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TenebrisVia

tenebris

A third and final study of the human figure through code. Can a generative artwork be unsettling?  

If some don't resemble people, I apologize, and would be keen to refund or trade with you. This is partly the reason for releasing the work at low price. After spending a futile time trying to remove 'bad' outputs, I came to realize that's absolutely achievable, but at the expense of removing the surprise outputs.... The ones that kept me returning to this work over the course of 7 months. 

There's a second side to the low price.... I'd like this to be a small statement against greed within the generative art space over the last few years. Greed of artists – greed of marketplaces – greed of collectors – greed of flippers. We were all too greedy. But there's a positive ending to my rant, because for us remainders, we're still here, down deep in digital art. 

Much love, and a small measuring of greed, 
Tenebris.Via 
2024


Additional params 
- &fullsize=true : Force output to occupy full screen width 
- &png=true : Download 2100x2970 png file 
- &svg=true : Download svg file 
- &theme={number} : Use "4" for plotter theme, with fixed-width black lines 
- &interval={number} : The higher the number, the less layers generated. Usually 4-16 
- &minlen={number} : Remove linepaths below {number} minimum length. Usually 50-500 
- &maxlen={number} : Remove linepaths above {number} maximum length. Usually 2000+ 

e.g. ?theme=4&interval=12&minlen=500

While the work is plottable, there can be a fair bit of trial and error to produce good results. Play around with the interval, minlen and maxlen params to suit. Inkscape is a great tool to help. 

Opensource libs 
- simplex noise implementation in JS : https://github.com/jwagner/simplex-noise.js 
- deterministic JS random methods : https://github.com/strainer/fdrandom.js 
- static indexer for 2D points : https://github.com/mourner/kdbush  

Avaritia #61

Avaritia #99

Avaritia #32

Avaritia #30

Avaritia #96

Avaritia #3

Every windy gust.... every breeze, gave the restless grasses a chance to spread their suggestive rumours, their spurious gossip. All the while, Old Ones of the field towered above, chanting to their wrathful Sky God for more rain.... Always more rain. 

Instructions 
Intended for high resolutions. Use the following keys once render is complete, to export (letters export without a border) 

Square mode 
   1 (q) : 2048x2048  
   2 (w) : 3072x3072 
   3 (e) : 4096x4096 
   4 (r) : 5120x5120 

Landscape mode (increases spacing between objects to preserve aspect ratio) 
   5 (t) : 2560x1440 
   6 (y) : 3840x2160 
   7 (u) : 5128x2880 
   8 (I) : 7680x4320 

Note: Generated textures are resolution dependant, resulting in very slight differences across resolutions. Composition however, remains identical. 

Browsers 
Tested with Chrome, Edge and Firefox on Windows, Chrome on Mac. 
Note for Firefox users : Ensure "Use hardware acceleration" is ticked – Found in Settings / Performance. Other advanced settings to enable include : gfx.canvas.accelerated,  gfx.direct2d.force-enabled and gfx.offscreencanvas.enabled - Unfortunately even with these, Firefox appears slower than other browsers.  

Shoulders of Giants [license text and links included in source] 
- Aristid Lindenmayer – Formal L-System language (Tree routine) 
- P5.js - Creative coding framework 
- JS Topology Suite "JSTS", a port of Java Topology Suite "JTS" - High-level Geometry library 

Additional JS functions 
- Epistemex - Cardinal Splines library (Curve calculations) 
- MaetDol - K-Means library (Tree foliage routine) 
- Angelos Chalaris - Directed Graphs Tutorial (Tree routine) 

Rain Ritual #231

Rain Ritual #124

Rain Ritual

‘For the artist communication with nature remains the most essential condition. The artist is human, himself nature; part of nature within natural space.’ (Paul Klee, 1944) 


Working on long-form nature has an interesting side effect. On the one hand, you're attempting a shallow imitation of a landscape.... You are working with cold logic and code, vainly trying to control randomness to create this virtual facsimile, something you know is artificial.... 

....and yet.... even with all this left-brain activity, your right-brain pushes back, and imagines being there. While working on this project I found myself continually daydreaming, wandering off to hear the sounds of waterfalls, or the crunch of walking along a sandy lake shore. If you've ever wondered about coding, I urge you to learn. Daydreams await....


Press '1' once rendering is finished, to redraw at 5120x5120 resolution 
Press '2' to export without post-processing effects 

3rd party libraries (license text and links included in source) 
- p5.js - Creative coding framework 
- JS Topology Suite "JSTS", a port of Java Topology Suite "JTS" - High-level Geometry library 
- WebGLImageFilter, Dominic Szablewski - phoboslab.org 

I have tried to use soft blurs and shadows to give a sense of layering and depth to the scene. After viewing for a while, it reminds me of 3D paper-art. There are traits for colour and amount of birds, waterfalls, etc. but none are especially rare – These properties are intended for filtering the collection.  

