Today’s 3D class was rather fun in that we learned how to use music to influence objects in the 3D realm. Always a fan of music interacting with digital media, I enjoyed seeing what sort of oddities could be created.

[Updated: Now with short video]

The audio tornado was the product of playing around and trying things that may or may not work. Often, it seems that some of the most interesting and most creative designs come out of such play. I feel that this composition is no different.

Focused around the usage of the “Sound Effector” in Cinema 4D, we spend time today experimenting with the MOGRAPH module. Having placed the effector onto a radial Clone Object (of cubes), I set up the altered properties to be size (the cubes get wider and taller) and y-position (the cubes go higher up) dependent on the graph representing the music. From there, I added in a Warp to the Clone Object (resulting in some very interesting geometry) and ran the file. The creation? This audio tornado. The film version will show the parts actually moving, but it is still rendering, so check back later to watch it! As it is, the inside part of the cubes gets squashed while the outside remains wide and the positioning of the cubes, once in a perfect circle, is highly variable and ultimately generates an image that looks like a tornado.

Finally, I added in some special lighting and there we have it! I’m excited to see how the video turns out (it was left to render overnight). All in all, I like how the piece turned out, even if it was more experimental. I need to recheck the export settings from Cinema4D as the image came out very low quality (it looks better above with some tweaking in photoshop) with lots of color banding. In any case, I thought it was a fun piece and something folks might enjoy!

The video was a little bit of a let down as things seem to move a little too fast to really be visible. I think the static image up above is a good bit more nifty! In any case, I thought I would show it as it is rather interesting still!

Coming out in mate May and early June, Paprika looks to be an awesome film. It is about the nature of dreams and reality; a theme that director Satoshi Kon played heavily with in his film Perfect Blue. I’m highly looking forward to it! However, I’m not just interested in it for the sake of the film. The soundtrack, as revealed in the trailer (viewable at the Paprika link above), sounds quite interesting.

Designed by Susumu Hirasawa, it is a fascinating amalgamation between vocals, analog instruments, digital manipulation, and digital instruments. In looking at his site, I discovered that he has made the main theme for Paprika available for download (it is “The girl in Byakkoya – White Tiger Field”). For your listening pleasure, I have also included it below:

The girl in Byakkoya – White Tiger Field:

I hope you enjoyed it! I really like this song and have been listening to it a wee bit too much, but sound is captivating and quite good. The first time I heard it I was a little like, “huh?” but it grows on you very quickly.

(did I mention I’d love to get a hand on that poster?)