Generative systems research report

Generative systems report

This report will demonstrate how I used generative systems through research, physics, art, geometry and observation to demonstrate the parameters of walking, using the fundamentals of physics, involving newton’s third law of motion and taking inspiration from artists ,through experimentation with various methods to create a visualisation that grows and represents the motion of walking based of my observations.

Primary topics in this report

• Generative systems

• Newton’s law of physics

• Motion of walking

• Research on art and science

• Geometric shapes

• Artists and generative design

• Algorithms and emergence in generative design

• Paper example

Introduction

What is generative art?

Generative art can be used by artists and other practitioners to use a system that represents an idea to test or represent via a set of rules.

The method of generative art can be a subject as to what represents the idea with clarity, my research lead me to realising the importance of using paper or computational machines that use algorithms to display information and design through letting the idea grow in terms of form and growth to find emerging patterns.

My lectures and discussions helped me inform my findings from multi disciplinary subjects and inspired me to experiment with how nature, observation and generative art can be visualised to inform the end-user.

The brief had me investigate the parameter of the process of walking, e.g weight, verticality, speed, rhythm, balance, direction, gait etc. The elements i wanted to focus on were up to me, including the parameter and framework to ensure the limits of how much time i should use to demonstrate my findings.

The brief also required these parameters to use the physical fundamentals of physics, this would allow me to enquire and research into more scientific methodologies and explanations to visualise data and incorporate system theory to show the properties of how people walk and the motions required to demonstrate this everyday phenomena experienced by humankind.

Bruce Conway’s game of life John Horton Conway made the Game of Life because he wanted to know if he could make an imaginary robot out of cells that would be able to get bigger. He combined lots of ideas in math to make the rules for the game.

It is considered to be among the first simulated experience/game that used a generative system to automatically represent things that happen in reality. This takes a multidisciplinary action on complicated issues by using algorithms and numbers to communicate ideas from scientific fields and philosophical ideation.

The reason it is called a game is because people who play the game can set it up in different ways to make it do different things. Sometimes people play the game by changing the way the imaginary robot is set up at the start to watch what happens. The Game of Life is a zero-player game because it changes without anybody playing (after the starting position is chosen). A different type of game lets two players set up imaginary robots to see which one is better.

“This game became widely known when it was mentioned in an article published by Scientific American in 1970. It consists of a collection of cells which, based on a few mathematical rules, can live, die or multiply. Depending on the initial conditions, the cells form various patterns throughout the course of the game.” (martin, E. John Conway’s game of life.)

Conway’s game of life was demonstrated and explained in my lecture for system theories, the focus of the game was to have a digitaly generated Cellular robot that wasn’t usable or playable by the user, but instead followed a sequence from an algorithm or a set of rules letting users create something, and then let the games format take sequential action.

Art as inspiration

I researched papers that focused on cognitive foundations for interactive generative systems in early design and M.c Escher’s art will be a concurrent theme in demonstrating how science has influenced art in history, i will use examples of work by Escher to demonstrate how he was inspired by science and how he visualised his ideas through lithographic art.

My experiments focused on the motion of how humans walk, the system of moving against gravity and how my observations lead me to developing ideas that both demonstrate the laws of physics within the chosen parameters and how i can use generative art with a geometric shape to visualise this action.

My research, critique and my findings helped me question and answer complicated scientific elements in simple ways, as well as understand key elements of how i can express the laws of physics through simple processes and visualising it through a basic medium.

gait

1. a person’s manner of walking.

2. “the easy gait of an athlete”

walk, step, stride, pace, tread, manner of walking, way of walking.

The story The research study began with the paradigm of walking, i had to create a framework of what elements of walking i wanted to study and then create a limit so that i could focus on the actions of the task.

My chosen and primary focus was to look at gait and try to gain an understanding of the movement, this raised my focus to be on footwork and started to create sketches based on my observation. once i had drawn a basic sketch, i had started my focus on research related to the functions of how the human body works and moves.

Gait / footwork / motion of walking

Brief requirement

• Understand the ‘systems’ and ‘law’ behind this parameter – the physical fundamentals of physics

(Newton, “Axioms or Laws of Motion”, P19)

First law:In an inertial reference frame, an object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a net force.

Second law:In an inertial reference frame, the vector sum of the forces F on an object is equal to the mass m of that object multiplied by the acceleration a of the object: F = ma.

Third law:When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.

My key focus was on the third law which focuses on the body and the motion of movement, i wanted to understand the laws to aid my understanding of the fundamentals behind how people walk, my observation and research helped me to understand these elements and discuss them with my tutor Simone, the object was for me to be able to explain the laws through a form of visualisation.

My observation from watching people walking aided me in the motions of walking in 8 frames, two spheres represent the left and the right foot as they recoil off the floor and move forward.

