The pixel-mangling madness continues. Here are the latest goodies to show up in our inbox.

Enrico Nau aka naus3ayt is playing with code-for-artists environment Processing (site | cdmo tag). It’s yet another example that reveals that computer vision, aside from the useful-ish applications like tracking what you’re doing, can be used to purely aesthetic ends. No code excerpt here, but the best place to begin here would be the official Processing tutorials or the OpenCV tutorial recently posted here on CDM.

Blog post here:

Chroma-sampler: painting with light

Enrico describes his creation to us:

I recently coded a toy that samples colors from a video feed and used them to create virtual brushes; similar mood to data moshing, different approach.

In other news, we have this gorgeous glitchy … something or other. Okay, actually, I have no idea what this is or where it came from (and neither does tipster con), but boy, does it take the opposite tack compared to the one suggested by David O’Reilly – it’s a maximalist, intentional overuse of a particular data compression artifact. In this case, though, it fits nicely with the musical content, which is what O’Reilly suggested.

godxilliary.com [QuickTime link]

I guess my ban on datamosh, incidentally, is well over, especially after I temporarily moshed the story database on Create Digital Music by importing with some setting wrong. (It doesn’t help that WordPress and MySQL once defaulted to Swedish. Swedish: the new lingua franca.)

Anyway, enjoy – and keep experimenting, everyone. Experiments, by definition, can be ugly, and that’s good. It’s all part of the process.

SCINTILLATION from Xavier Chassaing on Vimeo.

When we talk about “digital” process, it’s often mixing real, physical techniques that can make all the difference. In sound, that may be sampling real sounds, or building your own speakers, or finding physical interfaces. In visuals, it’s finding ways of doing things in the domain of actual light and not just digits.

Xavier Chassaing’s “SCINTILLATION” may wind up being the most beautiful minutes of motion footage we see all year. It seems not a single frame was shot as motion - instead, it was pieced together from some 35,000 photos. That allows for tightly-choreographed depth of field focus shifts that should be impossible, and sudden movements that make it seem as though the very universe is quaking around the fame. It’s stop motion, technically, but a unique kind of stop motion still life.

That’s beautiful enough - and then the orchids seem to be invaded by magical fire fairies. Particles explode into surfaces thanks to even more technically-precise projection mapping, painstakingly painting objects in the film with motion animation. Mathieu Calet did the work on the effects, which remain simple and elegant enough that the orchids and molded ceiling become an even more active canvas.

On top of this, the score is exquisite, the work of fedaden. (It’s well worth checking out his other stuff - I may be coding and editing while listening to more of it.)

The resulting piece seems to have slipped into our world from some other, very gorgeous dimension. It’s a challenge and an inspiration to everything we’re doing. To the whole team, thanks.

Delving into Audiovisual performance, it’s easy to get overwhelming. Mashing up commercials, music videos, sampled footage and more can quickly lead to eyeball meltdown.

Here, then - Mike Winkelmann (as Beeple) takes simple and distinct typographic elements, synced to a minimal lo-fi tech soundtrack to create AV that is masterfully compelling and straightforward.

Beeple - Century Gothic from momo_the_monster on Vimeo.

Mr. Winkelmann continues to produce and release as Beeple - he’s created new more fanciful works since his first appearance on CDM. See his whole library at Beeple.com.

Also, he’s got screenings of IV.7(annoyingly small mix) coming up at Ann Arbor Film Festival (March 25-30), as well as the Wisconsin Film Festival (April 3-6th).

The picture says it all. BBC Research & Innovation is considering presenting video in surround. Just as audio surround assumes a still-central source, enhanced by additional material in the 360-degree audio field, the idea here is to capture ambient visuals using a fish-eye lens and then project that beyond the screen.

Of course, whatever the (uh, dubious, potentially) practical applications of such technology, there are plenty of compelling directions this could lead VJs. In general, the ability to control more of the environment and break out of the rectangular frame helps live visuals and installations. And there are other consumer, examples, as well: TV maker Phillips has toyed with creating ambient, colored light that matches the on-screen image with Ambilight, something DIYers have already cloned (see Hack a Day).

Hmmm.. I think BBC should just give us all projectors and we’ll go work on it, eh?

Graham Thomas, one of the researchers, explains:

Surround Video is a means of visually immersing the viewer into a TV programme.

It is like surround sound, an optional extra that enhances viewing on a normal display. The idea is to use a wide angle (or fisheye) camera fixed rigidly alongside the normal camera shooting the programme, and project the image onto the walls, ceiling and floor of the viewer’s room.

Wait, you know, this could have practical applications — making English children hide behind the couch even more readily during Doctor Who.

Pic Of The Day: Surround Video [BBC Internet Blog]

Via ChromaTouch, aka Leon Trimble

It’s been almost 6 months since we posted about Shiffman’s Most Pixels Ever processing library, but that doesn’t mean there’s been no progress.

Recently he’s left the lab and ensconced himself in front of the IAC Video Wall, bringing Most Pixels Ever to the screen with the most pixels to give.

Run Lola Run Lola Run Lola Run Lola Run from shiffman and Vimeo.

A little technical detail, with an announcement:

Each cell of video is 60×45 pixels. The entire system is run by 3 Mac Pros each pumping out 2720×768 (totaling 8160×768 for the entire wall.) I’m going to be releasing the Processing library/framework this week! Stay tuned!

Releasing the library? You mean this library?

The site is still a little lean, but early adopters can download the Alpha version and read a little about running it with processing.

Bouncy bouncy!