More Process Text

Creating Animated Visuals for Harmonic Tremors

(process text by John Park)

Visual artists often find themselves in a role of translator and creator. Translation is present in going from idea to image or in moving from one medium to another. The creation happens within the realm of allowance to move beyond expectation or literal choices. In creating the 14-minute animation for Harmonic Tremors digital animator John Park took on these two roles by using still photographic imagery of geological samples as a starting point for temporal and spatial translations. Following a theme of the symbolic power behind volcanological events, Park began by creating 3-dimensional landscapes by mapping the photographs onto virtual planes and then giving them height based on the photographs color values. This process, called 3D displacement modeling, allowed for varied terrestrial landscapes based off of a handful of carefully chosen still-photographs. Moving these planes though time and space provided a context that hinted at geological time and plate tectonics.

Another visual strategy included was  a dynamic animation that spoke to chemical reactions and colorful mineral sources mixing under heat and pressure. This sequence was created algorithmically using Processing and given a sense of directionality by adding video-layers of lava flows on top.

A final visual technique employed in the animation were a couple of sequences meant to reference the enigmatic geological formations known as Pele’s hair. These visual elements were created with 3D particle systems often used to make visual-effects of smoke and fire, but were instead given length and direction and were exposed to virtual forces such as gravity and wind. The end effect is to visualize something that is difficult to capture – the graceful and metaphoric gestures of Pele’s Hair being formed in the earth.