Justin is a Teacher, Creative Technologist, and Interaction Director in New York City

Procedurally generated garden created using Paper.js
Computational painting created as an example for Comp Form
Computational Form
c. Spring 2016 - Current

Computational Form is a class about making all kinds of things with code.

Smudge
c. Spring 2018

Smudge is a JavaScript creative-coding library for drawing with physically-based materials.

Experiment in procedural generation based on the pixel-art style from levels in Celeste.
Computational painting created as an example for Comp Form
Escape from Planet Five
Escape from Planet Five
Escape From Planet Five
c. Nov 2016

Grab a hammer, whack some aliens, and make a last-minute dash for your rocketship. Greg and I built this retro-future carnival game in VR for a memorial weekend game jam.

Output from procedural circuit-like design generator.
Procedurally generated mountain study for laser-cut paper.
Procedurally generated laser-cut paper study
Procedurally generated laser-cut paper study
Procedurally generated laser-cut paper study
CNC desk designed in CombScript.
CNC desk designed in CombScript.
CNC desk designed in CombScript.
One axis camera control rig, with CombScript legs.
Laser-cut box design written in CombScript.
CombScript
c. 2014, 2015

CombScript is a language and tool for creating technical vector designs. One goal of CombScript is to express designs for laser-cutting naturally, so they are easier to adjust and customize.

Experimental tile generator that combines Markov chains and Cellular Automata
Experimental tile generator that combines Markov chains and Cellular Automata
Procedurally generated islands from lecture on algorithmic graphics.
Procedurally generated islands from lecture on algorithmic graphics.
Procedural illustration showing addition of sine waves.
The Procedural Generation of Form
c. March 2014

This essay discusses computational art, additive synthesis, shaping functions, and terrain generation with interactive code examples. I originally wrote this to accompany a lecture for Parson's Code Club.

<i>The Raven</i> (detail)
Greg holds the drawbot steady.
The Raven
c. Nov 2013

For Halloween, Greg and I set Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven in ribbons. We created a Processing sketch that reads an ad-hoc ribbon markup language, and creates an image by stitching a library of .svg files. It is part font, part tile-art.

Vertical car is made of layered lasercut acrylic and uses a 3D-Printed pen holder.
Greg Schomburg and I working on the drawbot
Horizontal carriage designed to ride on an Openbeam rail.
Openbeam aluminum extrusions and some laser-cut acrylic gears.
Rack and pinion vertical carriage design.
Test drawing using poster design by Piotr Szyhalski
The second prototype of the Drawbot. Moving the electronics to the carraige simplified cable management.
Drawbot Prototype 2
c. May 2013

The second prototype uses a rack and pinion drive system and a frame built from Open Beam. This version draws much faster and can raise and lower the pen. The new frame makes it much more ridged as well.

Horizontal carriage designed to ride on an Openbeam rail.
Test drawing using poster design by Piotr Szyhalski
Second prototype test drawings.
Processing sketch that genertes styalized flowering bushes
Processing sketch that genertes styalized flowering bushes
Sheet of laser-cut gears
Processing sketch that generates involute gears to spec.
Processing sketch that generates involute gears to spec.
Drawbot Prototype 1
c. April 2013

Greg and I are building a white-board drawbot. This is the first prototype, it uses a screw drive system and laser-cut hardware mounts. It draws very slowly, can't lift the pen off the board yet, and has been known to wobble itself to pieces. But it draws.

Greg Schomburg peeks over the top of the white board.
The first prototype used a threaded-rod screw-drive for the vertical carriage.<br/>A very slow, wobbly start.
The motor mount for the horizontal screw-drive. We moved to much simpler designs in later revisions.
First prototype for the horizontal carriage: another complicated box pushed along the top of the board by a screw-drive.
Greg attaching the horizontal car.
First prototype drawings. "Hello World" in hard-coded moves on the Arduino, no diagonals.
First prototype drawings. "Hello World" in hard-coded moves on the Arduino, no diagonals.
Greg in a Kinect point-cloud
Houndstooth wallpaper
Houndstooth wallpaper
Houndstooth + Baroque Wallpaper
c. Sept 2012

Noah Miller and I participated in a repeat-pattern printing class at the Gowanus Print Lab. This is the hand-printed wallpaper I made.

Houndstooth wallpaper
Houndstooth wallpaper
Houndstooth wallpaper
Houndstooth wallpaper
Natural media experiments in Unity
Natural media experiments in Unity
Natural Media Modeling in Unity 3D
c. May 2012

This screen grab is from a series of experiments attempting to recreating the look of natural media using custom shaders and other techniques in Unity 3D. Textures define how the brush and paper look, and shaders model how they combine. HDR rendering was used to create a bleed effect in some experiments.

Natural media experiments in Unity
Natural media experiments in Unity
Natural media experiments in Unity
Natural media experiments in Unity
Natural media experiments in Unity
3D Printed Globe
c. March 2012

This globe was created parametrically in Blender. I started with an icosphere textured with a three-color, hand-adjusted map of earth. The colors represented land, sea, and deep sea. A python script extruded or removed the icosphere points as based on the map.

3D-Printed stylized globe
3D-Printed stylized globe
3D-Printed stylized globe
3D-Printed stylized globe
Studio MUD
c. June 2009

Greg and I created a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) engine in Java that you could play through iChat. We used the engine to create a virtual version of our studio space, so we could sit in a text based studio while we sat in our real studio.