Daydreamer #221

Daydreamer #210

Daydreamer

A mix of aesthetics from the Ukiyo-e and Shin-hanga woodblock movements, with modern elements.  

ukiyo-e (浮世絵) = "pictures of the floating world", which peaked in the late 19th century. 
shin-hanga (新版画) = "new prints", from roughly the 1920-1950s. 

Some comparisons between the prints of the Japanese masters and gen-art: 

* The number of prints. Based on how well a piece was received, the publisher could decide to produce more copies, usually in batches of 200. Compare this to limiting the edition size on fx(hash). The initial prints would have sharp lines and accurately coloured areas. Very popular prints with thousands of impressions would slowly degrade the blocks, leaving final prints with worn-out linework and colours that weren't true to originals.  

* Woodblock prints were actually a collab between the artist, the wood carver, and the printer. In many cases only the artist and publisher were recognized on the final prints. It was usually the publisher who owned the woodblock, not the artist. Often the artist was considered a worker, contracted at the request of the publisher or patrons funding the project. Compare this to the NFT space, where ownership is carved onto the blockchain, and artists have freedom to create whatever they wish. 

* Copyminters.... Similar to the NFT world, fake publishers sprang up from time to time, who would reproduce famous prints. Enji Takamizawa was one such counterfeiter, who was able to skilfully produce woodblocks replicating originals down to the wood grain! 

* While fine-quality woodblock prints from the Edo era command huge auction prices today, they were in reality affordable art for the regular people of their time. NFTs are similar in this light, where we can enjoy pieces at home rather than say, visiting galleries or museums of unattainable art. 



Additional querystring params (use when viewing in a separate window) 

* fullsize=true (33 megapixel output) 
* colourcorrect=false 
* grain=false 
* border=false 



Licenses included in source. Relying on: 

* PIXIJS for drawing 
* JSTS for geometry functions 
* chromajs for colour functions 
* noise and gaussian helpers from p5js 

The Woodcarver's apprentice #1

The Woodcarver's apprentice #88

The Woodcarver's apprentice

No death in the metaverse 
100 billion mortal coils before us, reduced to silly memes 

Here then, a chance to right every wrong 
Or curse ourselves, forgetting we once counted days so keenly 

C:\SOULS>UPLOAD.EXE -commit -purge 
Irreversible operation. Are you sure? [Y/N] Y_ 

.....LFG 

---------------------------------------------------- 


Additional params 

&fullsize=true : 4096x4096 output 
&debug=true : Display generative figure outlines  
&notilt=true : Remove tilt-shift filter 


References 

How to draw a basic Human Figure Using Circles Only - Photoshop - Easy Anatomy Drawing Tutorial  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgIYpe4dPWo 


Libraries (refer licenses.js) 

pixijs/pixijs - Graphics 
bjornharrtell/jsts – Polygon routines 
meodai/poline - Colour routines 
jwagner/simplex-noise - Noise gen 
strainer/fdrandom - Random number gen 

UPLOAD.EXE #66

UPLOAD.EXE #97

UPLOAD.EXE

A small, halting move towards abstract landscapes, unfamiliar territory.
Watching forms take shape every day, fine-tuning their mode and colour back to the comfort zone of what trees should resemble..... 
Then discarding and unlearning, again and again.....
Makes for a very familiar tree!

- Generative art, made with Javascript code

Unfamiliar Trees [2 of 3]

A curated series, found along the road to "Long-form" projects

- Generative art, made with Javascript code

Short-form v1.01

Versum

Don't rest too long... in the shade of the vines

In the shade of the vines

A series of pieces found along the windy road to Long form projects

Found along the road to making the Woodcarver's apprentice.

(While the subtle shadows gave a nice result, it was too slow to render and was removed from the final release)

- Generative art, made with Javascript code

Experiments from the Woodcarvers apprentice #1

Short form / Experimental

Generative artwork, created with Javascript

- Seed has been destroyed, this item is unique and cannot be regenerated
- 8K resolution [7680x4320]
- Grain applied using ON1 Photo RAW

veils02

A series of cyanotype-inspired generative artworks.

veils03

The Blue Veil Series

Galdricge, meaning 'Enchantress' in Anglo-Saxon, is an attempt to evoke a sense of grace and femininity from stark, abstract elements. 


