Want to learn how to pull off graphics? Make it work with optical and real for real first. Tron may have been a pioneering moment in computer graphics, but a lot of its unique look came from unique optical effects on a scale not seen before or after. The glowing screen was an actual lighting effect, which is why CG artists have taken such a liking to the film’s aesthetic, even if it was ultimately too labor-intensive to apply to the whole movie. There’s even an analog in the music: Wendy Carlos’ adept blend of big orchestral, choral, and organ textures with synths.

Of course, the makers of Tron didn’t leave out computer graphics entirely. And that makes this fan remake — no CG, and no optical effects trickery, either — adorable and inspiring.

Via Kotaku.

You’re also aware of just how much of this sequence is sound and editing. Erm, not that motion isn’t important — if I were to say that, I should say it on, you know, the other blog. Think synthesis of the two.

The nicely-growing Digital Tools blog has an excellent interview with visualist Paris Treantafeles, who works with lo-fi 8-bit-style visuals using tools he’s built for GBA and the Linux-powered Gamepark.

Interestingly, while a lot of people will dismiss the 8-bit movement as “nostalgic” — implying it’s just 20-somethings pining for their Mario-playing childhoods — Paris’ inspiration was originally vintage analog synthesizers. And synthesizing graphics is his main interest:

I concentrate on creating graphics from scratch. That’s pretty much all I do. Other people like using movie clips and manipulating them, but from my point of view it’s a good exercise to see what you can do when you have to create everything from scratch. It gives you an appreciation to form and color.

Hally // Blip Festival 2007: The Videos from 2 Player Productions on Vimeo.

The synthesis/sampling argument I think is very much related to the way electronic music is produced. I find that focusing on either one can be a good exercise — see our friend Troels sampling Coke bottles, for instance.

It’s nice stuff, but I do hope, particularly here in the US where the VJ/visualist scene has had trouble gaining broader recognition, that we start to see other styles on genres forming more coherent “scenes” in the way 8-bit has. Of course, what has happened for people like Paris is he’s found strong advocates in the musicians, which seems to be a key element (and has helped strengthen the visual work done outside chiptune music, as well).

Via Create Digital Music, what’s great for chiptune fans and mobile gaming musicians is also good for VJs and visualists. (Thanks, MIDI!)

Marc, Arkaos dev and homebrew game maestro alike, has posted video results of successful MIDI output on the Linux-based GP2X handheld game system, running Little GP Tracker, a MIDI tracker app:

He points out this is equally powerful for visuals:

Of course, another application would be also to use the 2x as sequencer to
drive sequences on any midi-aware VJ program. So you could for example write
an audio track using 6 channels and use the two remaining to have perfectly
sync’ed video :)

And, heck, you could also use the tracker as an interface for visuals. Or use the GP2X as a controller. Or use the tracker to sync other lights / DMX / robotics. Or … well, lots of possibilities, really.

The trade-off is that the GP2X doesn’t have much in the way of physical controls — no stylus control, for instance. But the ability to develop more easily for the platform via Linux, and the fact that this is really an affordable mobile computer, has major appeal.

Little GP Tracker (LGPT)

Still want a stylus? Mario compatibility?

Hacked MIDI Support for Nintendo DS: DSerial [Create Digital Music]

And as Marc points out, the upcoming F200 from GamePark will have stylus input. It’s a beautiful thing.

This could be an very interesting option for VJ’s. Sony has updated the PSP line with some nice additions, slimmer (thus the PSP Slim moniker), longer battery life and decreased load times. But, we dont really care about those. What we care about is video output support:

Adding a video-out port(*1) enables new PSP users to experience high quality UMD(TM) (Universal Media Disc) Video, pictures and movies from Memory Stick Duo and game software titles(*2) on their TVs at home.

The current news is that the video output cable is sold separately, but will include composite, s-video and component. Thats great news. For those that don’t know, the PSP also allows users to transcode media and play movies off of a memory stick. This means the PSP can be used already for clip triggering - which might be a bit unwieldy at first. But with the PSPs strong homebrew scene, this could be a very interesting and fun option for those looking to differentiate their hardware setup. I can see a whole slew of games being turned into mixer fodder for parties, and homebrew that leverage the PSPs built in graphics hardware.