Geometric shapes My background in graphic design aided me in choosing the geometric shape that would help me present my ideas in terms of clarity and understandably, the key focus is to make sure the visualisation and the chosen shape can be applied to any environment and also considers cultures and human perceptions of how the design can be understood.

Sphere: Definition & Formulas describes, “A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space that is the surface of a completely round ball, (viz., analogous to a circular object in two dimensions)”

Like a circle, which geometrically is a two-dimensional object, a sphere is defined mathematically as the set of points that are all at the same distance r from a given point, but in three-dimensional space. This distance r is the radius of the ball, and the given point is the center of the mathematical ball. The longest straight line through the ball, connecting two points of the sphere, passes through the center and its length is thus twice the radius; it is a diameter of the ball.

For me it’s an international symbol recognised by mathematics from a very young age, I enquired and consulted on the shape to make sure the visualisation via these shapes would work in my favour, also the bouncy ball effect with newton’s law works as a very good reference to explaining such a complex motion to various ages of people, this solution can be associated with education and other agencies who wish to explain science and maths through shapes and design systems.

Applying shapes

I used two geometrical spheres to recreate newton’s law of motion based on the actions and observation of how people walk, the design will be demonstrated on paper in sequences.

The framework and restrictions were limited from 2 steps till 10, this helped me keep a constraint on my study and to make sure I utilise time appropriately.

The mathematical side of M.c escher – relativity

M.c escher’s art inspired me to use scientific methods as his work on relativity interprets and demonstrates eschers mathamatic abilities even though he wasn’t mathematicaly trained, his understanding of mathematics was largely visual and intuitive, artists such as himself had looked into adopting geometry and mathematics as a means to communicate ideas beyond design but to show the possibility and impossibilities of our reality.

Relativity (M. C. Escher) Created: December 1953

Relativity is a lithograph print created on december 1953 by dutch artist M.c escher.

Relativity depicts a world where conventional laws of gravity to not apply, this piece uses Escher’s background as an architect to create a building/structure that withholds a community of people who appear to be living a seamless life inhabiting their day-to-day lives as they would be in our realistic society, living through routine, going about our daily business e.g walking, eating dinner, adventuring, trip to the park.

( “M.C. Escher — Life and Work”. The Collection, National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington.) “In the world of Relativity, there are three sources of gravity, each being orthogonal to the two others. Each inhabitant lives in one of the gravity wells, where normal physical laws apply. There are sixteen characters, spread between each gravity source, six in one and five each in the other two. The apparent confusion of the lithograph print comes from the fact that the three gravity sources are depicted in the same space.

The structure has seven stairways, and each stairway can be used by people who belong to two different gravity sources. This creates interesting phenomena, such as in the top stairway, where two inhabitants use the same stairway in the same direction and on the same side, but each using a different face of each step; thus, one descends the stairway as the other climbs it, even while moving in the same direction nearly side-by-side. In the other stairways, inhabitants are depicted as climbing the stairways upside-down, but based on their own gravity source, they are climbing normally.

Each of the three parks belongs to one of the gravity wells. All but one of the doors seem to lead to basements below the parks. Though physically possible, such basements are certainly unusual and add to the surreal effect of the picture.”

This has become one of my favourite pieces of work due to its complex and thought-provoking nature, Relativity and its use of geometry to display his ideas and thoughts pushed me to think of information and newton’s laws in a logical and clear way, i wanted to visualise my observations in an artist way that could be interpreted by anyone without explanation.

This piece represents the harmony of merging art and science together, Interrogations about perspective and the representation of three-dimensional images in a two-dimensional picture are at the core of Escher’s work, and Relativity represents one of his greatest achievements in this domain.

Hand drawn design based on newton’s law of motion

Using my sketchbook to write down key words on newton’s law of motion and creating visual examples of the law can be demonstrated to help myself gain a visual and contextual understanding, communicating to the audience can be difficult if the context of the work doesn’t make sense.

I wanted my design to communicate the simple principles of the parameter that’s been recorded and demonstrated with clarity, which meant drawing on paper was the most efficient way for me to communicate my designs.

I created a series of sketches based on newton’s 3rd law with the G movement, I used the circular shape to create the motion of walking, like a bouncy ball, this method is something i thought would work very well with children, an object that is circular and bounces often can be understood with simple demonstrations, things that bounce and react when touching a surface can demonstrate visual simplicity, one sphere i thought should be black, the wholesome shape represents the left leg and the other white (hollow) this contrast helps identify the difference between the left and right leg, differentiating helps the end-user understand the information easier.

Paradigm for design research paper / automatic design / human computer interaction / conceptual design

To understand the conceptualization of generative systems i found the game of life to be very inspiring but i wanted to further my understanding by analyzing research papers in the area of generative design and interaction.

