Frakie is devoted to Algorithmic Art
Hi ! My name is Elias, and since I was 12 years old, I wanted to do Computer Art.
At first, I didn't know it, but I saw what was called a "Demo".
If you don't know what is a Demo, here are some links:
- Wikipedia explaining what's a Demo
- Wikipedia Article on the "Demoscene"
- A documentary on the Demoscene
- A site about the Demoscene
To sum it up, when computers first appeared, people still didn't know a lot of what could be done with them.
But the first geeks, quickly realized they could program algorithms that created beautiful pictures: Geometries, fractals, symmetry, recursivity, parametrics, ellipses, polygons, rays that go tracing or marching, the possiblities where endless.
So a new kind of art appeared: Algorithmic Art, and when geeks saw what others were doing, they wanted to copy, and improve it. And that created a virtuous cycle in which the techniques and the art advanced incredibly fast.
To measure the goodness of an artist/developer agaist the others, competitions where created, and the Demo stablished as the basic Piece of Algorithmic Art to compete in the Demoscene.
So a Demo is a program that algorithmically creates stunning and artistic images and sounds.
Here are some Demos, for your enjoyment:
So: Algorithms create art. That's what Frakie is all about.
The insight that led the creation of Frakie, was that there's a lot of developers around the world, who have regular jobs, but who create Algorithmic Art in their spare time, or as their side projects.
You could find those artistic projects in their Github pages, released as Open Source, but you would need to git-clone the project, set-up the dependencies, compile the code, and find out how to run the algorithm in order to be able to see its results, and play with its parameters to get different results.
Cumbersome for an interested developer, impossible for a regular user who doesn't know what is Git or how to compile source code.
So I set up to create a standardized way of storing Algorithmic Art, a standardized interface which even non-developers could use, and an on-line digital "Art Gallery" where those algorithms could be published, navigated, seen, interacted with, and then printed and ordered to put that art to show at home, on clothing or any other support.
This is what Frakie aims to be, the home for Algorithmic Art, where users can browse and enjoy, and developers can publish and get audience.
Here are some examples of algorithms already implemented in Frakie, so you can go and customize them with your own face or logo:
But it gets more interesting: Algorithms have parameters, use images and letters, and fonts and colours.
What if the user could change those images, tune those parameters, change the texts, and pick the fonts and colours they wanted ?
They would have Customized Alrgorithmic Art, they could then download their generated piece in High Definition, and have it printed on cloth, wall art, or even download it in high-res and have it used in their own private videos.
This is Frakie, or at least the part that I have been able to implement, while having two kids in the way, and keeping my regular job :)