CYPRES Team:
Louis Bec, zoosystémicien
François Mourre, computer graphic designer
Gonzague Defos du Rau, specialist in motion capture
Patrice Bersani, electronic engineer
Pierre Drap, computer scientist
Jaroslav Adamec, Jean Michel Lorenzi, Tomásˇ Ullrich
Louis Bec and the Cypres team have a long history of working with artificial life forms as a tool for understanding the real through examining deviations in the artificial. The ALTERNE project provided them with an ideal situation to pursue that research with more advanced laboratory possibilities. The combination of the SAS Cube and Unreal Tournament enabled them to create artificial life forms and an environment for observing them in action according the changed laws of physics designated by the team. Louis Bec’s work in the field, approached from the angle of art, is an advanced example of art and science collaboration with projects having both scientific and aesthetic objectives.
Artist’s Abstract:
ARAPUCA program presented by Cyprès consists of three experimental projects:
1. Aberrations Upokrinoménologiques.
2. Stimutalogues (electric fish).
3. Chromatologues: (Bestiaire / Vestiaire).
These projects inscribe themselves in the centre of the general orientations and the various specific levels of the ALTERNE project.
1. In the research axes, leaning on an alternative reality through the qualitative physics proposed by the scientific works of Teesside University.
2. In the elaboration and the use of a virtual platform, as a product of the convergence of digital technologies and their use in terms of 3D modelling, of interactivity, of immersive virtual worlds and mixed realities, in connections within networks.
These three projects are organized around technological problems related to the notion of living. The living, in this case, is regarded as an initiator, release mechanism and producer of events, and phenomena within interactive devices. It is considered also to be an active causal engine of chains within real, mixed and virtual universes (electrophysiologic, epigenetic, behavioural, cognitive and mimetic phenomena capture).
The ARAPUCA program investigates the behaviour of the living, subjected to conditions exercised by the environment, its modes of communication, its cognitive aspects and its modalities of organization.
Technical Choices
The SAS Cube provided the immersive space for the presentation in a virtual universe of artificial life based on comportment designed through qualitative physics and causality. Unreal Tournament allowed the team to work with different levels of behaviour with the Unreal engine. Xsi/3Dmax was the modelling tool used to create those forms. The combination of tools used created the ideal laboratory situation for the kind of research into artifical life forms that has interested Louis Bec and Cypres for many years. There have been discussions between Cypres and CLARTE about continued work in the SAS Cube.
The technical set-up allowed Louis Bec and the team from CYPRES to advance their own scientific research in biology and the life sciences. The innovation was at the level of designing comportment but especially in the fact of being able to envision for the first time an artificial life form from conception through the realization of a virtual physiology, establishing constructive interactions between endogenous and exogenous parts, the within and the without.
For Louis Bec the effort is based on collaboration depending on the levels and the complexity of the work undertaken. It is not a question of artistic versus scientific use, but of collaboration, “since a tool – in order to be truly inventive – must associate different concepts coming from different domains. Treating an environment through its interaction with the internal functions of an object means considering physical, morphodynamic, chemical, algorithmic, aesthetic, etc. aspects and to use different and suitable languages to do so. This questions the notion of the artist in the situation of lonesome producer.”
Louis Bec has always worked with a very deep relationship between Art and Science which concerns artists whose objective could actually be a body of scientific work. What he is in reality is a researcher looking for mechanisms of life through their modelisation, their simulations…. The current use and the potential of the tools developed are – he believes – very big. His research was more concerned by the relevance of the idea rather than any artistic originality.
In conclusion he states, “in principal, in all research with life forms and their comportment and representation, the most efficient strategy is found in a state of adaptive invention, both in the modification of certain approaches as well as in the technology. The work done with the tools available had an impact on my preoccupations for which I did not have the technological solutions before.”
