psychedelic

Lucid dreams with fractal artist michel gingras…

freeitay — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:02:17 +0000

Tell as a bit about yourself ,How did you come about to create psychedelic animations, what attracted you to this kind of visual aesthetics?

It was with an old Apple Iie that, as a 9 year old, I would discover the thrill of letting a computer crunch some numbers to create weird and mesmerizing images. I find it’s a similar passion or pursuit found in the art of making time lapse visuals. That is to say, using technology to discover beauty that is more or less invisible to the naked eye.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Where your inspiration comes from and What are the motivations for your work?

With my fractals or video warps (because they are not always pure or true fractals) I get very inspired by the random button! Indeed, for the last 12 years the random button on “ArtMatic”, the main software I use, has permitted to me glimpse at what was possible. They comes the very enjoyable tinkering part of the process. Trying to see what works and what does not is very much part of the pleasure. Strange and interesting combinations, something even organic looking/moving seem to appear. My computer essentially because of a very expensive Etch-A-Sketch Rorshach generator run by a flesh bot.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

In your YouTube channel you mentioned Lucid Dreaming and Time Lapse as your special passion, can you expand on that? Do you practice lucid dreaming your self? and In what way does lucid dreaming effect and influence your art?

Although rusty at the moment, I do indeed practice lucid dreaming. Are you dreaming right now? How would you know?

I have very serious plan to directly tie in my art to lucid dreaming in a very exciting way. Over 10 years ago I had a very successful “on camera” lucid dream. That is to say, I setup a camera to film me while I was dreaming. The more scientific aspect of this was that I was also wearing a mask that detected when I was in REM sleep. This make would not only blink soft lights in front of my eyes but it was also hooked up to an external light that would flash when I had a dream. After every dream sequence I would get up and note my dreams. In the morning I’d get up create a short video talking about the dreams and my approach towards lucidity. On one of those nights, and while being broadcasted live on the web at www.lucid.tv (many years before YouTube) I had a lucid dream.

The project was meant to inspire others to give lucid dreaming a try. It also opened the door to the idea that technology could be used to share a dream. It was very crude but it was the first baby steps.

The current focus, and this will soon be a Kick Starter project, will be to purchase more advanced gear so that not only could a computer “see” that I’m dreaming but it could also receive input from me to trigger events. When lucid in a dream I could affect my breathing for example. Some have had success with clenching their dream fist and having their real fist move slightly. These signals or inputs could then be used to trigger projections, web interactions… see where I’m going… I’m going to tweet that I’m dreaming!

At the very least, I’m going to use EEG or similar tech to drive fractal/warp software using my brainwaves/brain states/bio rhythm. With practice, what I achieve during waking I can achieve during dreams.

Ultimately, a joint dream web effort will happen! It’s just a matter of time! We are right here right now!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Can you tell us a bit more about your special interest in fractals? What do they mean for you?

They are a way to challenge my view of the world. Some believe we are pattern recognizing machines. What I like is seeing how my thoughts and emotions react to patterns. As with lucid dreaming, awareness is something very special to me. Are you dreaming now? How would you know? When the computer spits out a particularly inspirational fractal… something that makes you go “wow” then you feel a certain way. It’s hard to explain. It’s almost like describing a deja vu feeling. You know you saw this somewhere, you know it “means” something but you can’t put your finger on it. But “it’s” happening and if you are aware that it’s happening you get a sense of dept that you do not normally have.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Which programs and methods are you using to create your art work? Can you expand a bit about the process of your creation?

I started using ArtMatic 12 years or so ago. It would take the computer 1 night to render an HD fractal/video warp. I can now render a minute of HD video in that same time frame.

