Water colour & sound

Test with water colour and modified recording using chance process & some control.

Water Colour

Below is the last water colour animation I have carried out. This month I will be sorting out the sound for the interface as well as carrying out a case study. After the case study I will add more videos and perhaps water colour animations, as well as fix the method of interaction according the results.

water colour experiments together

Water colour

Previews from New Water colour

Water Colour

Screenshots from new water colour

Grid view of water colours

Created a new watercolour (top left) and trying it out with other exported water colours. Thinking about new ways to combine sound and chance with the water colours but will decide more on this in May.

New Watercolour rotated and multiplied

Original Watercolour

Watercolour with white background

Duplicated, rotated and multiplied with white background

Duplicated, rotated and multiplied with black background. Like the effect but perhaps the symmetry is a bit too much.

Watercolour flat

Flat version of the water colour digital distortion

Watercolour screenshots

Screenshots from today's watercolour:

Flat

3D layers

2 overlapping compositions

Water colours in 3d space pt.3Testing

New Watercolour screenshots and videos.

Testing how 3 water colours would look together on screen

Trying out various overlays / tints

Water colours in 3d space pt.2

This was actually an animated water colour that I had used in an experiment I carried out in December however I decided to give it the 3d space treatment. Since the selections in Photoshop were done with the Pen tool rather than the magic wand, the edges were slightly more stiff and less organic, so I decided to export the video, reimport it and duplicate it a couple of times using different transparency options and mirroring. Some interesting effects emerged although from this point on I think I will start using the magic wand, which although is a much easier and quicker way of selecting, the distortion in After Effects is more effective when applied to it.

All of the music I have been using in my experiments lately are by Beat Alice and Sonitus Eco the same two people who will be creating the music for my project.

water colours in 3d space

Yesterday and today I have been experimenting with After Effects and it has been a breath of fresh air to finally go back to "let just try this and see what happens". I find that I get a lot of interesting work done when I'm a) in a good mood, and b) without a care in the world. (This reminds me of the book Emotional Design which makes some valid points on being more creative when one is in a good mood).

Original Water colour

Multiple copies of the same layers using overlay transparency (+ spotlights and shadows)

Anyway, I'm still working with water colours but did some changes to make the process more fun. Rather than tracing each layer individually, I simply randomly selected batches of similar colours with the magic wand, cut and pasted them onto different layers. I distorted and animated these in After Effects, and then rotated them in 3D space. I then animated a camera around them. I tried various other experiments but unfortunately I worked on a large composition that is taking ages to render. 

Screenshot of rotating water colour in 3d space with no lights

Moving Watercolour black/desaturated

Another water colour piece. A few things I changed from my previous ones:
Eliminated the symmetry (as suggested by my tutor)
Added an expanding mask
A close up of the water colour rather than than the whole piece
A more subtle animation (I found the noise interesting but a bit too much perhaps)

This can be used as a standalone video in the database or superimposed on one of the films.

Experiment with solid watercolour

These experiments are getting old very quickly, I must find something new.

I've been looking at Yoko Ono's 'Touch me' exhibition. Will post reflections soon.

Watercolour & Video

And here's another experiment. I tried combining one of my latest experiments with some footage I had taken a few years ago (once I get a video camera, I can do this more effectively by having more appropriate footage, but this will do for now). I liked the last bit of the experiment, when the watercolours are much more generated, however the initial parts are quite weak. I also want to be able to incorporate the watercolours with the video in a much more subtle manner, rather than just overlaying them over the clips.

Digitised Watercolour II

Another digitised watercolour experiment; this time I deliberately went a bit too far. Although I still prefer my previous experiment, I liked what happened to the lines. The rest of the week will be dedicated to Processing - hopefully finishing Chapter 6.

Experiment with solid watercolour

I'm really happy with how this experiment turned out. When I drew the watercolour this time I left the colours pretty solid rather than watering them down too much. This was scanned and the composition was split into 5 pieces using the pen tool in photoshop (but leaving the original underneath). I then used distortion in after effects on every separate piece so that I could control them individually. I went overboard with the effects mainly the complexity / amount and evolution of the effect to start getting the little pixels out.. they remind me of satellite pictures. The result is very similar to how one would see colour on drugs - which is why I think I'm beginning to make some steps forward...

Animated watercolour

Plently wrong with these two experiments: framing, hard white edges and blinking. These are scanned watercolours, chopped in Photoshop, animated 2.5d layers, mirrored.


This one also has some Time Blending.