Link of the day 2004-02-03 - By Thomas Williams
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Toxi
> you can't appreciate or "judge" demos without this
> context and certain knowledge of programming. most demos are still
> released at/for parties, where they're shown as large screen projection
> pieces, situations where interaction isn't very practical.
I must admit there's not really any 'scene' that goes with demos here in the
US (that I know of, in California anyway). The only thing that is even close
is the VJ scene, where people party and play visuals to music. The vibe more
groovy than geeky, and the content is almost always linear, even when VJ
software is used! I've only experienced 'demos' online or at art events. As
a result I have no nostalgia or attachment to a 'proper' demo style. I just
like the idea of taking music videos into the 21st century.
> unlike with
> other corners of todays's art world, sceners have less interest in
> analysing, "commenting", defining, or engaging in hairsplitting
> discussions about what they're doing. the basic morale has always been:
> do it. do it yourself. do it better than anyone else.
great ethic, cool scene. I wish we had it more in the US.
>
> even though i understand, and myself am excited about *good* interaction
> possibilities, IMHO interaction doesn't make a demo better if it's only
> an add-on. if you're going interactive, the interaction concept needs to
> be the main idea around everything else in the production is evolving
> (e.g. games). having a rollover or some other basic mouse/keyboard
> interaction, purely for the sake of "making it interactive" is
> v.arguable. so what, i can change the view angle and zoom...
yes but even just the ability to 'rotate/zoom the scene' breaks the ice of
passive viewing. It changes the feeling in the viewer dramatically. For me,
it changes a dead video into a living situation. Passive viewing =
remembering the past. Responsiveness = experiencing present life. the
difference is the dimension of freedom. imho, taking advantage of that
ability is the whole point of realtime rendering. To ignore interactivity is
to throw away the one significant thing that makes realtime rendering better
than rendered content.
Of course I can appreciate the beauty of teh programming skillz in realtime
processing. That is the point of demos in a way, to show that a cool
rendered effect can be done in real time.
> it might
> broaden the target audience as much as it bores it. giving the user more
> control also means a lot more work to put in as you'll have to
> limit/control the user input (at least to some extend) to ensure the
> flow/consistency of the piece.
imho, this is where energy should be spent. Giving the user a feedback loop
can be very engaging. But yeah, it can be daunting to say the least.
>
> in short, i applaude your idea to do something new with your mandrake
> project, but make sure you don't belong to those people who take
> interaction light-hearted... often it's like opening a can of worms, or
> pandora's box ;)
thanks for the insight. I'm not sure if I'll deal with interactivity with
TOO much depth, as yes that would open a can of worms. I do think a simple
navigation does make it way cooler. But I also want to add suprise rollovers
and clickons that affect/trigger internal audiovisual events. But I hope to
keep it kinda simple so I don't lose all my worms!
>
> on the other hand, i think there's even bigger potential in the field of
> information visualisation, reactive (in the broadest sense) pieces,
> sensitive to all sorts of input, physical or purely data. a demoesque
> treatment and intelligent interaction would be the perfect couple.
sounds like a prognostication of the next Toxifaction. I would love to see
what sort of intelligent interaction you are dreaming up. wickedness to the
core i suspect.
I hope you don't think I'm trying to take the p*ss out of you or other
scenesters. Quite the opposite. I have tremendous respect for your demos and
a lot of what I have seen from the demo scene. I am just adding what I think
is the next logical gnomon on the ever evolving nautilus of audiovisual art.
Hopefully I can do something that might be 1/10 as cool as what you have
made.
respect
Thomas
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