A paradigm for design research (Jon Mccormack, alan dorn, troy innocent, year) expresses the different modes of how aesthetics help us understand dynamic systems, processing and how we incorporate our design thinking into

Generative systems offer a methodology and philosophy that views the world in terms of dynamic processes and their outcomes involve designer and other creatives to utilise how they can express their thoughts and ideas clearly.

The paper expresses the significant increase in design culture to maximise the design communities interest by collaborative efforts with multidisciplinary approaches to how problems can be solved.

This report is an example of how multi disciplinary methods and factors can aid conceptual design efforts to demonstrate information through simple and accessible production means, the flexibility of creating a digital or paper environment does not affect the results, the evolutionary systems that exist to help data and research can help to evolve design methodologies and test complex ideas quicker.

Emergent behavior

Behaviour of a system that is not explicitly described by the behavior of the components of the system, and is therefore unexpected to a designer or observer.

Systems scientist Peter Corning also mentions how living systems cannot be limited to or reduced to underlying laws of physics:

Rules, or laws, have no causal efficacy; they do not in fact “generate” anything. They serve merely to describe regularities and consistent relationships in nature. These patterns may be very illuminating and important, but the underlying causal agencies must be separately specified (though often they are not). But that aside, the game of chess illustrates … why any laws or rules of emergence and evolution are insufficient. Even in a chess game, you cannot use the rules to predict “history”

— i.e., the course of any given game. Indeed, you cannot even reliably predict the next move in a chess game. Why? Because the “system” involves more than the rules of the game. It also includes the players and their unfolding, moment-by-moment decisions among a very large number of available options at each choice point.

The game of chess is inescapably historical, even though it is also constrained and shaped by a set of rules, not to mention the laws of physics. Moreover, and this is a key point, the game of chess is also shaped by teleonomic, cybernetic, feedback-driven influences. It is not simply a self-ordered process; it involves an organized, “purposeful” activity. (Corning, Peter A. (2002), “The Re-Emergence of “Emergence”)

Generative systems and the concept of emergence are an emerging and heavily studied area where experimenting can go much further than the artist and designers creative output, scientists and other fields can conceptualize and test ideas using open or closed environments in a digital generative setting and see what behaviors the elements create as result.

(Corning, Peter A. (2002) “generative systems can cover a wide range of different automatic design tools.Genetic algorithms, shape grammars and other evolutionary methods share the characteristic that they create a large number of designs…Case based reasoning systems and mathematical models create a small number of partial or complete designs in a single iteration…In order to be more widely applicable to under constrained design tasks with large design spaces, generative systems need weaker built-in biases, and an external source of guidance: a human user.”

The paper also explains the importance of design visualisation, human imagination and understanding different concepts in multi categories and subjects can demonstrate how mechanisms would work the paper also argues “On the other hand their design ideas can often be vague – without precision or detail; or incomplete – only embodying decisions about parts of the design; or inconsistent – embodying unresolved contradictions. Graphic displays push the designers towards considering the emergent rather than the structural properties of their ideas.

An interactive generative system can eliminate vagueness and impose consistency and completeness within the limits of its representation, while displaying emergent characteristics.

My understanding and research helped me

The generative systems study opened my range of how simple ideas can be demonstrated through so many mediums and techniques, originally i had struggled to grasp the task and its requirements, due to my lack of research and knowledge on the subject.

Mixing art and the sciences together aided me in pushing my personal interests and design thinking methods, generative systems and the open possibilities of how simple or complex an idea can be is where generative art will grow and aid the design community.

Geometric spheres used to generate the motions of walking demonstrated on paper.

I found that the visual perception of a sphere would be very appropriate in terms of the science and precision of a sphere and the fact that science is an international language, this mindset enables me to think outside language and symbols and use geometry as a primary means of communication and displaying movement.

MY FINAL IDEA ON PAPER

Visualising the motions of walking

Emergent behavior – motionless

A conceptual theory i wanted to question and design inspired by escher’s relativity was to create a motionless closed system that used cues from ‘Relativity’ and showed the concept of how a world where Newton’s laws of motion didnt apply, This idea and design idea occured to me at the end of the project and design phase but it represents how my ideas and thinking have greatly improved since the begining of the unit.

My understanding of the fundamental elements behind representing visualisations in basic forms allows me to be able to think in more complicated and theoritical terms.

The purpose of this study was using the motion of walking to demonstrate how art and generative systems can communicate radical and emergent ideas.

My final generative system in 9 frames, explaines step by step the motions of walking using 2 spheres, althought i would have prefered to generate digitally, i found the process of drawing most useful in displaying the idea with simplicity.

The purpose of the task and my information / research papers / generative design / understandings newton’s law visually and conceptually and then demonstrate it with an example using geometrical shapes.

