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But
because we are playing alongside DJs whose mixes are unpredictable,
we have to decide on-the-spot which animations we will use,
and who will be playing them on our two PCs, laptop and video
mixer.
After
a performer starts an animation, they tap in the beat to sync
the visuals to the music. Then they control the animation
using MIDI boxes that have 16 knobs and 16 on/off buttons.
Their video is mixed with the other performer's video and
then projected on screens.
Why
does El Kabong do live visuals?
I wanted to perform animation live, like musicians performing.
There's a great deal of spontaneity that you get when doing
it live along with music.
We
like to perform to electronic dance music because it is the
most rapidly evolving music, and it's an abstract style that
lends itself to live graphics. I wanted visuals to play a
part in the music scene, and people have been looking for
something expressive like this.
A
side effect of using our animation software at these events
is that it acid-tests the tools that end up in Hollywood making
special effects in films. Club kids don't know they're seeing
it first.
What
software are you using and developing?
In our performances we use Touch 101, which is made by Derivative,
a company that I started in 2000. Touch is a product spun-off
from Houdini from Side Effects Software, a company I also
co-own.
Derivative
(derivativeinc.com) is releasing Touch 101 this year. We're
including most of the visuals that El Kabong uses in live
performance, making them available
on the internet to anyone who wants to play live visuals or
study how we put these animations together.
Why
do you call Touch a new artform?
Touch is unlike conventional VJ projections which play bits
of existing video. Touch is fully synthesized on the spot
in 2D and 3D, making it more flexible, exciting and unpredictable.
It is unlike a traditional video game because it's not designed
to score points, collect bounty, chase and kill. Touch offers
a creative approach where the only objective is to make an
appealing visual image, and where you can take your time to
experiment and craft your surroundings.
Touch differs from other media like film, TV and video because
the outcome is never predetermined and always lies in the
hands of the user who is at the controls. Touch is similar
to painting - you might craft still images in Touch by painting
with moving brushes that drop "paint" on the canvas
- but it's more like a fluid painting that you're continually
guiding and that is never fixed or finished. We envision Touch's
fluid images viewed on large-screen displays on walls integrated
in living spaces.
Touch is a new artform that could be described as real-time
digital image synthesis, performed live. Throw together an
inexpensive personal computer with a 3D graphics card running
TouchPlayer and a connection to the internet, and you become
part of a collaborative networked environment where works
of art are continually created, shared, dissected and reassembled.
By
providing the technological framework and by giving artists
the option to have their work sampled, we're accelerating
the process by which new graphic forms get created, disseminated
and consumed. Just as sampling in the audio realm has revolutionized
music making, so too is visual sampling leading us to fascinating
new areas of aesthetic exploration and forcing us to confront
questions about authorship, authenticity and intent.
How
is it different from common animation?
You don't have to build it frame-by-frame through key-framing,
and you are not simply playing back a pre-canned thing. You
are performing it live. And it's not someone in a studio making
it for you. It's you performing it. Touch is a creative medium
that uses music as an inspiring point of departure.
Why
is Touch101 directed at the electronic music culture?
Performing visuals live in front of an audience is very demanding
of a software product - it must work right, it must run smoothly,
and it must do amazing new things. The electronic music culture
is technology-savy and appreciates innovation, and the music
styles lend themselves to improvised visuals. After each time
we perform, we go back to our studio with more ideas and we
make many improvements. Plus, I love the music.
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How
did you come up with this idea?
I've been making computer graphics tools for the past
20 years and have also been following the developments
in experimental film and art during that time. There's
spontaneity in making sounds, but almost none in making
visual images. I saw that Derivative's technology running
on today's common computers could bring the spontaneity
to visuals, something the music world has been craving
for.
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Greg
modeling an SGI Indigo2 on a demo pedestal in the alley
after an all-nite Tribe Magazine party in 1996. "We
borrowed this $40,000 baby from SGI for an important
'trade show event'."
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Who
designs the graphics of El Kabong?
El Kabong graphics are made in two stages. First, an animator
uses TouchDesigner to model, texture and light a new animation,
or synthesizer (synth) as we call it, and they hook up some
controls so someone else can easily play and perform it. The
animator designs it so there are enough controls to make the
synth versatile and amusing.
In
the second stage, other people get the synths and perform
them using a mouse, pen or these control boxes. The two stages
are like the music producer and the DJ. One makes the raw
tracks, the other performs and mixes it. And like in music,
it's the performer that gets all the credit.
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are DJs involved in this?
DJs work with us to add visuals to their set of music.
But many of them want to make visuals themselves. They
are looking for a tool like Touch that can make visuals
that are as rhythmic as the music that accompanies it.
Using Touch is similar to making and mixing music, but
different in that you're doing it with live 3D graphics.
What
DJs have you worked with?
We have been fortunate enough to come up with visuals
for some of the great influences of house and techno
including Danny Tenaglia, Derrick May, Armand van Helden,
Bad Boy Bill and Mark Farina. |
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Who
can use the software?
It's designed so anyone can use it. We've adapted and re-packaged
the same special effects technology that's used in Hollywood
for feature films like The Matrix, X-Men, Titanic and the
Grinch, and we bring it to your desktop or laptop over the
web.
How
do you expect it to spread?
Touch artists will use our derivativeinc.com
web site to post their interactive animations for public access.
On the other side of the world, on the same day, others will
download the artwork, play it, and make variations on it.
Derivative's online catalog is structured to share and exchange
artworks.
How
far have people been pushing this technology?
One guy, Dave Robert hooked Touch up to living plants in a
garden and generated visuals based on the plants' electrical
reactions. You can use Touch to control machines. Some students
at art schools in Japan are now making interactive exhibitions
using Touch.
What
is the long-term effect of this technology?
Touch
is a VJ tool, but it is equally an educational tool - it spans
art and science. For instance, you can explore how heat flows
through a thunderstorm, or look at how a jet engine works.
Using Touch you can explore the math and science that you
tried to avoid in school, but by using Touch, you can learn
it in an inspiring way that sticks.
In
5 years, where do you see this going?
You will see millions of people expressing their ideas, moods
and feelings through the synthesis of visuals and sound that
Touch offers. There will be many styles of visuals that will
come and go, just like music and clothing go through fashion
cycles. Like music, pen and movement, Touch visuals are another
way of materializing one's ideas and impulses.
See
the video
interview and more behind-the-scenes at El
Kabong.
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