Beach Shot

This started with a beach photo from Oahu that was then painted in Studio Artist 4 using the region fill as brush pen mode.

I have an image processing brush load going on in the paint nib that generates fractal self-similarity by feeding back a contracted processed canvas image along with a procedural brush type to generate some texture in the generate regions that tracks the source orientation.

Vector Paint Abstractions 2

Some more vector paint abstractions. Actually the first image is raster paint from Studio Artist 3.5 and the second one is a v4 vector preset.

Vector Paint Abstractions

Some vector paint abstractions that came out of a discussion we've been having on the Studio Artist User Forum.

Biological Abstractions

All of the images in this series seemed very organic and biological in origin to me. They're all procedural images created by directed evolution of MSG processors in Studio Artist 4.


These were generated using a MSG I/O routing design i would have technically considered to be incorrect. There is no initial generator setting up the red channel, so it's using the last canvas output red channel instead. So every time you run the MSG preset you get a somewhat different image based on the last output.

After thinking about this a little i decided it's really no different than using a configuration where red source channel with the MSG IP Source set to use the canvas, and then basing the red stream processing off of that in the processor chain editor. But this did make me realize that in v4 you can actually use different 2 inputs to a MSG preset, since you can set up the MSG IP Source to use the source image and then pass through the current canvas image using the output I/O channels. In previous versions of Studio Artist the initial conditions of the RGB output streams could have been indeterminate if not initially set to something in the preset's processor chain, but in v4 they are initialized to the existing canvas color channels.

MSG Abstractions 2

The images in this series have a different feel than some of the other procedural MSG images I've been posting that I really like. The internal textures almost looks like some kind of weathering effect.


These were created using directed evolution in Studio Artist 4. I'm not sure how you would even try to create imagery like this from scratch by purposeful design. Random parameter mutation and processor swap evolution under user direction is really the key to creating complex effects like this.

Artificial Graffiti

I've been interested in the notion of generating procedural imagery that looks like the kinds of patterns seen in street graffiti. I think this MSG procedural image is starting to get close. It reminds me of something you might see spray painted on a metal garage door in San Francisco.

MSG Abstractions

Sometimes you hit a sweet spot in the MSG parameter space where you can get endless variations of a particular MSG preset configuration that generates interesting abstract imagery. These are 2 examples of a bunch of different images i generated in Studio Artist 4 using directed evolution.

Bug Eyes

Procedural image created by directed evolution of MSG presets in Studio Artist 4 evolution editor. Reminds me of some kind of artificial bug.

Fractal Swirl

Created using the Evolution Editor in Studio Artist 4. There's some fractal stuff going on mixed in with the new circular generator. I'm working with different procedural images in the different color channels and then colorizing the final output using the ForceColorMap MSG processor. This kind of approach gives a very different feel than if you did straight color gradient mapping off of a single color channel procedural image, which is the typical coloring scheme other fractal generation programs use.

Fractal Animal

This one kind of reminded me of some kind of fractal animal. Generated in Studio Artist using directed evolution of MSG presets.

Circular Generator MSG Processor

I added a new 'SetToCircularGen' MSG processor, which was used during some testing to generate these procedural art images.

Temporal Generators in Paint Synth

I've been experimenting with using MSG style Temporal Generators (TG) to modulate Studio Artist paint synthesizer parameters. You can use frame time in an animation to do the TG indexing, but for the paint synthesize it's useful to use some additional indexing options like stroke count. I'm using stroke count to modulate the path angle in the example shown above, along with a path start repeat to generate the circular flower patterning.

Preset Testing 4

Studio Artist Gallery Show is great for generating an endless supply of new art images automatically.

Preset Testing 3

Still more gallery show output during automated memory testing of the Studio Artist factory preset collections.

Preset Testing 2

More Studio Artist output created during automatic gallery show memory testing of the factory preset collections.