I’m currently focused on creating pieces for Full Dome. It’s a circular screen that is position above the audience. The challenge is to create or adapt pieces so that the experience offered is mesmerizing and not vomit inducing! It’s a wonderful new direction for me since the crazy resolutions (sometimes up to 8000 by 8000 on a 15 meter screen!) permit me to really showcase some of my favorite “aspects” or “areas” or interest. Mainly, I’m really intrigue by what I call the “close to infinity” visuals. These are visuals that turn a little into Moire patterns or “snow”… In a small screen it’s just snow… but on a huge screen some people report that they’ve seen incredible moving geometries. I’m just starting to explore this and it’s very exciting.

One of my pieces “Gremlins Ate Stephens Ego, Still Hungry” will be premiering at the Full Dome festival in Jena in Germany in May of this year.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

check michel’s you tube channel to watch more of his work:

http://www.youtube.com/user/lucidtv

check michel’s home page:

http://michelgingras.com/

Interview with fractal artist Brummbaer

freeitay — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:27:06 +0000

Tell us a bit about yourself, How did you come about to create psychedelic animations, what attracted you to these kind of visual aesthetics?

Let me skip the biographical details for now and I will tell you what attracts me at this very moment to fractal aesthetics. I will have to admit that I’m addicted to a fractal program called Mandelbulb 3D. Maybe not exactly addicted – but almost!

And I’m not the only one!

There is a small group of individuals, who love to explore the visual manifestation of an algorithm that isn’t more voluminous than ½ a page of text and can be edited by you. The sheer multitude of forms and textures that spring out of these algorithms is mind-boggling and unprecedented in the history of the visual arts. You navigate worlds – unseen by humans so far – and you are the first one there! And these worlds are ready to morph into something completely different, with the smallest change of just one parameter. The addiction manifests itself, when you are not going to bed because you desperately need to know what might appear behind the next corner, or deeper in the fractal, or if we turn a 1.1 into a 1.2 … It is the spirit of discovery applied to an inner space, big enough to display continents.

But we want to differentiate between what is called “Eyecandy” and a more meaningful, artistic expression. “Eyecandy” has nothing to offer but beauty, but so has my wastepaper-basket when I look at it through a kaleidoscope. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with beauty for the sake of beauty – it has it’s place – and some fractal images or animations are just breathtakingly beautiful!
As Tim Hodkinson in his blog: “Orbit Trap – A Blog About Fractal Art” in a not uncritical, but very generous article about my Tralfamadore Paintings says: “I’ve often thought fractals are better used in supporting roles than playing the starring role themselves. I think that’s the lesson to be gained from this collection of Brummbaer’s fractal art.”Yes, everybody has to determine for themselves if they regard something as art, but an image is not necessary art because it is “beautiful” or “fractal”. Particularly in a fast paced environment, where 30 frames a second rule, a still painting has to offer something more substantial, something lasting, something that reveals itself over time. Like a zen koan.
My fractals are romantic, they are very emotional statements…

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Can you tell us a bit more about your special interest in fractals? What do they mean for you?

Dr. Mandelbrot looked at graphs of the New York Stock Exchange and could tell the genuine graphs from others, random generated ones.

By the style – I presume!

Next he elucidated us with his ideas about coastlines – their varying measurements, depending on the distance, and the obvious reiteration of the shapes the closer you get. A coastline is pretty much recognizable as such, just by looking at the shape. If we change the line a little bit we can have a line that looks like a crack in a rock, or like lightning, or like a cloud and, and, and…

A line can be mathematically described as an algorithm.

I understood that Dr. Mandelbrot had found the mathematical equation for intuition!

Another example: Once I had painted a pile of broken hearts — the hearts looked fine, and now I just had to paint some cracks on the hearts. To my dismay none of the brushstrokes I painted looked like a crack, but like somebody disfigured the hearts with poorly executed brushstrokes. I tried again and again until I was coming to a point where I have the tendency to unintentionally destroy the whole painting. So I stopped! A little later, when I had distracted myself long enough, I suddenly felt the moment, walked over to the canvas and started painting cracks on the hearts that looked like cracks. Where it came from I don’t know – but it’s what they call intuition. In this instance I actually got a little daring and tried what would happen if I tried to paint brushstrokes – It was not possible: Every stroke was a crack and it was my hand doing it without the interference of my brain, not even listening to the brain, once it was decided that I needed cracks.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Which programs and methods are you using to create your art work? Can you expand a bit about the process of your creation?