Conclusion

Generative systems helped my investigation into how other methodologies can coexist and cooperate by adapting different skill sets into new modes of design, Representing data through visualisation helps people understand complex physical restrictions understood by science and interpreted by artists and designers.

Observation played a key part in this study, without observing the movements and motions of other humans, I would only have a static text-book understanding of the specific actions caused by the fundamental elements of the law of physics.

Mixing art and science with generative systems to explain how the laws of motion work for education and school systems, the process of learning is demonstrated in my sketchbook designs with keywords and basic design visualizations trying to show my thinking in a clear and concise way.

To raise questions? What would it be like without the laws of motion in place, motionless earth?

theoretical examples became a very interesting concept for me because of the open-ended nature of generative systems, if i was to revisit the topic i would have a potentially bigger range of design and theories i would like to experiment if i returned to this topic ,This reports findings have helped me gain a huge amount of information regarding art and data and the role they play in utilising other models from different disciplines as part of this unit.

I personally found it easier to show the visual examples of the motion of walking on paper, opposed to explaining newton’s law of motion in a digital generative form, i experimented with artistic programming methods such as processing but time restraints and complicated ideas forced me to reconsider my options and use a simple pen and paper show the act of how people walk and recoil against the ground.

This simple yet effective example is why I believe generative systems and art can play a key role in how I can move forward towards my proposal unit, I would like to use generative systems in a way to inform the end-user of interaction and information through a conceptual and theoretical ideas that would otherwise be difficult to communicate.

The multifaceted examples and inspirations I have used, varying from physics, geometry, art, and generative systems in this study have helped me understand that other practices should be a vital part of enhancing the user experience and that nature and technology are submerging more and more through science and psychology, our understanding of complex issues and scientific knowledge can be demonstrated through the use of generative systems.

Proposal Notes

Generative systems have aided me in demonstrating how I can visualise gait, newton’s laws of motion through the parameters of walking in a simple and effective way.

The potential for generative systems playing a part in my proposal unit is very high, I found the unit very interesting in terms of its scope and how generative systems can be used to demonstrate scientific and artistic designs.

References

Gardner, Martin (October 1970). “Mathematical Games – The fantastic combinations of John Conway’s new solitaire game “life””. Scientific American.

martin, E. (no date) John Conway’s game of life. Available at: https://bitstorm.org/gameoflife/(Accessed: 6 January 2017).

In-text citations:

• (“This game became widely known when it was mentioned in an article published by Scientific American in 1970. It consists of a collection of cells which, based on a few mathematical rules, can live, die or multiply. Depending on the initial conditions, the cells form various patterns throughout the course of the game.”)

Newton’s law of motion

For explanations of Newton’s laws of motion by Newton in the early 18th century, by the physicist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) in the mid-19th century, and by a modern text of the early 21st century.

Newton’s “Axioms or Laws of Motion” starting on page 19 of volume 1 of the 1729 translation of the “Principia“

Section 242, Newton’s laws of motion in Thomson, W (Lord Kelvin), and Tait, P G, (1867), Treatise on natural philosophy, volume 1;

Benjamin Crowell (2000), Newtonian Physics.

Browne, Michael E. (July 1999). Schaum’s outline of theory and problems of physics for engineering and science (Series: Schaum’s Outline Series). McGraw-Hill Companies.

Geometric shape

A sphere (from Greek σφαῖρα — sphaira, “globe, ball”

Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

geometrical shapes Available at: https://writersinthegrove.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/geometric-shapes-from-playbuzz.jpg (Accessed: 4 January 2017).

Beddoe, Jennifer – Sphere: Definition & Formulas – Study.com. – definition of sphere in three dimensions

bouncy ball GIF stack.imgur.com/fJhtA.gif

M.c escher

Pixelday (2017) M.C. Escher – relativity. Available at: http://www.mcescher.com/gallery/back-in-holland/relativity/ (Accessed: 4 January 2017).

Seckel, Al (2004). Masters of Deception: Escher, Dalí & the Artists of Optical Illusion

“M.C. Escher — Life and Work”. The Collection, National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Dixon, R. and Coxeter, H.S.M. (1988) ‘M. C. Escher: Art and science’, Leonardo, 21(1), p. 91. doi:

Emergence Corning, Peter A. (2002), “The Re-Emergence of “Emergence”: A Venerable Concept in Search of a Theory” (PDF), Complexity, 7 (6): 18–30

Eckert, C.E., kelly, I. and Stacey, M.S. (1999) ‘INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGINEERING DESIGNICED 99 MUNICH, AUGUST 24-26, 1999’, COGNITIVE FOUNDATIONS FORINTERACTIVE GENERATIVE SYSTEMS IN EARLY DESIGN, .

In-text citations:

• (Eckert, kelly, and Stacey, 1999)