Creating an Underwater Immersive Experience
Concept:
For my midterm project I plan on creating a design that reflects life under water and produces abstract shapes that mimic the possible look and movement nature of unknown species. I aim to create a visually pleasing design that combines gradients of color with constantly evolving floating shapes to showcase the beauty while also sparking curiosity about what lies under the surface of the ocean. To further amplify the experience I plan on adding sound effects or music tracks that would allow for the design to be more immersive.
Process:
I began researching and attempting certain approaches to achieve my intended goal:
My first step was to look into how I could create the shapes that look like underwater species. For that I had to put in mind the gravity force that affects the species underwater, and the need to achieve a floating/ undulating movement effect on the shapes. Similar to what I had done in my last assignment, I could possibly create that through using Perlin noise to affect the position of the shapes over time. Perlin noise could also be introduced when creating the lines that formulate my shape. In doing so, I will be able to achieve a smooth moving surface for the creatures. Another thing I am looking into is introducing noise into the RGB values to have a smooth change of color over time.
However, I am still unsure of how I could be creating shapes that are constantly evolving while still looking like underwater creatures. I thought of starting off with a circle of lines. These line could be randomized in amount and position using noise. From there I’ll be able to create a floating circle-like shape. But when it comes to having this shape change I will have to introduce some mathematics into the structure of the circle itself. I looked through some tutorials, and one that inspired is below. It shows how to create a constantly looping circle that is in the shape of a mathematical cardioid shape.
I am still learning more about how to apply this to my shapes, perhaps by creating different anchor points to the lines other than just the center of the circle I could get somewhere. Once I am able to create these evolving shapes I plan on putting them into a class to play with the frequency and number of which they appear on screen. I also am hoping to include forces of attraction/ repulsion between the shapes and add introduce acceleration like we did with the movers to make an even more realistic underwater environment.
One other thing I hope to apply is have the background look like its a water rather than just blank. When searching into that I found that patterned surfaces like rough floors could be achieved through what is called Worley noise, similar in its use but different in its outcome than Perlin noise. Below is the video I began exploring and hopefully relying on that and other tutorials ill be able to achieve the desired effect.