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Artificial art

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Marcin Tustin

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Oct 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/11/99
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I've heard vaguely of experimental programs that can "study"
artworks, and then generate their own original images.
Anyone ever heard of this? Can anyone point me in the right
direction?
--
Humanity will not be happy until the day when the
last bureaucrat has been hanged with the guts of
the last capitalist.

Marcin Tustin
Mar...@mindless.REMOVEGOATS&OATS.com
Marcint@^^refresh-me.co.uk.nomail

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d...@omit.cs.mu.oz.au

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Oct 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/11/99
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Mar...@mindless.com (Marcin Tustin) writes:

>I've heard vaguely of experimental programs that can "study"
>artworks, and then generate their own original images.
>Anyone ever heard of this? Can anyone point me in the right
>direction?

I went to a fascinating seminar about 8 years ago by a couple
of US reseachers on this very topic. They had used some sort
of visual grammar to describe various properties of paintings
by two different artists, and applied this to analyzing and
generating works in the artists' styles. One artist was Miro,
and the other was an abstract US painter I hadn't encountered.
I think his name was Deebenkamp or Deebenkorf. I can't recall
the speakers' names, but I believe they were husband and wife.

Sorry this is so vague. It might just trigger someone else to
recognize the work in question.

David

Bill Coderre

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Oct 19, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/19/99
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Mar...@mindless.com (Marcin Tustin) wrote:
>I've heard vaguely of experimental programs that can "study"
>artworks, and then generate their own original images.
>Anyone ever heard of this? Can anyone point me in the right
>direction?

One such work was written up in a book called "Aaron's code," by Pamela
McCorduck. It's about Harold Cohen the artist collaborating with some AI
people (H Penny Nii and others, I am a bit foggy here) to write a sort of
an expert system that makes line drawings that are "art." There was also a
collection of drawings that Aaron had made.

I recall being somewhat disappointed that I couldn't figure out how
Aaron's programming worked (perhaps it was just me) from the books.

bc

Marc Hernandez

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Oct 19, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/19/99
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Bill Coderre (b...@wetware.com) wrote:

: Mar...@mindless.com (Marcin Tustin) wrote:
: >I've heard vaguely of experimental programs that can "study"
: >artworks, and then generate their own original images.
: >Anyone ever heard of this? Can anyone point me in the right
: >direction?

: One such work was written up in a book called "Aaron's code," by Pamela
: McCorduck. It's about Harold Cohen the artist collaborating with some AI
: people (H Penny Nii and others, I am a bit foggy here) to write a sort of
: an expert system that makes line drawings that are "art." There was also a
: collection of drawings that Aaron had made.

: I recall being somewhat disappointed that I couldn't figure out how
: Aaron's programming worked (perhaps it was just me) from the books.

Wow. I thought it was just me :-). It drove me to write a
Genetic Art program, which produced nice, if abstract pictures.

There was a neat music program that could do the same, supposedly
well enough to trick musicians.

Marc

Bill Coderre

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Oct 22, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/22/99
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In article <7uhhsc$cnb$1...@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>, ma...@bilix.cs.uoregon.edu
(Marc Hernandez) wrote:

>Bill Coderre (b...@wetware.com) wrote:
>: Mar...@mindless.com (Marcin Tustin) wrote:
>: >I've heard vaguely of experimental programs that can "study"
>: >artworks, and then generate their own original images.
>: >Anyone ever heard of this? Can anyone point me in the right
>: >direction?
>
>: One such work was written up in a book called "Aaron's code," by Pamela
>: McCorduck. It's about Harold Cohen the artist collaborating with some AI
>: people (H Penny Nii and others, I am a bit foggy here) to write a sort of
>: an expert system that makes line drawings that are "art." There was also a
>: collection of drawings that Aaron had made.
>
>: I recall being somewhat disappointed that I couldn't figure out how
>: Aaron's programming worked (perhaps it was just me) from the books.
>
> Wow. I thought it was just me :-). It drove me to write a
>Genetic Art program, which produced nice, if abstract pictures.

I am pretty sure my old co-Media Labber Karl Sims did one of those a few
years ago. It was a fractal-like picture, and people voted on which of the
designs was best. This would influence the genes which controlled the
parameters.

And your code is where? Are you willing to share?

>
> There was a neat music program that could do the same, supposedly
>well enough to trick musicians.

There were several "artificial Bach" kinds of programs. Here's one:
<http://www.yav.com/docs/PBBach.html>

That guy also has a "Mozart" thing too. I haven't heard them, and so am
exempt from commenting on their musical goodness (whew!).

Marc Hernandez

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Oct 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/24/99
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Bill Coderre (b...@wetware.com) wrote:
: In article <7uhhsc$cnb$1...@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>, ma...@bilix.cs.uoregon.edu
: (Marc Hernandez) wrote:

: >Bill Coderre (b...@wetware.com) wrote:
: >: Mar...@mindless.com (Marcin Tustin) wrote:
: >: >I've heard vaguely of experimental programs that can "study"
: >: >artworks, and then generate their own original images.
: >: >Anyone ever heard of this? Can anyone point me in the right
: >: >direction?
: >
: >: One such work was written up in a book called "Aaron's code," by Pamela
: >: McCorduck. It's about Harold Cohen the artist collaborating with some AI
: >: people (H Penny Nii and others, I am a bit foggy here) to write a sort of
: >: an expert system that makes line drawings that are "art." There was also a
: >: collection of drawings that Aaron had made.
: >
: >: I recall being somewhat disappointed that I couldn't figure out how
: >: Aaron's programming worked (perhaps it was just me) from the books.
: >
: > Wow. I thought it was just me :-). It drove me to write a
: >Genetic Art program, which produced nice, if abstract pictures.

: I am pretty sure my old co-Media Labber Karl Sims did one of those a few
: years ago. It was a fractal-like picture, and people voted on which of the
: designs was best. This would influence the genes which controlled the
: parameters.

That would be it, although it was not written in an exotic
language, nor for an exotic machine (course I wish I had an exotic
machine).

: And your code is where? Are you willing to share?

Hmm. It is horribly messy[1], and not terribly hard to write. I
plan on rewriting it, but other more important projects have
interfered. Some stuff may be at:
http://www.eisoftware.com/
under the heading of software.

<music stuff snipped>

Marc
[1] I was teaching myself C++ and how abstract syntax trees
worked. Between the both of them it was a mess.

Nicolas Delsaux

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Oct 29, 1999, 3:00:00 AM10/29/99
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Karl Sims has now its own company, and its address is
http://www.genarts.com/karl/
For advice, he is now working on virtual evolving creatures, and their use
for animation.

Nicolas Delsaux
http://nicolas.delsaux.free.fr/
nicolas...@free.fr

Marc Hernandez <ma...@bilix.cs.uoregon.edu> a écrit dans le message :
7utgng$1vq$1...@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU...

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