https://ben-forest.com ben-forest Wed, 09 Oct 2019 14:22:00 +0000 https://ben-forest.com en https://ben-forest.com/Home-webgl Wed, 09 Oct 2019 14:22:00 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/Home-webgl https://ben-forest.com/Info Sat, 14 Sep 2019 18:30:59 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/Info Ben Forest —&nbsp; email /&nbsp;github /&nbsp;resume Ben Forest is an artist and creative technologist based in NYC. He is one half of ARIADNE, an experimental sacred music and new media art duo whose work explores the intersection of mysticism, dream analysis and the failure of digital systems through a synthesis of music performance, digital and interactive art, poetry and dramatic experience. Much of ARIADNE’s output consists of interactive audio/visual performances which employ custom built hardware and software, real-time 3D animation, and machine learning to create immersive and captivating experiences. ARIADNE’s body of work includes feature-length audio/visual albums, web-based virtual reality, and a/v installations. He most recently spoke about his work with ARIADNE at the Touchdesigner TouchIn Meetup in NYC along side Greg Hermanovic, Vincent Houze and Mary Frank. Video link here. Ben’s work with ARIADNE has been presented internationally at Kiezsalon Seres, Berlin; Issue Project Room, Brooklyn; National Sawdust, Brooklyn; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Ende Tymes Festival, Brooklyn; Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival, Colorado; CURRENTS New Media Festival, Sante Fe; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge; Harvestworks, New York; Ben has been invited to lecture and perform as a Visiting Artist at School of the Art Institute of Chicago; University of Utah College of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City; University of Denver – Emergent Digital Practices; Prichard Art Gallery – University of Idaho. Ben’s work with ARIADNE was featured in Paste Magazine’s list of “20 of the Most Innovative Musicians Working Today” and has been written about in NPR’s All Songs Considered and EXCLAIM! Magazine.&nbsp; https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Live Sat, 14 Sep 2019 18:31:00 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Live ARIADNE - Live About Although ARIADNE, Ben’s experimental A/V duo, releases a/v experiences, their main medium is performance. The performance system Ben has designed for ARIADNE has evolved and improved throughout the 5 years of ARIADNE’s existence, but the current implementation is described below. You can also a watch a video where an overview of the system is given at the Touchdesigner TouchIn NYC 2019 meetup here. Design Philosophy The design of the system is shaped by the following core problems and solutions: Problem: Laptops are bad interfaces for performing musical expression. Solution: Find or create new expressive interfaces for software based instruments. Problem: Laptops on stage during performances are distracting for the performer and the audience. Solution: Hide all laptops and computers from the audience. Problem: Compared with traditional acoustic instruments, current electronic musical instruments lack a link between visible physical movement and resultant generated sound. Solution: Creat low latency visual systems that have a direct relationship with the generated sound. Problem: Computer systems can be unstable and can crash. Solution: Embrace the inherent instability through physics simulations and machine learning algorithms while using good software design principles to ensure overall system stability. Implementation Hardware: &nbsp; &nbsp; The performance system consists of 3 computers connected via LAN, one for each performer’s sound generation and one for visual generation. These computers along with some audio hardware are contained in a rack that is placed behind the screen, hidden from the audience. The musical interfaces and controllers on stage are connected to the rack via two long cable looms. There is also a HDMI cable that goes to a short throw projector in front of the screen Although some of the controllers and musical interfaces are commercially available products, the main performance instruments are custom made and use a combination of machine learning algorithms to process both audio and gesture input into expressive and interesting sound output. This will be explained further here at a later date. Software: &nbsp; &nbsp; The visual system is built in Touchdesigner where the generated visuals rely heavily on CPU and GPU based physics simulations driven by real time audio input and music controller input. Several scenes are built within Touchdesigner and their sequence is decided by the performers via an OSC based controller during the performance. Touchdesigner also handles projector calibration which can be adjusted by the performer via a wireless OSC controller. The audio system is built using a combination of Max/MSP and Ableton. Ableton is used for it’s stability while Max/MSP is used for implementation of the machine learning based software instruments and custom DSP. Most of the communication between computers is done via OSC and is handled by a Node.js server which also implements system wide state