Typomatics
Typomatics is a tool commissioned by Instrument to produce internal motion assets. An extensible system was designed to allow control, creative remix and discovery of new formal qualities. The canvas system is built in a way where scripts can be created and "installed" for each input canvas, with specified controls. The tool renders the sketches with those controls and produce the resulting animation.
The system
Typomatic is achieved by a system using three independent canvases that talk to each other. The first holds the original typographic image. The second acts as a displacement map—a grayscale image where pixel values determine how much and in what direction the original image should be distorted. Instead of an invisible formula, it is a visual representation of the rule to apply. And the third is the output canvas that puts those two together.
Displacement maps
While working on Typ-o-matics, it was intentional to use generative displacement maps, and not just displacement calculations to invite serendipity. As the work developed, the displacement maps became just as interesting as the final output.
Outputs
Outtakes
The primary displacement method was by-tile. Other displacement mode were also planned such as one that displaces the lines of typography. These are outputs from the unused method.