Matthew R. Lewis

Synchronous objects for one flat thing, reproduced

Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing, reproduced (http://synchronousobjects.osu.edu) is an interactive screen-based work developed by The Ohio State Universitys Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) and the Department of Dance in collaboration with renowned choreographer William Forsythe. Pivoting on Forsythes masterwork of visual complexity, One Flat Thing, Reproduced, as its research resource, the Synchronous Objects project seeks to enrich cross-disciplinary investigation and creativity by revealing deep structures of choreographic thinking through a vivid collection of information objects in the form of 3D computer animation, annotation and interactive graphics.

Interactive evolution for industrial design

Interactive evolutionary design (IED) has the potential to change development processes in industrial design from generating individual solutions to designing parametric models that are employed to create a vast space of possible solutions. This paper describes the current stage of a continuing interdisciplinary project between computer science and industrial design to make IED accessible for designers. The long term goal is to integrate the software into participatory design research methods, since interactive evolutionary design interfaces can be used without extensive training and skills. Everybody can use it to intuitively identify, communicate and explore appealing solutions within a large solution space. A case study is conducted to illustrate initial experiences by applying interactive evolutionary design software to the design process of a small, electric vehicle. The findings of the case study are immediately applied to further develop the software as a new design tool. The main contribution of this article is an explanation of basic techniques for designers/artists to design and shape a solution space.

Aesthetic geometry evolution in a generic interactive evolutionary design framework

An interactive evolutionary design framework is presented which provides a testbed for the development and exploration of a range of visual aesthetic design spaces. A commercial 3D digital content development software package is used to leverage the strength of existing 3D algorithm implementations and familiar interfaces and tools. The domain of non-representational 3D forms sculpted with a series of non-linear deformers is discussed as the primary example. Additional simple problem domains are shown which are being developed to serve as examples for non-programmer artists and designers who are familiar with digital content authoring in Maya. These examples will enable such individuals to rapidly construct their own interactive evolution systems.

Aesthetic Video Filter Evolution in an Interactive Real-Time Framework

A data-flow network-based interactive evolutionary design framework is presented which will provide a testbed for the development and exploration of a diverse range of visual artistic design spaces. The domain of real-time layered video filters is focused on as the primary example. The system supports both real-time video streams and prerecorded video. Issues of stylistic signature, GA vs. GP-based approaches, rapid tuning of fitness distributions, and desirable traits of generic evolutionary design systems are discussed.

Bowen virtual theater

A web-based virtual theater was created to provide students learning introductory theatrical concepts with a more engaging means of exploring the possibilities of set design, lighting, prop placement, and actor blocking. Web delivery without plug-ins allows a very large number of students to access the site with minimal support requirements. The system can be used as an experimentation lab, a design tool, and an in-class instructional system for illustrating concepts.

Designing collaborative interdisciplinary CG experiences in the curriculum

In the last twenty years, computer graphics has evolved as a fi eld and become a staple in many educational institutions. Howev er the disciplinary silos of academia have often made it difficu lt to approach this medium from its strongest advantage, via inte rdisciplinary collaboration. In addition, off-the-shelf soft ware packages have made it seem as if the disciplines don’t really need each other. Often our teaching focuses on skills because the soft ware remains complex. As a result, our students miss out on experien cing the contextual richness that evolves from working collabor tively across disciplines.

Inverse mapping with sensitivity analysis for partial selection in interactive evolution

Evolutionary algorithms have shown themselves to be useful interactive design tools. However, current algorithms only receive feedback about candidate fitness at the whole-candidate level. In this paper we describe a model-free method, using sensitivity analysis, which allows designers to provide fitness feedback to the system at the component level. Any part of a candidate can be marked by the designer as interesting (i.e. having high fitness). This has the potential to improve the design experience in two ways: (1) The finer-grain guidance provided by partial selections facilitates more precise iteration on design ideas so the designer can maximize her energy and attention. (2) When steering the evolutionary system with more detailed feedback, the designer may discover greater feelings of satisfaction with and ownership over the final designs.

Interactive Evolution for Designing Motion Variants

We present an intuitive method for novice users to interactively design custom populations of stylized, heterogeneous motion, from one input motion. The user sets up lattice deformers which are used by a genetic algorithm to manipulate the animation channels of the input motion and create new motion variants. Our interactive evolutionary design environment allows the user to traverse the available space of possibilities, presents the user with populations of motion, and gradually converges to a satisfactory set of solutions. Each generated motion can undergo a filtering process subject to user-specified, high-level metrics to produce a result crafted to fit the designer’s interest. We demonstrate application to both character animation and particle systems.

Spatiotemporal Ideation and Generation with Interactive Evolutionary Design

ABSTRACT Interactive evolutionary design tools enable human intuition and creative decision-making in high-dimensional design domains while leaving technical busywork to the computer. Current evolutionary algorithms for interactive design tools accept only feedback about entire design candidates, not their parts, which can lead to user fatigue. This article describes several case studies in which designers used an enhanced interactive evolutionary design tool with region-of-interest feedback for character animation tasks. This enhanced interactive evolutionary design tool is called the Interactive Design with Evolutionary Algorithms and Sensitivity (IDEAS) tool. Designers’ feedback and narratives about their experiences with the tool show that interactive evolutionary algorithms can be made suitable for the ideation and generation of digital assets, even in time-varying domains.

Creating choreography with interactive evolutionary algorithms

Directing a group behavior towards interesting and complex motion can and should be intuitive, iterative, and often participatory. Toward this end, we present a choreographic system that enables designers to explore a motion space based on a parametric model of behaviors. Designers may work with the system by moving back and forth through two complementary stages: first, using an evolutionary algorithm to traverse the space of behavior possibilities, allowing designers to emphasize desired kinds of motion while leaving room for an element of the unexpected, and second, using selected behaviors to direct the group motion of simple performing creatures. In the second stage, evolved group motion behaviors from the first stage are used alongside existing high-level parametric rules for local articulated motion.