Dust Mites -Maryyann Landlord

Sometimes, we forget to notice that the tiny common things around us can also be some of the most beautiful. Dust balls are often disliked due to their nature of sticking to things and cause of allergies. However, when shown in slow motion and against the light, their paths traveled through the air become quite alluring.

For my project, I wanted to simulate pollution as it flowed through the air. I got my inspiration both from my previous clock project and from the sootballs in the movie, Spirited Away. The way that the air emphasized the sootballs’ lightness captured my interest.

At first I mapped the size of the eyes to the arguments that faceOSC outputted. Every time something changed, the program would output a number for the change. I figured out the difference between my opened eyes and my closed eyes. Then, I changed the size of the soot balls based on my blinking. Using the same tactic as I did with my eyes, I mapped the force of the wind to the height of my mouth. I wanted to allow people to interact in a way that would be nature for them to do in real life with dust. Therefore, when one’s mouth would open as if to blow them away, the dust balls fly at a speed depending on how big the mouth is opened.

I think I managed the simulation of the lightness of the soot, but I wish I could have made them slowly flow upwards again after changing direction, instead of so abruptly. I also wish I could have added a windmill as a decoration on the side. This was a really fun project though,  and I learned a lot of about making classes and utilizing them through your draw function.

(video pending)

dust mites from Maryyann Landlord on Vimeo.