Art in Second Life 2022 (36) Grove Compositions – New work by Simulat Almendros

13 Apr 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , ,

In December 2020 I visited “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) (read here). This exhibition is still open for a visit – and it is worth it.
In March 2021 I visited again, this time my focus was on the expansion of the exhibtion “Virtual Tables by Simulat Almendros” (read here). The expansion was done by adding a second level above over one half of space. The next expansion that I saw in April 2021 was named “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros” (read here). The base exhibition “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration” is still open. I have missed one or two iterations / additions. For example the “Virtual Tables” is now gone, but some of the tables are still exhibited. On January 31st, I visited again and saw the addition named “Winter Snowflakes” (read here).

And now another addition was opened integrated in the existing exhibition: “Grove Compositions“

“Grove Compositions” – New work by Simulat Almendros

The landmark leads you directly to the new work. It is presented in two slowly rotating circles. Hence you can simple stand and watch the pictures pass by in front of your eyes. Simulat wrote an accompanying text for this addition:
“A number of years ago I was playing with a photograph I took one morning on my way to work. I copied the base layer into a new layer. Then I flipped that horizontally to make it’s mirror image. I widened the canvas and moved the layers so that they formed an image with mirror symmetry on the horizontal axis. Then I repeated that vertically. This ended up with an image 4 times as large that had both horizontal and vertical mirror symmetry. I liked it.
Then I selected an equilateral triangular section from it with that with the peak centred on the vertical mirror axis. A triangle like that can be rotated an fit together like pie wedges.
Once that was done I was like – WOW – that’s very interesting.

It was a hexagon with 6 sided rotational symmetry and within each of those sections you had a 4 sided mirror symmetry.
I tried doing the same thing with other images. Same result. Every time I got a very interesting picture. I even tried starting with just random dots. Same result. A very interesting picture. Since I was working with 6 sided symmetry I called the transformation a snowflake transformation and I classed the pictures as snowflakes.
I figured I’d exhaust the potential of snowflakes pretty quickly. Boy – was I ever wrong.
I found that you could do the same thing with any isosoles triangle that would make a regular polygon. So I could work with 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12 sided figures.
Then I started taking pictures just to see what sort of snowflake would emerge.
Then I started using the output of the code I was writing as the seed for a snowflake.
I’ve got Photoshop set up now to automate a lot of the snowflake transformations. The tech is very productive.

Recently I stole an idea from Claude Monet and started using the scene outside my window for this series of pictures that I call Grove Compositions. Like Monet I’m struck by how changing light gives different impressions. Unlike Monet, I’m not much interested in representing anything. But I can make a picture and then explore variations where the only thing that changes is the color. And I can take a single seed through several orders of transformation, each producing a new picture.“

Examples from “Grove Compositions” – New work by Simulat Almendros

Simulat is in SL for mare than 15 years. He’s an artist and displays his work at HAF in Second Life. In the 1st life tab of his profile he describes himself with the tags: “Computer art, philosophizing Web, graphic arts programming, simulations“. Simulat picked his name because at the time he got his first internet account he was writing simulations of physics.

But there’s more than the “Grove Compositions“. There’s still the basic exhibition “Spirals and Metaspirals” with all it’s additions and iterations. And Simulat explains the different techniques he used to create his mathematical graphic artwork. So there’s a lot to learn and you might be inspired to try yourself.

The provided landmark leads you directly to “Grove Compositions“. Alternatively you can travel the central landing point at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) from where you can take a teleport to the exhibtion “Grove Compositions by Simulat Almendros“. Right next to the entrance of the exhibition space, you can grab a notecard from Simulat. In this notecard you find a lot of information about how Simulat makes his pictures. And you get even more information by clicking the poster between the two rotating circles at “Grove Compositions“.

If you haven’t seen “Spirals and Metaspirals” yet, don’t miss the opportunity to visit the now really large exhibition, you can spned hours there, it’s all in one exhitbion space.

Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) is owned by Hannington Xeltentat. Thank you Hannington for providing the space for the art and for enabling “Winter Snowflakes” by Simulat Almendros. I enjoyed my visit.

direct Landmark to “Grove Compositions”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/103/203/3501
Landmark to Hannington Art Foundation (central landing point)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/169/204/3521

Art in Second Life 2022 (13) Winter Snowflakes by Simulat Almendros

04 Feb 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

In December 2020 I visited “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) (read here). This exhibition is still open for a visit – and it is worth it.
In March 2021 I visited again, this time my focus was on the expansion of the exhibtion “Virtual Tables by Simulat Almendros” (read here). The expansion was done by adding a second level above over one half of space. The next expansion that I saw in April 2021 was named “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros” (read here). The base exhibition “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration” is still open. I have missed one or two iterations / additions. For example the “Virtual Tables” is now gone, but some of the tables are still exhibited. On January 31st, I visited again and saw the latest interation and addition named “Winter Snowflakes“.

