gradations of shades and color. Unlike vectors, bitmap images are resolution-dependent—that is, they contain a fixed number of pixels. As a result, they can lose detail and appear jagged if they are scaled to high magnifications on‑screen or if they are printed at a lower resolution than they were created for.
Begin by looking both at the individual instances that made up the composite as well as the composite as a whole for characteristics that interest you. Some suggestions would include looking for edges, changes in direction, movement, etc. you should focus on ONE quality in the end, so determine what is the most powerful quality found in the composition(s) and use that as the system of logic for you next step, the visualization. You are to now draw or “map” the found quality using vector lines in Adobe Illustrator.
One 17” wide x 11” tall .PDF file that visualizes the found quality from your filtered composites. Place your file in your “mybackpack,” making sure to list your instructor as a shared user for the file. Please use the nomenclature “A03_yourlastname_firstinitial.jpg” for the file name. If, for example, your name is “Bob Smith” you will save you work using the nomenclature “A03_Smith_B.jpg.” All files are due to your backpacks by 12:00pm Tuesday 19 February.
Late work will not be accepted. Please also print a black and white copy of your work and bring it to class.
06 February 2008
Week 03 | Resolution
New Year's Resolutions are a tradition is based in the hope that reflecting on the past and resolving to make a new will simplify one’s life. If you think about the most common resolutions, they are often removing something from the person’s daily life or habits. In doing this, a new person should emerge! (That is if it's kept) Similarly in digital media, the constrction of an image can be simplified through the means of resolution. Resolving the image into more managable parts can reveal alot about the complexity you began with.
Almost a century ago and without the aid of any pixel-generating computer software, the itinerant photographer Arthur Mole (1889-1983) used his 11 x 14-inch view camera to stage a series of extraordinary mass photographic spectacles that choreographed living bodies into symbolic formations of religious and national community. In these mass ornaments, thousands of military troops and other groups were arranged artfully to form American patriotic symbols, emblems, and military insignia visible from a bird’s eye perspective. Living Portrait of President Woodrow Wilson, for which 21,000 troops assembled at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1918, is the best-known of Mole’s photographs. The image is characteristic of Mole’s work in that it wavers between the compositional effect of the whole (i.e. a portrait of Woodrow Wilson) and the desire to focus upon the obscured individuals who constitute the image, thereby undermining the optical illusion of the totality to a degree.
In our class, resolution also has many meanings. Mainly, we will talk about resolution as the depth of an image. The depth of a pixel-based image relies solely on its quality at the most basic level; here, the image is an unrecognizable pattern of colored squares. When organized into an image, however, these seemingly disparate parts become something much more legible. “Usually we try to produce images that are of sufficient resolution to render these individual pixels imperceptible, but seeing pixels is not necessarily a bad thing. Prominent pixels call attention to the process…”
“Computer Composition With Lines” 1964 This work closely mimics the painting “Composition With Lines” by Piet Mondrian (1917). When reproductions of both works were shown to 100 people, the majority preferred the computer version and believed it was done by Mondrian. This early investigation of the aesthetics of computer art has become a classic and is described in the published paper by A. Michael Noll, “Human or Machine: A Subjective Comparison of Piet Mondrian's ‘Composition with Lines’ and a Computer–Generated Picture,” The Psychological Record, Vol. 16. No. 1, (January 1966), pp. 1-10.
One 11” x 17” .jpg construction at 150 dpi in RGB color mode. This construction should contain the following information: A minimum of one original intersection image, one image index, and five selection filter images generated from the image index. The way in which you layout these individual images to form a cohesive construction is critical if we are to understand your craft and process. Use the grid and guides in Photoshop to generate proper alignments and do not use notations or text. Again, use the filing nomenclature: for student BobSmith, “A02_Smith_B.jpg.” All .jpg files are due in your backpack by 12:00 PM on Tuesday 12 February.
Late work will not be accepted. Please bring your noted image from Assignment 01 to class Wednesday 13 February.
Almost a century ago and without the aid of any pixel-generating computer software, the itinerant photographer Arthur Mole (1889-1983) used his 11 x 14-inch view camera to stage a series of extraordinary mass photographic spectacles that choreographed living bodies into symbolic formations of religious and national community. In these mass ornaments, thousands of military troops and other groups were arranged artfully to form American patriotic symbols, emblems, and military insignia visible from a bird’s eye perspective. Living Portrait of President Woodrow Wilson, for which 21,000 troops assembled at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1918, is the best-known of Mole’s photographs. The image is characteristic of Mole’s work in that it wavers between the compositional effect of the whole (i.e. a portrait of Woodrow Wilson) and the desire to focus upon the obscured individuals who constitute the image, thereby undermining the optical illusion of the totality to a degree.
In our class, resolution also has many meanings. Mainly, we will talk about resolution as the depth of an image. The depth of a pixel-based image relies solely on its quality at the most basic level; here, the image is an unrecognizable pattern of colored squares. When organized into an image, however, these seemingly disparate parts become something much more legible. “Usually we try to produce images that are of sufficient resolution to render these individual pixels imperceptible, but seeing pixels is not necessarily a bad thing. Prominent pixels call attention to the process…”
“Computer Composition With Lines” 1964 This work closely mimics the painting “Composition With Lines” by Piet Mondrian (1917). When reproductions of both works were shown to 100 people, the majority preferred the computer version and believed it was done by Mondrian. This early investigation of the aesthetics of computer art has become a classic and is described in the published paper by A. Michael Noll, “Human or Machine: A Subjective Comparison of Piet Mondrian's ‘Composition with Lines’ and a Computer–Generated Picture,” The Psychological Record, Vol. 16. No. 1, (January 1966), pp. 1-10.One 11” x 17” .jpg construction at 150 dpi in RGB color mode. This construction should contain the following information: A minimum of one original intersection image, one image index, and five selection filter images generated from the image index. The way in which you layout these individual images to form a cohesive construction is critical if we are to understand your craft and process. Use the grid and guides in Photoshop to generate proper alignments and do not use notations or text. Again, use the filing nomenclature: for student BobSmith, “A02_Smith_B.jpg.” All .jpg files are due in your backpack by 12:00 PM on Tuesday 12 February.
Late work will not be accepted. Please bring your noted image from Assignment 01 to class Wednesday 13 February.
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