Procedural Generation and Rendering of Trees and Landscapes in the Style of Eyvind Earle

In this thesis I develop methods of generating digital 3D landscapes in the style of the artist, Eyvind Earle, who is perhaps most well-known for his art direction and background paintings on Sleeping Beauty. I develop a variety of trees and other terrain elements, each tailored to match the graphic shapes and rendered accordingly to match the style of reference artwork. Creation of both terrain and trees can be highly generative in nature – complex in a way that lends to being defined by a logical systematic approach. I provide procedural methods for matching the shapes of the objects, relying on noise, L-systems, and other constraints. In general, the process is divided into base geometry generation and shading details. Shading methods include simple custom shaders and geometry-based stippling and linework. The various systems are implemented in Side Effects Software’s Houdini as its procedural capabilities allows the creation of many scenes with the same tools

Is style reproduction a computational creativity task?

Is style reproduction a valid computational creativity task? Does producing output 'in the style of' an existing creator contribute to computational creativity research? Where is the creativity in imitation or replication of an existing style, and where does style reproduction fall into what has been criticised as `pastiche' rather than credible creative activity? This paper tackles these debates, which have been under-addressed in computational creativity literature. We review the presentation of past work in style reproduction, and consider the fit of such work into evolving definitions of computational creativity research. As part of this, we consider style reproduction itself as a creative task, both within and outside computational forms. We discuss various points of interest that emerge in the analysis, such as control in the creative process, intentionality and effort. Our work gives a more objective understanding of the level of creativity present in style generation, and specifically what value it brings to computational creativity research

A Cultural History of the Disneyland Theme Parks

The first comparative historical study of the six Disneyland theme parks around the world in five distinct cultures: the USA, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Situates the parks in their respective historic contexts at the time of their opening, and considers the part that class plays in the success or failure of these ventures

A Cultural History of the Disneyland Theme Parks

The first comparative historical study of the six Disneyland theme parks around the world in five distinct cultures: the USA, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Situates the parks in their respective historic contexts at the time of their opening, and considers the part that class plays in the success or failure of these ventures

Reoriented Illustration: Towards the Networked Image

In recent years there has emerged an increasing theoretical and contextual impetus from within the discipline of illustration that would seek to define the practice by authorial approaches to the production and distribution of illustrated content. The priority of this investigation is the attempt to imagine a theoretical landscape or environment in which an ‘authorial turn’ within the discipline might emerge and anchor itself to strategies outside of persisting colloquial or industrial notions of illustration practice. Specifically, this paper aims to tie such thinking to existing practices and concepts relevant to the contemporary construction, distribution and exchange of networked images