My winter break project — Silk
weavesilk.com
It's a little generative art trinket. Just draw and watch. Hold shift while moving your mouse to control the wind. :-)
Let me know what you think!
weavesilk.com
Let me know what you think!
Check out Fracture - http://www.fractureme.com/ - I bet they would look unreal printed with their tech.
I love generative art and this looks very polished - the sparkles are a nice touch!
As someone else mentioned, the flags are easy to miss on a wide screen, maybe vertically align them with the content column?
Edit: I see it's in JavaScript? Excellent! Any other tools or techniques you found helpful would be interesting to read. Congrats!
I plan to explore inexact replays in the future. It's not difficult, just a bit of fooling about with the random number generator.
The main issue right now is that you can't tell the difference between two similar Silks unless you have them side-by-side. Solving that problem is something I'm looking into for future versions. :-)
As someone who never uses "desktop" or "background" images, I actually do think the example images are beautiful and enjoyable.
I'll admit there are probably very few idiots like me who refuse to use background image decorations, but let me explain why as well as what.
The background image I use on X is called the "root weave" and although it is horribly ugly, it is exceedingly useful. The "root weave" image is designed to help you detect errors in display rendering. If there's something wrong in your display drivers, display settings, or even cable connections, the refresh makes the root weave look like it's moving and can show other very obvious signs of corruption.
I got into this function-over-fashion mindset many decades ago when it was very easy to destroy a very expensive display by configuring or driving it the wrong way. Modern displays typically have safe-guards to prevent destroying equipment, but my ancient habit is still very useful for debugging.
The X.org and XFree code base includes the rootweave and a few other similar images designed to help identify display problems. You might have fun incorporating the ideas behind these test images into something more beautiful to look at?
I'm not sure it's quite the direction I want to take Silk, but thanks for sharing -- I never thought about using desktop images for a pragmatic purpose such as that.
http://webcvs.freedesktop.org/xorg/data/bitmaps/
In the past I've read analysis/explanation regarding the various test images, why they were created and how they should be used, but that was a very long time ago. You'll probably need to do a bit of digging to find such information.
Pure beauty is commendable as well as commonly desirable. Pure function is also commendable but far less commonly desirable. A blend of both is often superior to either.
I think would be unwise to cater function solely towards people doing debugging since it would severely limit the market, but making something both gorgeous and useful will have a stronger appeal than just gorgeous.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3590/3621951455_9632ff862f.jp...
Apparently root weave was done away with in X11R7.5, who knew? (Can still be enabled with the -retro flag.)
Congrats on a very slick web app, btw. Often when I see a project posted here I think to myself, "I could have done that, but am too lazy." :-) However, your idea is highly original and superbly executed. Well beyond my ken, not that that means anything.
The "probably" up there makes me sad; I miss my Linux desktops.
Making it so users can download the silks they make would be nice. Using your silk as my background is cool, but using my own is even better :)
Edit: As mdda points out, it works if I hold shift and control simultaneously, pushing shift first.
It looks like I need to reposition the New link, though -- lots of people are simply refreshing and missing the hints.
$(function() {
if ($.browser.msie) // Sorry, I tried. && $.browser.version < 9)
$('body').addClass('ie')
})
If Yury hasn't already, definitely give it a shot with FlashCanvas: http://flashcanvas.net/ Its performance is somewhere around 33x faster than the vml-based excanvas. (Yes, 3300% better.)
http://www.escapemotions.com/experiments/flame/index.html#to...
But thanks for the link! I'll keep it in mind if a use for it crops up.
Great site! I'm using the "rainbow on black" on my secondary cinema display now. Correct resolution and everything. Thanks! :)
I've seen it done in a similar canvas project called Harmony (http://mrdoob.com/projects/harmony/)
It would be nice to have an infinite amount of Silk wallpapers that you created yourself or by others :)
(Fedora 14, FF 3.6.13)
Stay tuned, though. It will be on Kickstarter soon.
Wonderfully done!
Note: I'll gladly pay a few euros for the iPad version
If not, would you please consider implementing it?
$("<img/>").attr('src', $("#render").get(0).toDataURL()).prependTo("body");
Or here's a bookmarklet: http://bookmarklets.heroku.com/bookmarklets/1799
Also the new button really needs to be more prominent
And yes, the UI needs some changes -- I'll be updating stuff and A/B testing it during the course of the next several weeks.