You can read more about the new PSP slim over at Kotaku - PSP Slim Coming in September.

Now all we need is a port of Rez for the PSP…

Pikilipita is a wonder: the developer has created a VJ app that runs on Windows XP and GP2X (Pikix), and even Game Boy Advance cartridges (Pikilipita Advanced). The apps have been getting feature enhancements and other good news lately. Let’s start out with the GBA stuff — which you can now get pre-loaded on a real GBA cart for use on your Game Boy or GameCube with player:

I’ll do my best to release Pikilipita Advance on real cartridges before summer 2007 if at least 100 people are interested in this product.

Its price shouldn’t be higher than £25, 35€ or US$ 50. If you think you’ll buy one, please get in touch with me using the contact form below.

Update: cartridges should be ready at the end of June!

(If you want to order the carts … presuming there’s still time/availability … check out contact info on the site.)

Pikix, the software for XP (yawn) and GP2X Linux-based game console (yay!), has also been getting new features, each dubbed with zany names that put Ubuntu to shame: Fat Dolphin, Delicious Marmot, and most recently, Cheesy Caribou, which adds features like this:

1. New version of the Kouky2x codec: better compression rate: files are 20% to 50% smaller than with previous codec version
2. USB keyboard compatibility (via cradle)
3. Special effects: extreme contras, negative colors, zoom, hue colorization
4. Video in and out points

Nothing earthshaking for your fancy-schmancy computer-based VJ app, it’s true … but can you fit your VJ rig into a space this small?

Pikilipita VJ Software

Handmade instruments aren’t so unusual in the audio and music world, but in the trickier land of videoism, they’re a relatively rare breed. These are some recent works from Derraindrop:

The Rocky Top video synths (the “splattered” model is shown above) are available for sale at US$280, in beautiful handmade boxes. I’m honestly often disappointed by very basic video effects, but these are really gorgeous and simple, made all the more irresistible by the great sounds they create. It’s all the nicer that the case reflects the visuals inside. One thing I’ve discussed with the folks at Etsy is a desire for people making stuff that’s rare or ephemeral (as in the case of video and music) into something physical, and particularly for independent makers to be able to sell their wares. Derraindrop is doing just that.

Other works from Derraindrop made their appearance at the recent NIME conference, a gathering devoted to new instruments and interfaces for music, for those of you not in the know. On tap was this fantastic video organ, hearkening back to some of the earliest instruments for synesthesia (long before electronics), along with video intercoms — basically synths with an intercom interface and handset for “private” experiences, TV boxes with tiny screens and big knobs, and, in the totally non-digital realm, big kinetic color wheel sculptures. I really enjoy the mix of electronics and craft here.

The electronics behind these and a growing number of other works is the Critter board, a simple DIY electronics platform perfectly suited to simple sound and visual synthesis. Great stuff, and this clearly shows a lot of it is in the presentation and design. We covered the Critter previously, and it’s on my long list of gear/kits to acquire:

Video Critter: Custom, DIY Video Synthesis

Keep up with the latest at:

Critter and Guitari

The Video Critter hardware video synth kit seen here last year has been incarnated as a Cellular Automata kit from the good folks of MAKE Magazine. MAKE has been nice enough to do the scary bits for you: the board is assembled and programmed, so all you have to do is make a nifty case.

Cellular automata video synthesizer kit [MAKE:blog]

And if that’s not enough motivation, maybe free prizes will be. Our friend Wiley of Video Thing writes in to let us know he’s got a contest in the works:

MAKE: Cellular automata video synthesizer kit & Videothing CONTEST! [Video Thing]

Finish up a project using the synth by July 1, and you could win some nice hardware: an MP4 recorder or EyeTV.

This is indeed a great idea, but I’m still interested in what else the Video Critter can do — or what other analog hardware projects might be possible. Somewhere out there there’s someone building an open source video mixer; I can feel it. Or not. But I can imagine there might be.

Clearly, we also need to work with MAKE to follow up the music event we had in Brooklyn last month. They have some other themes and the Maker Faire in May, so maybe this summer. New Yorkers, get in touch and let us know your DIY projects and we’ll start to plan.

