#unityrpr

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Paint pours

An early concept I had was to take fluid art I had done and digitalise it. Since paint pours are dependent on the movement of paint it seemed like the perfect subject to recreate in a digital space.

Pictures of paint pours I have done myself.

With ideas such as being able to create ‘paint drops’ on screen or having the ability to manipulate a fluid by mouse input, I wanted to produce an interactive experience where the outcome fell upon the viewer. The problem that arose with my ambitious designs was my lack of expertise when using Unity, so I continued seeking tutorials that would grant me the ability to pull off my ideas.

Sketchbook page showing my ideas inspired by fluid art.

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Mouse tracker

Progressing on with Hammonds’ lessons I learnt how to put together a mouse tracked particle system using the assets and C# code supplied by him. Simply put, a trail of particles will spawn whenever the mouse moves creating drawn lines over the screen, with mirror imaging those lines become intricate patterns prompting the user to see what they can draw on-screen.

Hammond,  B  (2016, June 1). Fun with creative tech --- Unity 3D - Interactive Art 01: Playing with particle systems  [Video file].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POZHMP7OZTw

With this tutorial I understood how to add buttons, components and materials to affect each game object. Most importantly I learnt how to build my scenes, so they are playable out of Unity. Being able to export my outcomes was very important as most people don’t own Unity, so having my scenes exported as ‘.exe’ files makes them accessible to anyone with a computer. Becoming aware of code that allows cursor tracking made my original ideas seem a little less impossible, though with no definite idea to pursue I wanted to look for artists who were making similar work to what I hoped to make with this project.

A video of the mouse tracker. Please excuse the abismal video quality, my screen recorder would not work so this is the best I could do.

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Melting room

The Melting Room, crafted by Marpi Studios, was undoubtedly one of the most significant pieces of research throughout this project. It perfectly encapsulates both fluid art and public interaction into one installation. Using cameras and fluid dynamics, the images projected onto the walls are rendered in real time to morph and follow the movement of participants, creating psychedelic patterns reminiscent of agate geodes. Expanding upon the idea of tracking input I did consider either using cameras to capture movement or VR to put viewers into the art, however without the equipment to do so I had to abandon that train of thought. Aesthetically speaking, the crisp lines and vibrant colour palette were exactly what I wanted, and exactly what I wasn’t getting with the Unity particle system, so with more research I came across the Visual effects graph.

As you can see in the image the pattern on the wall has morphed because the viewer has raised her arm.

Marpi Studio, . (2017). Melting Room. [Unity]. Retrieved from https://www.marpi.studio/exhibitions/melting-room.

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Procedurally generated art

I had come across Shahriyar Shahrabi’s procedurally generated art when searching for ways to control particles above just trailing them around a radius, and instantly fell in love. The abstract patterns formed using the Unity particle system were exactly what I was after and being procedurally generated showcased how every piece of fluid art is unique. The sleek curves offered a solution to the aesthetic problem I originally had with the particle system being too bland, but again I ran into problems actualising the system.

I feel in love with this image, as it reminded me so much of my fluid art.

Shahrabi,  S. Medium. (2018, june 26). Procedural Art with Unity3D Particle Systems and Vector Fields. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@shahriyarshahrabi/procedural-art-with-unity3d-particle-systems-and-vector-fields-5a0b6d4cdc65

Shahrabi spoke about how he made the designs using vector fields and different types of noise to direct the particles using varying velocities, but it became apparent very quickly that vector fields aren’t a part of unity.

In order to use them you must import an asset, most of which are incredibly expensive. The only free one I found on the asset store didn’t work in the version of Unity I was using, therefore I decided to strip back my ideas and focus on creating scenes with the knowledge I already had of the particle system.

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Screensaver

Thinking back to my peers’ comment on how aesthetically my work looked comparable to screensavers, I decided to try and make my scenes into screensavers. It did not work. The closest I got was amending the file extension from .exe to .scr and having it show up as an available screensaver, however when chosen the file never played and instead left the screen blank.

As you can see in the image I was able to get the scene to pop up in the screensaver choices, however I couldn’t get the scene to start once the screensaver was activated.

Feedback

Overall feedback has been positive so far, however the context for my project was deemed too shallow. Past projects of mine have featured complex concepts, so using Unity to make screensavers is seen as trivial. Moving forward I wanted to figure out a way for previous experiments to be expanded upon and developed with a real use in mind, such as being able to predict the path of projectiles.  

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The Vehicle of Nature

Old meets new. ‘Leonardo: A life in drawing – The vehicle of nature’ is an infusion of traditional artistry and new technology. Using Unity, Universal Everything created a liquid simulation showing recurring patters of fluid dynamics. The particle system combined with geometric shapes shows off an abstract reimagining of fluid movement that can be altered to predict the passing of rivers or even crowds.  For me this was a point of direction for my project. From here I delved into exploring the use of particle systems and fluid assets.

Universal Everything, . (2019). The Vehicle of Nature. [Video projection]. Retrieved from https://universaleverything.com/projects/the-vehicle-of-nature.

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Particle system made in Unity2D.

Particle system

Employing a simple particle system, I was able to generate a scene to represent the flow of water. Utilising gravity, rigid body and collision, I formulated a scenario where particles would fall down the screen and bounce off sprites. While it was fun to watch and I learnt more about the particle system, I still found it lacking in appearance, so I decided to investigate assets that advertised working fluid physics.

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The amount of particles present meant that the water could flow down on its own, even if the objects were horizontal.

