Categories
Art Art Computing Generative Art Projects

Like That 2020 (3D)

“Like That” is a generative art project that started in 1996 as a series of 2d image generators and 3d animations called “The Order of Things”. It drew on the aesthetics of then-contemporary British art (Julian Opie, Rachel Whiteread, Art & Language, Bridget Riley). The 2d works in the series were written in the PostScript programming language. The 3d pieces were written in Metrowerks CodeWarrior C++ on Macintosh System 7.x using QuickDraw 3D, their source code has unfortunately long since been lost.

In 2008 I re-implemented and extended the project using Processing. That version incorporated more historical references and I renamed it “Like That”, a reference to a phrase one of my children had used as a general purpose assertion as a toddler. In 2009 I generalized Like That using a script written in Common Lisp to glue together fragments of Processing code into many different combinations of shapes, colours and movements.

In 2019 most web browsers no longer easily support the Java programming language that Processing is based on and Processing’s JavaScript replacements are either already deprecated or too different from it to make porting simple. I have therefore ported the 3D Processing code to THREE.js (I’m still thinking about whether to port the animated 2d code). Going from platform-specific compiled applications to cross-platform bytecode and then to scripting languages has been the technical journey of much of software development over the same time period.

I still find Like That visually and conceptually engaging so I was glad to be able to update it to add some contemporary references and keep it running.

Project page: http://OFFLINEZIP.wpsho/like-that-2020

View: https://show.robmyers.org/like-that-2020/build/index.html

Source code: https://gitlab.com/robmyers/like-that-2020

Categories
Art Art Computing Artificial Intelligence Generative Art Shows

Hacking Creative Composition at CADAF

I’ve a couple of pieces at CADAF in New York with Kate Vass Gallerie (above is one of the giclées, “Local Maxima: SFLT2, Square” (2019)):

https://cadaf.art/artist-rob-myers

Creative Crypto have a profile of me ahead of the event, from which I’ve stolen the title of this post:

https://thecreativecrypto.com/rob-myers-hacking-creative-composition/

Categories
Art Crypto Generative Art Projects

Geneses

Geneses

A poem consisting of the genesis block hashes from the hundred cryptocurrencies with the highest market capitalization on January the Second, 2016 encoded as BIP-0039 mnemonics.

It begins:

abandon abandon abandon ability output crowd ice area thumb clown sibling charge youth range ribbon stairs plug argue provide toddler gaze edit meadow update

Details on how to order the book can be found here:

http://OFFLINEZIP.wpsho/geneses/

Categories
Art Computing Generative Art Projects

Seeking

seeking

This took a ridiculous amount of time to hack together, but here’s a Common Lisp function to decide the shortest angle between two other angles. It’s used in the example of seeking a point above. I can now add noise to this to make a more AARON-style pen.

(defun shortest-angle-difference (a1 a2)
  "Find the shortest positive or negative distance between two angles."
  ;; This was slowly assembled from various online sources, none of which worked
  ;; Normalize angles to 0..2pi
  (let ((from (mod a1 +radian+))
        (to (mod a2 +radian+)))
      ;; If from and to are equal (0 = 2pi radians) the angle is zero
      (if (or (= from to)
              (= (+ from to) +radian+))
          0.0d0
          (let ((angle (- to from)))
            (if (> (abs angle) pi)
                ;; Please simplify me
                (* (- (signum angle)) (- +radian+ (abs angle)))
                angle)))))
Categories
Art Computing Generative Art Projects

draw-something 2016

draw-something drawing February 2016

I’ve updated the Common Lisp version of draw-something to use modern technologies – Roswell, QuickLisp, ASDF 3, cl-cffi-gtk and the Plan testing library. The tests helped flush out bugs, changing my mis-uses of defmethod to defun silenced a lot of compiler warnings and that in turn helped find some more bugs. There’s now a bit of technical debt in the form of function and class names, I’ll address that later. Like the recent minara update, this is a bitrot update rather than a new feature release.

