For this case study on Generative Art, I wanted to get inspiration from the cosmos combined with the living universe. I ended up discovering two works that I found catered to the idea that I had: an art installation in Paso Robles, California called “Field of Light” at Sensorio (https://www.sensoriopaso.com) and a depiction of the particle constellation effect. The one I will be focusing on in this post is the latter.
Here is an example of the particle constellation effect (taken from particle constellation gif):
Here is the link I got the inspiration from: building a particle constellation effect
As you can see from both the gif above and the article’s graphic, the particles in the planes are connected by lines, essentially creating constellations that are all connected to each other which then create one larger piece. What fascinated me the most about this type of generative art is the fluid connection of points and the hypnotizing nature of this repeating geometric space.
To be fairly honest, I didn’t understand much of the code (but I hope I will soon). From what I could gather, it works by first using functions such as addBall() and moveBall() as well as adding the movement components (such as if(bounce(b.x…)). Then, to create the lines connecting the moving balls, it adds the dist() and drawConnection() functions to draw the lines.
I hope to learn the code for this and potentially combine it with some of the aspects of the interactive Field of Lights to create my own version of a particle constellation piece!