Video Salon Macworld/SF: Visual Lounge, Open Jam; Quartz Composer, Jitter, Wii, Motion Workshops

VJ Culture’s awe-inspiring rig. I’ll be toting one black MacBook, by contrast. I’ll try to make the set look like I’ve got more. Some people at Macworld Expo assume “digital art” only means someone working in Photoshop. Thursday night of the show should give them a terrific introduction to live visuals, with plenty to appeal […]

Macworld/SF: Backlit Lounge Free Electronica/Laptop Party Wed. 1-10

If you’re going to San Francisco (or, like, live there), come hang with some fellow laptop and electronic musicians at a special Macworld edition of the Backlit Lounge electronica party, which has been featured regularly on the CDMusic forums. I’ll be playing a featured set myself, and it looks like a great lineup. It’s the […]

The Best of 2006 for Visualists

Forget predictions. It’s hard enough just processing (or is that Processing) the powerful, new visual tools digital artists got in 2006. With that in mind, we, the Create Digital Motion co-editors Peter Kirn and Jaymis Loveday, take a fond look at our favorite tools and art for 2006. And you can bet that this list […]

What are Your 2007 Musical Resolutions?

Happy New Year’s, everyone. It’s been a lazy, rainy day here in New York opening up 2007, but I’m contentedly looking forward to what for me, at least, promises to be a good year for making music. Sure, forming New Year’s Resolutions is a pretty arbitrary activity, but I say any excuse that lets you […]

Laptop Orchestras Proliferate, from Princeton to Moscow

Okay, cool — but when will Princeton let these folks play the football games? Move over, marching band: laptop orchestras are here. Princeton’s laptop orchestra PLOrk will be the featured guest at dorkbot in New York this week, but it’s not the only “laptop ensemble.” The Electronic Music Foundation’s Arts Electric notes laptop orchestras span […]

3D Peg into 2D Hole: Designers Push Limits of After Effects' 3D Capabilities

While After Effects is a 3D environment, it’s generally used in quite a limited way, being comprised mostly of 2D surfaces moving in 3D space. Steve Kilisky (After Effects Senior Product Manager) has recently posted some great work by designers pushing After Effects’ 3D capabilities to the limits: AE or 3D looks at a superb […]

3D Peg into 2D Hole: Designers Push Limits of After Effects’ 3D Capabilities

While After Effects is a 3D environment, it’s generally used in quite a limited way, being comprised mostly of 2D surfaces moving in 3D space. Steve Kilisky (After Effects Senior Product Manager) has recently posted some great work by designers pushing After Effects’ 3D capabilities to the limits: AE or 3D looks at a superb […]

Flash-Powered, Animated Musical Painting: Visual Acoustics

Visual Acoustics is an online musical toy built in Flash designed by Alex Lampe (“Ample Interactive”) of the UK. (Via Music Thing.) The motion visuals are beautiful, and the music and interface is very reminiscent of Toshio Iwai’s work (see Nintendo’s ElectroPlankton, for instance). As with Iwai’s designs, just about anything you play will sound […]

Video Critter: Custom, DIY Video Synthesis

I wrote today about the Critter Board DIY synth/controller board for CDMusic, but I’m even more excited about the Video Critter: Video Critter DIY, open-source audio/visual electronics platform US$74.95 buys you a fully customizable, programmable DIY board with video out. (There’s also a $45 “mini” board that looks equally tantalizing.) The video routines are already […]

MacBook, MacBook Pro, Boot Camp, and Video Output: Mixed Results?

In October, we covered evolving support issues for Apple, Boot Camp Beta, and video output from Windows on Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. Boot Camp is still in beta, but it is widely used, and people understandably want to know if they’ll be able to output from Windows to a projector. It opens up […]