
Programming abstract art - wheresvic1
https://smalldata.tech/playground/the-artist
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mikkom
There is something wrong with the Hacker News algorithm if this kind of simple
box drawing algorithm with minimal content gets to second place.

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kickscondor
I am going to guess that it means there is a thirst for more artist
submissions. There is not enough color in the links submitted these days - so
the slightest bit of color grabs the attention.

I upvoted this because I want more that is in this vein, though I also don’t
think its algorithm is worthless - it is good to start somewhere. (Personally,
I find it ‘wrong’ that the Equifax article right now is first! Not that it is
unworthy - just that I don’t care to read it.)

~~~
HammadB
If you're eager to find more "creative coding" type works. Going on instagram
and using hashtags like #creativecoding are a great way to find amazing work.
Also twitter is a great source of absolutely mind-blowing artistic work that
leverages technology. I've spent far too much time just browsing all the
amazing stuff out there.

~~~
kickscondor
Ok, I did this - this is great, there are some 'neat'/'inspiring' things
there. A few other questions for you:

* How do I find more hashtags? I would have never found #creativecoding - is it known to be a community or is it just an ad hoc hashtag like #lostinthehashtags (which I just made up - but which has posts!) I guess what I'm saying is - I don't sense that these hashtags are a community - or are they?

* As 'neat'/'inspiring' as these are, they are mostly only (very small) images and (very short) clips. I ultimately can't see myself using Instagram or Twitter much because you just kind of skim and can't go deeper. They lack the 'hypertext'. (This is similarly to the OP's trouble with this post just being a simple 'box algorithm' \- where do I go for more?

* Most of these look like art I've seen on t-shirts or album covers. Dating back even to the seventies. It is still beautiful and remarkable - but I can't help but wonder: Where is innovation happening in tech+art?

I will say that I do follow a lot of things happening in vaporwave - any idea
what else is happening out there? Thank you for your time, HammadB. I am
eager.

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jcelerier
> is it known to be a community

indeed, also look up "new media art". Also, obligatory
[https://www.openprocessing.org/](https://www.openprocessing.org/)

... and obligatory self-promotion - I work in the field on a sequencer for
creative coding : [https://ossia.io](https://ossia.io)

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fjfaase
There is a great difference between people with a computer science background
who try to generate art with programs and artist who try to use algorithms to
generate art. There are many people of the first kind, but a few of the second
kind. I advice you to study the works of people of the first kind, before you
present your algorithms as art. For example, have a look at
[http://www.pstruycken.nl/EnWorkaImgList.html](http://www.pstruycken.nl/EnWorkaImgList.html)
with work s of one such artist. (It is only about halfway the page that the
first works made with computer programs appear.) Take notice of his colour
use.

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fenwick67
Can we please stop this "only artists are allowed to make art" nonsense? The
lady of the lake didn't come out and bless special individuals as "artists"
and the rest of us as foolish undeserving heathens.

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pidg
By choosing to make art, you become an artist, so in that sense only artists
_do_ make art.

This isn't art, though. Art isn't functional, art creates thought and emotion.
Art has thought and emotion behind it. Code can make art, but there has to be
a genuine artistic intent behind the code.

At best, this is design, but in reality this is a code snippet that generates
random boxes.

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nikki93
[http://www.tylerlhobbs.com](http://www.tylerlhobbs.com) <— some really good
generative pieces on here

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egfx
For a creative generative art coding tool -
[http://gif.com.ai](http://gif.com.ai)

I suggest playing around in the chrome or ff console once inside if you've got
JavaScript chops.

Some of the best :

[https://imgur.com/uTZzuba](https://imgur.com/uTZzuba)
[https://imgur.com/qGgo9ik](https://imgur.com/qGgo9ik)
[https://imgur.com/mPtuLkz](https://imgur.com/mPtuLkz)
[https://imgur.com/kaNkhT8](https://imgur.com/kaNkhT8)
[https://imgur.com/FN1BgNx](https://imgur.com/FN1BgNx)
[https://imgur.com/mBTSPcD](https://imgur.com/mBTSPcD)
[https://imgur.com/8LdcFn5](https://imgur.com/8LdcFn5)
[https://imgur.com/vzttkax](https://imgur.com/vzttkax)
[https://imgur.com/mHJd0hr](https://imgur.com/mHJd0hr)

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blunte
I've been experimenting with generative art too, so I'll share a few of my
favorite images: [https://miketeter.smugmug.com/First-
Light/](https://miketeter.smugmug.com/First-Light/)

The code behind them is a Python abomination (because it was really about the
experiments and parameterized/randomized algos.