The “Arapuca” Environment (by Louis Bec)
Overview of the “Arapuca” World
The system has been used to develop a virtual creature with internal processes and organs that react to changes in the environment. This work has evolved from research in A-Life that aimed at creating imaginary life forms. In addition to the creature, the environment has been simulated and integrated with the creature, which allows effects such as hot and cold currents, concentrations, and vortices to affect this creature through the qualitative simulations
Our system is designed to operate both on a standard desktop and within immersive system of the SAS-Cube™. The virtual world displayed comprises an environment in which exists a virtual artificial life form. The artificial life form we have created is an imaginary organism, which has a body, comprised of organs that work together to carry on the various processes of life. Its main sustenance is extracted from the environment in which it exists and allows it to achieve homeostasis.
The “Arapuca” Environment exploits the Qualitative Physics engine features to control the creature’s internal physiology and environment perturbations. The QP engine interacts with the environment actors on an event-based manner, through an event interception system. This event system is embedded within the visualisation engine (UT Engine Build 2225). Our Event Interception system (EIS) has been especially designed to detect physical process events, and visualise their effects into a virtual world.
Entity behaviours within this world are guided by Qualitative Physics processes (QP Process) associated with Qualitative Physics Events (QP Event). QP events represent event structure attached to object instance, they are based on semantic representation of object characteristics.
The QP process formalisation and implementation can be authored from the QP Engine Interface, while their associations with QP Events are assisted by the EIS interface.
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The “Arapuca” World Experimentations and Manipulations
After the current brief, Louis Bec wanted to experiment with a more complex environment with a real population of artificial creatures owning different physiological characteristics. Moreover, he wished to modify the user exploration and environment aspect to accentuate the immersion feeling while evolving in the creature world.
Then we have demonstrated how he could operate such changes with the different authoring softwares. Consequently, we experimented with the artist on the different behaviours resulting from his manipulations.
Alterne CaveUT 2.0 Manipulation:
In our first version the user can freely navigate in a flying mode in the world, approaching the Diaphaplenomena (I.e. Arapuca Creature name), looking at the living organism evolving and interacting with the world. The CaveUT System options have been modified to get a more fluent and fluid-like navigation
Unreal Editor Manipulation:
In a final stage, we have also introduced Louis to creature animation setting, and object creation through the Unreal Editor interface. Indeed, using the Unreal script native features, we have developed our Unreal actor class with a complete GUI. Each different object state and effect can be configured without re-compiling or with any Unreal technology or programming skills
Thus, Louis was able to modify movement and organ animation variables for several creatures. This emphasized his desire of creating and experimenting with a complex system of different individuals.
Artist Comments and Conclusion
Louis Bec comments In French:
“Nous avons pu grâce à cette réalisation prototypique mesurer la multitude impressionnante des possibilités offerte par le dispositif.
Le travail entrepris avec le Diaphaplanomena (Goulue) ouvre des perspectives importantes par la possibilité d’utiliser des composantes de milieu et de nature les plus divers, autant matérielles, physiques, chimiques, biologique que symboliques et conceptuelles.
La création d’environnements particuliers voir aberrants, de physiologies basées sur des modèles de fonctionnement inhabituels, produisant des comportements anormaux, peut amener la constitution fondées sur des bases scientifiques, de nouveaux type de zoologies imaginaires.”
English translation:
“Thanks to this prototype it was possible to experiment with several options offered by this device [SAS 3]. The work undertaken with the Diaphaplanomena (Goulue) opens important perspectives on the possibilities of using elements of the environment, including those of physical, chemical, biological, as well as symbolic and conceptual nature.
The creation of particular environments (even those that don’t make sense), of physiologies based on unusual models of behaviour and that produce abnormal reactions can lead to the creation of scientifically based, new types of imaginary zoologies.”
During this session, the exploration of the different platform software has permitted Louis to have an active participation to the production of a final versions. Moreover he went with us trough the different steps that were necessary for the evolution and maintenance of his brief. Work on the extension of this brief has already been planned for the insertion new creatures and the addition of algorithms to handle dynamic organism evolution.