“Winter Snowflakes” by Simulat Almendros”

Simulat wrote an accompanying text for this addition:
“I live in Vancouver and am a computer based artist. I have a technique that creates images that have many orders of symetry that are are very beautiful in a symetric way.
My sister lives outside Saint John in New Brunswick in a nice house with a big yard. Herds of deer wander through her yard and she fenced half of it off so she could grow a big garden. Last Summer she sent me pictures of the garden each morning and I would turn them into a snowflake. This show is a result of that collaboration.
Years ago I found out how to make images that have both horizontal and vertical symmetry. Later I discovered that if I took an equilateral triangle and centered it on an image like that I could copy that area into a new image as a layer. Duplicate that and rotate 60 degrees. Then you can move that layer so it lines up with the first one. Repeat 4 more times and I have made a hexagonal snowflake.
That snowflake is also symmetrical. It has two levels of symmetry – so I think of that as an order 2 symmetry. You can repeat that as many times as you want though it isn’t very interesting beyond order 4.
I can do the same with pentagons with 5 layers rotated by 72 degrees. In fact I can do it with any isosceles triangle whose apex angle devides into 360 degrees evenly.
When I first started making snowflakes I was interested in how they could make an interesting image out of anything. I thought I’d get bored. But I kept learning new things about them and now have a lot of creative control and keep finding new things to work with.
This Summer’s collaboration is a case in point. The combination of biological forms and colors and snowflakes is pretty fantastic.“

Examples from “Winter Snowflakes” by Simulat Almendros”

Simulat is in SL for mare than 15 years. He’s an artist and displays his work at HAF in Second Life. In the 1st life tab of his profile he describes himself with the tags: “Computer art, philosophizing Web, graphic arts programming, simulations“. Simulat picked his name because at the time he got his first internet account he was writing simulations of physics.

But there’s more then the many snowflakes. There’s still the basic exhibition “Spirals and Metaspirals” with all it’s additions and iterations. And Simulat explains the different techniques he used to create his mathematical graphic artwork. So there’s a lot to learn and you might be inspired to try yourself.

Impressions of Simulat Almendros’ exhibitions space at HAF

The provided landmark leads you to the central landing point at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) from where you can take a direct teleport to the exhibtion “Winter Snowflakes by Simulat Almendros”. Right next to the entrance of the exhibition space, you can grab a notecard from Simulat. In this notecard you find a lot of information about how Simulat makes his pictures. And you get even more information in the above mentioned inner circle, where several boards explain the different techniques.

If you haven’t seen “Spirals and Metaspirals” yet, don’t miss the opportunity to visit the now really large exhibition, you can spned hours there, it’s all in one exhitbion space.

Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) is owned by Hannington Xeltentat. Thank you Hannington for providing the space for the art and for enabling “Winter Snowflakes” by Simulat Almendros. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to “Winter Snowflakes” at Hannington Art Foundation (central landing point)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/169/204/3521

Art in Second Life (38) Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros

24 Apr 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

In December 2020 I visited “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) (read here). This exhibition is still open for a visit – and it is worth it.
Last month I visited again, this time my focus was on the expansion of the exhibtion “Virtual Tables by Simulat Almendros” (read here). The expansion was done by adding a second level above over one half of space.
And now there has been a second expansion, another level added above the remaining half. This expansion is named “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros“.
I visited Monday, April 5th.

Lines of Force – the second expansion of Simulat Almendros’s exhibition at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF)

Lines of Force is an exhibtion of pictures made using a simulation of the magnetic fields. While you can visualize magnetic forces in experiments in physics, you can also simulate the “lines of force” between the poles in computer programs. Simulat Almendros overlaps several of these magnetic fields pictures, he adds other regular formulars which influence the colors or the deviations from one point to the next – and the result is true artwork.

The exhibtion is organized in 3 concentric circles. The outer circle shows Linofo images that Simulat used as seeds for supersymmetric pictures that he calls Snowflakes. Inside he shoes pictures that are just as they emerge from the simulation. And in the inner circle are explanations about how the simulations are created.

Examples of “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros” (1)

Simulat is in SL for almost 14 years. He’s an artist and displays his work at two galleries. In the 1st life tab of his profile he describes himself with the tags: “Computer art, philosophizing Web, graphic arts programming, simulations“. Simulat picked his name because at the time he got his first internet account he was writing simulations of physics. He simulated a gravity field and a magnetic field and later he wrote a system that imitated biological forms. These systems all used the computer screen to display the output as images.
The magnetic field simulation turned out to have the most artistic potential. Simulat spent about 5 years working with that simulation, slowly extending it’s capabilities and exploring the possibilities. That led to his first (and unfortunately also last) real life gallery show.

Examples of “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros” (2)

Now Simulat rediscoverd his former work and with the better performance of computers and graphics nowadays, he could create even more and also more complex simulations.

