Successfully set up my Star Trails music visualization to use Hue, Saturation and Brightness as the color parameters.
I am mapping the hue of the stars to a small range (shades of blues) and to vary with changes in frequency values (low, mid and high notes). Color saturation is lower in the beginning so as the “stars” are painted across the sky, the color builds over the duration of the sketch. The saturation and brightness of the colors is also mapped to changes in the volume (when the song is louder, the stars that are drawn are brighter and more vivid in color).
The diameter of the stars also changes according to the frequency spectrum. I am also mapping the stars’ “speed” to the frequency spectrum, which means that rather than having the stars continuously draw a line, there are larger jumps and gaps in the line and moments where the stars are painted in a previous position. The result is non-continuous lines and a more spontaneous and organic look to the piece.
The initial idea of the sketch was to have the stars draw circles which would be completed at the end of the song. The result was very crowded and too perfect. Allowing the music to influence the way the stars are painted across the sky results in more organic variation and results in a musical interpretation of star trail photography.
Sticking to a monochrome color scheme (shades of blue) seems fitting given the relaxing and meditative nature of the sketch. This also creates a harmonious look to the piece, with ocean and sky reading as being part of one sketch. The color of the ocean lines also varies according to changes in the volume, while the range of possible hues is in the blue/purple family. It’s also fun to let the ocean lines be mapped to greater values and more visibly see the resulting change of volume, although it doesn’t work with the meditative quality of the sketch.
Feeling very close to a finished look and feel! Am interested in trying to map the color variables to more than one visual element (for instance, alpha values mapped to both the y and x axis) and continuing to explore what the code is capable of doing.
