In 2011 and 2013 I worked with artist Yutaka Makino on „Procedural Formation“, a method of creating sounds by scanning the surface of virtual three-dimensional bodies constructed by point cloud triangulation. Makino published 50 selected sounds and graphics created with the software I developed for the project in 2013.
Procedural Formation, Yutaka Makino
Makino’s synthesis method, whose general mechanism he employs for the generation of both sound and graphics, combines discrete elements and continuous motion in a five-step process. The first step of the process is the definition of a three-dimensional space and the placement of a number of points within that space. The second step is formed by setting the points in motion with relational rules. These points, or agents, move on the basis of given relations among them and behaviors reacting to the movements of the other points. The dynamic point cloud is subsequently used to construct a three-dimensional body using a tetrahedralization algorithm. The three-dimensional body grows and shrinks and is dynamically yet discretely reshaped. The fifth and final step is formed by scanning the body, a form of projecting properties of the virtual body onto the plane of lower dimensionality of the waveform. A rotating scanner orbits the body, and distances between the surface and the scanner are outputted as an audible waveform. The synthesis method thus bears a resemblance to Scanned Synthesis, which generates waveforms by scanning the surface of a physical model.
Excerpt from the book: »Procedural Formation« by Yutaka Makino, Book with Sound Files, University of the Arts Publications Berlin, Text: “From Nonstandard to Procedural”, Luc Döbereiner
Publication
„Procedural Formations“, Yutaka Makino, 2013