The provided landmark leads you to the central landing point at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) from where you can take a direct teleport to the exhibtion “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros“. Right next to where you land, you can grab a notecard from Simulat. In this notecard you find a lot of information about how Simulat makes his pictures. And you get even more information in the above mentioned inner circle, where several boards explain the different techniques.

Examples of “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros” (3)

If you haven’t seen “Spirals and Metaspirals” or “Virtual Tables” yet, don’t miss the opportunity to visit both – it’s all in one exhitbion space.

Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) is owned by Hannington Xeltentat. Thank you Hannington for providing the space for the art and for enabling “Lines of Force by Simulat Almendros“. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to “Lines of Force” at Hannington Art Foundation (central landing point)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/169/204/3521

Art in Second Life 2021 (25) “Virtual Tables by Simulat Almendros”

16 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

Last year I visited “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) (read here). The exhibtion is still open, although it has been rearranged. And on February 17th, an addition was added, a second level, that is full with tables, well virtual tables of course.

Simulat is in SL for almost 14 years. He’s an artist and displays his work at two galleries. In the 1st life tab of his profile he describes himself with the tags: “Computer art, philosophizing Web, graphic arts programming, simulations“

For the expansion with the “Virtual tables” Simulat wrote an notecard explaining his work at bit:
Second Life was the first 3D modelling medium I worked with. I got pretty good with prims but they do have limitations. About 2 years later I started using Blender which is a free 3D modelling system that is as powerful as commercial 3D software like Maya. The learning curve is very steep. Learning to use a powerful program like learning a language. You start of with simple things and slowly your vocabulary and fluency increase. Now 8 years later it’s become a central tool in my art making tool box. I use Blender to make 2D pictures that are raw material to import into Photoshop to make Snowflakes. And of course I use it to make 3D forms to import into Second Life.

I like to explore meaningful but abstract forms. The forms are abstract because generally the don’t represent anything that you would see in reality. They are based on the implications of math and science. I work with geometry and symmetry. I try to make those kinds of abstract ideas into concrete forms that you can walk around.”

The expansion “Virtual tables” by Simulat Almendros on a seperate level of “Spirals and Metaspirals”

The tables are really outstanding, colourful and artful. Simulat uses mostly glass for the table plate so that you can see the counter framework. It is suprprising to see his different ideas. I can imagine such a table in RL as an eyecatcher in every room. They can develop their class standing close by eachother but I assume that Simulat wanted to show how different you can make them, her can make them. I’d buy one in RL immediately, if I could.

Virtual Tables by Simulat Almendros

Thank you for this expansion, Simulat. I really like the tables, well done!

Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) is owned by Hannington Xeltentat. Thank you Hannington for providing the space for the art and for enabling “Virtual tables by Simulat Almendros”. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to HAF “The Hannington Arts Foundation at Xeltentat Enterprises”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/163/145/3502

Art in Second Life 2020 (83) “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros”

21 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I visited “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF).
No surprise the exhibtion is about spirals :-). Right next to the entrance you find a board with two links. One leads ot a video, the other to an article. I watched the short video by Martin Hunt about spirals first. In a little bit less than 4 minutes I understood the difference between a spiral and a metaspiral and I got an idea how the exhibited spirals were generated. The article goes a bit further into details. I recommend to have a look at the video and the article before looking at all the exhibits.

“Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) (1)

On another board close to the entrance Simulat Almendros explains the exhibtion like this:
“This exhibition explores the visusal potential of a certain sort of spiral that I call Fibonacci Spiral.
There are an infinite number of these spirals. Natural selection explored those possibilities and found one that is biologically useful.
Flowers like daisies or sunflowers have a particular Fibonacci Spiral at their centers. The spiral is a pattern of florets that become seeds. Each floret is placed by a balance of hormones and the result is a packing of florets that is about as dense as is possible yet giving each floret the same amount of resources.“

“Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) (2)

The showcased spirals are beautiful and it is facinating to learn how they were done. Each of them were generated by quite simple mathematical formulars. Leaving out some lines or dots, colouring them in a certain predefined way creates more and more complex patterns that are real eye candies.

Along your way through the exhibtion you follow Simulat Amendros exploration.

“Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros” at Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) (3)

I never heard about Simulat Almendros before. Simulat is in SL for almost 14 years. He’s an artist and displays his work at two galleries. In the 1st life tab of his profile he describes himself with the tags: “Computer art, philosophizing Web, graphic arts programming, simulations“

Hannington Arts Foundation (HAF) is owned by Hannington Xeltentat. Thank you Hannington for providing the space for the art and for enabling “Spirals and Metaspirals – An exploration by Simulat Almendros”. I enjoyed my visit – and learned something new.

Landmark to HAF “The Hannington Arts Foundation at Xeltentat Enterprises”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Xeltentat%20Enterprises/163/145/3502
A video about spirals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtEaB4LQ1GE&feature=youtu.be
An illustrated essay about spirals
http://www.simulat.ca/spiralessay.php