Contents

Tech

• Sizecoding links and Resources
• Issues with vim
• Shader programming resources
• TIC-80 Fantasy computer
• LOSPEC: digitally restrictive art

Art

• Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury - MoMA Exhibition
• Artist Books

Sizecoding links and Resources

This week I found a couple of nice Sizecoding links that might come in handy:

• SizeCoding.org - Main Wiki with lots of sizecoding resources.
• Sizecoding Blog by TomCat - Cool tips for x86 sizecoding.
• ikubun - Ikubun demo. Impresive 256b MS-Dos demo with awesome track. src YT
• 6502 based CPUs - Sizecoding tricks for 6502 based CPUs and specifics for C64 and Apple II’s.
• Sizecoding on the Apple II - Some more Apple II specifics.
• Small Linux demo toolkit - not useful for really small demos (~256b) but might be useful for 1k or 4k demos.
• HardCode - Large collection of small demoes. From the site: “My name is Pirx and I adore intros. I collect them - my assemblagel includes thousands of small productions (intros, games, cracktros, BBStros etc). You don’t have to search for intros, download and unpack them one by one - you can get world-biggest set in one ZIP archive!”
• Generating Sine Tables from Parabolas

• minimum code pseudo sine wave

     clc
     ldy #$10
     lda #$7F
    LOOP1
     nop
     dey
    LOOP2
     sty temp
     adc temp
     bmi LOOP1
     iny
     jmp LOOP2
  

Issues with VIM

• Slow vim escape from insert mode
• You can also escape from insertmode by hitting CTRL-C
• I fixed it with :se timeoutlen=5

Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury | MoMA Exhibition

“Zero means ‘nothing,’” wrote the Japanese artist Saburo Murakami in 1953, “start with nothing, completely original, no artificial meaning.” Bringing together approximately 80 works on paper from MoMA’s collection, Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury illuminates how artists used drawing to forge a new visual language in the aftermath of World War II. Modest, immediate, and direct, drawing was the ideal medium for this period of renewal. Mimicking the look of language, it appeared as graffiti-like scribbling, or borrowed from traditional calligraphies. Its geometric forms sought to communicate universal ideals, and its accumulations of marks reflected society’s new urge to amass.

Spanning five continents, the exhibition looks across movements, geographies, and generations to highlight connections between artists who shared common materials and ideas between 1948 and 1961. Featuring works by Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Alfredo Volpi, and many others, as well as recent acquisitions by artists such as Uche Okeke, the exhibition shows how drawing allowed artists at this postwar moment to start again from scratch.

• YouTube video - YouTube video with some great art work.

Jean Dubuffet Bodies of Women (Corps de dames) (1950) Moma link

Alberto Giacometti Portrait (1951) Moma link

Jean Dubuffet Ties and Whys: Landscape with Figures (Liaisons et raisons: paysage avec personnages) (1952) Moma link

Hans Hartung Untitled (1960) Moma link

Links

• Degree Zero / Drawing at Midcentury - Link to the MoMa exhibition where you can see all images.
• The Collection - Our evolving collection contains almost 200,000 works of modern and contemporary art. More than 89,000 works are currently available online.
• Jackson Pollock / American, 1912–1956
• Calligraphie Japonaise (1957) Japanese Calligraphy. - Calligraphie Japonaise (1957) Japanese Calligraphy. Images: Francis Haar. Musique: Andre Souris. Voix: Roger Blin. Montage: Jean Cleinge. Realisation: Alechinsky. Depicts the meaning and place of the Japanese language symbols in art and in other types of communication. Shows the work and approach of the traditional artist and the new approach of the modern young artists. English narration.

Shader programming resources

• WebGL 2.0 reference card
• Ray Marching video introduction and technique explanation
• The Art of Code
• Signed Distance Functions
• A ray marching tutorial

TIC-80 Fantasy Computer

From the site: “TIC-80 is a fantasy computer for making, playing and sharing tiny games. There are built-in tools for development: code, sprites, maps, sound editors and the command line, which is enough to create a mini retro game. At the exit you will get a cartridge file, which can be stored and played on the website.

Also, the game can be packed into a player that works on all popular platforms and distribute as you wish. To make a retro styled game the whole process of creation takes place under some technical limitations: 240x136 pixels display, 16 color palette, 256 8x8 color sprites, 4 channel sound and etc.”

