Project: Lingdong Huang, CMU 15-112 Term Project: Hermit (2015)
Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPYeTJd8klQ
Link to GIF: https://giphy.com/embed/XBuy5KwySYOAruoFrN
<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/XBuy5KwySYOAruoFrN?video=0" width="480" height="274" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/XBuy5KwySYOAruoFrN">via GIPHY</a></p>
Lingdong Huang, Hermit (2015)
One person, Lingdong Huang , was involved in the making of this project. What is particularly inspiring about this project is that its creator is not (or at least, wasn't at the time) a professional artist, but rather a fellow CMU student. I assume it took Huang only a few weeks to complete this simulation, as I also took 15-112 and am familiar with the term project. Huang used Python code to create this project, and was likely inspired by preexisting procedural generation projects which mimicked nature.
I was shown this video when I was a senior in high school by a student when I came to visit CMU. The combination of aesthetics and algorithmic complexity of this project left a lasting impression which led me to apply to CMU. I was drawn to the minimalistic yet effective use of monochromatic tones to evoke a quiet, fantastical atmosphere; the usage of simple polygons in specific ways to create organic, life-like creatures. The usage of building a "skeleton" in order to animate the creatures can be seen in Lingdong's later work, doodle-place, which was shown in Lecture today.