Face Generator

Description

This project is an attempt to visualize the feeling of a slow burn breakdown or an 'Unraveling' of the self. As circumstances take a turn for the worse, we try to hold ourselves together even though we can notice ourselves frailing.

And at a final tipping point, we finally let go of ourselves to be consumed by despair and to finally feel all the emotions we've been bottling up. Rather than a maniacal snap, as usually represented in contemporary media, this feels like the slipping of clasped sand.

The editor to the code is available here

Design Process

I started with a boiler plate ragged face as shown below.

From this, I needed to define all the features of the face via algebraic functions. I used points on this face to plot a graph. I then picked up 4 defining points on each side from this face and created an n degree lagrange polynomial.

I used the polynomial functions to loop though every point in the x y space to add indents depending on the x and y (visualized below)

Using this as the base, I then added curved lines across the space with the curve vertex having the indents included. The base positions of the eyes, nose, lips and the 8 points defining the face had some random aspects to it to generate new faces with every click.I then added noise to indicate despair aspect of the project.

And for the final touch, I added interactivity with mouse where moving the mouse increased the noise to such an extent that the individual curves lost all its features and the background lightened to reveal the name of the project.

Reflection

Trying to add visuals with intent, to evoke certain emotions was challenging and fun. I had explored many variations of the 'indents' to get to the emotion I wanted to portray.

Credits

This project was inspired by the music videos of House of Cards by Radiohead and Do I wanna know by Arctic Monkeys