Running the code to test it reminded me of just how dissatisfied I was with the last version of draw-something. The image at the top of this post is one of the less bad results of running the code. This is an aesthetic / theoretic problem rather than a coding one. I need the same clarity that informed the earlier versions of the program (you can see a JavaScript version of one running on tumblr) in order to structure the code to output something you’d actually want to look at.

Categories
Art Computing Free Software Generative Art Projects Uncategorized

Minara 0.4.0

minara-cairo-gtk-test

I’ve been making the regular (accidentally) six-yearly update to Minara, my vector graphics program.

The new version switches from GLUT to Gtk for the windowing system, from GLU to Cairo for the renderer, and from C to pure Scheme for the core application. It’s all written in The GNU project’s Guile Scheme system.

Minara is Lisp all the way down: the application, tools, and graphics files are all written in Scheme. It’s designed as an environment for 2D generative vector art hacking.

Categories
Aesthetics Art Computing Generative Art Projects

Blockchain Aesthetics

squares

These images are examples of real-time generative patterns visualising Bitcoin transactions. I wrote them in html5 using blockchain.info’s WebSockets API to get notifications of the hash value of each new transaction.

You can click on each image to open a new window actually running that visualization.

Above, each row is a transaction with each byte of 32-byte hash rendered as a square of colour from a 256-colour palette.

words

Above, each sentence is a transaction rendered in a standard list of words.

bitmaps

Above, each bitmap is the 32-byte hash for each transaction hash rendered as a 16×16 1-bit bitmap (original Macintosh-style, 1 is black).

transactions-spots

Above, each row is a transaction with each byte of 32-byte hash rendered as a spot of colour from a 256-colour palette.

drawings

Above, each transaction is rendered as a drawing of lines connecting x,y co-ordinate pairs taken from the low and high 4 bits in each 8-bit byte in the 32-byte transaction hash. Each transaction is joined to the next as part of the same continuous drawing.

faces

Above, each bitmap is rendered as before and then blurred. A face recognition algorithm is used to find any collections of pixels that accidentally resemble faces, and these are outlined in red. This is machine pareidolia.

As well as clicking on the images to run each visualisation, you can view a list of them here (including both the block and transaction-based visualisations – the former run much slower):

http://show.robmyers.org/blockchain-aesthetics/bitcoin-html5/

You can get the code here:

https://gitorious.org/robmyers/blockchain-aesthetics/

https://github.com/robmyers/blockchain-aesthetics/

Categories
Art Computing Free Software Generative Art Howto Uncategorized

WordNet

We can use NLTK’s support for WordNet to help generate and classify text.

from nltk.corpus import wordnet as wn
from nltk.corpus import sentiwordnet as swn

def make_synset(word, category='n', number='01'):
    """Conveniently make a synset"""
    number = int(number)
    return wn.synset('%s.%s.%02i' % (word, category, number))

>>> dog = make_synset('dog')
>>> dog.definition
'a member of the genus Canis (probably descended from the common wolf) that has been domesticated by man since prehistoric times; occurs in many breeds'

A synset is WordNet’s representation of a word/concept. Looking at the definition confirms that we have the synset for canis familiaris rather than persecution or undesirability.

>>> dog.hypernyms()
[Synset('domestic_animal.n.01'), Synset('canine.n.02')]

Hypernyms are more general concepts. ‘dog’ has two of them, which shows that WordNet is not arranged in a simple tree of concepts. This makes checking for common ancestors slightly more complex but represents concepts more realistically.

>>> dog.hyponyms()
[Synset('puppy.n.01'), Synset('great_pyrenees.n.01'), Synset('basenji.n.01'), Synset('newfoundland.n.01'), Synset('lapdog.n.01'), Synset('poodle.n.01'), Synset('leonberg.n.01'), Synset('toy_dog.n.01'), Synset('spitz.n.01'), Synset('pooch.n.01'), Synset('cur.n.01'), Synset('mexican_hairless.n.01'), Synset('hunting_dog.n.01'), Synset('working_dog.n.01'), Synset('dalmatian.n.02'), Synset('pug.n.01'), Synset('corgi.n.01'), Synset('griffon.n.02')]

