language: en

A Symbiosis of Animation and Music

ROBERT E. PRINGLE BRIAN J. ROSS
Brock University Department of Computer Science
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1
frp94bg,brossg@sandcastle.cosc.brocku.ca December 12, 1995

Abstract The use of music as a means to automate the sculpting and movement of graphical objects is investigated. An interactive environment for producing musically-controlled computer animations is presented. The graphical objects studied are based on Todd's and Latham's work in evolutionary art. The environment permits the creation of kernel objects using an interactive toolset. In addition to a basic set of morphological definitions, each object incorporates a script, which is an instance of programming language code and data definitions. Scripts permit the run-time computation of object characteristics, and when done in a temporal setting, allow complex animation control. The script language has a number of functions that can access MIDI information, as read into the system via a MIDI file. The practical consequence of this is that animations are controllable with music data, in which music determines the movement and morphology of animated objects. The tight integration of music and animation in an interactive production environment such as this one has a number of pragmatic consequences, ranging from the ability to automatically synchronize complex activities to music, to the use of music as a creative source for graphical sculptoring and animation.

Keywords: animation, music, MIDI, evolutionary art.

1 Introduction