logic. <img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/13c0ffcf4666f04c0d4dfc2643c76589a529d131f40903540872dcfd78105674/live4.gif" data-mid="50600300" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/13c0ffcf4666f04c0d4dfc2643c76589a529d131f40903540872dcfd78105674/live4.gif" /> <img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/32696a10f0df0de3af809f85594ce635635bcb06d47b2f1d4ff19a300258b547/live2.gif" data-mid="50600450" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/32696a10f0df0de3af809f85594ce635635bcb06d47b2f1d4ff19a300258b547/live2.gif" /><img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5c70d8838a53a31a166d9307fb3901f9452019fe7d2cfcd792f5f5035f4e9874/live1.gif" data-mid="50600451" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/5c70d8838a53a31a166d9307fb3901f9452019fe7d2cfcd792f5f5035f4e9874/live1.gif" /> https://ben-forest.com/Live-A-V-Template Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:34:18 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/Live-A-V-Template Live A/V Template <img width="1464" height="898" width_o="1464" height_o="898" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b10d63fb6ef1e4939f4b2c88d532ad5a951dae7d58d37f9b853067e7698ffdf1/LiveAVGif4.gif" data-mid="50715868" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b10d63fb6ef1e4939f4b2c88d532ad5a951dae7d58d37f9b853067e7698ffdf1/LiveAVGif4.gif" /> About Website: github.com/bforest-ariadne/Live-AV-Template A Touchdesigner template for live A/V performance. It is based on the performance system I built for ARIADNE. The system features: - A scene switching system with custom fade in and fade out between scenes. - A custom UI which can be run in another Touchdesigner instance or on a differenc machine on the same local network. - A calibration system for basic corner pinning. - A set of pre and post show modes https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Grief-Divine Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:35:00 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Grief-Divine ARIADNE - Grief Divine AboutFormat: WebGL Website: ariadnedigital.net/releases/stabat-mater/webgl&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Grief Divine is one movement from the A/V album Stabat Mater by ARIADNE. For more information on the whole album, please see ARIADNE - Stabat Mater. Details &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; The interactive portion of Stabat Mater and therefore Grief Divine was written in Javascript, utilizing the Three.js rendering &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; framework and a custom made game engine. The engine allows for physics simulations that react in realtime to audio analysis, realtime audio reactive shaders, and custom post processing fx. <img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c678e3c8d192b0ecb9882a2479e901b5742646e5fa6f5cd9e8998db243cf5d3d/divine3.gif" data-mid="50716766" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/c678e3c8d192b0ecb9882a2479e901b5742646e5fa6f5cd9e8998db243cf5d3d/divine3.gif" /> https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-AR-Card Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:35:48 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-AR-Card ARIADNE - AR Card About Format: WebGL / business card Website: https://www.ariadnedigital.net/ar/1/ &nbsp; &nbsp; The ARIADNE AR Card is a web based augmented reality app that displays a digital sculpture on top of the business card. The decision to make the app with web technology was for easy accessability: simply scan the QR code on the card and the app is immediately working on your device. To try without a business card, download the business card image below on another device. &nbsp; &nbsp; The app utilises the Three.js webGL rendering frame work and jsartoolkit: a javascript port of the C++ marker based AR library Artoolkit. <img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b4d9cb57548faf3b4c37f2431f32e260d7b9236f6b7cf1cf63693607855c9f8c/arCard2.gif" data-mid="50716870" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/b4d9cb57548faf3b4c37f2431f32e260d7b9236f6b7cf1cf63693607855c9f8c/arCard2.gif" /><img width="488" height="488" width_o="488" height_o="488" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c72a3539eddfa1df2a3de5135d153e5c2d86130253c7d6fcfb81e77a1765e17a/ARIADNE_ARCard_v6_front_s1.jpg" data-mid="50818486" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/488/i/c72a3539eddfa1df2a3de5135d153e5c2d86130253c7d6fcfb81e77a1765e17a/ARIADNE_ARCard_v6_front_s1.jpg" /> https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Stabat-Mater Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:36:17 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Stabat-Mater ARIADNE - Stabat Mater About release date: 2017.10.27 format: Cassette / Digital / WebGL label: Auris Apothecary website: ariadnedigital.net/releases/stabat-mater &nbsp; &nbsp; Stabat Mater is a 20 movement cycle of audio/visual ecstatic visions, and is being released as a purely musical work on cassette tape and as an interactive audio/visual web based experience. Stabat Mater&nbsp; is heavily inspired by the visions of female Christian mystics Hildegard von Bingen and Teresa of Ávila. The lyrics for Stabat Mater include adaptations of writings from these mystics fused together with text taken from surrealist poet Aase Berg's With Deer and Dark Matter (both translated by Johannes Göranssonand published by Black Ocean). Details &nbsp; &nbsp; The images and videos on this page showcase the album art which was rendered in realtime in Blender 2.8. The album art features features a full body scan that I created in my apartment with 4 