Project S.O.N.A.R Website Released

Greetings All,
I have released the first iteration of the Project S.O.N.A.R website for further information and group sign up. While I am still working out a few kinks, we all have to start somewhere. The website is located at the following link..

www.projectsonar.com

So have a read, sign up for the group, and I'll be releasing the actual Sonar form as soon as it's developed enough for proper use (should be sometime later this month). If you have any difficulty signing up for the group, just email me at my address and I'll note you down for the first participation once we settle on a date.

mditulli@gmail.com

Also, I have been viewing and cataloging many other interactive projects in Second Life that have made their debut lately. These will appear on the blog shortly once I organized my photos and video recordings. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

Project S.O.N.A.R

Project S.O.N.A.R
Self-Organizing Nebulous Architectural Response


It looks like the swarm prototype mentioned in my earlier blog post "Emergent Forms - self organizing structures" is nearly complete. I will spend the next two weeks touching up version 1.2 and we can begin to conduct time trials soon thereafter. I have created a new website dedicated soley to the project and its evolution over the coming months. This site will provide detailed information about the experiment along with a group signup to recruit people for participation in the initial demonstration. Thanks for checking in and more info to come soon!

Virtual Studio Tour - Reactive/Reflexive Elements

Virtual Studio Tour (test machinima)



Video can be seen at the following link..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxqa_v-cEB0

This is my first machinima so I apologize for the low res quality. This video demonstrates two kinetic/reactive elements incorporated into the latest version of my online studio. These scripts were pulled from the grouping published by keystone Bouchard for his Reflexive Architecture Gallery.

http://slarchitecture.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1066283%3ABlogPost%3A3

I am in the process of including additional kinetic elements that will respond to both avatar behavior and presence. These kinetic elements have an aesthetic value and must work with the form as to retain their logic within the overall architectural system. This particular virtual studio examines the use of kinetic elements as an extension to the base (fixed) architectural structure. The translucent texture and character of the block suggest a primitive curtain wall or glazed entryway of some type. Its kinetic properties further push this distinction.

In this case the wall pulls apart to form 'flex columns' which frame the entryway to the studio. When the avatars stands in the middle of this liquid curtain wall, the frame splits upward echoing a classic Gothic arch. This is due to the spacing of the kinetic elements as well as the sphere of influence (located around the avatar) which activates the scripts within the translucent blocks. These same columns produce inverted Gothic arches as the avatar inhabits the platform above the entryway (utilizing the same properties of placement and sphere of influence.

I will post more machinima as the design progresses.

Object to Field

Over the past few months I have suggested in various discussion groups the need for a more qualitative and quantitative investigation of reactive/reflexive scripts within SL. Avatar Keystone Bouchard (John Brouchoud) has accomplished this and has managed to package it beautifully in his Gallery of Reflexive Architecture.

The gallery explores the flexibility and variability of one or two simple scripts integrated into various forms and formations. This is most accurately a study on the ability for a single script to show vastly different expression through only minor variations in its behavior and in the form encompassed by it. The gallery goes on to identify multiple conditions of the proximity script including..

Carvable Architecture - each time an avatar approaches, these units move out slightly. Over time, the movement of avatars essentially 'carves' the architecture and high traffic areas become larger over time.

Prim Decay - prims decay as avatars pass by, leaving a visual trace of avatar paths during the course of 3 hours

Architecture On Demand – As titled

Architectural Jazz – Covered in earlier post

Traffic Graph - prims move down slightly every time an avatar approaches, creating a visual representation of traffic density

Elevated Plane – As titled

Sudden Space – More on this later

Door Wall – More on this later

This is a great example of visual complexity generated through the accumulation of basic responsive elements. The scripts themselves are fairly simple and, in most cases, are repeated among each of the individual elements. For example, the Architecture On Demand build utilizes a single block programmed to grow and diminish in scale as an avatar approaches. As a single unit, this block remains an object and is not very successful as an architectural element - but place many together in close proximity and the collection becomes a field condition. The individual blocks act in unison to create a field effect which gives the impression of a single membrane reacting as a singular surface. The resultant undulating surface is both elegant and visually complex and contains many more architectural applications as wall surface, floor surface, or spatial element.

This particular example further underscores the ability for virtual space to act as a test bed for RL interactive/responsive works. I spent some time developing a project along similar lines looking at deployable floor elements that would rise to furniture and table heights in response to user behavior and movement.

http://www.evokestudio8.com/Dendrite.html

This project was never developed due to time and monetary constraints, but in virtual space we are able to study the visual and behavioral effects of such works. The falling price of processors, video processing technologies, and tracking devices such as RFID will enable us to integrate intelligent environments into standard architectures on a broad scale in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, we must find the most efficient, flexible, and robust means to test and develop the relationship between individual/group behaviors and environments. Currently virtual worlds such as Second Life are the perfect platform to experiment and develop such scenario-based thought processes.

Example: Reflexive/Reactive Build

This build on Architecture Island (by avatar Theory Shaw) has utilized both scale and color shifting reactions to reflect avatar presence and proximity. This is more than simply a virtual structural reflex as he has managed to identify a functional purpose for this script as well.

The colored leaf panels become dynamic elements as they signal their function through both color and scalar differentiation. The leaf panels utilize two scripts which allow them to change in both scale and color based upon avatar proximity. As an avatar approaches a panel, the panel expands slightly and subtly shifts its color. These panels hang suspended in space more as screening devices than wall elements; another visual signal of their departure from traditional static architectures.

