LCEA ALUMNI

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Who are we?

LCEA Alumni are graduates of the Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts, a post graduate research centre at Middlesex University in the UK.

Many alumni have set up their own new media businesses and consultancies. Other alumni careers include graphic design, interactive media design, new media research, game design, web site development and design, animation, teaching, film making, audio design, journalism and various management roles.

LCEA alumni have a good record for winning new media awards, including BAFTAs, Milia, BIMA and others.

Latest Articles

News

ISEA 2008

Written by Paul D
Sunday, 29 July 2007
Andrew Rowe (founding member of SquidSoup) has informed me that the International Symposium on Electronic Art is soliciting papers, artist presentations etc. More details at the ISEA web site.

ArtRage

Written by Paul D

Wednesday, 25 July 2007

Ambient Design has released version 2.5 of ArtRage.
The software is a painting application similar to Corel Painter but aimed at the entry level market. The full version of the latest release only costs $25 and there is a free version to download to with reduced features.

What is interesting is the interface. I have tried the Mac version and some of the interface elements are quite cool. I'm not sure if the Windows version has the same features. The palette knife is a particularly satisfying tool, it rotates into the direction that you move the cursor.

A click on an interface element to change a brush parameter makes a window 'materialise' in a unique way. The software generally works best with a tablet and seems to work fine with a Wacom, including the pressure sensitive feature.
The application is worth downloading to check out and have a play with. Certainly the free version is a good download for the kids and the summer holidays.

You can download the software at Ambient Design web site.

There is also a 'cartoon' tutorial.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 20 September 2007 )

Transmediale 2008

Written by Paul D
Sunday, 22 July 2007
The next Transmediale festival date is 29th January 2008 at Berlin’s House of World Cultures. The theme will be Conspire. The deadline for entries is 7 September 2007.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 July 2007 )

Papervision3D

Written by Paul D
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Papervision3D has released a free Open Source public beta Flash add on that it used in an Audi promotional web site. Papervison3D allows you to create your own rhythms of lines and store them in your gallery so that they can be played back later. The home page has a particularly good Flash fish animation.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 July 2007 )

Flash Film Festival

Written by Paul D
Tuesday, 03 July 2007
The deadline for submissions to the Flash film festival has been extended to 27th July 2007. The aim of the festival is to encourage the use of Flash and other innovative technologies - Maya, Photoshop, Dreamweaver etc as a tool of creative expression. The festival will now run over two days: Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd September 2007. Further details can be found on the Horse Hospital website.

Cut & Paste digital design tournament

Written by Paul D
Saturday, 30 June 2007
The Cut & Paste digital design tournament hits various venues and dates around the world this year but the deadline for all is July 17th. The London event will be on October 20th and the judges will be from Glue, Soda, Digit, Attik and Creative Review. For more info visit the Cut & Paste web site
Last Updated ( Saturday, 30 June 2007 )

The release of ixiQuarks

Written by Paul D

Friday, 22 June 2007

Predators

Gridder

ixi has released version 1.0 of the audio improvisation software 'ixiQuarks'. The software is a set of audio tools for generating music and coded using an Open Source system called SuperCollider. ixi was started by Enrike Hurtado Mendieta and Thor Magnusson in 2000, both are graduates of the LCEA. They are musicians and have been producing various software audio tools for some time now, ixiQuarks being their latest release.

So what does ixiQuarks consist of?
There are various 'modules' that can be opened. Probably the most interesting for those that want to get started are the instruments. Having played with a few of these i think my favourites are Predators, Gridder and ScaleSynth. With Predators you create a selection of organisms on screen, either predators or prey. When the prey are attacked by a predator a sound is generated. You can change the production of sounds by altering the position of the prey.
ScaleSynth was also fun to use but is apparently an older instrument, i managed to generate a lot of 'prog' rock sounds using it although i suspect someone more skilled could produce better results.

Is this all ixi do?
Well no, ixi have been doing workshops at various universities and arts institutions, in these events ixi cover issues including interactive music, generative music, algorithmic art and installations. They can use different software in their workshops such as Pure Data, Supercollider, OSC, visual programming platforms Python, Processing/Java, Director and Flash to achieve this.

If you would like to try these tools out then why not visit the ixi web site. The Quarks software is available for the Mac platform and is Open Source. Linux and Windows versions will hopefully be available soon. Thor has written a paper for the University of Sussex about ixiQuarks. You will need Adobe Acrobat or Mac Preview to view the document.

Other ixi audio software is available from the ixi web site for Mac and Windows. Thor is currently teaching and studying for a PhD at the University of Sussex, whilst Enrike is a member of a research group of the Digital Research Unit, Huddersfield University.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 20 September 2007 )