The following images were generated with an edited modification of the paint preset we hand built yesterday. As you may recall, we used a MSG preset that generates a chaotic attractor image to build a MSG Live source brush paint preset. Today, we will work with Temporal Generators (TG) attached to the MSG preset’s editable parameters to build additional variability into the dynamic brush shape generated by the MSG Live source brush when painting.
If you haven’t read yesterday’s post (or you’ve forgotten what we covered), please read it before continuing. We’re going to do some mild hand editing of yesterday’s preset to attach additional temporal generators to individual editable parameters associated with the PickoverChaosGen processor in the MSG component of yesterday’s paint preset.
Modifying the MSG Preset for More Dynamic Self-Animating Behavior
The 1st gallery image below shows how I hand edited the parameters associated with the PickoverChaosGen processor. We generated some slight dynamics in the painting process yesterday by using the Pen Orientation TG modulator along with a paint synthesizer editing trick to modulate the Angle of the chaotic attractor based on the Source Image Orientation. For today’s example, I wanted a much more dynamic and variable brush shape. So I attached 3 additional temporal generators to the A, C, and Angle Z parameters.
Naming 4 of the PickoverChaosGen processor’s editable parameters A,B,C and D might seem lame. But they correspond to parameters in a mathematical formula that generates the Pickover chaotic attractor. The whole point of chaotic attractors is that very small changes in the parameters used in the mathematical equation that generates them can lead to large and essentially random changes in the appearance of the attractor. So there are no meaningful descriptive names we could use for these editable parameters that would make any sense, so we just stick to the original naming in the math formula that generates the attractor.
Note that unlike my original TG modulator based on the Pen Orientation modulation in yesterday’s post, the 3 temporal generators I picked today are all time based oscillators ( Ramp, Uniform noise, and Lorenz84 Chaos ). Also note that I was extremely picky about using a very narrow Min_TG and Max_TG range values for the A and C parameters, but used a much larger Min_TG and Max_TG range for the Angle and Angle Z parameters. Read the paragraph above again to understand why I wanted to only slightly vary the values of A and C parameters.
Whenever I build a MSG preset using time based oscillators for attached temporal generators, I preview the dynamic behavior of the MSG preset using the Run TG Preview context menu command for the MSG Advanced Editor (2nd gallery image above). On the mac you hold down the control key and mouse down in the MSG Advanced Editor to get these context menu commands, on windows you right click.
A short screen capture movie of running the dynamic TG Preview is available here. Note how the MSG preview cell in the MSG Advanced Editor dynamically animates in real time after I run the Run TG Preview command menu.
Modifying the MSG Live Source Brush Paint Preset to Better See the Dynamic Brush Behavior
I made a slight edit in the paint synthesizer to yesterday’s MSG embedded paint preset to better see the dynamic brush variability being generated by the temporal generators we added to our MSG preset above. As shown below, I worked in the Brush Source control panel to change the size of the MSG Live source brush to 128×128 pixels.
I also made sure the MSG TG Option was set to Path -Random Start. I did this because I want the temporal generator frame timing to be a random frame time for each new paint path. if I had used a Path setting instead, then the frame timing for each paint path would be the same (frame time 1 since the path is only a single paint nib long), so the time based oscillators would always generate the same output. Try this editing change and notice the radical change in the dynamic appearance of the MSG Live source brush (it looks just like yesterday where only the orientation of the brush changes, modulated by the source image orientation).
We’ve only scratched the surface of what you can do with MSG presets to customize the Studio Artist paint synthesizer. I like working with dynamic chaotic attractors for MSG Live source brushes, because the wild dynamic changes in brush appearance you can generate with a chaotic attractor MSG preset can simulate all kinds of organic paint splatter effects. But the range of potential dynamic shapes and textures you can generate with MSG presets is infinite due to the modular nature of MSG, so you could explore the variations capable with this kind of embedded MSG paint synthesis forever, always finding new ways to work with it.
The key to generating dynamic self-animating behavior in a MSG preset is working with temporal generators attached to editable parameters in the MSG preset. The paint synthesizer gives you a wide range of different ways of working with temporal generator frame timing when drawing paint strokes based on embedded MSG. Have fun exploring those options, and feel free to ask questions about any you might not understand.