• TIC-80 official site
• Github repo
• Wiki (GH)
• Twitter account
• TIC-80 PDF Cheatsheet
• Episde CCLVI TIC-80 256b prod - TIC-80 prod, where 3 crews joined forces, and with even more help, busted out the first compressed 256 byte TIC (virtual) cartridge.
• TIC File Format
• TIC Palette

tic80packer.py - Python script to genererate a compressed TIC file

#
# TIC80 packer
#
#  Uses the zlib code chunk to crunch down your source
#  https://github.com/nesbox/TIC-80/wiki/tic-File-Format
#
# Usage: tic80packer [lua file]
#

import sys
import zlib

with open(sys.argv[1], mode='rb') as file:
  uncomp = file.read()
print("Uncompressed length: {} bytes".format(len(uncomp)))
comp = zlib.compress(uncomp, zlib.Z_BEST_COMPRESSION)
print("Compressed length:   {} bytes".format(len(comp)))
print("With header:         {} bytes".format(len(comp)+4))
with open(sys.argv[1]+".tic", 'wb') as file:
  file.write(bytes([16]))
  file.write(bytes([len(comp) & 0xFF]))
  file.write(bytes([len(comp) >> 8]))
  file.write(bytes([0]))
  file.write(comp)

Simple demos:

function TIC()
t=time()/99
for o=0,32160 do
 x=o%240;y=o/240
 xx=x-120;yy=y-72
    r=math.sqrt(x*x+y*y)/16
    a=math.atan(yy,xx)*11
    pix(x,y,(r+a+t)%4.94)
end;end

Onother simple demo:

function TIC()
t=time()/99
for y=0,136 do for x=0,240 do
  pix(x,y,(x>>3~y>>3)+t)
end;end;end

Cool sound demo (HellMood):

TIC=function()
for i=0,31 do
t=time()/10.
poke4(2*65438+i,i/(t%16))end
r=((t//100)%4)*25+100
poke(65436,r%256)
poke(65437,(r//256)*15+240)end

Demo in JavaScript:

// script:js
function TIC(){
  t=time()/1000;
  cls();
  for(i = 5e3; i--; f(0, K=i%2, 280, i))
    f = function(w,h,q,d) {
        q > 99 ? 
        f(
            Math.cos(t*2+K)*h+q*Math.cos(d+t),
            w+q*Math.sin(d+t),
            q/2,
            i*i
        )
        : rect((w+480+930*K)/8,(h+510)/8,1,1,9)
    }
}

Original: [Dwitter version]

Another Dwitter [Dwitter version]:

// script:js
function TIC(){
t=time()/999;cls()
n=1200
i=3768
for(;i--;)rect(
120+30 * Math.sin(i/n) * Math.sin(i+t/4),
80-30 * Math.cos(i/n) / Math.cos(t*8/i)
,1,1,3)
}

Other demos:

• Rotozoom demo in LUA

LOSPEC: digitally restrictive art

“Welcome to Lospec, a home for digitally restrictive art. We create online tools for people creating pixel art and other restrictive digital art.”

• LOSPEC website
• LOSPEC Palette List - The Lospec Palette List is a database of palettes for pixel art. We include both palettes that originate from old hardware that could only display a few colors, as well as palettes created by pixel artists specifically for making art. All palettes can be downloaded and imported into your pixelling software of choice.

Some sample paletts:

Apple II

1BIT Monitor Glow Palette - #222323 / #f0f6f0

Commodore 64

Sweetie-16 (TIC-80 palette)

For a list of more computer paletts (CGA, VGA, ZX, etc):

Palettes with tag ‘computer’

Artist Books

One of my recent interests is Zines, self-publishing of books and the whole book printing process. Here are some of the things I’ve been looking at lately:

Big Jump Press website - Letterpress printed artist’s books, prints and cards. Hand bound blank books and boxes. They create artist books, prints and other beautiful books. [Facebook page] [Artist Books Projects] [BOOK ARTS WEB RESOURCES] - A lot of links to Book Arts related links.

Alabama Book Arts: the Motion Picture(s) “Two short videos about the Alabama MFA Book Arts Program”. Book Arts Program at The University of Alabama website

En el video se habla del ‘Taller Experimental de Gráfica de La Habana’. Aquí algunas imagenes y también pueden mirar la página de Facebook. [Facebook]

Sarah Bryant Vimeo Porfile Page - Sarah Bryant, who operates under the name Big Jump Press, designs and produces letterpress-printed artist’s books in editions ranging in size from ten to one hundred copies. Her work can be found in dozens of collections including The Yale Arts Library, The Houghton Library at Harvard University, The New York Public Library and The Library of Congress. Sarah received her MFA from the University of Alabama MFA in the Book Arts Program in 2008.

Book Arts Certificate - “We offer a 15 credit-hour Book Arts Certificate designed for scholars and professionals in other disciplines. It offers an overview of the book arts as a basis for the integration of material book studies into outside research or creative specializations. As a complement to a primary field of study or professional practice, the certificate provides the expertise necessary to produce and critically examine creative book work within a historical context and contemporary framework.”