Ira Greenberg, Director of Center of Creative Computation at SMU, will give a 3-hour hands on workshop on ‘Processing programming language and environment’ on Friday, April 19 from noon-3 p.m. in the ATEC Conference Room.

This workshop is open to graduates, undergraduates, and faculty. Please have the Processing software installed on your laptop and bring them with you to the workshop.

This hands-on workshop introduces the Processing programming language and environment. Participants will get a tour of the programming environment and learn how to code a simple particle engine in Processing.

Other topics covered will include Processing and its relationship to Java, object-oriented principles in Processing, 3D, and extending Processing through both core and user-submitted libraries and tools.

No prior programming experience is required.

About Ira Greenberg

With an eclectic background combining elements of painting and programming, Ira Greenberg has been a painter, 2D and 3D animator, print designer, web and interactive designer/developer, programmer, art director, creative director, managing director, art professor, and author.

Ira holds a BFA from Cornell University and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, Ira is Associate Professor at Miami University (Ohio), where he has a joint appointment within the School of Fine Arts and Interactive Media Studies program. He is also an affiliate member of the Department of Computer Science and Systems Analysis.

His research interests include aesthetics and computation, expressive programming, emergent forms, net-based art, artificial intelligence (and stupidity), physical computing, and computer art pedagogy (and anything else that tickles his fancy).

One of his passions is torturing defenseless art students with trigonometry, algorithms, and object-oriented programming, and he is excited to spread this passion to the rest of the world. Ira lives in charming Oxford, Ohio with his wife, Robin; his son, Ian; his daughter, Sophie; and their night prowler cat, Moonshadow. When not sitting aimlessly in front of his laptop, you can usually find Ira getting checked against the boards at the local ice rink.

This fall, three new undergraduate courses will be offered in the area of game design and development:

• ATEC 4367: Game Development 2,
• ATEC 4368: Game Design 2,
• and ATEC 4373: Virtual Environments 2.

Due to the advanced nature of these courses, and to formalize instructor permissions across the gaming area, all of these courses require an application procedure prior to student enrollment.

The required paperwork can be downloaded below or found outside Dr. Monica Evans’s office, ATEC 1.908. All paperwork must be turned in on the ATEC server by midnight on Sunday, April 14. Students will be notified of their acceptance by April 17. Any questions or concerns should be directed to Dr. Evans (mevans@utdallas.edu) immediately.

ATEC 4367: Advanced Game Development (Game Development 2)

This course explores the theory and practice of rapid prototyping for digital games. Students in this course will individually design, create, and playtest small agile prototypes for digital games in a short amount of time using a variety of online development tools. The course focuses on examining both successes and failures, and teaches students how to use those experiences to improve their game development processes in the future. Course culminates in the presentation of a redesigned game, pitch document, and postmortem for an original digital game.

Download the Fall 2013 Game Development 2 application.

ATEC 4368: Advanced Game Design (Game Design 2)

Continuing study in the critical analysis and creative design of interactive games, with special focus on bringing games out of a full design document into production and development. Topics include designing for serious, persuasive, or educational games; integrating art and entertainment; innovations in mechanics; interactive sounds and narrative; haptic interaction; and advanced production and project management techniques.

Download the Fall 2013 Game Design 2 application.

ATEC 4373: Special Topics in Game Studies: Virtual Environments 2

This course explores advanced methods and techniques used in the design and creation of virtual environments. Topics include advanced level design and scripting techniques, game design implementation, player engagement, and player experience management.

Download the Fall 2013 Virtual Environments 2 application.

Prospective creative directors interested in pitching their games for the Fall 2013 session of the Game Production Lab must submit their one- to two-page pitch documents via email, in .doc or .docx format, to Dr. Monica Evans (mevans@utdallas.edu) by 11:59 PM on March 18. Download the pitch guidelines.

Candidates selected for further consideration will present their pitches live on Friday, March 22 at 1:30 PM in the Jonsson Performance Hall, JO 2.604. This event is open to students and is strongly encouraged for current GameLab crew members and applicants.

Students interested in applying to be on one of the production teams for the Fall 2013 session of GameLab must apply by Monday, April 1. Download the application.

Physical copies of both the pitch document guidelines and the crew application sheet are available outside Dr. Evans’s office, ATEC 1.906.

The Arts & Technology Scholarship is funded by the Metroplex Technology Business Council 2008 Tech Titan Award and the Greater Texas Foundation. The award is a total of $2000 for one year towards tuition, or $1000 per Fall and Spring semester.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Students must be Arts & Technology or Emerging Media & Communication majors
• Scholarships will be awarded to Undergraduate Students
• Applicants must be or will be enrolled in at least 12 hours
• Students must have/maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA to qualify for the award and to continue receiving the award
• Scholarship recipients must enroll in at least one course in Arts & Technology or Emerging Media & Communication each semester
• If a student drops a course and/or earns less than the required GPA, they will be placed on probation the following semester and the Arts & Technology Scholarship committee will review their case
• If graduating in December, students who apply during their junior year will receive one-half of the award (for the fall semester of their senior year)

STUDENTS MUST SUBMIT:

• Essay, approximately 250-300 words, please address the following: What role will Arts & Technology play in your education? What contribution do you expect to make to the Arts & Technology program at UT Dallas? (Arts & Technology includes the Emerging Media & Communication degree)
• Work sample. Materials will not be returned.
• Please submit a portfolio (CD, or web link) of your best material Limit: 3-5 minutes of a reel or video, 6-8 screen shots or four pages maximum of written work including an abstract. Quality not quantity is vital!
• Up to 2 letters of recommendation that speak to your academic or professional ability Please send applications to:

Tara Lewis, Assistant Dean
School of Arts & Humanities
University of Texas at Dallas
800 W. Campbell Road Richardson, Texas 75080-3021

tara.lewis@utdallas.edu

The Hub to perform at NMF 2013

ATEC faculty member Scot Gresham-Lancaster has been invited to headline the 2nd Annual Network Music Festival in Birmingham, UK on Feb. 22nd as a member of the computer music network ensemble The Hub. From the festival’s press release:

The Hub considered by many to be the inventors of network music – making a rare visit to the UK. This legendary band first started wiring computers together for live performance in the 1980s and remain a seminal influence for computer music bands today.

Computer network music, as practiced by The Hub over the last two decades, is characterized by the sharing of digital information via a network, which is used to algorithmically influence the music played by each player in the group. This form of interaction provides the opportunity for composer/performers using computers to use the unique attributes of this instantaneous sharing to create new ensemble relations. The musical behavior that results when each performer individually creates their own realization of a data-sharing specification in a variety of computer music languages affords a rich and unpredictable environment. Emergent behaviors and inexplicable synchronicities abound, and are used to enhance a collaborative, and improvisational performance practice.

Their festival performance will include recent group configurations featuring spectral analysis of acoustic objects, room resonance as a data source, as well as hyper-improvisational mapping of shared values among other schemes.

Network Music Festival

How many earths can fit on the end of a pin?  If your using IBM Zurich’s newest nano-fabrication tool apparently about a hundred . Or close to a thousand if you prefer your scale comparisons to a grain of rice. Using a heated atomic scale silicon probe, scientists at IBM have created a precise method for etching and even sculpting materials on the nanoscale.

More information can be found on this project at Technology Review, and for more information on how art is mixing with sciences, visit artandatoms.com.

ATEC.CONNECT is a biweekly meeting in ATEC conference room where faculty and graduate students (and sometimes guests) gather together to discuss current topics and their current work/research. These meetings are held to brainstorm, solve problems, and share resources among the community. All faculty and ATEC/EMAC graduate students are welcome.

Joe Posada-Triana

In Spring 2013 ATEC.CONNECT meets every other Fridays from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the ATEC Conference Room. The first gathering is scheduled for February 8.

For more information, please visit the website at atecconnect.wordpress.com and join the Facebook group facebook.com/groups/448490221868448.

To sign up for as “discussion hosts” please contact Mona Kasra at mona.kasra[at]utdallas.edu.

The opening of the new Arts and Technology (ATEC) Building at UT Dallas in 2013 will bring global attention to North Texas as a hub of research and innovation in this emerging field. This $60 million, 155,000-square-foot facility will provide an interdisciplinary and collaborative environment for students, scholars and industry. Here they will apply the principles of visual arts, computer science and engineering to solutions impacting fields as diverse as medicine, education, journalism, social media and more.

Thomas Linehan, to be joined by Roger Malina, Sandra Thomas and Dan Kuenster in a discussion panel concerning the impact of ATEC on the DFW Metroplex

Learn more about this innovative program from two UT Dallas faculty members as well as from executives from Istation, a successful local technology company that has already discovered the value of ATEC’s research and graduates. Presentations will include ATEC projects and Istation’s educational animation programs, which are available to Texas public school students from third to eighth grade.

Dr. Thomas Linehan
Arts and Humanities Distinguished Chair and Director of the ATEC Program

Dr. Roger Malina 
Arts and Technology Distinguished Chair and Professor of Physics

Sandra Thomas 
President and Chief Operating Officer, Istation

Dan Kuenster 
Executive Vice President of Design and Animation, Istation
Winner of the 2004 Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Storyboarding

A light breakfast will be served starting at 7:30 a.m. with a panel discussion following from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Communities Foundation of Texas
5500 Caruth Haven Lane
Dallas, Texas 75226

Detailed agenda is located at http://www.utdallas.edu/development/board

Limited seating is available; please register at devrsvp@utdallas.edu or 972-883-6504. This event is free and open to the public.

Roger Malina, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Technology and Professor of Physics at UT Dallas, will lead a discussion at Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research-Creation in Media Arts and Technologies and attempt to shed light on the concepts of efficiency and acceleration when researchers from the arts, humanities and engineering work collaboratively.

Dr. Roger F. Malina

Malina will discuss what is new in the emerging and rapidly growing field of art-science collaboration, and examine some of the obstacles and opportunities that are appearing. The discussion will be held Friday, Nov. 16.

This event is the first of Hexagram | CIAM’s 2012-13 public programming with a new partnership with PHI Center, which focuses on their complementary mandates, bringing academic research-creation and quality dissemination to the Montreal community.