texture Archives | Digital Cortex

Programmed To Love

Two robots, Vincent & Emily, are connected to each other as if deeply in love: where at the heights of romance, every motion, utterance, or external influence is shared in an acutely empathic, highly attuned ’emotional’ response:

The creation of German artists Nikolas Schmid-Pfähler and Carolin Liebl, the robots take in sound and motion data–from each other and from spectators– via sensors, which causes them to react–via gears and motors–with certain expressions. Shown in a gallery and open to the interaction of visitors, the project aims to explore the ideal of the human couple by distilling it into a more basic form. Simple lines represent bodies. Reacting to inputs replaces complicated decision-making.

Like in any relationship, miscommunication is a factor – so an intimate moment can lead to conflict, and eventual resolution. This gives a certain texture to their ‘dance of love’ that makes it hard not to anthropomorphise, or indeed relate to!

Take a look:

Via Co.Exist.

True Skin: Full Version

Earlier this year I blogged the teaser for an upcoming short film by the team at N1ON, which looked like a really interesting work-in-progress.

Yesterday, their film ‘True Skin’ was released to the world, kicking off a bidding war as studios move to capitalise on its unique visual style in a full-length feature, that will most likely build on the short’s basic premise:

A sci-fi short set in the not too distant future where augmentation is the way of life. For Kaye, still a natural, augmenting will help him keep pace in this now hyper-paced world. However, after acquiring an off-market prototype, Kaye quickly finds himself fighting not only for his own humanity, but something much larger.

I think it shows real consideration for the potential for inner-city living in a post-human age. If anywhere is going to end up like a cyberpunk’s wet dream, it’s probably Bangkok. Take a look:

OK sure, the narrative may be a bit weak, but there are enough unexplored little details to engage the mind, and if it ever does get green-lit I’m sure they’ll have their pick of great writers.

My vote would be for Warren Ellis, who gave The City such depth and texture in his series Transmetropolitan that it – at least to me – stands as the most complete vision of a cyberpunk society to this day.

But in True Skin he may have found a contender.

Matthias Müller’s Particle Art

There’s this guy called Matthias Müller, and he makes beautiful abstractions out of virtual dust on his supercomputer. He’s some kind of motion-art superhero, probably sent to us from the exploding Planet 3DS Max by his scientist parents.

In this post I’ve picked out a few examples of his work, because as well as being simply gorgeous viewing material, they’re great examples of what’s possible with a few gigs of RAM, a graphics card and some imagination.

Probably my favourite due to it’s relative simplicity, this tech demo plays with texture in surprising ways:

This next one is so epic! Like an underwater fireworks show of electric choreographed jellyfish, or something…

Watch as millions of particles merge and blend with infinite complexity in this piece of seemingly generative fludity:

This final clip is almost a love story. Watch as two swirling masses collide, explode and dance in time with the music:

An undoubtedly talented guy, Matthias has done commercial work for Honda and Vodafone (as featured last year). His YouTube channel is certainly worth a look, as are his lovely image renders on CGPortfolio.

I can barely get the most out of MSPaint, however…

World Builder – A Film Where Holography Meets Romance

I stumbled upon a video last night, in which a man builds a virtual world using holographic tools for a certain special someone. It’s a blend of astounding graphics, clever user interface ideas, some poignant moments, and an actor who does this odd sideways smirk quite often (but don’t let that spoil it).

World Builder was shot in a single day followed by about 2 years of post production. It has won several short film awards. The film’s creator, Bruce Branit, has built a Facebook community around World Builder, where he’s been sharing updates, behind the scenes material, and the news that he’s pressing on with a feature length version.

My favourite element of this video is Bruce’s interface concept – fingertip control, a wrist-mounted colour & texture palette, and a sense of our favourite Photoshop tools brought into the real-world.

As with all the videos I post here, remember to hit fullscreen, and let me know what you think in the comments. Don’t get too slushy though.

Self-Pixellation

In his recent work “Papercraft Self Portrait”, 3D artist Eric Testrole did something really cool for Halloween. He pixellated his own head!

It was kind of inspired by big-head mode seen in videogames. I really wanted to get the faceted geosphere look with wireframe.

He’s been a character designer in the video game industry for nine years, so this is a case of life now mimicking his art, as his skills having now ‘absorbed’ his very being. Very spooky. Here’s how it happened:

: A model was created from a blocky 370 polygons

: Texture was added to match his appearance using PhotoShop

: The ‘polygons’ are printed, cut & glued together

The finished result is the surreal creation you see prowling the streets in the below Flickr photoset. Hit fullscreen for best effect: