selected works available
 
intersection.aggregate
processing   may, 2004   j.tarbell
 
  launch small java applet launch medium java applet launch huge java applet  
  200 x 200 pixels
42 circles
500 x 500 pixels
100 circles
1200 x 300 pixels
100 circles
 
 
The Intersection Aggregate is a fun visualization defining the relationships between objects with Casey Reas, William Ngan, and Robert Hodgin. Commissioned for display at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the version on this page is a slight modification of the original algorithm (it simply uses color).
whitney museum of american art
Casey suggests we write programs to visualize the same simple instructions:
A surface filled with 100 medium to small sized circles. Each circle has a different size and direction, but moves at the same slow rate. Display:
A. The instantaneous intersections of the circles.
B. The aggregate intersections of the circles.
Reas, Software Structures
0000 Casey Reas

Hodgin, Software Structures
0001 Robert Hodgin

Ngan, Software Structures
0002 William Ngan

Tarbell, Software Structures
0003 Jared Tarbell

We were not allowed to see each other's programs until the end. In this way we found many surprises of similarities and dissimilarities between our implementations.
 
intersection aggregate
1000 region detail
intersection aggregate
1001 region detail
intersection aggregate
1002 region detail
intersection aggregate
1003 region detail
intersection aggregate
1004 region detail
intersection aggregate
1005 region detail
 
Circles move only horizontally. I intentionally kept the movement of the circles simple because the drawing technique was already so complex that the underlying structure was lost.
 
over time an aggregate of all intersections is exposed
0000 intersection aggregate of 100 small to medium sized circles
 
glowing orbs show points of intersection between circles
5000 the instantaneous intersections of 100 circles
 
The Intersection Momentary is my implementation of part A of Casey's instructions.