Design 6400 2/21 Journal

This week I turned my previous work on the star orbiting effect into a loop, in an attempt to synchronize it with a breathing exercise. Meg suggested that black, white, and red color combination is not necessarily calming, to which I mostly agree — I think my choice here is more intriguing that calming. One friend commented that this effect look likes the Big Bang of the universe. I think the black ground does bring a sense of depth and infinity.

One famous work that uses a black background is the underwater screensaver from Windows 98. This is a screensaver that I like very much and will refer to repeatedly. The black background is pertinent to the deep sea, along with its dwellers. The scene contains numerous variations and surprises, most notably a shark fin that swims across the screen roughly every two and a half minutes. It almost seems as if the longer one looks at the scene, the more interesting details one will spot. The mysterious black background, continuous variations of creatures, and the sound of water and bubble work in synergy to create a long lasting appeal.

One study shows that in hospital rooms, people prefer scenic images that show different layers of depth, from near to far. I think the different layers in the Underwater screensaver and the depth accentuated by the black color coincide with the research finding.

In terms of my particle effect, next week I am planning to add a function to let the users define how long they wish to inhale, hold, and exhale, and that use that metric to adjust the changes of the particles. I will also explore other color combinations.

For the fish schooling scene I am making, I put a schooling algorithm on an image of the neon tetra fish, using the graphics library of p5.js. Although it looks very tough right now, it affirms me of the technical feasibility.

For interactivity, I added a user-controllable black dot as the leader of the school. It currently applies strong, adhesive force to other fish. I will tweak the algorithm to control the leader and the school to be more visually pleasing.

The aquarium I am planning to make will consist of substrate, plants, fish, and bubbling shells. I will keep in mind to create a sense of space and depth. In addition, I will work on different color combination and timing of my particle effect, as well as improving the schooling behavior.