Add "&png" to querystring for 2048x2048 png export 
Add "&svg" for svg export. There are up to 5 layers which can be controlled in Inkscape for different pen widths and colours 


This work is plottable thanks to open-sourced code and article from twilliability. Check out his plotter pieces at https://www.fxhash.xyz/u/twilliability  
Article : https://jealousmarkup.xyz/texts/webgl-line-hiding 
Code : https://gist.github.com/gugray/dfdbef073a3efe1abb5f501728ac9d51 


Other libs (refer console output for license info) 
Graphics : PIXIJS https://github.com/pixijs/pixijs 
Geometry : JSTS https://github.com/bjornharrtell/jsts 
Noise : SIMPLEX-NOISE https://github.com/jwagner/simplex-noise.js 
Random number lib : Fdrandom.js https://github.com/strainer/fdrandom.js 


Made on and off, over 5 months of the great 2023 bear market.

Galdricge #88

Galdricge #15

Galdricge

Generative series, written in JavaScript. Optimised for 8K 7680x4320 display

Solar Winds 02

Solar Winds 01

Solar Winds

Émile Borel in his 1914 book "Le Hasard et la Vie", wrote:  

"If we suppose a monkey to strike at random the keys of a typewriter for a sufficiently long period, it will end by writing all the works of Shakespeare. In fact, it will write infinitely more; it will write all the possible books, all the imaginable poems. Indeed, in a finite time, it will write all the books that have ever been written and all those that will ever be written."  

This plottable SVG was selected from thousands of generated pieces. From a set of 16 nonsensical trigonometry formulas, the system randomly chooses a pair to apply against a noise field. By running these formulas against random points on this field, lines are constructed.  

You could say these abstract landscapes were the result of monkeys striking typewriters.... but they hired a human for curating which outputs gave the best chance of rain.  

Chance of Rain [4 of 12]

These plottable works have been curated from thousands of randomly generated pieces, in search of outputs that best resemble a rainy landscape.

Chance of Rain [3 of 12]

Chance of Rain

Part 2 

Not long after, the human insisted on being equal partner in one final venture with the monkeys. The addition of a circle was allowed (supposedly the sun). Blue was replaced with orange. The perfect landscape was longed for. But the monkeys were tired, they knew this game of typing coded landscapes was rigged, doomed to play out forever. A deal was made.... The system loosened, sun and colour change allowed, and the monkeys limited the game to 36 accidental days.  

The task of choosing 36 semi-abstract 'landscapes' from 2,500 outputs was a lot more rewarding than it sounds! I tried to imagine what outputs would appeal in terms of variety, and 'looseness', but in keeping with the collection theme, and in the hope they'd still be recognizable as landscapes. There is no code for the ground, or the mountain backdrops, that's just luck on the part of the monkeys. By chance some turned out too clean, too precise.... Outputs you'd expect of a more polished system. They were promptly binned, for progress is more rewarding than perfection.


Accidental Days [21 of 36]

These plottable works have been curated from thousands of randomly generated pieces. Descendant of the "Chance of Rain" collection, accidental days emerge.

Part 2 

Not long after, the human insisted on being equal partner in one final venture with the monkeys. The addition of a circle was allowed (supposedly the sun). Blue was replaced with orange. The perfect landscape was longed for. But the monkeys were tired, they knew this game of typing coded landscapes was rigged, doomed to play out forever. A deal was made.... The system loosened, sun and colour change allowed, and the monkeys limited the game to 36 accidental days.  

The task of choosing 36 semi-abstract 'landscapes' from 2,500 outputs was a lot more rewarding than it sounds! I tried to imagine what outputs would appeal in terms of variety, and 'looseness', but in keeping with the collection theme, and in the hope they'd still be recognizable as landscapes. There is no code for the ground, or the mountain backdrops, that's just luck on the part of the monkeys. By chance some turned out too clean, too precise.... Outputs you'd expect of a more polished system. They were promptly binned, for progress is more rewarding than perfection.

Accidental Days [4 of 36]

Accidental Days

Waves cresting, crashing on a shore of randomness... 

 
- Pick two nonsensical trigonometry formulas for a set of 10. They're just bristles of a brush, they don't mean anything 
- Pick a point on a noise field 
- Evaluate the two formulas at this point, to obtain {x,y} coordinates for another point 
- Now with our two points, draw a line somewhere between. Colour the line according to length 
- Do this about a million times with our two formulas 
- (Sometimes, pick a different pair of formulas along the way)  


Add "&fullsize=true" to the querystring to regenerate at 7680x4320, 5120x5120 or 4320x7680, depending on aspect ratio. 


Opensource libs 

- Noise field : https://github.com/jwagner/simplex-noise.js  
- Random number gen : https://github.com/strainer/fdrandom.js    


Tenebris.Via 
2023 Sydney, Oz

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