Saturday 30 May 2015

How to Draw Mushrooms on an Oscilloscope with Sound

How to Draw Mushrooms on an Oscilloscope with Sound


mushrooms
In this surprisingly interesting video from Jerobeam Fenderson we watch (and listen) as he explains how to draw images using the visualizations of sound waves on an old analog Tektronix oscilloscope. To be clear: the images you’re seeing here are not being animated through software, instead Fenderson creates waveforms (sounds) using his computer, and those sound waves LOOK LIKE THIS when fed into an oscilloscope. Suffice to say there’s lots of math involved, and it’s all a little bit over my head, but luckily he answers some questions over on his blog about how it all works. Make sure to watch through to the end.

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Guy Replaces Pet Names In Local Pet Store With New Hilarious Labels

Guy Replaces Pet Names In Local Pet Store With New Hilarious Labels

Jeff Wysaski, the comedic genius behind the Obvious Plant project, is back with a new series of hilarious sign alterations that he made – this time at a pet shop. In his simple but funny prank, Wysaski changed the signs labeling some of the critters at the pet store to reflect who they REALLY are (except for the turtle, which remained a regular turtle without any ninja skills whatsoever).

pet-shop-fake-name-prank-obvious-plant-jeff-wysaski-1 
More info: pleated-jeans.com | Tumblr | Twitter (h/t:obviousplant)

Sunday 24 May 2015

Firewall: Interactive Music with a Spandex Membrane

Firewall: Interactive Music with a Spandex Membrane

Firewall 1
Firewall is a new and exciting interactive audio/visual experience which uses a piece of stretched spandex as a performance membrane. Working like a big stretchy touch screen, when people push on the fabric they send fire-like visual ripples across the screen and beautifully change both the tempo and tone of the music being played… it has the power to transform everyone into an expressive musician simply with the stroke of a hand. 
Created by Mike Allison and Aaron Sherwood, the piece continues the growing trend of interactive visual installations… a booming segment of technology that looks to bring us more and more human oriented experiences in both entertainment and work. The team explains the technology behind Firewall:
   “The piece was made using Processing, Max/MSP, Arduino and a Kinect.” the two creators tell Localflux. “The Kinect measures the average depth of the spandex from the frame it is mounted on. If the spandex is not being pressed into nothing happens. When someone presses into it the visuals react around where the person presses, and the music is triggered. An algorithm created with Max allows the music to speed up and slow down and get louder and softer, based on the depth. This provides a very expressive musical playing experience, even for people who have never played music before. A switch is built into the frame which toggles between two modes. The second mode is a little more aggressive than the first”.
Firewall is only a prototype of larger projects to come, including an upcoming Purring Tiger performance at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center scheduled to premier in June of 2013. Find out more at either aaron-sherwood.com or michaelpallison.com.
Firewall 2

Saturday 23 May 2015

Delicate Glass Sea Life Sculptures by Emily Williams

Delicate Glass Sea Life Sculptures by Emily Williams

Seaweed
Glass Seaweed, 2014, Flameworked borosilicate glass, 20″ x 20″ x 20″
American artist Emily Williams draws inspiration from the sea and other aspects of organic life for the creation of her fragile glass sculptures that mimic seaweed, jellyfish, and coral. Each piece begins with a selection of perfectly straight borosilicate glass rods in various diameters which she carefully melts with a glass torch to form patterns similar to veins and branches.
As a child, Williams’ grandmother was a docent at the Smithsonian leading to many artistic and scientific discoveries at a very young age that would deeply influence her decision to pursue an artistic career. She went on to receive her MFA in sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis and a BFA in sculpture from V.C.U. in Richmond. She is currently working on an impressive glass coral piece shown in the video below (and discussed in this blog post), and you can see more views of her work both on Facebook and in her portfolio.
Seaweed_Detail
Glass Seaweed, detail
Coral Skeleton
Glass Coral Skeleton, 2013, Flameworked borosilicate glass, 20″ x 22″ x 10″
Coral Skeleton_DetailCoral Skeleton, detail
Glass Nest
Glass Nest, 2013, Flameworked borosilicate glass, 15″ x 20″ x 20″
Jellyfish
Glass Jellyfish, 2013, Flameworked borosilicate glass, 15″ x 14″ x 14″
petal
Glass Petal, 2013, Flameworked borosilicate glass, 15″ x 12″ x 4″
petal_detail
Petal, detail
Burst
Burst, 2013, Flameworked borosilicate glass, 12″ x 10″ x 10″

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Pictures Taken at Right Moment

Pictures Taken at Right Moment :

We are huge fans of perfectly timed photos that capture perfect (and usually funny or unexpected) moments that come and go with a blink of the eye. The internet is abound with images shared by people who have captured images at just the right moment or from just the right perspective, so we wanted to share some more of them with you.
Anyone with a smart phone, point-and-click camera, DSLR or any other sort of camera can potentially capture such a moment – whether it’s staged or spontaneous. 
Source: reddit (h/t: distractify)
Source: imgur
Source: reddit (h/t: distractify)
Source: reddit
Image credits: Vladimir Levin
Source: reddit (h/t: distractify)
Image credits: Tom Baum
Source: imgur
Source: reddit 
Source: reddit
Source: reddit (h/t: distractify)
Source: imgur
Source: imgur 
Source: reddit
Source: reddit
Image credits: Nick Kelly
Source: unknown 
Image credits: troyANDabed
Source: reddit
Source: unknown 
Source: reddit
Source: imgur 
Source: reddit
Source: imgur
Source: imgur
Source: buzzland.com (h/t: buzzfeed)
Source: reddit