Noise

Adaptive subdivision and displacement

These images were achieved procedurally through the node-based (visual dataflow modeling) interface of the Cycles render engine, via Blender. Vector inputs were strung up to procedural outputs to accomplish a hierarchy of form and detail. This approach allows for greater range of variation, as each network node influences the behavior of those that come after it. Cycles allows for the target geometry to increase in mesh detail as needed, pixel by pixel.

Rendered in Cycles

Cycles is a biased ray-tracing software, used to simulate the behavior of light. The qualities of the material that are assigned to the object through the Shader Editor allow the software to generate physically-based renderings of virtual materials. Those in this collection use this virtual platform to explore our perception of reality creating spatial and textural arrangements that reside in a space between what is possible and what is impossible in physical reality.

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Bottom-up causality

In node networks, information can be looped and merged but generally flows in one direction, toward an end result. This gives increased leverage to nodes that appear early in the network. The exploration of resulting forms can lend some insight to causal relationships in complex systems.

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Difference & Repetition

The images below are highlights from an sustained inquiry of color and form, yielding hundreds of variations each. This form-finding procedure is useful for investigating shape and color combinations that would not otherwise be observed. We can use such procedural methods to develop concepts that we may not have invented on our own. Such visualization systems therefore extend and enhance our own imaginative reasoning through a human-machine interface. This is one example of what is sometimes referred to as distributed cognition.