6 ms·

The Light Herder and the Fractal Time Machine

65 points by sargstuff 3y ago

isoprophlex 3y ago
Analogue version of Iterated Function Systems / fractal flames! How delightful! I ran the Electric Sheep screensaver back in the day, a distributed effort at computing such visuals for screensaver purposes. This brings back memories.
dekhn 3y ago
This is one of the best "make" projects I've seen. The build itself is wonderful, it makes excellent use of technology, and it's still unabashedly analog.
josh-sematic 3y ago
Douglas Hofstadter did a one camera setup of this to produce some pretty cool images. He used it for an extended analogy in his book “Gödel, Escher, Bach.” Nice to see him as the first quote on this page.
- pvg 3y ago
  I think there was something like it referenced in one of Heinz-Otto Peitgen's books who is also quoted and both seem less than coincidental.
  - jerrysneede 3y ago
    Definitely not coincidental.
gedy 3y ago
Gosh lovely! I actually had this idea for a school project 20+ years ago but regretfully did not choose this. Better than I would have expected.
- fjfaase 3y ago
  Gosh lovely! I actually had this idea about 35 years ago. I was thinking about a set-up consisting of one camera in a room with transparent plastic sheets hanging from the ceiling under an angle of 45° with respect to the camera and with some large TVs such that the light would reflect towards the camera. The idea was that the wind or people moving the transparent plastic sheets would change the final result. Or that there was some means to rotated the TVs. I had this idea for a technology and art exhibition that was held several time in the late eighties at the university I was studying at. Some information I have collected about these exhibitions, called TARt festivals, based on the university weekly magazine, can be found at: https://www.iwriteiam.nl/TARt.html https://www.iwriteiam.nl/TARt.html
smusamashah 3y ago
The effect produced here looks very much like an Android/IOS app Fraksl [1] I use to play with. It produces the effects with similar delay and is very different from other fun fractal software. [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.workSPACE.Fraksl https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.workSPACE.... [2]: https://emielharmsen.com/portfolio/fraksl/ https://emielharmsen.com/portfolio/fraksl/
HenrikB 3y ago
I remember connecting a VHS video camera directly to a cathode-ray tube (CRT) teve to produce funky patterns back in the 80's. You did it in a pitch dark room, aimed the camera towards the teve, and have someone briefly light a lighter in between. That generated a visual feedback loop. By rotating the camera upside down, the feedback loop would introduce systematic effects, because the camera's vertical scan is now opposite to the teve's swipe. It would create random, constantly changing, colorful, spiraling patterns. You could move your hands in front to adjust the patterns and control the brightness that could increase due to the feedback loop. Stunning, cool, and fun.
dang 3y ago
Related: Time delay and reflection create analog video feedback as never seen before - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37884875 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37884875 - Oct 2023 (1 comment) See LightHerder Video Feedback Device at the Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30813690 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30813690 - March 2022 (1 comment) The Lightherder and the God Machine - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30670317 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30670317 - March 2022 (32 comments)

65 points by sargstuff 3y ago

Analogue version of Iterated Function Systems / fractal flames! How delightful! I ran the Electric Sheep screensaver back in the day, a distributed effort at computing such visuals for screensaver purposes. This brings back memories.

dekhn 3y ago

This is one of the best "make" projects I've seen. The build itself is wonderful, it makes excellent use of technology, and it's still unabashedly analog.

josh-sematic 3y ago

Douglas Hofstadter did a one camera setup of this to produce some pretty cool images. He used it for an extended analogy in his book “Gödel, Escher, Bach.” Nice to see him as the first quote on this page.

pvg 3y ago
I think there was something like it referenced in one of Heinz-Otto Peitgen's books who is also quoted and both seem less than coincidental.
- jerrysneede 3y ago
  Definitely not coincidental.

gedy 3y ago

Gosh lovely! I actually had this idea for a school project 20+ years ago but regretfully did not choose this. Better than I would have expected.

fjfaase 3y ago
Gosh lovely! I actually had this idea about 35 years ago. I was thinking about a set-up consisting of one camera in a room with transparent plastic sheets hanging from the ceiling under an angle of 45° with respect to the camera and with some large TVs such that the light would reflect towards the camera. The idea was that the wind or people moving the transparent plastic sheets would change the final result. Or that there was some means to rotated the TVs. I had this idea for a technology and art exhibition that was held several time in the late eighties at the university I was studying at. Some information I have collected about these exhibitions, called TARt festivals, based on the university weekly magazine, can be found at: https://www.iwriteiam.nl/TARt.html https://www.iwriteiam.nl/TARt.html

smusamashah 3y ago

The effect produced here looks very much like an Android/IOS app Fraksl [1] I use to play with. It produces the effects with similar delay and is very different from other fun fractal software. [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.workSPACE.Fraksl https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.workSPACE.... [2]: https://emielharmsen.com/portfolio/fraksl/ https://emielharmsen.com/portfolio/fraksl/

HenrikB 3y ago

I remember connecting a VHS video camera directly to a cathode-ray tube (CRT) teve to produce funky patterns back in the 80's. You did it in a pitch dark room, aimed the camera towards the teve, and have someone briefly light a lighter in between. That generated a visual feedback loop. By rotating the camera upside down, the feedback loop would introduce systematic effects, because the camera's vertical scan is now opposite to the teve's swipe. It would create random, constantly changing, colorful, spiraling patterns. You could move your hands in front to adjust the patterns and control the brightness that could increase due to the feedback loop. Stunning, cool, and fun.

dang 3y ago

Related: Time delay and reflection create analog video feedback as never seen before - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37884875 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37884875 - Oct 2023 (1 comment) See LightHerder Video Feedback Device at the Lafayette Electronic Arts Festival - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30813690 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30813690 - March 2022 (1 comment) The Lightherder and the God Machine - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30670317 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30670317 - March 2022 (32 comments)