Fluid simulation

Using said asset I set about crafting paths for my water to flow down. I wanted to test how gravity, force, and the number of particles would affect the flow of water. From my tests I learnt that more water drops would increase the force of flow meaning it could push itself down a series of drops, however an increase in mass increased the chances of blockages and overflow. I thought about the way I could apply this within real life challenges, and eventually settled on crowd control.

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In this video the water particles move the platforms causing them to spin. This then dictates the direction of the drop, and at the end you can see where the particles are most likely to fall based on how full each basin is.

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The video shows by using only one turnstile a pile up occurs almost immediately.

The first instance I investigated was conduct at concerts. I tested multiple scenarios dependent on the number of barriers placed at the entrance of a venue. A singular barrier presented safety issues, as no matter how many nor how little concert goers there were, a pile up still occurred, proving the potential for serious injuries.

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Video showing how a crowd would move if three turnstiles were present.

Adding at least two other turnstiles alleviated the problem significantly. Small masses occurred but they soon spread out across the multiple entrances, and you could actively see constant movement of particles. By using my trials venue owners would be able to calculate how many barriers they would need for their average crowd size in order to avoid disastrous trauma.

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Video showing how people would move around a hypothetical train station.

Next, I modelled the movement of people as they exited a train station. This was simply to envision to route travellers would take as they manoeuvred their way around a station. While this may not be a huge safety concern, architects could potentially use programmes such as Unity to build simulations of their buildings and see where crowding issues may occur.

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Unity - Digital Artwork

Brief

For the digital artwork project, we were encouraged to explore Unity3D, and produce compositions with our newfound skills. The unfamiliarity with the software is what drew me to this brief, as I am always on the lookout for new processes to try which have the potential to be implemented in future projects.

Initial venture

Since my knowledge of Unity was limited to PC games, I started out with research into artists who use Unity in their work. Two studios stood out in terms of inspiration for me, Universal Everything and Marpi Studios. The interactive nature of their art was something I was initially adamant about incorporating into my own work, as I wanted to explore collaborative ventures and how inviting people to engage with my art could change the visual outcome.

Research is all well and good but having never used Unity I thought it would be a beneficial to find some simple tutorials to follow. I came across Brad Hammond, who had uploaded several videos based around interactive art in Unity. By creating falling blocks and dominos I was able gain basic knowledge of the software interface and components such as game objects and collision.

Hammond,  B  (2016, May 16). Fun with creative tech --- Unity 3D 01: Getting started  [Video file].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvfYBOGKhqo

Video showing a ball roll down a platform and then hitting an object which starts a chain of dominos.

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Visual effects graph

Looking into post processing and ways to make the particle system more visibly appealing I came across HDRP files (High Definition Render Pipeline) and subsequently the visual effects graph. With a higher particle output and HDRP colours, I was entranced by the VFX system and its rendering capability. HDRP files are a new addition to Unity 2019, as is the visual effects system, so finding an in-depth tutorial was essential in understanding how I could possibly use the system in my project.

A Youtuber by the name of Wilmer Lin created a series of videos detailing elements of the VFX system and taught me how to build a particle system with an attractive target. An attractive target is a point in space which particles are drawn to, no matter what their trajectory is. Attaching that to a game object meant I could move the target anywhere and the particles would still flow towards that point. Learning about the visual effects system seemed to open new doors for me when coming up with design solutions. The seamless fluid motion of particles was akin to the ways in which paint slides across a canvas (while doing paint pours) and had me thinking of ways I could create a digital time-lapse of a paint pour using particles.

Game Academy.school. (2019, January 23). UNITY VFX GRAPH Episode 1: User Interface  [Video file].  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keVozyJAIUM

Adopting the use of attractive targets, I had the idea to try generating lines of particles, which in turn would come together to form a bigger pattern on screen, hopefully appearing visually similar to my own paintings. Running two particle systems simultaneously ended up being problematic as my laptop had trouble processing and rendering what was happening on screen causing the particles to stutter and flash. Lowering the number of particles spawned would make the animation run smoother, however with the number of systems needed I doubt in the end it would make a difference.

This video shows how the particle system acts when an attractive target is not present. All other parameters are on, so the particles move around a radius at a set speed.

Here I played with the number of particles. Increasing them to show how the effect differs dependent on the particle number.

Here is the finished product. The attractive target means as the particles rotate around a radius they are drawn to the target, and so you can see the particles being drawn to a specific point in the scene. What is not shown here is that I can move the target wherever I want and the particles will still move towards the target.

To make the effect look better I utilised post processing effects. using a glow effect made the particles come alive and gave the appearance of something you would find in a magic game. HDR colours made the scene incredibly vibrant against the black background.

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One last go

Having one last play with the VFX system I altered the length, width and number of particles to form a vortex-esque particle show, which people commented on how it looked like the old Windows screensavers. This was the first insight into giving my work a purpose, thus I tried to carry it forward into work made with Unity3D.

The glowing particles remind me of a strobe light, or something you would find at a rave.

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Lines

Going back to the basics, I started to play with the trail renderer to create art. Altering the gravity and bounce of a particle fashioned a shower of particles that bounced once they hit a solid plane. Setting the spawn shape as a circle caused the particles to bounce towards the camera, creating a waterfall effect as the screen was covered in colourful lines of assorted widths and the particles continued forward on their path. What I particularly liked was my choice to use a gradient for the trails. Over the particles lifetime their trail would cycle through a myriad of colours producing an ever-changing wall of colour. Objectively speaking the overall image being viewed is boring and gets old quickly. Even with the colour changing element, what you are watching stays the same. The particles will always follow the same path, and the particles will start the colour cycle at the same point.

Here is a front facing view of the particle system. It moves towards you and fills the screen.

A sideways view of the particle system. You can see the colours cycle through over time.