Shimmer

This is an interactive internet work and can be found at elliotschultz.com/art/shimmer/

A second year university project required me to create an experimental web artwork using HTML5, Javascript and/or jQuery for our Hybrid Digital Media course.

The way the piece works is that it generates a pattern based on the X and Y position of the mouse. The X value controls the width of the lines drawn so when your mouse is to the far left, the lines are very skinny and to the far right the lines are slightly wider. The Y value controls both opacity and line height, so hovering your mouse at the top of the page will draw feint, short lines, while hovering your mouse at the bottom of the page draws opaque, taller lines. Moving your mouse in between these two extremes in both dimensions gives you an interesting mix of different values.

The second aspect to this piece is that it generates music based on the pattern drawn. I’ll admit there are a few predetermined parameters to maintain some sense of rhythm and uniformity. The rest is generated according to the vertical ‘playhead’ that slowly creeps across the screen. The playhead takes an average colour reading of whatever is beneath it and plays both chords and individual notes based on a series of parameters. Therefore, using your mouse position to change appearance of the pattern on the screen, you also have control over the music it generates. Personally, my favourite place to leave the cursor is depicted in the image below, but have a play and see what you prefer.