Map as Art

“A map is a tool to both obscure and represent information, to organize space, power and the complexity of life.”

The Ask.

Using Processing software, devise a way to represent the complexity and nuances of your own map in an algorithmic, code-based art piece. Choose a realm of more conceptual interest that allows experimentation & personal interpretation. Can you track something intangible & more elusive than physical space?

The Idea.

My goal for this execution was to find a way to track the changes in the progression of a piece of music by allowing code to bring to life the movements & varying directions that sound consists of. I wanted sound to take a near palpable form in hopes of creating an organic sound map.

The Outcome.

Processing code:

import ddf.minim.analysis.*; // analyzes the audio being played

import ddf.minim.*;

Minim minim; // sound setup

AudioPlayer player;

FFT fft;

float colorAngle = 0.0;

float redX = 233, greenX = 247, blueX = 187;

float redY = 38, greenY = 54, blueY = 11;

float r = redX, g = greenX, b = blueX;

float speed = 0.02;

float[] view1;

float[] view2;

float[] y, x, z;

void setup(){

size(1440, 800, P3D);

minim = new Minim(this);

player = minim.loadFile("phantogram.mp3");

player.play(); // plays audio

fft = new FFT(player.bufferSize(), player.sampleRate()); // buffer size and sample rate store FFT information, sample rate determines the number of data points per second

y = new float[fft.specSize()];

x = new float[fft.specSize()];

z = new float[fft.specSize()];

view1 = new float[fft.specSize()];

view2 = new float[fft.specSize()];

frameRate(100); // refreshes the frame 100 times per second

float smoothingFactor = 0.25;

}

void draw(){

background(r, g, b);

float value1 = sin(colorAngle);

println(value1);

r = map(value1, -1, 1, redX, redY);

g = map(value1, -1, 1, greenX, greenY);

b = map(value1, -1, 1, blueX, blueY);

colorAngle += speed;

lights();

fft.forward(player.mix);

go();

}

void go(){

noStroke();

push();

translate(width/2, height/2); // specifies an amount to displace objects within the display window

for (int i = 0; i < fft.specSize(); i++) {

y[i] = y[i] + fft.getBand(i)/1000; // returns the value of the frequency at position i

x[i] = x[i] + fft.getFreq(i)/500;

z[i] = z[i] + fft.getFreq(i)/700;

view1[i] = view1[i] + fft.getFreq(i)/3000;

fill(fft.getFreq(i)*3, 150, fft.getBand(i)*2);

push();

translate((x[i]*50), (y[i]*50), (z[i]*50));

box(fft.getBand(i)/20+fft.getFreq(i)/15);

pop();

}

pop();

push();

translate(width/2, height/2, 0);

for (int i = 0; i < fft.specSize(); i++){

y[i] = y[i];

x[i] = x[i];

z[i] = z[i];

view2[i] = view2[i]+fft.getFreq(i)/10000;

fill(173, 47-fft.getFreq(i)*2, 76-fft.getBand(i)*2);

push();

translate((x[i]+player.right.get(i)+150), (y[i]+player.right.get(i)+150), (z[i]+player.right.get(i)+150));

box(fft.getBand(i)/10*fft.getFreq(i)/15);

pop();

}

pop();

push();

translate(width/2, height/2, 0);

for (int i = 0; i < fft.specSize(); i++){

y[i] = y[i];

x[i] = x[i];

z[i] = z[i];

view2[i] = view2[i]+fft.getFreq(i)/20000;

fill(232, 232-fft.getFreq(i)*2, 155-fft.getBand(i)*2);

push();

translate((x[i]*200), (y[i]*100), (z[i]*150));

rect(fft.getBand(i)/6, fft.getBand(i)/5, fft.getBand(i)/6, fft.getFreq(i)/6);

pop();

}

pop();

push();

translate(width/5, height/5, 0); // orignally 2

for (int i = 0; i < fft.specSize(); i++){

y[i] = y[i];

x[i] = x[i];

z[i] = z[i];

view2[i] = view2[i]+fft.getFreq(i)/10000;

rotateX(sin(view2[i]/5)); // rotates the shape, positive numbers rotate objects in a clockwise direction

rotateY(cos(view2[i]/5));

rotateZ(sin(view2[i]/5));

fill(217, 249-fft.getFreq(i)*2, 252-fft.getBand(i)*2);

push();

translate((x[i]+250), (y[i]+250), (z[i]+250)); // originally all 250

sphere(fft.getBand(i)/6);

pop();

}

pop();

}

void stop(){

player.close();

minim.stop();

super.stop();

}

// https://code.compartmental.net/minim/minim_class_minim.html

// https://forum.processing.org/one/topic/analyse-sound.html