The dynamic nature of this structure becomes an active reflection of inhabited virtual space. These leaf panels also relate to the aesthetic concept of concealing and revealing. They are opaque to the degree that they offer 'privacy' to avatars in conversation but their reflexive/reactive nature also reveals both the presence and location of avatars within the structure.

While not necessarily falling into the category of interactivity, Theory has successfully integrated this reflexive/reactive element into an overall architectural device, that becomes functional as well as aesthetic.

Emergent Forms - self organizing structures

Kas Oosterhuis introduces the idea of 'Swarm Architecture' in the publication GameSetandMatch II (a series of proposals, experiments, and publications on Computer Games, Advanced Geometries, and Digital Technologies). He describes Swarm Architecture as..

"..based on my postulation that every member of an architectural construct is, in essence, based on a computed behavior of discrete quanta. These quanta can represent anything from the smalles building component to the largest building blocks of a metropolis, anything from one single perosn to multinational institutions, as long as they behave in real time, and as long as their behavior can be computed real time."

Kas goes on to describe qualities of 'uncertainty' and 'unpredictability' as the swarm operates through a bottom-up process of independently operating units. With this in mind I began to think about how this concept might take advantage of the unique properties of the virtual.

Architects such as Tobi Schneidler and institutions such as the TU Delft have done some experimentation with swarm behaviors. Usually these projects consist of a physical space 'entangled' with a virtual space inhabited by virtual agents of some type. Entanglement is a word used by the IVM group (InfiniteVisionMedia) to describe virtual/physical spaces connected through custom software and MIDI components. As individuals move throughout the physical spaces, they are interacting with invisible 'agents' which are programmed with simple and predictable behaviors. Sensor devices locate the movements within the physical space and the virtual agents react in real time to these behaviors. This is accomplished through real-time communication between the two spaces (virtual and physical) Generally, the movements of the virtual agents are translated back into kinetic movement within the space (through objects or actuated devices) which allows the physical inhabitants and the virtual agents to communicate in a continuous feedback loop.

While this can result in extremely complex and unpredictable behavior patterns, the individual virtual agents actually run off simple programs. I will publish some examples of this in a future blog. These complex and unpredictable patterns are known as emergent behaviors.

Based upon this info, I started thinking about how we could take advantage of the unique environmental characteristics of SL to create a self-organizing emergent structure. This structure might consist of numerous units that emerge from the landscape or objects within the landscape. These objects may be released when the avatar approaches an object or a specific place within the environment.

(click on pictures to enlarge)



As these objects/agents/bots emerge, they approach and orbit the avatar(s). That is to say each object is scripted to approach and rotate around an avatar in an orbit of a certian diameter. Over time and within a certain distance of an avatar, these objects begin to grow an outer layer much like a seed begins to grow fruit.



The objects are scripted so when a collision occurs, the translucent outer layers 'stick' together and become frozen in space. This can occur with objects of different 'stages' of growth resulting in an asymmetrical evolving form.



As these objects continually collide and 'gel' they begin to form a crystalized architecture around the inhabitants of the environment. The objects might also contain a script which allows them to unstick after a given amount of time. This would allow the form to continually move and reshape itself as the inhabitants move and inhabit different areas within the landscape. The swarm may also adopt properties that attract an avater resulting in a more 'pro-active' architecture that does not simply respond and evolve to user behavior, but actually encourages group behaviors or movements.



So the result is we get a continually moving and evolving liquid/crystalized architectural body who's form is derived from avatar movement and inhabitation. If we wanted to include a social aspect, we might say that the objects only deploy or rotate when a certain number of avatars are within a given proximity of each other. The point is that when we work with bottom-up behaviors, we can create a whole new set of properties by just tweaking a small amount of code within an object.

The Game

Ultimately, Games are devices for communication. When we engage in a game with another player we are, in effect, having a conversation. The language varies, but through this language we may express such traits as reciprocity, dominance, cooperation, competitiveness, coercion, commitment, focus, intellectual engagement, and occasionally physical exercise. The brilliant thing about games is that communication can take place at a very basic level only having learned the language of the game in a very short amount of time. A game may be based on a very simple set of rules such as hitting a ball with a stick until it gets into a specific hole. Like etiquette, game rules construct a defining framework through which people find the proper means to interact. While the rules for the game might be simple, people use this as groundwork for communication which ultimately develops into a highly complex interaction between the players. Thus, the game becomes a construct or framework which allows for communication to take place at a very basic level between people.

The game also serves to level the playing field for the players to communicate with each other. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences, and the game is a device which allows us to transcend our individual perspectives and work toward or against a common goal.
The winner of the game is the person who walks away with something more than they entered the game with. That may be knowledge, experience, or simply a new way to think about their interactions with people. The idea is to affect peoples everyday perceptions of their normal interactions that they may begin to both question those normal conventions, and begin to explore new avenues of communication.

Games become a very important component of interactive architectural works. Recent publications such as 4D Space, Responsive Environments, ia#1, and GameSetandMatch II have set out to define these unique interactions between people and interactive objects and virtual spaces. Games both inspire play and allow the user to engage architecture at a different level than simple occupation. The occupant becomes the participant as they engage and converse with the interactive game space.