Hyponyms are more specific concepts. ‘dog’ has several. These may have hypernyms other than ‘dog’, and may have several hyponyms themselves.

def _recurse_all_hypernyms(synset, all_hypernyms):
    synset_hypernyms = synset.hypernyms()
    if synset_hypernyms:
        all_hypernyms += synset_hypernyms
        for hypernym in synset_hypernyms:
            _recurse_all_hypernyms(hypernym, all_hypernyms)

def all_hypernyms(synset):
    """Get the set of hypernyms of the hypernym of the synset etc.
       Nouns can have multiple hypernyms, so we can't just create a depth-sorted
       list."""
    hypernyms = []
    _recurse_all_hypernyms(synset, hypernyms)
    return set(hypernyms)

>>> all_hypernyms(dog)
>>> set([Synset('chordate.n.01'), Synset('living_thing.n.01'), Synset('physical_entity.n.01'), Synset('animal.n.01'), Synset('mammal.n.01'), Synset('object.n.01'), Synset('vertebrate.n.01'), Synset('entity.n.01'), Synset('carnivore.n.01'), Synset('domestic_animal.n.01'), Synset('canine.n.02'), Synset('placental.n.01'), Synset('organism.n.01'), Synset('whole.n.02')])

We can recursively fetch the hypernyms of a synset. since ‘dog’ has two hypernyms this isn’t a single list of hypernyms.
We can use this to find how similar different words are by searching for common ancestors.
The Python WordNet library can find common hypernyms for us though.

>>> cat = make_synset('cat')
>>> cat.common_hypernyms(dog)
[Synset('chordate.n.01'), Synset('living_thing.n.01'), Synset('physical_entity.n.01'), Synset('animal.n.01'), Synset('mammal.n.01'), Synset('vertebrate.n.01'), Synset('entity.n.01'), Synset('carnivore.n.01'), Synset('object.n.01'), Synset('placental.n.01'), Synset('organism.n.01'), Synset('whole.n.02')]
>>> steel = make_synset('steel')
>>> steel.common_hypernyms(dog)
[Synset('physical_entity.n.01'), Synset('entity.n.01')]
>>> sunset = make_synset('sunset')
>>> sunset.common_hypernyms(dog)
[Synset('entity.n.01')]

As might be expected, cats and dogs are more similar than steel or sunsets.
We can recursively fetch the hyponyms of a synset. This gives us the set of objects or concepts with a kind-of relationship to the word.

def _recurse_all_hyponyms(synset, all_hyponyms):
    synset_hyponyms = synset.hyponyms()
    if synset_hyponyms:
        all_hyponyms += synset_hyponyms
        for hyponym in synset_hyponyms:
            _recurse_all_hyponyms(hyponym, all_hyponyms)

def all_hyponyms(synset):
    """Get the set of the tree of hyponyms under the synset"""
    hyponyms = []
    _recurse_all_hyponyms(synset, hyponyms)
    return set(hyponyms)

>>> all_hyponyms(dog)
set([Synset('harrier.n.02'), Synset('water_spaniel.n.01'), Synset('standard_poodle.n.01'), Synset('dandie_dinmont.n.01'), Synset('wirehair.n.01'), Synset('toy_manchester.n.01'), Synset('puppy.n.01'), Synset('briard.n.01'), Synset('beagle.n.01'), Synset('siberian_husky.n.01'), Synset('manchester_terrier.n.01'), Synset('bloodhound.n.01'), ...

