Reflection
Altogether, the creative process of developing my three studies was challenging, yet engaging. I found myself often searching for inspiration to funnel my work in the right direction. However, I discovered that aiming to complete projects or ideas that pushed my limits on the program became the most helpful experience in developing my knowledge of MAX. This has led me to believe that it is always a good idea to try tackle the ‘big picture’ ideas as the journey to completing them will always benefit my knowledge and in this instance, tactile skills in MAX. Although I may not have completed the three studies all by myself, or to the best working abilities the program can function with, I have been able to use a wider ranger of functions and ultimately become better at the program with a great understanding of why things work and how to make them work. Discovering new tools and abilities was quite eye opening to see how many different ways there are for an artist to create interactive art. This was my first time using a program like MAX, before this I didn’t realise it was possible to create things in coding or visual coding programs, so it has been a really good experience to experiment with different artistic materials and media.
Whilst dealing with interactive art, I’ve realised that being simplistic in the design process can cause surprisingly entertaining experiences. Never would I have thought the idea of pressing a button to appear a smiley face could be so addicting, and so its provided a good insight into the world of art and how humans function with it. Using Max has also allowed myself to realise how many different possibilities there are surrounding interactive art, and using the program and its code like functionalities, has showed a whole new side to the world of interactive art. Having a tactile based assignment, its also been good to develop an understanding of how humans physically interact with art. The value of humans being able connect with art through a physical presence creates a whole new dynamic into how powerful an art piece can be. For example, in study 2 I found that we weren’t using a strong enough tactile approach and therefor it felt as if the computer was completing the art instead of ourselves, however moving onto study 3 I decided to make sure it was apparent that the humans were creating the art. That is when I made it only possible to interact with the art through the keyboard, which can only be pressed by humans and therefor making it a more inclusive experience. I believe when it came to this project, that using the keyboard or mouse was on of the best ways to make an audience feel included in the art, and whilst these functions are only a portion of what the program is capable of, they are still effective enough to create a substantial piece of interactive art.
So far in my development with MAX, I think I have been quite successful in coming up with ideas that the program is capable of carrying out in an entertaining style. I started study one focusing on ‘effects’ which, I now know only scratched the surface of what the program is capable of. This has leaded me to expand my skills to and explore other functionalities. For study 2 especially, working in a small group allowed us to combine ideas and attempt to create something quite difficult, however if pulled off, very cool. This was almost the case, as we managed to get extremely close to a functioning Donald Trump censored twitter feed, however we faced many implications along the way. Although we got to the final stage of the study, we still had a problem with making it work fluently, however the study itself taught all of us a lot about the program and made a funny idea into an almost hilarious success.
I believe my work can be improved by more experience within the program. I am aware that my work is still on a very amateur level, and that is a good thing knowing there is a lot more to MAX that I can achieve with developing my knowledge further. In aiding this development, I have used the comment tool a lot to guide myself step by step of what I’m doing and also to remind myself of why I’m doing those things. The use of the help and reference windows has also been extremely useful and guiding. The exploration of these windows will definitely be a faction in improving my work in the future, as I get more comfortable with the program. The key thing I could improve on however is finishing and working towards the final idea that I had, instead of having unfinished projects that are close to being completed. I would have preferred study 3 of my project to be completed in the state I originally wanted it to be, however I intend to revisit this and complete the study when I have to skills needed for it. Another key thing that I would improve upon my three studies is to explore how tactile I can be with the art and making it as interactive as I can. I’m aware there are other visual elements that can be worked with on the program such as motion movements that we will look at later in the semester, however I would still be interested in researching other ways to interact with the program whilst being hands on.
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