RESFEST 2005 Los Angeles
Thursday September 29th - Sunday October 2nd
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September 27, 2005
Five (5) @ The Beall Center
The Beall Center for Art and Technology presents
Five (5)
October 4 – December 10, 2005
Meet the Artists Reception: October 1, 6:00-9:00 pm
Boutique Vizique
Camille Utterback
Keiko Takahashi
Smart studio, Interactive Institute
Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau
Curator Pamela Winfrey, of San Francisco's Exploratorium, joins forces with the Beall
Center to bring together this charming, international celebration of the new media arts.
No Max workshop this week...
... due to a faculty meeting in ZML this afternoon.
Sorry for any confusion.
We'll pick up again next Wednesday, October 5th, and then the fifth and final session will be October 19th.
September 22, 2005
Patch from this week's workshop
September 19, 2005
Ha-ha
September 16, 2005
simple video switcher
from workshop #2:
switchingVideo.pat
September 14, 2005
New! Max/MSP/Jitter Workshop blog page...
...at http://interactive.usc.edu/maxmsp/
Workshop participants can post to it by selecting the "maxmsp" cross-posting category.
Thanks Boris!
September 13, 2005
Reminder: Max/MSP/Jitter Workshop #2...
... tomorrow (Wed) 3-5pm in ZML.
September 9, 2005
Scott Snibbe Opening @ Telic
Scott Snibbe's Visceral Cinema: Chien will be shown at TELIC in Los Angeles September 10 - October 15, 2005. The public opening takes place Saturday, September 10 from 6 to 9 PM and is open to everyone.
Chien re-imagines the surrealist masterpiece Un Chien Andalou, by Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel, combining key moments from the film with viewers‚ shadows to form interactive projections. The work presents a large video projection of a man pulling a grand piano towards the viewer in silhouette. When viewers walk between the projector and the projection, their shadows affect the projected man's actions.
TELIC
975 Chung King Road
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Learning about Max Objects
There are a number of ways to get information about any Max object.
Help patches & keyboard shortcuts:
• Select object & choose the object from the 'Help' menu.
• [Mac: CTRL key + click on object] [Windows, and Mac w/3 button mouse: right click on object] to bring up the contextual menu; 'Help' is the first item on this menu.
• Jitter Help patches each contain a link to an HTML reference page for that object.
• [Mac: Hold down the CTRL+OPTION keys + click on object] [Mac w/3 button mouse: Hold down OPTION key + right click on object] [XP: Hold down ALT + right click on object] to bring up a list of attributes and messages that the object understands; you can also select 'Help' at the end of this list.
• The Help patches are actually locked Max patches; you can unlock them, then select and copy any part to paste into your patch. IMPORTANT: if you edit any help patch in any way, Max will ask if you want to save changes when you close it. ALWAYS ANSWER 'Don't Save'. Alternately, you can choose 'File/Save As' before closing the Help patch; save it under a different name to your own workspace; you can then edit this copy to your heart's content.
Documentation:
• 'Max45GettingStarted.pdf' provides a thorough introduction to Max; read as much of it as you can (you can skip the MIDI sections for now); at the very least, read through the 'Overview' chapter. The 'Shortcuts' chapter is essential.
• 'Max45TutorialsAndTopics.pdf' is an excellent resource; try to work (or at least read) through the first ten tutorials.
• 'Max45ReferenceManual.pdf' contains thorough entries on every core Max object.
• 'JavascriptInMax.pdf" covers Max's implementation of Javascript.
• 'Jitter15Tutorials.pdf' contains many essential Jitter lessons.
• Jitter does not come with a PDF reference manual; instead it has HTML reference pages for each object, which can be opened through the Help patches.
Mail List & Resources:
• I recommend subscribing to the Max/MSP/Jitter mail list (by sending the message 'subscribe max-msp-digest' to majordomo@cycling74.com).
• There are searchable mail list archives at http://www.synthesisters.com/hypermail/max-msp/.
• The Cycling '74 site contains a Resource Guide with plenty of useful links.
September 8, 2005
Max Object List Extras
Here are the latest versions of the three extras that I made for the workshop. Install them in the MaxMSP 4.5/patches/extras/ folder; they will then show up in the Extras Menu. Clicking on each object name brings up the help file for that object.