WordNet has some support for synonyms and antonyms via lemmas.

def synset_synonyms(synset):
    """Get the synonyms for the synset"""
    return set([lemma.synset for lemma in synset.lemmas])

def synset_antonyms(synset):
    """Get the antonyms for [the first lemma of] the synset"""
    return set([lemma.synset for lemma in synset.lemmas[0].antonyms()])

>>> synset_synonyms(sunset)
set([Synset('sunset.n.01')])
>>> synset_antonyms(sunset)
set([Synset('dawn.n.01')])

And we can find related concepts by getting all the hyponyms of a word’s hypernynms.

def all_peers(synset):
    """Get the set of all peers of the synset (including the synset).
       If the synset has multiple hypernyms then the peers will be hyponyms of
       multiple synsets."""
    hypernyms = synset.hypernyms()
    peers = []
    for hypernym in hypernyms:
        peers += hypernym.hyponyms()
    return set(peers)

>>> all_peers(sunset)
set([Synset('zero_hour.n.01'), Synset('rush_hour.n.01'), Synset('early-morning_hour.n.01'), Synset('none.n.01'), Synset('midnight.n.01'), Synset('happy_hour.n.01'), Synset('dawn.n.01'), Synset('bedtime.n.01'), Synset('late-night_hour.n.01'), Synset('small_hours.n.01'), Synset('noon.n.01'), Synset('sunset.n.01'), Synset('twilight.n.01'), Synset('mealtime.n.01'), Synset('canonical_hour.n.01'), Synset('closing_time.n.01')])

We use sets here so that common ancestors and children appear only once, and to allow for boolean set operations on concepts.
It’s trivial to get the the word (or words) for a synset.

def synsets_words(synsets):
    """Get the set of strings for the words represented by the synsets"""
    return set([synset_word(synset) for synset in synsets])

>>> synsets_words(all_hyponyms(dog))
set(['rottweiler', 'bull mastiff', 'belgian sheepdog', 'courser', 'brabancon griffon', 'toy terrier', 'fox terrier', 'sennenhunde', 'standard poodle', 'saluki', 'pointer', 'toy spaniel', 'setter', 'giant schnauzer', 'housedog', 'papillon', 'american foxhound', 'weimaraner', 'cocker spaniel', 'basenji', 'beagle', ...

WordNet has part/whole, group and substance relationships.

>>> body = make_synset('body')
>>> body.part_meronyms()
[Synset('arm.n.01'), Synset('articulatory_system.n.01'), Synset('body_substance.n.01'), Synset('cavity.n.04'), Synset('circulatory_system.n.01'), Synset('crotch.n.02'), Synset('digestive_system.n.01'), Synset('endocrine_system.n.01'), Synset('head.n.01'), Synset('leg.n.01'), Synset('lymphatic_system.n.01'), Synset('musculoskeletal_system.n.01'), Synset('neck.n.01'), Synset('nervous_system.n.01'), Synset('pressure_point.n.01'), Synset('respiratory_system.n.01'), Synset('sensory_system.n.02'), Synset('torso.n.01'), Synset('vascular_system.n.01')]

>>> dog.member_holonyms()
[Synset('canis.n.01'), Synset('pack.n.06')]

>>> wood = make_synset('wood')
>>> wood.substance_holonyms()
[Synset('beam.n.02'), Synset('chopping_block.n.01'), Synset('lumber.n.01'), Synset('spindle.n.02')]
>>> wood.substance_meronyms()
[Synset('lignin.n.01')]

We can use hypernyms to classify words into domains using WordNet, but there’s an existing domain classification system in the form of WordNet Domains. It can be downloaded here. Code for using this can be found on Stack Overflow. But it doesn’t seem to work with nltk 3.0 (the synset numbers don’t match).

And there’s a sentiment score system for WordNet in the form of SentiWordNet. There’s an interface for it in WordNet 3.0.

def make_senti_synset(word, category='n', number='01'):
    """Conveniently make a senti_synset"""
    number = int(number)
    return swn.senti_synset('%s.%s.%02i' % (word, category, number))

def synsets_sentiments(synsets):
    """Return the objs, pos, neg and pos - neg score sums for the synsets"""
    pos = 0.0
    obj = 0.0
    neg = 0.0
    for synset in synsets:
        try:
            pos += synset.pos_score()
            obj += synset.obj_score()
            neg += synset.neg_score()
        except AttributeError, e:
            pass
    return obj, pos, neg, pos - neg

>>> happy = make_senti_synset('happy', 'a')
>>> happy.pos_score()
0.875
>>> happy.neg_score()
0.0
>>> happy.obj_score()
0.125

synsets_sentiments([make_senti_synset(word, 'a') for word in 'happy sad angry heavy light depressing'.split()])
(2.5, 1.5, 2.0, -0.5)

Not every word has a sentiment score, hence the try/except block in synsets_sentiments.

