Thursday, November 07, 2002
Playing with the Empire State Building, and other virtual art experiences
I received these notes on virtual art play from Major FUN Award-winning Jim Andrews.
Have been playing with Mark Napier's "King Kong"
The building is sort of like a building but also sort of like a person. If you play with it for a while, that emerges.
There's something about the physics that gives the building an impression of size in some circumstances, such as when it sways. As though it were quite large. At other times, the physics seems more like the human body. And it is a lot of fun to play with. The responsive quality is extrordinarily strong. Lots of character. You can feel the material. And you can fling that thing around from side to side like crazy. Or you can be more delicate with it and see just how much it can stand before it tips. Or give it a helping hand up if it starts to tip. It's at this point that it behaves like a human body quite dramatically, as though it were a body whose arms were tied. And you can try to scrunch it down, at which point its internal 'strength' becomes apparent (as opposed to its flexibility).
...The name of the piece, "King Kong" is funny. Because we are King Kong. The title is only indicated by an alt tag and in the URL. Very minimally indicated. Like the pieces themselves are of a minimal aesthetic.
Here we have some very successful 3D art. What other successful 3D art pieces can you think of on the Web that involve 'living entities'? Frédéric Durieu's giraffes are very popular...My favorite piece by Durieu is called "Oeil Complex."
What we see in these pieces is that it isn't so much the verisimilitude or detail of the 3D that makes it interesting as the responsive physics of the body, the creature, the entity, the living thing within the space. And, of course, at least as importantly, the richness of the concept and situation.
I found more amazing pieces on Durieu's site. And if you're into playing with computer art, investigate the tiny boxes that appear on the bottom of the pop-up window. They're each a treasure.
Have been playing with Mark Napier's "King Kong"
The building is sort of like a building but also sort of like a person. If you play with it for a while, that emerges.
There's something about the physics that gives the building an impression of size in some circumstances, such as when it sways. As though it were quite large. At other times, the physics seems more like the human body. And it is a lot of fun to play with. The responsive quality is extrordinarily strong. Lots of character. You can feel the material. And you can fling that thing around from side to side like crazy. Or you can be more delicate with it and see just how much it can stand before it tips. Or give it a helping hand up if it starts to tip. It's at this point that it behaves like a human body quite dramatically, as though it were a body whose arms were tied. And you can try to scrunch it down, at which point its internal 'strength' becomes apparent (as opposed to its flexibility).
...The name of the piece, "King Kong" is funny. Because we are King Kong. The title is only indicated by an alt tag and in the URL. Very minimally indicated. Like the pieces themselves are of a minimal aesthetic.
Here we have some very successful 3D art. What other successful 3D art pieces can you think of on the Web that involve 'living entities'? Frédéric Durieu's giraffes are very popular...My favorite piece by Durieu is called "Oeil Complex."
What we see in these pieces is that it isn't so much the verisimilitude or detail of the 3D that makes it interesting as the responsive physics of the body, the creature, the entity, the living thing within the space. And, of course, at least as importantly, the richness of the concept and situation.
I found more amazing pieces on Durieu's site. And if you're into playing with computer art, investigate the tiny boxes that appear on the bottom of the pop-up window. They're each a treasure.
Labels: Major Fun
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