Exploded Views

While computer animations and huge special effects are all amazing and spectacular, but I think the most impressive animations are the ones that are hand made, such as stop motion or different effects we've seen made like particles. While looking up different things about animation, I stumbled across a really neat video about an LED lights animation created by Jim Campbell. Jim Campbell came from a technical background in engineering and an artistic background in filmmaking. Jim's goal has been to move away from conventional computer screen modes of creating works to works with a more intuitive level of interaction.

The video I came across was sort of a behind the scenes of Campbell's piece called Exploded Views. Exploded Views is basically a bunch of LED light bulbs, and from certain angles it just looks like a 3D matrix of lights suspended from the ceiling. From the side, however, random blinking lights form animations of silhouetted dancers and crowds of people moving around. Earlier, Campbell had a similar display in Madison Square Park in New York City, and now he has brought Exploded Views to San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. Exploded Views is made up of 2,880 LED lights that are individually controlled by custom electronics. I can only imagine how much time was spent on programming each of the lights. Below is the video about Exploded Views.