The biggest challenge for me was testing different theories and then being
able to capture/remember the details of which algo variation produced which
image. If my code were properly abstracted I could embed the parameters in the
image; but currently, each image is only ever generated once, and it will
never be re-generated.

~~~
wheresvic1
The first image is really cool, would be great if you could share your code or
just the idea behind it!

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blunte
Thanks. Like I said, the code is truly unpleasant to see. But I can summarize
the concepts that create images like these.

It boils down to some number of iterations, where each iteration is addition
of some shape (having some properties) to the canvas.

Those properties include the type of shape (dot, line, polygon), size,
position, and color.

The number of iterations, along with the type of shape and its size determine
the density of content on the canvas.

The other properties have their obvious effects.

The magic, if there is any, is in choosing ranges of acceptable property
values (randomly). For example, if you make every property be a random value
between the min and max acceptable for that property, you generally end up
with some variation of noise. It's not really artistic in my opinion.

So what I did was play with narrowing ranges of acceptable properties,
especially tying those ranges to the previous values of the previous shape
(that was drawn on the previous iteration). Position is the best example. The
first iteration would have no previous shape, so its position would be
randomly somewhere on the canvas. But the next iteration would some random
distance from the previous one, within a range that itself might have slightly
randomized boundaries. That would result in clustering... which is generally
pleasing, but ultimately monotonous. So I would provide some % chance of a
"break out", such that the new position could be totally random rather than
related to the previous.

I applied the same concepts of managed, previously-related randomization of
value ranges to the other properties of the shape being drawn on the given
iteration. For color, I might have it vary only one channel of the RGB, and
only a small amount. But again, I would have a low % chance of a completely
random/new color. And one of my favorite little additions was the
complementary color chance. Once in a while, the next drawn shape would be
close to the complementary color of the previous shape.

Finally, since "tuning" the randomization boundaries and exception chances was
a bit tedious, I added a layer of similar randomization behaviors to the
boundary rules themselves. That means that some images could be total chaos,
and others could theoretically just be a single blob of garbage in one spot of
the canvas.

Like a "good" photographer, I let it generate hundreds of images. Then I chose
some that I thought were compelling. The rest went in the trash.

I have considered training a NN against famously popular and unpopular
paintings, hoping to teach it how to recognize art that other people would
like. Then I would setup a pipeline of generate-judge-keep/delete-repeat
processes that should churn out abstract art that would make me famous and
finally prove my value to the world. :)

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nick238
The Code Golf StackExchange had a "make an image with all the colors"
challenge (challenge spec'd 15-bit colors, a bunch of people did the full
24-bit, 16-million colors) that gave some pretty cool "art":
[https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/q/22144/176](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/q/22144/176)

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akudha
Long list of generative art links -
[http://blog.hvidtfeldts.net/index.php/generative-art-
links/](http://blog.hvidtfeldts.net/index.php/generative-art-links/)

Spirolaterals - easiest and simplest to start with, but can make beautiful
structures

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swayvil
The biggest and best generative art forum on the planet :
[https://www.reddit.com/r/generative/](https://www.reddit.com/r/generative/)

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egfx
and least active these days :(

~~~
swayvil
Least active? What are you talking about. There's a steady stream of posts.
New stuff every day.

If there's a more active generative art forum I'd love to hear about it.

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egfx
2-6 posts a day isn't very active. I'm active myself on it but besides one
other user who posts and comments and a mod, it's practically a ghost town. I
wish it was more active. It's the perfect sub for my GIF AI tool.
[https://gif.com.ai](https://gif.com.ai)

~~~
swayvil
2-6? That's actually more than I thought. And I consider that to be
satisfyingly active. But I guess it's a relative thing.

The crazy edge of machine art. It's a small community. There's no getting
around it.

~~~
egfx
Check out
[https://www.reddit.com/r/proceduralgeneration/](https://www.reddit.com/r/proceduralgeneration/)
and the resource links. The net-art community is bigger then you may think.

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swayvil
procedural is 5 times the size but has half the posting-rate.

/r/generative is the superior

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gioscarab
See what I did few years ago:
[http://www.gioblu.com/GiO/web/kipplr/editor](http://www.gioblu.com/GiO/web/kipplr/editor)

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reaktivo
People who enjoyed this might enjoy Rafael Rozendal's Abstract Browsing -
[http://www.abstractbrowsing.net/](http://www.abstractbrowsing.net/)

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kickscondor
Love the flipping effect of the links on your root page.

EDIT: Oop, that was on the workshop.rs page you link at the end.

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willart4food
what about white paintings, you know, like the ones at the Witney?

[https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/MaryCorse](https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/MaryCorse)

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tniemi
Ugly colors, no form. 1/5

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unimpressed
What's the point? It's not even sizecoded for 256b, 1k or tweet length.

