View movie

View thumbnails
Run time: 1:35

Play / Download (help)

(28 KB)512Kb MPEG4
(28 KB)Ogg Video
(44 KB)MPEG1
(470 KB)MPEG2
(6.34 MB)Ogg Video
(6.60 MB)512Kb MPEG4
(89 MB)MPEG2

Resources

Karl SimsPrimordial Dance (1991)

This short computer animation is an experimental progression of abstract textures and colors created using an interactive process of "artificial evolution." The artist and computer collaborate to produce images and movements that neither could easily produce alone. The computer generates and displays a collection of experimental abstract images. The artist chooses the most aesthetically interesting images, and those survive and are "bred" to produce a new collection of images. The equations, or artificial genes, of the survivors are copied, mutated, and mated by the computer to generate new offspring pictures. This process of variation and selection is repeated, and with each cycle more complex and interesting results can occur. Finally, movements are created by performing "genetic interpolations" between these evolved images. The final animation you see here contains a series of these interpolations applied to various sets of evolved images.


This movie is part of the collection: SIGGRAPH

Director: Karl Sims
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: animation, computer graphics; evolution; breeding; image processing
Contact Information: For further technical information see: http://www.genarts.com/karl/papers/siggraph91.html For information on other works by Karl Sims visit: http://www.genarts.com/karl/

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 18,388 timesReviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: EnglishCaddy - - August 25, 2008
Subject: psychedelic
Very artistic, and a good organic representation of evolution. I could imagine staring at this in an art museum.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - June 6, 2008
Subject: It's alive!!!
Pretty good, very organic animation. Short, but good.

Reviewer: Telephone Toughguy - - July 12, 2007
Subject: This is a neat looking video
Ignore the less evolved superstitious folks.

Reviewer: Claeyborn - - May 30, 2007
Subject: ID
Nice example of intelligent design.
One star for trying to push it off as an example of evolution.

Credits

Software and Animation by Karl Sims
Music by David Grimes, Target Productions
Drums by Jim Salem, Abbi Spinner, Ken Schachat, and Seth Goldstein
Thanks to Peter Schroeder, Lew Tucker, Gary Oberbrunner, Matt Fitzgibbon, and Dave Sheppard
This piece was rendered on a Connection Machine CM-2 computer.