It’s finally happened: I’ve taken the first steps into the world of microcontrollers, by buying an Arduino Starter Kit. It’s fair to say I’m stupidly excited. As much fun as it is wielding around Wii remotes and playing with PS3 cameras, you get a sense with Arduino that projects have far greater (if any) boundaries.
There is some reason behind me nerding out with yet another toy though: there are plans in the works to create an interactive installation at the next Finders Keepers markets. More on that once we sign off on the project, but I’m excited enough about it now to post a picture of an LED on my blog.
In the meantime, I’m working my way through the excellent Making Things Talk, by Tom Igoe. For anyone interested in these types of projects, but totally not sure where to begin, I definitely recommend getting your hands on a copy of this book.
Along with applications for designers and artists, we’re now accepting expressions of interest from musicians of all shapes and sizes – but only until April 2nd, 2010. If you’re interested, get in touch with a short paragraph about yourself and your music, and a link to some of your tunes online. Contact details are here.
It’s been a while since I posted. The Festival Of Scott began on November 19th and continued for around 4 days, pretty much making me incapable of coherent speech, let alone dispensing worthwhile blog posts. After The Festival Of Scott ended, The Vacation Of Scott’s Immune System began, then I quickly hit The Madness Of Finders Keepers Preparation, which brings you all up to date…
As part of the music stage I was running at The Finders Keepers markets, I decided to introduce some live visuals. I started building a basic video mixer in Processing, but after a few ill-advised incarnations (v2, v3, v4, v5), I was distracted by the flashy lights of the newly released MaxForLive. With Jitter being a part of MaxForLive, I thought it would be a good chance to dip my toe into the graphic-programming-language-behemoth.
It wasn’t long before I realised I was out of my depth. For anyone looking to MaxForLive/MaxMSP for visuals, don’t expect to be able to jump straight into the deep end. You really do need to start with the basics, which Max does provide with a truly excellent tutorial system. Even though it’s a graphic language, it’s certainly no easier than taking on something like Processing. In fact, I’d probably recommend starting with Processing – I personally believe learning the basics of code helps to understand some of the structures within Max. And there are excellent opportunities to combine the two on the way.
This is some lovely work from Wee See, that I spotted via CDMo the other day, which started me on one of those YouTube binges, looking for similar geometry based animation. Personally, I’m really interested in minimalist design, particularly around the idea of negative space.
As Peter Kirn points out in his post, we often shy away from using simple, or elementary shapes in design, in favour of throwing everything we have at something. Personally, I’m tiring of the ‘cut and paste’ and collage style of design that’s been around for a few years now. It feels lazy and often like it’s an effort to cover up a lack of thought in a work. Of course there are always exceptions and I don’t pretend that a clean and minimal design will always win out over something more layered and random – Apple’s glossy, minimal and all too reflective aesthetic has long been wearing equally thin on me.
I’m posting this via Alex at ISO50, because I know there are a few visitors to this blog that should really be inspired by it…
Perhaps more than any other industry, learning to be a creative can be tough. You can become quickly disillusioned when you’re starting out and the pieces don’t fall into place right away. There are many, many reasons that this doesn’t happen, but when you invest a lot of yourself into your art, it’s easy to give up if it doesn’t meet your own high expectations.
I’m only just beginning to come to terms with this myself, and Ira Glass manages to say it in a far more lucid way than I am able. Whilst he is speaking about radio and video in this clip, it most certainly applies to anyone setting out to start work in the creative industries…
Australia pretty much now has the dubious honour of being internationally known as a racist culture. Our ever-tightening immigration policy (I defy anyone to prove that Rudd has taken any steps since ousting Howard to make a real difference for immigrants) is vindicated by right-wing media, telling us that ‘we’re full’ – we couldn’t possibly let anyone else into the country, because they will clearly take our jobs, rape our daughters and generally blow everything up around us.
No doubt I sound facetious with that comment, but it doesn’t take much digging to see that this is a view held by many Australians. It’s not one that is confined to our country either. Dateline broadcast an interesting piece last night on the rise and rise of the British National Party (BNP). To be honest, it’s not the views of the people leading this party that concern me, it’s the groundswell of support they’re getting from the middle class that’s truly frightening. What would have been considered extremist politics up until recently, has been fueled by difficult economic circumstances, disappointment and disillusionment in elected government and of course, the sensationalist media.
As you can see from the above shot, we don’t have room (or budget) for any sprawling 80’s glam rock outfits, sorry. If you’re a Sydney-sider, chances are you’ve been to the markets before and know the kind of thing that goes down well there anyway. So if you think you fit the bill, get in touch with your details and a link to some of your tunes.
One of my perennial favourite blogs, ISO50, has just posted a general guide for colour management. This is an area that really seems to have been glossed over in my education, so it’s great to see an attempt to present these concepts in a straightforward manner.
Colour, and colour management, is nothing short of a science and any artist or designer (whether you work in print or on screen) wanting to learn more about it should definitely check out this post.
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