Popping Universe
2024
Generative Visual | Audio Reactive | Installation
Max/MSP | After Effects | DALL-E
‘Popping Universe’ is a generative audio-reactive installation that explores the real-time interaction between sound and visuals.This work investigates how sound can transform geometric structures and colors, constructing a system where audio input directly generates visual patterns.
By utilizing RGB color channels and geometric forms, the system analyzes real-time audio data, creating an ever-evolving visual rhythm. As sound changes, the scale, color, and arrangement of shapes dynamically shift, forming an unpredictable rhythm.
RGB colors were chosen as they are fundamental to digital imagery. Furthermore, the concept of the universe serves not just as a visual backdrop but as a metaphor for a continuously evolving generative audio-reactive system.
This project focuses on building an environment where sound actively reshapes visual forms in real time.
By utilizing RGB color channels and geometric forms, the system analyzes real-time audio data, creating an ever-evolving visual rhythm. As sound changes, the scale, color, and arrangement of shapes dynamically shift, forming an unpredictable rhythm.
RGB colors were chosen as they are fundamental to digital imagery. Furthermore, the concept of the universe serves not just as a visual backdrop but as a metaphor for a continuously evolving generative audio-reactive system.
This project focuses on building an environment where sound actively reshapes visual forms in real time.
Inspiration
Sound is not merely a physical vibration but an element that reshapes space and perception. We do not simply listen to sound; we experience and respond to it within specific environments and contexts. Through this project, I sought to explore how sound can dynamically transform visuals in real time.
Even when we hear the same sound, our interpretation and perception of it vary depending on the situation. Similarly, in this work, sound is not just a vibration but a restructured, ever-changing visual event that can be directly experienced.
This project is not about merely visualizing sound but about exploring the process in which sound transforms into spatial and sculptural forms. By doing so, it reveals that the world we hear is not a fixed state but a continuously evolving process.
Process
1) Background Creation
The background imagery for this project was generated using DALL·E, creating a visual representation of the universe. Afterward, the image was enhanced using After Effects to introduce spatial depth and movement, transforming it from a static visual into an immersive, dynamic space.
2) Generative Shader Design
A generative shader was designed to react to audio signals in real time using RGB color channels. In this process, geometric forms and colors dynamically transform based on sound variations, resulting in an ever-changing rhythm rather than a fixed pattern.
The shader system is not merely a visual effect but a structural element that evolves based on audio data, allowing sound and visuals to function as a unified, organic system.
3) Generative Shapes
An algorithm was programmed to adjust the size, arrangement, and shape of geometric forms in real time based on microphone input. As the sound changes, the geometric elements expand, contract, or transform dynamically.
These generated forms are not repetitive patterns but a continuously evolving visual structure shaped by audio data.
Final Outcome
Ultimately, Popping Universe creates an audio-visual environment where RGB colors and geometric forms continuously react to sound in real time.
Viewers can experience an ever-expanding visual space where sound acts as an active sculptural force. Rather than providing a fixed form, this project offers a fluid, immersive visual experience that evolves organically with sound. .