Looks quite different now: http://vispo.com/aleph/an.htm
I added a destructive method to this generative visual piece. If you click
the Aleph Null logo at top left to access the controls, you'll find an
"erasiness" slider. The larger the value of this slider, the more quickly
Aleph Null destroys itself.
If you fiddle around with that slider, you'll see that the setting of this
slider makes quite a bit of difference to how the whole piece looks.
In retrospect, I guess it should have been obvious to me that the piece
needed this feature. Cuz, you know, in generative art you generate a
screenful of visuals, and then what? Just draw over them? The surface is
crowded. Or erase the whole screen and start over from scratch. Which you
can do in Aleph Null via the 'e' key or the 'erase' button. But the
'erasiness' slider implements a slow and ongoing erasing process that has
various benefits.
1) Less cluttered look after a while
2) Previously, the background color (which you can set) didn't really matter
in that the background eventually all just got drawn over and that was that
for the background. Now, with erasing, the background is always visible, so
you can set up animations dominated by whatever background color you set.
3) The erasing process is different visually from the reverse of the
generative process. The erasing, if speeded up, looks a bit like melting or
smoke dissipating. Or something. Looks pretty good, in any case.
4) The erasing process changes the colors of the piece. With the default
black background, the colors are darker, richer. Cuz, with a black
background, the erasing process consists of slowly darkening everything to
black. More generally, the erasing process consists of slowly coloring
everything with the background color.
The motivation for adding an eraser is to work toward creating a version of
Aleph Null that can play without needing a driver. I want to get the piece
to the point where it can play on its own for a long time and display a wide
range of looks in the process. It'll still permit interactivity, but will
not need it to look interesting. An erasing process and also a fade process
are the first things required to make that a reality.
ja
http://vispo.com/aleph
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