The answer is: Any method and any program that works! To specify: All the wonderful 3D fractal programs, which suddenly popped out of nowhere – most of them free downloads or available for very little money. The current favorite: “Mandelbulb 3D”, also “Incendia” – both free downloadable and maintained by some wonderful people, whose generosity reminds me of the sixties, when sharing was the way to start something new without calculating future profits. Here I would like to remind the few people, who had an epiphany like I experienced, when I placed an x on a screen, and another x – and then the computer would draw a straight line between the two x’s! Wow! And we understood instantly that we were intruding into a territory that was up to this moment exclusively owned and controlled by the government and other corporations. Until then the only way to influence what would show up on your screen was to write a letter to the TV-station. Timothy Leary was hailing us as the revolutionaries that would liberate the screen and make it available to everybody, as it should be in a free country.

Did it work?

Maybe to a degree – instead of kids passively watching cartoons they at least are active participants. I lately overheard two kids arguing about a character in a video-game: “Hey, don’t kill him yet – I still want to experiment with him!” God bless his pointed little head!

Other programs I’m using are: 3DS Max, Painter, Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects, etc… For fractals besides the already mentioned: Xenodreams (which offers an output as a regular object), Mandelbulber, – and last not least some fractal plug-ins for Photoshop. At Fractalforums.com you will find more links to fractal stuff than you will have time to check. Good advice and free downloads. They are the best!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

You use a big variety of mediums, from the newest advanced 3D computer programs, to classical old master’s oil paintings techniques, why is that?

For a long time I was perfectly happy to create stuff in the computer, I wanted everything to be watched on the screen, no hard-copy should soil this planet with another object, no tree should ever fall to display my art. I still prefer it that way, but I also understand the joy of painting and creating a tangible object of beauty. I noticed there is an enormous difference between a plain computer print – even on canvas – and the mixed media objects I paint, which glow with color-overlays, hand painted in the old master’s technique of layering opaque and transparent pigments to maximize the albedo and make the colors glow vividly.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

When did you start painting? Have you studied in art or design school? What is your opinion about academic art studies? Where your inspiration comes from? What are the motivations for your work?

I never went to art school, but since I was on the road most of my juvenile years, I learned about art in a unique way: I became a pavement painter and I systematically studied great painters – very often popular local geniuses – by copying them on the pavement. (Like Rubens, Rembrandt, El Greco, etc…) And I liked the effect that the next rain would wash it all into oblivion. For the same reason I liked exploring light-shows years later: A few burned slides was all that was left from a night of visual debauchery – a small ecological footprint! In a world filled with unnecessary consumer objects, whose production poisons the very world it is supposed to improve upon, a small ecological footprint seems desirable.

So naturally, when computers came around with the promise of whole worlds inside of a computer chip, I was ecstatic and for the last 30 years grew along with the hardware and the software.

I was privileged to be friends and work with some of the great digital pioneers and at times I’ve been called one myself. (Haha!)

A quick note: Computers are devices designed to model and simulate reality, and if we want to see a rock, or a tree, or a sunset on our screen – we will have to understand what constitutes a rock, a tree or a sunset, and, because the computer doesn’t know, we will have to find out ourselves, and feed the hungry little circuits with the necessary data. The question how reality manifests, leads to truly spiritual questions taking us deep below the quantum level. – And we have come far this way – “simulated reality” has become at times indistinguishable from reality.

In fact, we also have reached a state where fractal imagery is not distinguishable anymore from our wildest fantasies. Understanding that we just have scratched the surface of this new phenomenon: “Fractal Design”, I expect to see more and more fractal inspired designs – by the end of this decade it might be as ubiquitous as art deco was at beginning of the 20th century.