Graphical_Objects.pat
Jitter_Objects.pat
Max_Objects.pat
Eventually I'll make one for MSP also.
September 6, 2005
Benjamin Bratton @ M&A
Materials & Applications kicks off a series of open-air discussions on design, technology and culture in a show & tell format at the courtyard exhibition space at 1619 Silver Lake Boulevard in Los Angeles. The series begins Tuesday, September 6th and runs through November. This series accompanies the wildly popular Maximilian's Schell installation. Come have fun in the golden vortex!
Tuesday, September . 06 . 2005 @ 8pm $5 at the gate.
BENJAMIN BRATTON [cultureindustry.com]
: Game Theory :
Thrill to the immersive excitement of Grand Theft Auto, get caught up in the beats and the machine gun spatter, then stop if you can and consider why this game is so effective. Games like these are designed to be engrossing ˆ addictive ˆ and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Benjamin Bratton principal of The Culture Industry will discuss the theory behind the game and what that reveals about the people who play it, the people who create it, and the people who just like to watch.
M&A is a non-profit organization that conducts architecture and landscape research in an environment open to all. More information is available on the M&A website: www.emanate.org, or call 323-913-0915
Game theory studies choice of optimal behavior when costs and benefits of each option are not fixed, but depend upon the future choices of other individuals. It has applications in a variety of fields, including economics, international relations, evolutionary biology, political science, and military strategy.
Game theorists study the predicted and actual behaviour of individuals in games, as well as optimal strategies. Seemingly different types of interactions can exhibit similar incentive structures, thus all exemplifying one particular game.
Have a favorite gadget or an especially inspired creation? Bring it with you to Show & Tell! At the end of every event we will invite members of the audience who have brought something to share to come up and tell us about it.
September 2, 2005
CTAN502a postponed until next semester....
...due to under-enrollment.
There seems to be no lack of interest in the subject, but we were done in by scheduling conflicts and the fact that most students have a severe shortage of available credits for electives.
Thus, sad to say, you're all condemned to continue making flat, monoscopic media for the time being.
See you in the spring.
September 1, 2005
Max/MSP/Jitter Workshop
A five-week Max/MSP/Jitter workshop will commence next Wednesday September 7th from 3 to 5 pm in ZML.
Designed to quickly get you up to speed creating your own projects with Max, there will be a special emphasis on Jitter and its capabilities for interactive visual media and OpenGL graphics.
This will be a hands-on workshop, and ideally each participant will be working at their own computer during each session. We will have the latest version of the full Max/MSP/Jitter package on the five G5s in ZML, but I would encourage participants to take advantage of Cycling '74's special student pricing of $59 for a 9-month license (link below), so that you will be able to run the software on your own laptop both in and out of class.
Cycling '74 website
Student Discount page
What is Max?
Max/MSP is an object-oriented graphical programming environment designed for music, signal processing, and multimedia. Originally developed at the IRCAM musical research institute in Paris in the 1980s, it is now published by the San Francisco-based company Cycling '74. Max has been in use worldwide for over fifteen years by performers, composers, artists, teachers, and students.
In Max, custom software applications are created using a visual toolkit of 'objects' (icons representing self-contained functional components) that are wired together using graphical 'patch cords'. A Max application (or 'patch') is thus both a visual flow chart as well as a functioning software program. Max includes objects for MIDI control, data processing, user interface design, program flow, and timing. Originally designed for MIDI control, Max has been extended with MSP, a set of audio and signal processing objects , and Jitter, a set of matrix data processing objects optimized for video and 3D graphics.
Why use it?
Max has the advantage of being extremely flexible and powerful while remaining unusually inviting and accessible for non-programmers. It is also remarkably modular and extensible. Any user-designed Max patch can be integrated as into the Max environment as if it were a built-in function of the core program, and new objects ('externals') can be programmed in C or Java to further extend the program.
Until recently, Max was available for the Mac OS exclusively, but last year it became cross-platform with the release of a Windows version. The latest version also incorporates an implementation of Javascript, which allows any part of a Max application to be created using more traditional text-based programming methods.
Max is especially conducive to iterative experimentation, allowing rough ideas to be quickly sketched out and successively refined. Traditionally, Max's strengths have been in the areas of art installation and live performance, but this is more a function of its history and culture than any inherent limitations of the program. If you can imagine it, you can almost certainly build it in Max.