terrains #17

A generative set of imaginary landscapes.

Terrains continues a study of topographic media translations that began with Plastic Landscapes (2016) and our Field Guide to Martian Landscapes (2017). While the Field Guide focused on analyzing topographies of another planet, interpreted through telescopic imaging and software translation, this project focuses on the procedural generation of nonexistent landscapes. These landscapes are generated through a complex manipulation of perlin noise, a recurring algorithm used in videogames, film VFX, and generative art since the 1980s that resembles natural geological formations. By no means new, this tradition is part of a lineage of digital visualization projects focused on reproducing nature through algorithmic means. Our algorithm generates sequential bands of noise mapped on an X-Y plane, rendered in an oblique architectural projection, a techniques that comes from technical drawing conventions. This perspective produces a layering effect that flattens the terrain in an architectural way. Neither realistic nor completely abstract, the system plays with projection, entropy, and constraints to produce a collection of imaginary terrains sited on the Tezos blockchain.

We must also credit all who have explored this field of work: Ken Perlin, James M. Bardeen, Stephen Schmitt, Paul Bourke, Joseph Claghorn, Amit Patel, Inigo Quilez, Matt DesLauriers, and many many more...

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2023