Zio Beta Menus & Guide

Happy Halloween, and have a look at Zio which I’ve finally ‘finished’.  It’s just about to go to the beta testers, and then I’ll double check everything once more, build in the in-app purchase function to unlock the full program (it will come as a free app with a couple of presets for playback only), and then submit it to the App Store next week.  It will be for iPhone and iPod touch OS 3.0 and later, and will be around $5 to buy.

Below is the instruction guide which will be in a scrollable window, so forgive the long jpeg.

Zio Beta Testers Needed

My iPhone application Zio is near completion and I should have a Beta ready for next week.

I was planning on using ibetatest.com, but thought I’d throw out the line here to see if anyone would be interested in helping me.  The app needs tested on all devices, iPod touch, iPhone 3G, 3GS etc, and played with a lot for any bugs or suggestions on improvements, and everything possible to help get it past the Apple review process.

If you’re interested either drop me a line or goto the Zio forum I’ve specially created for Beta testing and register there.  Once the Beta is ready you’ll receive further instructions on how to obtain an ad hoc version.

The forum will also be home to users of Zio to talk and discuss about the program and create their own galleries of Zio art.

So hopefully if I can get a few testers I wont need to use ibetatest.com, and in return I can give you a free version of the app, a credit, and hopefully work together again on any future projects I might have.

Zio Art

Some demo screens from my upcoming iPhone application, Zio.

The graphic/algorithmic engine is finished, and now has particle motion.

I’m in the middle of rebuilding the interface before moving onto audio reaction.  Unfortunately there’s no way of ‘listening’ to audio coming from your iPhone – this is a restriction Apple has placed on the device.  So audio reaction will have to be based on music/audio playing in your room or nearby.  I haven’t done any tests yet but hopefully it should be workable.  However, this just a gimmicky thing in my opinion, Zio is primarily an interactive, meditative art program, which can be viewed with any kind of music whether it’s in literal sync to the amplitudes of the audio or not.

Overall I’m only a couple of weeks away from completion, then it will go for beta testing before finally being submitted to the app store, which might take another week or so.  I’m hoping to have it all done and available for download by end of October.

Symposium Talk from Ars Electronica

This is my talk on The Nest That Sailed The Sky I gave at the recent Ars Electronica symposium.  You can see the video here.

I had somewhat over prepared quite a lengthy lecture trying to unify the entirety of science, art and religion, delving into the most profound Buddhist thought, how it corresponds to modern science, and how my work reflects these ideas.  I also paralleled my artistic motives with Kepler, who tried to unify his mystical beliefs with his scientific views as a means to explain the meaning of life and the universe.  Kepler also taught mathematics just up the road from were I was giving the talk in Linz.

Anyway, most of it went out the window as I quickly realised I had neither the time nor was it quite the right atmosphere for something so dense.  But I managed to fumble my way through explaining the basics of my generative animation system using Music is Math as an example, and demoed Zio at the end.

This is the Jury Statement read out by Juergen as he introduces me.

“Rounding out our selection in the winner’s circle is an algorithmic animation done in Processing as a music video for Peter Gabriel’s hypnotic song.  As contrasted with some of the other entries of algorithmic animation, Glenn Marshall has worked hard on creating a metaphor for the stages of life, which are smoothly woven together in a lyrical lullaby for the eyes. We are lifted up to follow huge black vines that snake up to an abstract cloudy sky, and as they branch out in recursive patterns different seedpods are revealed. The initial palette of the world of these vines is deep green and blue, lit by an ethereal light source. As the pods grow and are left behind, the light source becomes warmer and bright red fruits contrast with the fluffy green pods. A further shift to a more golden background reveals the same small boy repeated in nest-like pods. They multiply seemingly endlessly as the black vines grow back into a blue environment again.  The jury felt that the programming/coding effort was a unique and worthy accomplishment while maintaining strong aesthetics and story line.”

The jury statement:

Rounding out our selection in the winner’s circle is an algorithmic animation done in Processing as a music video for Peter Gabriel’s hypnotic song.  As contrasted with some of the other entries of algorithmic animation, Glenn Marshall has worked hard on creating a metaphor for the stages of life, which are smoothly woven together in a lyrical lullaby for the eyes. We are lifted up to follow huge black vines that snake up to an abstract cloudy sky, and as they branch out in recursive patterns different seedpods are revealed. The initial palette of the world of these vines is deep green and blue, lit by an ethereal light source. As the pods grow and are left behind, the light source becomes warmer and bright red fruits contrast with the fluffy green pods. A further shift to a more golden background reveals the same small boy repeated in nest-like pods. They multiply seemingly endlessly as the black vines grow back into a blue environment again.  The jury felt that the programming/coding effort was a unique and worthy accomplishment while maintaining strong aesthetics and story line.

Ars Electronica 2009

Just back from Ars Electronica, Linz Austria.

Had a really great time and met some wonderful people.  Below is a camera pic record of it all including gala nights, award ceremonies, the Ars Electronica Centre and Linz itself.  Had screenings of the film, done some interviews, picked up my award and talked about my work in the symposium, and also showed off Zio at every opportunity!