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Contents © 2012 Golan Levin and Collaborators

Golan Levin and Collaborators

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Floccus

1999 | Golan Levin

Floccus

Floccus (Golan Levin, 1999). In 1999 I began to study the means by which dynamic graphical lines could convey a plausible sense of physicality. After some experimentation I developed a model for representing the underlying structure of "physical" lines, in which a finite-element, mass-spring-damper simulation is composed of virtual particles connected by alternating linear and torsional springs. The model has the effect of simulating the tensile properties of thin physical filaments, such as hairs or twigs. I used this physical model to create a series of reactive drawing systems, including Floccus.

In Floccus (the name is a Latin term for "hairball"), ductile filaments drawn by the user swirl around a shifting, imaginary drain centered at the user's cursor. These filaments — torn by conflicting impulses to simultaneously preserve their length, yet also move towards or away from the cursor — find an equilibrium by forming gnarly, tangled masses.

Resources

Floccus can be experienced in this interactive Java applet.

(Some related interactive applets on this web site can be found here:
Meshy, Dendron, Obzok, Stripe, Stria, Streamer, Banded Clock, Dakadaka.)

A full-screen, sonified version of Floccus is one of the seven modules in the Audiovisual Environment Suite, and is available for purchase from Software Art Space. 

More high-resolution images of Floccus are available in this Flickr photoset.
A modified version of Floccus was used to create Floccular Portraits.

Images (click to enlarge)

Floccus Floccus Floccus