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forum - Requests |
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 | | Topic: | Looking for an interactive demo to defend the scene | | | Hi,
I'm writing a school paper on MultiMedia/NewMedia Aesthetics and in that context I'm trying to plug the demo scene as a valid Art's community.
Now, we all know the scene is about the artfull application of skill and ingenuity.
What I am trying to achieve in the paper is to use demos instead of the more mainstream "electronic arts" pieces as basis for analysis and interpretation.
Currently my university's official disposition is that only interactive hypertextual pieces can fall within the category of Multimedia art - and that demos are only basic animations made by excentrics - I disagree. I say demos have just as much right to the title of MultiMedia Art as chaotic Flash creations or interactive videotape installations.
All I need now is an example of a demo that doesn't just "run" from a-z in the same way every time, but can be influenced in some way by the user.
Any suggestions would be helpfull and appreciated. | | |
| I am affraid there is no particularly great example, interactivity having been mainly
adressed through vj-systems derived from demos. In the old days interactivity was present in the form of multipart demo interactions, and then later as an additional method to prove the realtime capabilities of a demo.
(Though my first piece, +1-1 features two different sort of interaction:
- it interacts with the www, through google searches.
- it has hidden interactivity in the form of:
the spacebar enables the viewer to unravel the real audio track hidden under the layer of effects
- pressing and dragging the mouse brings about a non intrusive UI that enables the viewer to change parameters of the audio effects.. delay, feedback, some stochastic variable etc.
This is hardly meaningful, only plays a role in making it more obvious that +1-1 is an obfuscation device
see http://awards.scene.org/archive.php?cat=7&year=2002
)
Thus I do not know any example of demos where interactivity plays a complete role as part of the contents that make it.[Post edited by _-_-__ on Monday 8 January 2007 - 20:08] | | |
| Thanks for the feedback _-_-__,
although this is not exactly what I had in mind, I still think it is an excellent example of what can be done with the medium - I especially like the fact that it uses realtime search data to generate varable content, as oposed by using a "canned" random function.
I'll be sure to mention +1-1 as an interesting example study in the paper. | | |
| Well you know, it is only fetching images here. I would like to use text searches as input for another demo, but it might need a longer piece than the usual 4min to do its effect.
As a general rule I agree with the feeling that the use of random number generators should be reduced to the absolute minimum in generative art. There are a crutch. But more importantly an empty vessel. | | |
| True,
as fetching images not only changes parameters (although these can control pretty much everything) fetching images will add a layer of visual unpredictability that can never be matched with a predefined amount of parameters. | | |
| Thanks for the tip gloom,
I had heard about this in a film informatics class at some point, but I could not for the life of me remember the name of it... :) Although this is not a directly realtime interactive demo, it (like _-_-__'s example from above) goes to show that new and exciting things can be achieved with an open mind and a bit of ingenuity. | | |
| nesnausk did that thing, what was it called..
in.out.side: the shell user interaction part
also polar is a more recent example..
demos are typically meant to be static presentations.
some pieces in the past had more intereactivity (mouse control over flyby or pressing keys to change parameters) but these are mostly hidden parts that were implemented by authors to basically test thing and ended up not beeing removed in final version.
there is documented use of the random factor effect on some demos and intros though, some demos and intros having randomized scene selection or parameter selection, i did a few releases using that and know of a few others who did aswell but that still doesnt go much into the typical interactive multimedia style of things.
i guess a closer family of demoscene productions would be musicdisks where the user typically navigates around a simple interface to choose diferent song..
still, i wouldnt classify them as _interactive_ multimedia.. but it's defnitly multimedia art since all the content is created and manipulated for pure entertainment value.
also, i would advise your teachers to read the definition of multimedia, since it doesn't mention required interaction anywhere. information on the other hand yes, but then again every creation embbeds information in one way or the other.. and beeing anal about it picking only useful information (as in, multimedia is a way to explain something useful in a user friendly to someone) then there are demos who are created for specific communicative purposes such as party invitations and announcetros and some such.. even diskmags fall somewhat into that category i guess..
it depends alot on where you draw the line... or your teachers draw the line in this case.[Post edited by psenough on Monday 8 January 2007 - 21:02] | | |
| Ahh, excellent _-_-__ and ps,
"in.out.side: the shell" was excactly the kind of example I was looking for. Thanks a bunch. I have dabbled a bit in 3D modelling and animation (3ds max) and I am very impressed by the excellent character rigging and animation blending in this one. Plus being able to do collateral damage to geometric objects/walls can never be classified as anything but plain old "cool".
I agree ps, multimedia is a concept that should not be constricted to interactivity seeing as, like the name implies, it encompasses (in my humble opinion) anything that trancends the "one-media-barrier" and remediates several inputs (such as text, images, animations, sound etc.) into something new.[Post edited by Mannayta on Monday 8 January 2007 - 21:35] | | |
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