Wasn’t sure what to do last night for my creative thing.  I was missing some important stuff from the hardware store to work on my Harmonograph so I went through things in my head to figure something out.

 

I recently got a new catalogue in the mail from my friends at Grand Illusions and I decided to leaf through it for some inspiration.  I came to a page with a Moire Pattern Kit.  Normally, when I’d hear the word moire pattern I’d think of the interference I sometimes have to get rid of when I’m doing an After Effects move on an old photograph.  But, trying to make moire patterns on purpose was something new to me.

 

Suddenly I remembered this great little documentary I saw on the making of the original HBO “Feature Presentation” graphic they used to play back in the 80’s.  It’s pretty classic where a camera flys over a neighborhood and heads out to space where lasers reveal the HBO logo.  Well, it’s short but in that doc you get to see how they made the lasers.  It was with Moire patterns!

 

So I decided to go into After Effects and make as many animated moire patterns as I could think of.  All of the patterns were either created using concentric circles or a series of straight lines.
 
The patterns I created are quite simple in structure. Once you begin duplicating it and introducing movement it begins looking much more complex. For example, the pattern you see directly above was created with a series of straight parallel lines.  I just duplicated the series of lines, rotated them 10 degrees and repeated that until I reached 180 degrees.

 

The video below is all of the renders I did last night.  The music in the video is from my modular patch on Day 199.  It can be a little disorienting to watch but I gave everything a muted color to tone it down a bit.  Watching this in stark black and white is just too much.

 

All right, get ready to trip out!

 

5 Replies to “Day 206 / Moire Patterns

  1. Todd Burleson

    Craig,
    Awesome! We do a string art project with fourth graders, but it is no way as cool as this! May I have your permission to project this on the back of the kids on a black screen during our ‘in house’ television show I help produce each day? We are always looking for beautiful new things to catch the viewer’s eyes.

    I’ll wait for your response.

    p.s. I got my very own music box kit in the mail today! Yes! Thank you.

  2. The B-Roll

    Sure, Thanks for asking. Sounds awesome. I feel I should correct you but of course it is absolutely fine. You have been referring to me as craig when I’m actually Charlie. It’s all good, I just thought I should mention it. Thanks.

  3. Todd Burleson

    George, thanks. I’ve been calling people by the wrong name all day; so sorry Larry.

    Just kidding. If you could see me now, I’m blushing.

    Sorry, Charlie.

    What’s funny is you accidentally called me Tom in a reply earlier. My sincerest apology.

    Keep up the great work. I’m really interested in the slit scan technique you wrote about earlier; I am going to give it a try this weekend if I can get through my list of other amazing ideas I’m getting from you here.

    Peace,
    TB

  4. Jason

    This might just be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’m totally serious.

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