All that’s missing is the link that connects fractal space with real space – how to turn the “fractally imagined objects” into tangible designs for lamps, buildings, furniture, computers, etc…. Gravity and aerodynamics can be implemented into the fractal algorithms, and we will be able to create beautiful and functional objects, something like “form follows function” meets “Bavarian Baroque”, or a “psychedelic Bauhaus”.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Please tell us a bit more about the connection of your work to Kurt Vonnegut books? In which way do they inspire your art? could you add a bit more about the planet of Tralfamadore?

Of all people, it was Timothy Leary who turned me on to Kurt Vonnegut. About Bokononism – a fictitious religion in “Cat’s Cradle” one of Vonnegut’s remarkable books – Timothy said: “This is a perfect example of how religions will be in the future”. Wishful thinking by Timothy, who, of course was at other times a great master in the transition from “wishful thinking” into a “self-fulfilling prophecy”. Vonnegut, on the other hand, who invented Tralfamadore, describes it as a planet without any particular limiting or inhibiting attributes. He himself created several contradicting versions of Tralfamadore in different books and if I recall correctly – somewhere he describes Tralfamadorians looking like toilet plungers with triangular eyes on top. So everybody feel free to create their own version of Tralfamadore.

Can you tell about the story of “Thru the Moebius Strip”, what’s it all about?

With a storyboard by Jean Girard Moebius, and without much supervision, I created this trailer for a CG movie that was produced in China and is a lot better than the American critics would let you believe. I’m sure it is available as a DVD: “Thru’ the Moebius Strip” Great movie for kids, nice Moebius design!!!

Brummbaer L.A. 2011

check out more great art work from Brummbaer:

YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Brummbaer45

Fractal Tralfamadore paintings and animations:
https://sites.google.com/site/brummbaerontralfamadore/

My old website also with precomputer material:
http://www.brummbaer.net/

Vimeo:
http://www.vimeo.com/user924863/videos

Flickr — mixed paintings:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brummbaerbrummbaer/

My two music CDs from where I took a lot of my animation soundtracks:
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Brummbaer

The two E-books I published — The first one has been published as a paperback in Germany and got some very friendly reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_rhf_s_3?ie=UTF8&search-alias=blended&keywords=kindle%20brummbaer

…and some more biographical material:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brummbaer

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0115949/

Fractal sounds with the wolfe brothers

freeitay — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:01:38 +0000

How did you come about to create psychedelic animations and music, what attracted you to this kind of visual aesthetics?

My brother Jonathan makes the animations. He comes from a scientific background with a PhD in Visual Neuroscience and he is very drawn to the fertile intersection of science, math, and art. After a particularly boring period in the official scientific world, he decided to make the world’s largest flying artwork, which is how he came to dye and sew his first tie-dyed hot air balloon. The balloons and the fractal zooms are different expressions of the same drive.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Can you tell us Where your inspiration comes from?

Nature is the raw inspiration for everything. As for our motivation, we are both very driven to make the most unbelievably trippy amazingly beautiful fusion of visuals and music that the world has ever seen. I don’t think we’ve hit it yet, truly, but we will. These little animations that you can see on youtube or vimeo are neat, but they are not anywhere as impressive as seeing our stuff in a planetarium dome with surround sound. All of our stuff is meant to be shown in big domes with full sound, and that’s the true place to see it.

What instruments do you use besides the computer?

All the instruments you hear are real instruments. I do use a lot of synthesizers because they’re really fun. I play lots of guitars and pianos and drums and gongs and things like that. An idea will come to me, usually at a most inconvenient time, and I’ll interrupt whatever I’m doing and disappear to make music. Because of this I’m usually a terrible host at parties.

do you make your music all by yourself, or do you have some musical partners?

I try to play everything myself, but occasionally I get to drag friends into the studio. The new project we’re working on has lots of friends singing in it. It’s going to be amazing.

Your music is a special combination of many different genres and styles, what are your musical influences?

