4x4

So let's see if we can give this initial screen a go. And let's not focus on the artsy bits. But just the sheer html 4x4 layout. Recall our baby.

4x4 (approximately)

html is easy to write. So is javascript. The harder part is getting it to work. Especially on a wide variety of devices and platforms. Let's start by getting things up and running on one browser on one platform. And then hope for the best. And check it. And rinse and repeat.
The nicest html document that one can write, is, according to the syntax validator So let's try to get 4x4 divs into this html.
...
Hmm, I stopped writing this blog entry a few days ago and instead starting coding the thing. Sorry. Try a version at http://killard.herokuapp.com. Kill lard by clicking. Inspect it by double clicking.
It should work somewhat on mobile phones and tablets. It uses webgl, when available.
A lot of extensions could be done. Add additional formulas. Make it work better on touch devices. Focus on creating beautiful formulas. And a lot more.

Generation 0

A few clicks later

A couple of more clicks

I've included a couple of screenshots as proof of concept. I had fun.

killard

The first project of the month is killard. The name is a wordy play on kill, art and lard. Enough said.

The basic idea is an html app. That uses genetic programming and evolutionary algorithms to produce some hopefully aesthetically pleasing images. One of the pioneers of such imagery is Karl Sims. Nowadays SBArt can mimic this in real time. This real timeness is possible today as a consequence of the massive parallel capabilities of modern graphics cards.
killard will try to mimic the images of Karl Sims using the techniques of SBArt in an html app. Hope is that this app will be executable on standard browsers on standard hardware, eventually including the modern touchy feely mobile phones and tablets

This means we're probably gonna explore javascript, html, WebGL, mobile, ...
Let's look at my current mental picture of killard.

Initial Screen
Random images

A few ugly images have
been removed by the user

A few new images occur
spontaneously

That's it. Quite the simple app. The images are generated by some "formulas". The user "kills" the images he doesn't like. New images are generated from the "alive" ones by means of recombination and mutation.

One could imagine all sorts of nice interactions for killing, choosing, recombining. Later that is.

Hopefully nice images can be generated.

habits suit me

Or that is actually just a pun on the danish word "habit". But what is hopefully going to happen is that I will get a small coding project done each month in the year of two thousand and twelve.

I have a couple of ideas for the first couple of months. After that I will just have to wait and see.

Creativity is desired. Learning would be good. Nothing is required.