Preset Testing 1

Created with the Studio Artist paint synthesizer during some gallery show memory test runs through the factory preset collections.

Aurora Glow

Mats posted an aurora picture on his tumblr blog today that inspired me to do an artificial aurora series using Studio Artist. I saw a lot of these as well many years ago during my stay in Antarctica. These images are procedural and were created using MSG processors. Here are 2 examples from the larger series of images, created using directed evolution of the MSG presets.

Graffiti Wall

Photo mosaic created with the Studio Artist paint synthesizer and a graffiti movie brush. This is another gallery show test image grabbed during automated testing.

Color Facial Abstraction

More facial abstractions create with the Studio Artist Rank Edge ip op.

BW Facial Abstraction 2

More experiments with BW facial abstraction. These were done with Studio Artist image operations.


The trick to creating this particular kind of effect is to recursively apply the nonlinear image operation multiple times.

WMF 'Train to Nowhere"

The latest WMF cd 'Train to Nowhere' is now available for online listening or download at wmfrocks.bandcamp.com. Quite a bit of the extensive WMF back catalog is also available there to check out. So please do.

Keep in mind that all WMF tracks are recorded live from unrehearsed spontaneous jam sessions with no additional overdubbing of any kind. What you hear was what was being played live, no additional recording to add parts or sound density after the fact. We make extensive use of live looping to build sound density, so if it starts to sound like more than 3 people that's all being done live using live looping. We do use vertical slice editing to cut down a 45 minute jam into a 5 minute edited song for a cd release. Vertical slice means that all of the tracks associated with the recorded jam are cut and kept together for the edit. So the guitar solo might go on for 5 minutes and you might only hear the best 15 seconds in the edited song.

There's also a pretty extensive backlog of recorded material that needs to be edited down into finished tracks for new releases, so once i get Studio Artist 4 out the door hopefully some spare time will free up to get that material out.

I use Studio Artist's Supersizer interpolator quite a bit on the WMF cover art, it's a life saver since it can take ridiculously small source images and blow them up to 600 dpi cover art sizes.

BW Facial Abstraction

I often tend to go for busy, but sometimes the simpliest things work out the best. Ip Op processing in Studio Artist v4.

Danger Baby Symmetry

I got carried away at the end of the Danger Baby series of images.

Danger Baby

Mr Baby that is. Studio Artist paint synthesizer using a graffiti movie brush.

Symmetry Fix for the Day

Another cheap shot using facial symmetry. When in doubt...
Studio Artist vectorizer with some interactive warp and the usual ip op post processing.

My Life in the Memory Leak Debugger

I've been spending my life living in the memory leak debugger for the last week trying to clean up any remaining v4 issues before the release. Another random gallery show image grabbed during automated testing.

Now if only Apple would provide a 64 bit version of Instruments for testing. It currently runs out of virtual memory at 4 Gb and then crashes, which works out to at most a few PASeqs, and my problem is i need to debug gallery show runs that last for hours using thousands of PASeqs. Just booting studio artist and starting up gallery show uses up over 2GB of Instrument's virtual memory, and one vectorizer preset can then push it over the edge due to all the memory allocation associated with the bezier curves.

More Paper Texture Simulations

Still playing around with variations on paper texture simulation using MSG and some additional processing in a studio artist paint action sequence.

Fun with MSG Adaptive Texturing

I was trying some MSG paper texture ideas and then thought it would be cool to build the textures off of image features instead. You end up with something that looks like a wood carving.

More Gallery Show Testing 2

Still more random gallery show tests. This was created from some random MSG preset variation.

More Gallery Show Testing

I'm still running endless gallery show test for studio artist 4 in an attempt to squash any remaining bugs. I grabbed this last night during a random test run.

Full Body Symmetry Abstraction

More symmetry effects created in Studio Artist 4. This time using full body shot source images.

More Symmetry Heads

More symmetry heads. Created with very different processes in Studio Artist 4.