As someone who never uses "desktop" or "background" images, I actually do think the example images are beautiful and enjoyable.
I'll admit there are probably very few idiots like me who refuse to use background image decorations, but let me explain why as well as what.
The background image I use on X is called the "root weave" and although it is horribly ugly, it is exceedingly useful. The "root weave" image is designed to help you detect errors in display rendering. If there's something wrong in your display drivers, display settings, or even cable connections, the refresh makes the root weave look like it's moving and can show other very obvious signs of corruption.
I got into this function-over-fashion mindset many decades ago when it was very easy to destroy a very expensive display by configuring or driving it the wrong way. Modern displays typically have safe-guards to prevent destroying equipment, but my ancient habit is still very useful for debugging.
The X.org and XFree code base includes the rootweave and a few other similar images designed to help identify display problems. You might have fun incorporating the ideas behind these test images into something more beautiful to look at?
That's a pretty interesting idea; do you have links to the "root weave" image? I googled but the search didn't turn anything up.
I'm not sure it's quite the direction I want to take Silk, but thanks for sharing -- I never thought about using desktop images for a pragmatic purpose such as that.
Root weave is a rendering definition, rather than a bitmap image, so that's probably why you're having a hard time finding it. Someone could probably grab a screenshot for you though.
Apparently root weave was done away with in X11R7.5, who knew? (Can still be enabled with the -retro flag.)
Congrats on a very slick web app, btw. Often when I see a project posted here I think to myself, "I could have done that, but am too lazy." :-) However, your idea is highly original and superbly executed. Well beyond my ken, not that that means anything.
In the past I've read analysis/explanation regarding the various test images, why they were created and how they should be used, but that was a very long time ago. You'll probably need to do a bit of digging to find such information.
Pure beauty is commendable as well as commonly desirable. Pure function is also commendable but far less commonly desirable. A blend of both is often superior to either.
I think would be unwise to cater function solely towards people doing debugging since it would severely limit the market, but making something both gorgeous and useful will have a stronger appeal than just gorgeous.
Oh wow, I was wondering why there were no prices in their "prices" page. Talk about situational blindness, I was about to reply that there were no prices there when I saw them. I think they should make them stand out more, it's probably because I was ignoring the dimensions as well (inches mean nothing to me) :/
Absolutely beautiful. I am not very "artistic" but it sure gave me the feeling like I was. Can't wait to see how the experience turns out on the mobile devices. I hope you decide to give it a go on Android devices as well.
Stunning! Can you give us some technical details? How are you producing the images (libraries, custom scripts, etc.)? I've thought about a project like this (your execution is light-years ahead of anything I could accomplish) using Nodebox -perhaps- as an excuse to learn something new about python.
Edit: I see it's in JavaScript? Excellent! Any other tools or techniques you found helpful would be interesting to read. Congrats!
Yep. Replays are exact, which was a conscious choice on my part.
I plan to explore inexact replays in the future. It's not difficult, just a bit of fooling about with the random number generator.
The main issue right now is that you can't tell the difference between two similar Silks unless you have them side-by-side. Solving that problem is something I'm looking into for future versions. :-)
I couldn't find an uncompressed version of your source on your site. Are you planning on releasing the JS source, or at least telling us a little more about the nitty-gritty of how this is done? I assume it's some sort of well-decorated Perlin noise generator, but I'm not too familiar with how those are made.
It's cool to see this sort of technology in a web browser, although for the iPhone/iPad I think some of the pre-existing generative art apps are currently better: Art of Glow, SpawnHD, Little Uzu, etc. I'm sure this is still a work on progress, but just make sure you keep an eye on what's already out there.
Alex, try hitting 'e' once you've woven a Silk. The little transparent <img> that pops up to the top right is full-size. Right-click it to save, and double-click it to hide.
I love how the instructions are presented one at a time each time you start a new Silk. It's subtle and it's great as I can immediately get started and each time I do it again I have a new feature to play with.
You just mesmerized my four year old — she sat still longer than I've seen in ages. If beautiful interactive visualization ever gets old I think you have a future in toddler mind control...
The replay button reminds me of the Achron game (an up-coming Meta-Time RTS). Basically, you can start drawing, then press Replay and draw some more on the replay, and then press Replay again... looks amazing :D. Nice work :).
I would imagine excanvas would struggle with this... however..