And just as we’re agnostic about mixing analog with digital on Create Digital Music, I hope to see more analog-digital hybrids here on Motion, too. This particular project isn’t quite tearing me away from my ongoing OpenGL lust yet, but I can see mixing in some hardware.

I am currently in the midst of an awesome toys storm! This week has seen the arrival of a Macbook, Crumpler Backpack and I just picked up my M3 DS Simply from the post office. With a Numark AVM02 arriving tomorrow, I’m worried that I’ll become paralysed by the sheer weight of cool techy stuff. Hence: Pocket Review!

Peter put the DS Lite and DS-Xtreme in his Digital Musician Holiday Wish List. I picked up a DS a couple of weeks ago, but thought the DS-Xtreme looked a little pricey and wanted something which would use SD or MicroSD media, as they’re the formats used by my still camera and phone.

Et volia. The Nintendo DS M3 Simply. A choice echoed by a comment made on CDM 3 days ago. AU$61 (US$48) delivered from Bamboo Gaming, it arrived in 9 days, and includes a “thumbdrive” form factor MicroSD reader, driver CD, and a cute little holder to attach to your keyring or mobile phone lanyard or nose ring or whatever it is the cool kids are doing on my lawn.

That’s all interesting, but there are loads of reviews online which could tell you what you’ll get in the box if you buy one of these things. What they don’t really get across is how simple this thing is. Following these instructions it took me less than ten minutes to go from this:

To this! Nitrotracker. DSMidiWifi baybee!

Modding my XBox to run Media Center was complicated enough that I enlisted another geek to do it for me. Getting homebrew running on the DS took less time than copying and resizing the above images.

Nintendo DS M3 Simply: Recommended! [tags]nintendo, DS, homebrew, trackers, gaming, midi, hacks, hardware, mobile, software, wireless[/tags]

Updated: I had to patch NitroTracker with DLDI for R4DS using the instructions here to get NitroTracker accessing the filesystem and saving correctly.

A portable computer on the back, a DS in the holster, the roaming visualist is ready to spin live eye candy in any situation, with only an S-Video port and four drink tickets to the bar.

Yes, if you happened to catch the wireless MIDI controller here on CDMo before it hit the rest of the blogosphere, I have good news: the download for DSMIDIWiFi is available today. You can now transmit MIDI from your DS to control your computer with no hardware other than a flash cart for running homebrew apps.

And, since Collin and Tob released their source into the wild, programmers out there have a great foundation for creating other apps. That means, not only is the DS Lite a tax write-off for the working VJ, it could be a student’s digital media thesis project, too. (Heck, one piece of software provides both the project AND procrastination options, all in one, compact device …)

File this next to the ndsvisuals project, which transmits via TCP and UDP, and is specially configured for visuals, including clip triggering and ordering, live scratching, and extra visual feedback on the DS screen. Unlike DSMIDIWiFi, ndsvisuals still isn’t ready for download, but you can bet we’ll let you know when it is. And developers / hobbyist programmers, it’s worth visiting the ndsvisuals page for additional ideas and resources — the WiFi communications component was already out there and enabled both projects, for instance.

Via MIDI or UDP, it would be possible to hook up the DS to software like Processing (both MIDI and UDP) or Flash (MIDI with some work, probably better off with UDP) in addition to the traditional VJ apps. Processing + Nintendo DS sounds like an especially tasty option to me.

Lastly, if you’re looking for an easy solution for running all this homebrew goodness, the DS-X shows lots of promise. All you need now is a game to suck up the rest of your time, but I’m guessing you can figure that part out for yourself. (I suggest Mario Kart, naturally.)

Now get that stylus finger twitching:

DSMIDIWiFi Free Download: Turn Your Nintendo DS into a Wireless Synth and Controller (Now Available!) [Create Digital Music]

Nintendo DS as VJ Controller, with vvvv and Homebrew Developer Tools

DSMIDIWiFi project page

ndsvisuals project page

DS-X and Homebrew Apps (probably the most plug-and-play solution) [Create Digital Music]