WordNet is sensitive to senses and it’s hard to automatically resolve senses when processing arbitrary text. When generating text and using WordNet to find words, it’s important (and easier) to set the correct sense for the synset.

>>> colour = make_synset('colour', 'n', 6)
>>> all_hyponyms(colour)
set([Synset('chrome_red.n.01'), Synset('primary_color.n.01'), Synset('light_brown.n.01'), Synset('sallowness.n.01'), Synset('hazel.n.04'), Synset('iron-grey.n.01'), Synset('olive_green.n.01'), Synset('tan.n.02'), Synset('pastel.n.01'), Synset('coal_black.n.01'), Synset('pinkness.n.01'), Synset('vandyke_brown.n.01'), Synset('beige.n.01'), Synset('blue.n.01'), Synset('shade.n.02'), Synset('achromatic_color.n.01'), Synset('whiteness.n.03'), Synset('coral.n.01'), Synset('chromatism.n.02'), Synset('apatetic_coloration.n.01'), ...

This gives concepts on different levels. Maybe if we try the peers of a colour.

>>> all_peers(make_synset('red'))
set([Synset('red.n.01'), Synset('pastel.n.01'), Synset('purple.n.01'), Synset('green.n.01'), Synset('olive.n.05'), Synset('complementary_color.n.01'), Synset('brown.n.01'), Synset('blue.n.01'), Synset('blond.n.02'), Synset('yellow.n.01'), Synset('orange.n.02'), Synset('pink.n.01'), Synset('salmon.n.04')])

OK maybe if we try the children of a concept.

>>> all_hyponyms(make_synset('chromatic_color'))
set([Synset('chrome_red.n.01'), Synset('light_brown.n.01'), Synset('hazel.n.04'), Synset('olive_green.n.01'), Synset('tan.n.02'), Synset('pastel.n.01'), Synset('pinkness.n.01')

Perhaps the leaf nodes.

def _recurse_leaf_hyponyms(synset, leaf_hyponyms):
    synset_hyponyms = synset.hyponyms()
    if synset_hyponyms:
        for hyponym in synset_hyponyms:
            _recurse_all_hyponyms(hyponym, leaf_hyponyms)
    else:
        leaf_hyponyms += synset

def leaf_hyponyms(synset):
    """Get the set of leaf nodes from the tree of hyponyms under the synset"""
    hyponyms = []
    _recurse_leaf_hyponyms(synset, hyponyms)
    return set(hyponyms)

>>> leaf_hyponyms(make_synset('chromatic_color'))
set([Synset('taupe.n.01'), Synset('snuff-color.n.01'), Synset('chrome_red.n.01'), Synset('light_brown.n.01'), Synset('hazel.n.04'), Synset('olive_drab.n.01'), Synset('old_gold.n.01'), Synset('chocolate.n.03'), Synset('yellowish_pink.n.01'), Synset('yellowish_brown.n.01'), Synset('tyrian_purple.n.02'), ...

That looks good. All colours, no intermediate concepts.

We can use this set of words to choose colours, or to categorize words as colours.

I hope this demonstrates that WordNet can be a very useful resource for Generative Art and Digital Humanities projects.

Categories
Art Art Computing Free Culture Generative Art Projects Satire

Monkeycoin

monkeycoin

Monkeycoin is the follow-up to Facecoin. It is a Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency that uses trying to write the complete works of Shakespeare as its proof of work. You can find out more here.

Categories
Art Free Software Generative Art Projects

More Surgical Strike

rings

I’ve fixed more of the outstanding issues in Surgical Strike. And I’ve make an Emacs mode for editing .strike files and executing them.

strike-mode

I’ve also documented the language and taken this opportunity to change a feature of the language that I was never happy with, although I haven’t updated the code examples to reflect this yet.