Digital Nature Dan Tapper
Digital Nature explores the abstraction of organic forms – digital photos morphed into new architectures, pervasive natural forms.
The resulting images are created through bespoke software that uses source information from a digital image to create new digital systems, structures and maps – tracing the origins of the image and generating new forms around it. Flowers bloom with geometrical extrusions; insects are formed from pixels and bits and the hidden architectures of images are revealed.
A l l w o r k i n D i g i t a l N a t u r e i s c r e a t e d t h r o u g h b e s p o k e s o f t w a r e d e v e l o p e d b y D a n Ta p p e r. A l l i m a g e s p r e s e n t e d i n t h i s p u b l i c a t i o n a r e t h e c o p y r i g h t o f a n d o w n e d b y D a n Ta p p e r.
Hive Mind
Re- i m a g i n i n g th e world of a B ee. New pat hways,
i n tera c t i o n s a nd s tr u ctu re s fo rm from proc essing an i mag e o f a s i n gle B e e . T h ro u gh th is proc ess the original
Bee i s a bs t ra c ted with ja g ge d line s – som etim es obsc uring i t co m p l e te ly. Oth e r a re a s of th e im age bloom into life c reat i n g s t ra n ge n e w in s e cts , f u rt her m anipulations
s t ri p away t h e s u r fa ce co lo r reve aling diverse, digital hives re s u l t i n g f ro m th e ima ge ’ s u n derlying st ruc ture. I n
Hive M i n d a s i n gle p ollin a tin g B e e dissolves and evolves i n to a d i g i t a l hyb rid – h inting a t th e dec line of Bees as a
s p ec i e s , ex p l o ring a nd ce le b ra tin g their highly c om plex p at te rn s a n d b e h avio rs a nd ima gining t he possible i n t ro d u c t i o n o f ro b o tic p ollin a tors – Bee. 2.
We b A r c h i t e c t u r e
Web A rc h i te c t u re ex p lore s gia nt web c reat ion through
t he u s e o f mu l t ip le a g e nts movin g over the arc hitec t ure o f an i m a g e . I n th is proce s s e a ch a gent ac ts as a spider, p art o f a l a rg e r swa rm movin g over a sourc e im age, whi c h a c t s a s th e s tr u ctu re o n wh ich the web is built .
I n sp ire d by c o lle ctive we b pa tte rns m ade by spiders. I
o ri g in a l ly e n c o u nte re d co mp lex , tented web struc tures i n a s e ri e s o f p h otos pre s e n te d in Nat ional Geographic -
after a f l o o d i n Pa kis ta n h u n d re d s of spiders gathered in t rees c re a t i n g h u ge s tru ctu re e nve loping webs.
I n We b A rc h i te ctu re a n ima ge b e c om es a fram ework fo r c re a t i o n . Ag e nts pe r for ming s im ple ac tions c reate c o mp l ex p a t te r n s . T h rou gh th e lens of an algorit hm Web A rc h i te c t ure b re a ks d own a b eaut iful and start ling
n at ura l ma c ro sco pic p a tte r n a n d g ives us a voc abulary to b e g i n to u n de r s ta n d it .
Process
Hive M i n d a n d We b Arch ite ctu re a re both c reated through
a b e s p o ke a l g o rith m,: th rou gh a djust ing, adding and
mo d i f y i n g t h e algor ith ms p a ra me ters in a perform at ive man n e r a w i d e va r ie ty o f s h a p e s a nd struc tures c an be ac hi eve d .
T he i n i t i a l a l g or ith m wa s b u ilt in 2015, inspired by t he at t ra c t i o n a n d re pu ls ion prop e rtie s of m agnetic fields. Co n c e p t u a l ly t his id e a is q u ite s imple.
Po p u l a te a s p a ce with a n u mb e r of part ic les and m agnets,
eac h ma g n e t will e ith e r a ttra ct o r repulse t he nearby p art ic l e s , e a c h ma g n e t h a s a n in dividual at trac t ion/ rep ul s i o n s t re n gth .
