Fijuu2 is the kind of art that seems to have dropped in from a wormhole from the future. It’s tough to describe, a rotating three-dimensional world in which visitors can sculpt glitchy and resonating sounds, represented by fluid 3D models, all using a standard PlayStation2 controller. We got a chance to see some stills earlier this month, from London’s Cybersonica show where the latest version of the work was installed. Now, the artist has shared a video, and you can really see what this is all about:
Fixed YouTube link after it moved; thanks, Chris! -Ed.
The best news is, thanks to the rapidly-expanding real-time 3D capabilities of consumer computers, this could be just the tip of an iceberg. A pulsating, glitchy, morphing iceberg. Further details at the project site. Thanks to Chris O’Shea, Cybersonica curator and sumo of pixels.
Is it me or does this look a lot like a wimpy version of that autecher video from a while back?
http://www.sputnik7.com/vod/index.jsp?section=mus…
It's not just you. Our visual editor Jaymis here pointed out the same thing. 😉
That said, this has one big edge — it's real-time and interactive.
Hadn't seen the Autechre video; that's very cool!
You know, that's the other thing about 3D, though; I think we'll see a lot broader range of expression in the future. It can look like really whatever you want.
Oh snap!
I actually said Gantz Graf Lite 🙂 Wimpy is a bit of a strong term for something this hot..
Whoops, I missed the word wimpy, dajebus — I have to disagree. In fact, the fact that this looks reminiscent of that video to me is impressive: from a pre-rendered music video to a real-time animation designed by a single person that controls interactive sound? That's a pretty amazing evolution in a very short period of time.
that video link is broken, use this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkjik8AdHQ0
The embed link is working now; thanks, Chris.
Yea, "wimpy" is way too strong. I take that back.
Alex Rutterford's work on the Gantz Graf video has cult status among many people I know, it's not surprising to see something like this come along.
I did not want to sound like I was not jazzed about it. I think it's amazing.
Here is the video link since sputnik is caca:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rot8AYUn9sU&se…
the reference to Gantz Graf is v' flattering! that's a great looking animation.
in many ways however it's pretty hard to put the projects side by side: GG is film representation of sound changing a form – an advanced visualiser of some kind. Fijuu (1 and 2) is realtime interactive software and concerned with the opposite process – where shaping forms in turn shapes the sound.
anyway, i'd be surprised if anyone who works with high-end 3D software doesn't 'synthesize' the forms they see into sound at some point, albeit in their own head. it's almost second nature to imagine the sonified equivalent of shearing or twisting a blob in a 3D modeling environment. the relationship pretty much presents itself and i'm sure you'll see many explorations/manifestations of it in future, in both film and interface design.
similarly, the desire to 'sculpt sound' with your hands (or a hand-held object) is itself nothing new, something that many musicians and painters have talked about for centuries. both pix and i (there are two on this project) have wanted this for a long time. my thoughts about it go back 8 years, when i first started working on sound-based games and had only basic sample trigger mechanisms available to me (eg see 'Qthoth'
that we were able to manifest some of these ideas now is testimony to there being a ton of quality open-source software available to us. it wouldn't have been possible without this by any stretch (erm.. so to speak).
probably worth mentioning here (a DSP aware site) that Fijuu2's sound-engine is PureData. this means that if you have a little PD/MaxMSP skill you can author your own instruments. the patches for all six instruments are in the source-tree when you download the code. the same goes for the 3d objects/materials/textures themselves.
enjoy!
[…] Enter the latest project from fijuu2 creator Julian Oliver, together with Steven Pickles. They wanted powerful synthesis capabilities, which is something you’re unlikely ever to get in a game like Quake III. So, they found a way to send network data from Quake into the free software Pd, using Pd’s netsend object to send UDP packets containing control data from the game. In other words, instead of using a MIDI controller, you can make the game your control instrument. netsend is in Max/MSP, too, so this should work for Max, as well. […]
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