Each week we chat about the tools of the trade with one outstanding creative to find out exactly how they do what they do. The questions are always the same, the answers, not so much. This week: zenbullets.The Creators Project: Who are you and what do you do?
Zenbullets: I'm Matt Pearson. I also go by the name zenbullets, but call me that in person and we'd both sound like idiots. I suppose I'd define myself as either a generative artist or, more broadly, a creative coder. By which I mean I use code to explore interesting aesthetics—be it interactive, video, print, or whatever. I recently wrote a book about some of the techniques I use called Generative Art: A Practical Guide Using Processing. You can find plenty of my work at zenbullets.com.What hardware do you use?
I develop on a MacBook for the sake of portability (I often leech deskspace from friendly companies around Brighton, England), but I also have a few Mac minis that get deployed for installations or for rendering. Windows is something I tolerate, at best.What software do you use?
Processing and openFrameworks mainly (which I develop using the native Processing IDE and XCode, respectively). I still do a lot of ActionScript work too, which I develop in Flash Builder. QuickTime Pro and BBEdit are two other frequent friends. I try my hardest not to get too dependent on any one bit of off-the-shelf software, else I'd probably spend most of my day screaming abuse at various major software companies on Twitter, like so many of my colleagues seem to.If money were no object, how would you change your current setup?
Throwing money at me would probably be a very bad idea; I can't think of a quicker way of destroying any idiosyncrasy my work may have. Being too tight to shell out for 3D software and/or video effects/editing packages is one of the main things that has compelled me to explore my own code-based solutions. If there's one pro of not being able to afford the expensive tools, it prevents your work looking like everyone else's. Of course I'm not saying you shouldn't throw money at me. Please, feel free.What fantasy piece of technology would you like to see invented?
I often dream up crazy ideas around the interface between music and visuals, but I reckon Jean Michel Jarre probably already tried and rejected the majority of them. The world definitely needs some new musical instruments though, like tech that can be "played"—with a foot on the monitors and hair over your eyes.Is there a piece of technology that changed your life or inspired you?
The ZX Spectrum. As a geeky kid growing up in the UK in the 1980s there were only two choices: Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum. Approx 70% of the kids whose parents bought them a C64 grew up to be web designers. The Speccy kids all became programmers.What’s your favorite relic piece of technology from your childhood?
Apart from my faithful Speccy, there was one other box of tech that burned itself on my brain: the original Star Wars arcade machine. The one in the cabinet, with the reclined seat, X-wing controls, and a window behind for your mates to watch as you negotiated the trench on the way to destroying the Death Star. The graphics and gameplay were hopelessly primitive by today's standards, but there was something about the immersive physicality of that machine that put you right in the moment. And the vectors, of course. THE VECTORS.
Zenbullets: I'm Matt Pearson. I also go by the name zenbullets, but call me that in person and we'd both sound like idiots. I suppose I'd define myself as either a generative artist or, more broadly, a creative coder. By which I mean I use code to explore interesting aesthetics—be it interactive, video, print, or whatever. I recently wrote a book about some of the techniques I use called Generative Art: A Practical Guide Using Processing. You can find plenty of my work at zenbullets.com.
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I develop on a MacBook for the sake of portability (I often leech deskspace from friendly companies around Brighton, England), but I also have a few Mac minis that get deployed for installations or for rendering. Windows is something I tolerate, at best.What software do you use?
Processing and openFrameworks mainly (which I develop using the native Processing IDE and XCode, respectively). I still do a lot of ActionScript work too, which I develop in Flash Builder. QuickTime Pro and BBEdit are two other frequent friends. I try my hardest not to get too dependent on any one bit of off-the-shelf software, else I'd probably spend most of my day screaming abuse at various major software companies on Twitter, like so many of my colleagues seem to.If money were no object, how would you change your current setup?
Throwing money at me would probably be a very bad idea; I can't think of a quicker way of destroying any idiosyncrasy my work may have. Being too tight to shell out for 3D software and/or video effects/editing packages is one of the main things that has compelled me to explore my own code-based solutions. If there's one pro of not being able to afford the expensive tools, it prevents your work looking like everyone else's. Of course I'm not saying you shouldn't throw money at me. Please, feel free.What fantasy piece of technology would you like to see invented?
I often dream up crazy ideas around the interface between music and visuals, but I reckon Jean Michel Jarre probably already tried and rejected the majority of them. The world definitely needs some new musical instruments though, like tech that can be "played"—with a foot on the monitors and hair over your eyes.Is there a piece of technology that changed your life or inspired you?
The ZX Spectrum. As a geeky kid growing up in the UK in the 1980s there were only two choices: Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum. Approx 70% of the kids whose parents bought them a C64 grew up to be web designers. The Speccy kids all became programmers.What’s your favorite relic piece of technology from your childhood?
Apart from my faithful Speccy, there was one other box of tech that burned itself on my brain: the original Star Wars arcade machine. The one in the cabinet, with the reclined seat, X-wing controls, and a window behind for your mates to watch as you negotiated the trench on the way to destroying the Death Star. The graphics and gameplay were hopelessly primitive by today's standards, but there was something about the immersive physicality of that machine that put you right in the moment. And the vectors, of course. THE VECTORS.