The story behind Fractured Landscapes

Animated and plottable generative project

This project will be available on fx(hash) as a generative project : fxhash.xyz/u/quentinhocde the December 21, 2023.

Fractured Landscapes is a generative art project employing two animated lines to redraw natural scenes, revealing both the beauty and fragility of our planet.

The combination of these animated lines adds a new dimension, creating depth and complexity in changing landscapes.

The animation serve as a visual commentary on environmental challenges, highlighting the fractures on our planet. The project is based on an infinite animation, providing an ever-evolving visual experience. Designed for adaptability, it can be reproduced with a plotter for both digital and physical exploration.

Fractured Landscapes encourages reflection on the interconnectedness of nature and the impact of human activity, bridging the gap between digital and tangible art.

The generated landscapes are 100% code-based.

The story behind

I have a pen plotter - OMG 😱

I recently acquired a pen plotter (iDraw A3), and I've been testing it a lot in the last few months. But I also really like animated creations.
So, for this new project, I wanted it to be both animated and something you could draw with a pen plotter.

Technically, I draw each frame in a canvas2D, but also in SVG (with svg5.js) when it’s useful. At any time, you can save a frame as an SVG, ready to be drawn with a pen plotter. When you press “s” on your keyboard, the loop will render an SVG and save it (it’s visually invisible). To make the physical drawing simpler, I tried using just one line, drawn from left to right and top to bottom, so the pen doesn't have to lift. Turns out, I really liked how it looked and the style!

Noises, noises, noises…

Continuing from my recent projects and research, I wanted to delve into nature again, but this time exclusively using code. I wanted to show both the beauty and the chaos of our landscapes. So, I've been working with various layers of noise (it was the tricky part during my process)

Animation

Then, the animation – one of my favorite part. I wanted something infinite and quite mesmerizing, where you can get lost for several minutes. I worked with various layers using linear and trigonometric functions, along with noises.
Using trigonometric functions provided a more circular appearance in certain cases, reminiscent of the formation of waves and oceans.

Here is an example, speed up by 2:

Colors

Then, I wanted to add more depth. So, I played with colors and I decided to add a second line. Mixing two complementary and generated colors gave the artwork a bit more personality.

The second line in action:

The result 💫

Timelapse of the pen plotter: drawing a frame of a Fractured Landscapes

Thanks for reading and see you next year 🙏 👋