If Pink Floyd met a time traveling Radiohead in a 1970s London flat, and they somehow made love and had a baby while listening to The Beatles, and that mutant baby was raised flying between the gray skies of Europe and the high holy desert of New Mexico… well, that baby would be the music I try to make.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

tell us about your special interest in fractals? What do they mean for you?

Fractals are everything, everywhere. The more you look, the more there are. It’s a little alarming at times.

Which programs and methods are you using to create your music and art work?

My brother makes the videos using a process that I think involves a room full of computers and voodoo. I make the music by banging away on instruments and recording it on an insanely expensive program that almost works perfectly, but not quite. We work best when we were share the same vision, and that means lots of talking and discussing and taking tea. My only complaint is that we don’t yet get to do this all the time.

Future plans?

Like everything, we improve with time. The little movies you’re seeing now online are great – at least, we think so – but they will be blown away by the stuff we’ve got coming out soon. Thanks a lot for paying attention.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

visit Daniel’s site and download his unique music for free:

http://www.danielwolfemusic.com/

watch more fractal movies on Daniel’s you tube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/wolfesongs

learn, download and explore the world of fractals:

http://fractalfoundation.org/

Interview with fractal artist ‘bib’

freeitay — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:14:36 +0000

What first got you into Fractals?

My father bought me the famous book “The beauty of fractals” shortly after it came out,I was 13. At the same time my cousin who was an Amiga geek programmed the Mandelbrot set in assembler, it was fascinating. My programming skills were not sufficient, so I started to draw fractals by hand, starting with the Pythagoras tree. I soon discovered an original method to draw by hand the Levy dragon (at that time I thought I had invented a new fractal!)

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

In your opinion, which programs for both 2D and 3D fractals are absolute must-have’s for any aspiring fractalnaut?

Ultrafractal is a must for any beginner in my opinion. For 3D, Mandelbulb3D is my favorite.

Any other programs worth mentioning?

Mandelbulber for the quality of its renders. Apophysis is quite popular and flexible too, but I’m not a flame fan.
Incendia is a great program too, I really should find the time to learn it.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

How did you learn how to create such beautiful 3D fractal art?

Curiosity is my engine. I have always been interested in the convergence of computers and arts.
The Amiga was a great tool to that end, for graphics and for music as well.
I was an early user of Ultrafractal 2, but it was mostly for exploration. At that time I had not fully realized fractals could be an artistic expression medium. When the Mandelbulb was discovered, I was a fractalforums member for a few months, and I quickly became a beta tester of Mandelbulb3D. I think the success of any fractal artist stems from a combination of computer skills and artistic feelings. Fractal art is not only about tweaking number, artistic culture is quite essential.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

What do you know of the maths behind fractals? (Or are you only into the art side of it?

I have been studying quite advanced academic maths and physics (I have a master’s degree in mechanical engineering). I understand most of the basic maths behind fractals, both from a theoretical and programming perspective. Mathematics are not a must, but they help a lot, because you can find ideas much quicker than if you work only by trial and error. Understanding what an orbit trap, a Misurewicz point is or how you can get a buddhabrot is not mandatory, but I would say that the sum of all this knowledge and culture is helpful to find new ideas and inspiration.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

What goes through your mind now as you begin a new piece? Describe the creative process…

I like to try what’s new, and to combine old recipes with new features and formulas.I usually start from scratch, I’m not too much into reusing existing parameters.It does not mean I don’t look at others’ parameters, because they can help to understand specific techniques.When I have found an interesting shape, then I explore it till I find a nice viewpoint. At the same time I adjust colors and lighting. This is a very long and iterative (!) process.
Sometimes I leave an image idle for a few weeks, then I come back to it to do a second, a third version…
People who are not into fractals often ask me how long it takes to create an image. Some of my best images have ben done in 30 minutes straight away (not necessarily including render time!) For others, I think I spend much more time, but it’s very difficult to quantify, could be several tens of hours, especially if we talk about videos, which are one of my specialties. But it all depends on experience. If you know what you do, that can go quickly, but the prerequisite is hundreds of hours of exploration!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Do you earn any sort of income from your fractal art?

