Tom Tawadros – Sound Controlled Animation

For this project, I wanted to use both music and the external mic to drive the max patch. The animation is started by clapping your hands twice (or two loud noises). The rest of the animation is then driven by the music itself. I made two sub-patches to control timing and color, and to make the patch a bit easier to read.

I originally wanted to use the music to control Howard’s (the dancing alien) scale and animation speed. This proved trickier than anticipated, and I realized I could still make an interesting animation using a bunch of overlayed videos.

5 Comments Add yours

  1. Even though it’s not quite what you planned, it’s still a cool animation. More than one way to skin the proverbial cat!

    I like the dancing character. Is that mocap? Your model?

  2. Colin Ancalmo says:

    The timing in your video is spot on. Is the audio waveform generated using Max? I think it helped push the fact that the audio is controlling what’s happening on screen.

  3. Joy Tartaglia says:

    The combined animations are entertaining to watch. The waveform is neat, and the dancing figure really stands out against the other effects. I also noticed some of the lyrics in the background. Were those from a video or did you create them yourself?

  4. Sylvia Lin says:

    The character you used looks a bit at first but funny after looking at it being animated. I like how you used the sound waves as the background.
    I must say I was a bit confused about the first 30 seconds where there was no character showing. Is this part of your intended effect?

  5. Matt Johannesen says:

    I really like how the video layering turned out! Everything (especially the Howard animation) is very well timed to the music and adds significantly to the whole surreal visualizer feel.

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