Blogging Assignment 6

Kevan Mann

ISTA 301 Blog 6

Processing

Part 1 - Processing's Active vs. Static Modes:

     Within the Processing programming language and environment, there are two modes known as active and static. Basically it boils down to a simple, obvious distinction between the two: Static mode is when Processing creates a still image on the screen that does not move, while Active mode is when you create an image with the ability to have interaction, motion, and animations. In order to take a Processing code from Static to Active, we need to override (aka rewrite) the draw() and setup() functions. 

Part 2 - Code Consideration

      In order to create 100 ellipses, the first thing I changed right off the bat was the "20" in the "for" loop. This 20 was to indicate when the loop should stop looping (aka after drawing twenty ellipses), so I changed the 20 to a 100 in order to tell the loop to draw 100 ellipses. Next, I added code to both fill the ellipses with a color and make those colors random each time the for loop looped.

Part 3 - My Processing Sketch

Blogging Assignment 5

Kevan Mann

ISTA 301 Blog 5

Glitch Art & Processing

Part 1: Glitch Art

"Glitch-ty Shades of Cactus"

Glitch art is defined by Wikipedia as the creation of art through digital or analog errors by either corrupting code or manipulating electronics. With my image of the cactus, that is exactly what I've done. I liked the outcome of my glitch because it distorted the original image just enough to give me a creative and unique piece but not so much so that the image is unrecognizable. As for what this image means to me. I think the various distortions and color glitches have created a rather accurate depiction of the different shades of color the Arizona sunlight can cast upon a cactus such as this one. I took this picture a few weekends ago in Phoenix, AZ, and as a Phoenix born-and-raised local, this image to me contains the various shades of AZ sunlight from different times in an Arizonan day, even though the picture was taken at only one time in the day. The upper areas of the image show what the cactus would look like in the morning sunlight while the lower sections show what it would look like at sunset. The image evokes a sense of homesickness in me, for I miss the mornings I would wake up at 5am to go to work outdoors and be surrounded by cacti just like this one. I would experience the 5am shades in the morning and the 4pm sunset shades in the evening on my drive home. This is a pretty evocative image for me, indeed. 

Part 2: Still Life Drawing with Processing

Apple Tray

Blogging Assignment 4

Kevan Mann
ISTA 301 Blog 4

Part 1:

a.)
      I think it is definitely an interesting concept to think about how everyday actions and processes can be compared to computations with their own inputs and outputs. When Rucker compared some real world processes to Wolfram's 4 Classes of computation, it gave me some of my own ideas as well. For example, a Class 2 computation in the real world I can think of is a tiled floor. There is a clear pattern with the way the tiles are placed, it repeats over and over again, and there are no surprises (usually). On the other hand, a Class 4 computation in the real world could be a brick fascia of a building wherein the brick pattern is not uniform. Meaning, there are some plain red bricks and some off-placed darker or lighter bricks. This architectural design technique is used to create a pattern that doesn't look so boring as simply Red/Brown but rather is much more complex and exciting, and is appears to not repeat.

b.)
       I would say that basically anything that's trial and error is a feasible and unpredictable computation. More specifically, for example, changing inputs/rules/parameters in a cellular automaton setup randomly, not being able to predict how the output will be affected, and then watching the surprising output unfold before your eyes.

c.)
      The differences between a Class 3 and a Class 4 computation are rather apparent, and it simply comes down to the fact that one produces patterns while the other doesn't. A Class 3 computation produces output that is messy and random and maybe even a little ugly, with little to no order or reason to be seen for the creation. On the other hand, a Class 4 computation is extremely complex looking, but the output DOES contain patterns. For that exact reason, I think it makes it easy to distinguish clearly and easily between the two classes.

d.)
       The biggest difference between normal ECA's and this new continuous-valued Cellular Automata is that the latter allows cell states that can carry a range of integers rather than simply two (0-1) in other ECA's. Whereas the Game of Life only has two states per cell, a continuous-valued CA could have something like 4 billion states per cell.