If Yury hasn't already, definitely give it a shot with FlashCanvas: http://flashcanvas.net/ Its performance is somewhere around 33x faster than the vml-based excanvas. (Yes, 3300% better.)
My guess is IE 9 doesn't supports the 'lighter' globalCompositeOperation on the canvas which is key to making the effect work. Without it I bet the lines look pretty dull.
As it turns out, it works pretty well with the latest IE9 Platform Preview, long as you switch IE's user-agent to one of the supported browsers. I think you're onto something though, because it does look less shiny in IE than in Chrome.
Absolutely gorgeous. Will be interested to see how our iOS version goes. I'm not sure if it will be of any help, but I have written an interaction "helper" library that is designed to make handling mouse and touch events consistent. If it is something that is useful, then let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
Damon, the iOS version is being written natively for that platform in Objective-C. I've got many ideas to explore on the iPad and iPhone/iPod -- what's on the web is just a taste.
But thanks for the link! I'll keep it in mind if a use for it crops up.
94 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 205 ms ] threadAs someone who never uses "desktop" or "background" images, I actually do think the example images are beautiful and enjoyable.
I'll admit there are probably very few idiots like me who refuse to use background image decorations, but let me explain why as well as what.
The background image I use on X is called the "root weave" and although it is horribly ugly, it is exceedingly useful. The "root weave" image is designed to help you detect errors in display rendering. If there's something wrong in your display drivers, display settings, or even cable connections, the refresh makes the root weave look like it's moving and can show other very obvious signs of corruption.
I got into this function-over-fashion mindset many decades ago when it was very easy to destroy a very expensive display by configuring or driving it the wrong way. Modern displays typically have safe-guards to prevent destroying equipment, but my ancient habit is still very useful for debugging.
The X.org and XFree code base includes the rootweave and a few other similar images designed to help identify display problems. You might have fun incorporating the ideas behind these test images into something more beautiful to look at?
I'm not sure it's quite the direction I want to take Silk, but thanks for sharing -- I never thought about using desktop images for a pragmatic purpose such as that.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3590/3621951455_9632ff862f.jp...
Apparently root weave was done away with in X11R7.5, who knew? (Can still be enabled with the -retro flag.)
Congrats on a very slick web app, btw. Often when I see a project posted here I think to myself, "I could have done that, but am too lazy." :-) However, your idea is highly original and superbly executed. Well beyond my ken, not that that means anything.
http://webcvs.freedesktop.org/xorg/data/bitmaps/
In the past I've read analysis/explanation regarding the various test images, why they were created and how they should be used, but that was a very long time ago. You'll probably need to do a bit of digging to find such information.
Pure beauty is commendable as well as commonly desirable. Pure function is also commendable but far less commonly desirable. A blend of both is often superior to either.
I think would be unwise to cater function solely towards people doing debugging since it would severely limit the market, but making something both gorgeous and useful will have a stronger appeal than just gorgeous.
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/clock_phase.php
The "probably" up there makes me sad; I miss my Linux desktops.
Check out Fracture - http://www.fractureme.com/ - I bet they would look unreal printed with their tech.
I love generative art and this looks very polished - the sparkles are a nice touch!
As someone else mentioned, the flags are easy to miss on a wide screen, maybe vertically align them with the content column?
Edit: I see it's in JavaScript? Excellent! Any other tools or techniques you found helpful would be interesting to read. Congrats!
I plan to explore inexact replays in the future. It's not difficult, just a bit of fooling about with the random number generator.
The main issue right now is that you can't tell the difference between two similar Silks unless you have them side-by-side. Solving that problem is something I'm looking into for future versions. :-)
Also the new button really needs to be more prominent
And yes, the UI needs some changes -- I'll be updating stuff and A/B testing it during the course of the next several weeks.
Note: I'll gladly pay a few euros for the iPad version
Making it so users can download the silks they make would be nice. Using your silk as my background is cool, but using my own is even better :)
It looks like I need to reposition the New link, though -- lots of people are simply refreshing and missing the hints.
http://www.escapemotions.com/experiments/flame/index.html#to...
If Yury hasn't already, definitely give it a shot with FlashCanvas: http://flashcanvas.net/ Its performance is somewhere around 33x faster than the vml-based excanvas. (Yes, 3300% better.)
http://sidelab.github.com/interact/
But thanks for the link! I'll keep it in mind if a use for it crops up.
Great site! I'm using the "rainbow on black" on my secondary cinema display now. Correct resolution and everything. Thanks! :)