DSLRs. To read more about the A/V component of the work see ARIADNE - Grief Divine or the Stabat Mater website. Press “Stabat Mater is among the most challenging releases you have heard this year. And it's magnificent..” – EXCLAIM! “20 of the Most Innovative Musicians Working Today” – Paste Magazine (January 2018) “Best of 2017 - Viking’s Choice: The Year in Cathartic Screams and Meditative Drones” – NPR – All Songs Considered “…an unlikely but surprisingly effective collision of forms, its 20 tracks drawing together choral music, electronic processing, harsh noise textures, and generative audiovisual techniques.” – The Wire Magazine (January 2018) “Hypnotizing, enticing, alluring, yet frightening, it’s a synthetic hand offering to let you in. Take it.” – Tiny Mix Tapes “…a bizarrely evocative balance of classicism and experimental electronics.” – Sputnik Music <img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/87eea8be33d31764b9bc7632d3de66ba5fd984d5c4b880565958983ff660a588/sm2.gif" data-mid="50717110" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/87eea8be33d31764b9bc7632d3de66ba5fd984d5c4b880565958983ff660a588/sm2.gif" /><img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/51035f20b9ff52cb23e71f2f1d7fbcf1e674199857e569385c6b9c0cebd40f94/sm3.gif" data-mid="50717227" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/51035f20b9ff52cb23e71f2f1d7fbcf1e674199857e569385c6b9c0cebd40f94/sm3.gif" /> https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Tsalal Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:37:14 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Tsalal ARIADNE - Tsalal About release date: 2015.08.24 format: microSD Card / Digital label: Auris Apothecary website: ariadnedigital.net/releases/tsalal &nbsp; &nbsp; Tsalal, which is Hebrew for the concept "to grow or become dark," is the title of the brand new 6 track album (and first physical release ever) from ARIADNE. It is a full-frequency, multi-sensory audio/visual experience totaling almost an hour of subsonic tones, glitched out rhythms, synthesized melodies, and extravagant choral passages with hints of Gregorian chants &amp; hymnal somberness. Contained on an absolutely tiny 4GB microSD card housed inside an equally miniscule clear plastic case, Tsalal is tangibly minimal yet digitally immersive, featuring the complete audio compositions as ultra high quality lossless WAV files, as well as matching HD videos of synchronized digital environment renders created by ARIADNE as visual stimuli to further enhance the intricate nature of Tsalal's brooding aesthetic. Details &nbsp; &nbsp; The visual portion of Tsalal was designed and rendered in Blender, making heavy use of audio reactive physics simulations. In order to have the album rendered in time for the release date, Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing platform was used to create a render farm that would spin up thousands of instances at a time to render the 60 minute long album. <img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4ddcacfe402aeb6d2cc8d2f0d57df62999db9d8d66fce8f7d681f42555e552a6/Tsalal1.gif" data-mid="50717398" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/4ddcacfe402aeb6d2cc8d2f0d57df62999db9d8d66fce8f7d681f42555e552a6/Tsalal1.gif" /> https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Video-Art Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:38:07 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/ARIADNE-Video-Art ARIADNE - Video Art <img width="640" height="480" width_o="640" height_o="480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2c85ee5895adf4af4dc96517f896526ae33524fd9f92a6b61d56485732f8b768/heart2.gif" data-mid="50717542" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/2c85ee5895adf4af4dc96517f896526ae33524fd9f92a6b61d56485732f8b768/heart2.gif" /> https://ben-forest.com/About-Benjamin-Forest Mon, 09 Nov 2015 18:09:19 +0000 ben-forest https://ben-forest.com/About-Benjamin-Forest Landsat presents images and other media as large as possible with a minimum amount of interface elements. The design separates media content (images, video, etc.) from text, which is displayed in a panel on top of images and other media content. The design automatically opens the most recently added project (which can be changed or turned off in Display Options: Start page). The default image width is 1024px, which can be customized in Display Options. There are 3 image display settings: Fill browser window This is the default setting and will scale images to always completely fill the viewer’s browser window regardless of its original size. If the browser window exceeds the image size, it will retrieve the originally uploaded image to maximize resolution as images are scaled up. (Filling the browser window and maintaining the image’s aspect ratio will cause part of the image to be cropped.) Fit to browser window This setting will make the image as large as possible inside the browser window but never larger than its original size. If the image is larger than the window it will scale it down; if it's smaller it will display it at 100%, in the middle of the page. This setting ensures images are never cropped. Don't scale This setting does not touch the image and simply displays it at 100% from the top-left of the page. If it’s taller or wider than the browser window some parts will be cropped. Keyboard shortcuts j or right arrow — next project k or left arrow — previous project i or up arrow — index r — random project