Yes, but this is not my main goal. I started, in 2010, to have my best images printed on high quality materials, but it was only for my own pleasure. I soon realized that I should do an exhibition, which I did thanks to my membership in the European Society for Mathematics and Arts where I met fantastic people.Since my first exhibition in January 2011, I have sold about 30 pieces, mainly to family, friends, and work colleagues.I did not really make any money out of it since I have printed a lot more, I still have some stock! I have sold a few books too, about 15 copies. I have also sold some videos to independent film makers or scientists, mainly thanks to my Youtube channel. Deviantart has not brought me any business. A lot of the contacts I got came from fractalforums and Youtube, and also because I have some marketing and sales skills. For example I will soon be doing an exhibition in a 4* hotel, simply because I stayed there a few days and I asked the manager if he was interested. The physical world and face to face relationships are to me more important than the internet to promote my art.

Any inspiring words of wisdom you could give to all fractal newbies out there (myself included)?

Read a lot: books, all kinds of sites, and of course fractalforums, where members are always willing to help newbies.
And of course practice!! Try, test, again and again. Be curious, be patient, work by analogy. Try strange things (very low or very high parameters values for example) and persevere!Try all buttons, all functions, even if you don’t understand what they mean. Use others’ parameters, but please, do not post every image you do, there are so many similar images already Try to find you own style, your favorite colors combinations. It takes time and experience.

check out more fractal clips by bib at his you tube channel…

This interview was first published on the great fractals site http://mandelubber.blogspot.com/

psy movies by ken scott

freeitay — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:28:38 +0000

The videos below were created using software that I wrote called Harmony. Harmony is the culmination of my life-long dream of using computers to create visual music – “music for the eyes”. I first thought of creating these animated music videos back when I was in college, probably doing something illegal and listening to Pink Floyd or Yes. Most of my software development career has been guided by the dream of creating Fantasia-like music videos. Now the dream is a reality. If you’d like to join me in living the dream, then get yourself a copy of Harmony and dream away! It’s cheaper than drugs!

Cities of the Future (Infected Mushroom)

This was an experiment with the extreme math functions built into Harmony. It’s a living mandala whose shape and patterns are driven entirely by the music itself using an algorithm called the FFT. One great thing about Harmony is that it doesn’t really require you to know that it’s an FFT. Harmony makes it easy to connect the music to the shape, size, colors, locations, twists, etc. The entire video took about an hour to create.It’s worth noting that all of my visual music based on Infected Mushroom songs come with the following warning: Do Not Watch Before Driving. (This was created with Harmony 2, which isn’t available to the public just yet, but if you buy Harmony right now the upgrades are free.)

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Resting Voltage (Symphonix)

I stumbled across Symphonix while surfing YouTube, looking for a cool new song. I’ll be doing more of their stuff, for sure. It’s a derivative of another Harmony video I did (“Animal Rights” by deadmau5), with this radical-looking Death Star. This was a quickie – it only took about 5 minutes to choreograph, and about 30 minutes to render the final movie.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Tchaikovsky)

My mom asked me to do something “not so crazy”, so I obliged with the complete Nutcracker Suite (It’s one of the playlists on my YouTube channel.) “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” has been one of my favorite classical pieces since I was a little boy and first heard it in Disney’s “Fantasia”. Walt has always been my #1 hero, and frankly, dancing fairies are about as psychedelic as it gets. Believe it or not, the entire video was created by Harmony by twisting a single circle about a million different ways in space, time, and color. Using functions built into Harmony, I built choreographed this video in about 10 minutes. It took an hour or so to create the final movie.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Visual Music: http://www.youtube.com/VJChaotic
Get Harmony: http://www.DigitalChaotics.com/Harmony

Regards,

Ken Scott