Explorations in controlled randomness.
About "Undergrowth"
I had ambitions with Undergrowth, that are greater than the end result you see.
The plan was to create Nintendo'ish graphics, shown in a random and changing context. I had several design attempts, but ultimately a bad case of the colds made me scrap them and seek back to simplicity.
That's how it goes with these monthly installments. Sometimes things don't quite work out the way you want them to. It's not that I'm not satisfied with the result, it's just that I feel I failed my own personal challenge and sought back to the type of graphics I'm comfortable/always doing. So with the big challenge scrapped, I instead tried an easier challenge – using colours I wasn't too comfortable with. Browns and purples aren't easy to work with, I'll tell you that.
The new Flash, however, is surprisingly great! I have actually been using Flash MX (6) until now. I entirely skipped MX 2004 (7) because it simply annoyed me. But Flash 8 fixes a myriad of nuisances introduced in MX 2004 and even improves some of things I liked about MX. Add to that a buckload of truly useful filters and features. Flash 8 is a positive surprise.
For Undergrowth, I've used layer blend modes (just like Photoshop's blend modes) in the background illustrations, and motion blur on the initial preloader. It's too bad that only a few people have the new Flash Player, because I'll be requiring it from now on. This is still my place, and I set the rules. The rule of the day is: go grab the player now or miss out!
Next thing has to be finding a way to save configurations to wallpapers. It should be possible. Stay Tuned™
14 responses to “October ’05 Installment: Undergrowth”
Very beautiful! Nice work.
#1 is my favourite, and loving the background audio too!
Thanks Nik.
#3 is my favourite, even if the flower is a re-hash of last months installment.
It’s like a combination of blooming windmills and fireworks.
heh, where have I heard that before?
I can’t really pick a favorite of this bunch. It all depends on what happens when I hit the refresher blob.
So, what is this? Parameterized viewer self expression? 🙂
This is just awesome! Very cool. 🙂
Hehe, well, maybe last month? Or february?
I know I know, I do create quite a lot of flowers.
Thanks, both of you.
Ah, glad to hear that. To be honest I consider #2 the weakest of the bunch, but even I admit the refresher blob adds some value.
Well, that’s a lovely word for it.
Basically, I’m loving how I can program these small toys to do more with my artwork than I can myself. I feed it some scraps, and see what the toys do with it.
I have weak moments where I have no sense of composition. Sometimes the remedy is to throw everything up in the air and see how it lands.
That said, it’s not sooo complex in the programming. It’s not unlikely that I’ll release a source Flash file like last month.
I’m glad you think so; must’ve taken me ten minutes to work out the right words to use.
With your comment / vocabulary track record, I somehow find that hard to believe. If it’s true, though, then thank you sir.
Oh, Bilal, forgot to thank you 🙂
reminds me of turtleshell!!
Ah, sharp you are! You’re the first to notice I’ve used some vector artwork from that site!
this must mean only one thing… the next turtleshell is close 😉
Hehe, well, no, actually it doesn’t mean that I’m afraid.
That project is currently of such a scale that it’ll be a while before I get time to actually finish it. Sorry.
🙂 i understand! turtleshell was the first website that got me intrested in interactive design, and now i am in my final year of a interactive media production degree. crazy!
Thanks gareth, you give me way too much credit 🙂