Sta r ting pos it ions and at trac t ion
s t ren g t h wa s o f te n s e t s e mi ra n d om ly with a random n umb e r g e n e rato r o pe ra tin g b e twe en a set sc ale.
M o re
i n te re s t in g
e f fe cts
wh e re
ac hieved
through
refi n e m e n t s to th e a lg or ith m, s e tting presc ribed st art ing
p o i n t s fo r t h e pa r ticle s in th e fo rm of a grid or a c irc le, ad d i n g c o l o r d e f ine d by th e pa rticles X , Y c oordinates an d c o n n e c t i n g poin ts b a s e d o n proxim it y.
A ft er e xp l o r i n g th e a lg or ith m in th is way for som e t im e I b eg a n a p p l y i ng it to d igita l ima ges. A sim ple im age
an aly s i s f l a g s pa r ticu la r a r e a s of th e sourc e im age based o n b ri g h t n e s s a n d s a tu r a tio n le ve ls. M agnets are plac ed
at t he s e h i g h l i gh te d p oin ts . T h e p a rtic les are random ly as s i g n e d w i t h i n th e s pa ce mo ving and int erac t ing wit h
t he ma g n e t p o i nts . As th e pr oce s s p rogresses int eresting fram e w o r k s a nd con n e ctio ns s lowly em erge. The slow mo ve me n t o f p a rticle s a n d line s cr e ates c om plex im ages
ran g in g f r o m h a rs h f ra me wor k to a r eas of subt le shading.
T he d i s p l a y e d ima ge s u tilis e th is sam e proc ess but in d i ffere n t w a y s .
Hi ve M i n d d i re ctly works f r o m a s o urc e im age to c reat e a s eri e s o f g e o m etr ica l f ra me wo rks that ac t as an abstrac t map o f t h e i m a ge s RG B a n d HSB cont ent. Web
A rc h i t e c tu r e
uses
a
ra n d om
walk
algorit hm
mo d e l l e d o n a v i r t u a l 8 s id e d d ice . Eac h dic e r ol l results
i n a d i f f e re n t d ir e ctio n b e in g ch os en. Direc tion c hanges are s i g n a l l e d i n th e ima ge b y s h o r t whit e dashes. This ran d o m w a l k d e f in e s th e lo ca tion of the partic les, allo w i n g t h e i m a ge to or ga nica lly g row.
Hive Mind
We b A r c h i t e c t u r e
Hive M i n d 1
Intial attraction and repulsion system
5
Algorithm output overlayed onto an image
2
T
i
Increasing particle number
m
e
l
3
i
n
e
Setting circular starting positions
6
Algorithm output with background image removed
4
Connecting points based on proximity
Web A rc h i te c t u re 1
Intial attraction and repulsion system
5
8 roll dice, interacting with magnets and proximity based connections
2
T
i
Increasing particle number
m
e
l
3
i
n
e
Setting circular starting positions
6
Algorithm applied to an image
4
Implementing basic 8 role dice algorithm
The Artist
Dan Ta p p e r ex p lore s th e s o nic a n d visual properties of t he un he a rd a n d i nvis ib le . From reve a l ing elec trom agnet ic
s o un d s p ro d u c ed by th e e a r th’ s ion osphere, to exploring hi d d e n mi c ro wo rld s a nd cre a ting im aginary nebulas
mad e f ro m c o d e. His ex p lora tio ns u se sc ient ific m ethods
alo n g s i d e t h o ugh t ex pe r ime nts re sult ing in ric h sonic an d v i s u a l wo rl d s .
Dan’ s wo rk c a n b e fou n d o nlin e a t:
www.d a nt a p p ersou nd d e sign. com Hi s wo rk i n t h e f ie ld of g e ne ra tive a rt is c om prehensively c at al o g u e d o n th e b log Co d e Poe tr y
www.v i s u a l co d e p oe ms. t u mbl r. com
Fo r p r i n t s a n d co mmis s io ns p le a s e c ont ac t the art ist at dant a p p e r s o u nd d e sign@ gma il . com
T han ks g o to Inte r Acce s s for co mmisioning and p res e n t i n g t h e wo rks