Adobe CS3 interactive billboard
Adobe CS3 interactive billboard
Adobe CS3 interactive billboard
Adobe CS3 interactive billboard
The Studio for Interactive Media
c. 2006–2010

In 2006 I co-founded The Studio for Interactive Media with Eric Ishii Eckhardt. The Studio worked with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to local nonprofits to create interactive media installations and media. The Studio closed in 2010.

Adobe CS3 interactive billboard
Interactive display for Brizo faucets
Billboard for IBM that changes color to match colors worn by passers-by
Toronto Sheraton interactive
Toronto Sheraton interactive
Experimental Multi-touch musical instrument
Experimental Multi-touch musical instrument
Experimental Multi-touch musical instrument
FTIR Multitouch Musical Instrument
c. 2009

This is a multitouch interface musical instrument and toy running on a custom made projection and FTIR based multitouch system.

Interactive banner from TSFIM open house
Interactive banner from TSFIM open house
Interactive banner from TSFIM open house
Interactive banner from TSFIM open house
Open House Banner and Motion Detection System
c. 2008

Interactive installation at an open house to celebrate TSFIM moving into a larger studio space. This installation used a camera-vision system we developed at The Studio.

Interactive banner from TSFIM open house
Interactive banner from TSFIM open house
Interactive banner from TSFIM open house
LED chandelier built for the Rockwell Group and Dining by Design
LED chandelier built for the Rockwell Group and Dining by Design
DIFFA Dining By Design LED Chandelier
c. 2007

I led the team at TSFIM that engineered and fabricated this custom LED chandelier. This was the primary lighting element for the GE Monogram table, designed by the Rockwell Group.

LED chandelier built for the Rockwell Group and Dining by Design
LED chandelier built for the Rockwell Group and Dining by Design
LED chandelier built for the Rockwell Group and Dining by Design
<i>Double Nutt Sampler</i>
Vector art for model of brain
Laser-cut cardboard model of human brain
<i>Welcoming of Constraints</i><br/>Pencil on Paper. Quote from Douglas R. Hofstadter
OpenGL Programming Glitch
OpenGL Programming Glitch
Top: Images of my studio with video camera on motorized turntable<br/>Bottom: View from camera
Turntable controller in development
Generative experiments
Generative experiments
Experimenting with real-time mesh deformations. For Valentine's Day.
Experimenting with real-time mesh deformations. For Valentine's Day.
Me, Celebrating.
Rainbow mural, freehand drawing on wall
Projected grid
Laser-cut felt
Laser-cut felt and cotton skirt
<i>Puppet Box</i><br/>Digital marionette interface.
<i>Puppet Box</i><br/>Digital marionette interface.
Electronic Puppet Interface
c. May 2006

In the fall 2005 semester, the Cranbrook Design Department held a two week charrette to produce a video project for the Teach Me: Stories conference in Venice, Italy. This interface was used to control a live video-projected “puppet” for the final act of our project.

Digital Marionette
Digital Marionette
<i>Two Brothers</i>
<i>Two Brothers</i> (detail)
<i>Two Brothers</i> (detail)
<i>Two Brothers</i> (detail)
<i>Two Brothers</i> (detail)
The Two Brothers
c. May 2006

The Two Brothers combines elements of film and theatre to tell the fairy tale style story of two brothers: one who leaves behind his home in search of adventure, and another who stays behind. The installation comprises a physical set constructed of cut and folded paper and a digital projection which illuminates the set.

<i>Two Brothers</i> (detail)
<i>Two Brothers</i> (detail)
<i>Two Brothers</i>
<i>Two Brothers</i>
<i>Two Brothers</i>
Generative Vine Experiments
Generative Vines
c. 2005-2006

This is an out-take from some code I built to generate vector vine patterns in illustrator. This code was based on a basic library I created for a workshop on computational graphics. I used this code to create a paper-cut pattern for my graduate thesis, and to generate illustrations for the Cranbrook 2006 gradbook.

Generative Vine Experiments
Generative Vine Experiments
Generative Vine Experiments
One a Day
c. 2005

To encourage material and aesthetic exploration, I set the goal of producing one work each day of my first year at Cranbrook. I posted 62 small projects during this time. The academic year contained 202 days. I failed 140 times.

<i>VKIO</i><br/>Physical Computing Interface Board
VKIO USB Physical Interface
c. 2005

The Volcano Kit IO is a PIC based USB HID device for rapid prototyping physical interactive experiences. It has a few binding posts for connecting sensors and devices, and some built in knobs and switches for desktop prototypes. The VKIO apears as a standard HID gamepad, allowing it to work with a variety of authoring environments without drivers.

<i>VKIO</i><br/>Physical Computing Interface Board
<i>VKIO</i><br/>Physical Computing Interface Board
<i>VKIO</i><br/>Physical Computing Interface Board
Recognition
c. 2003

Recognition is an installation artwork that produces portraits of the unions between project viewers and the acoustic presence of the installation space. Initially installed as part of the 2003 MCAD faculty show. Also exhibited at the Minneapolis Center for Photography, and Carleton Gallery.

<i>Fell the Window Out</i>
<i>Fell the Window Out</i>
<i>Fell the Window Out</i>
<i>Fell the Window Out</i>
<i>Fell the Window Out</i>
Fell the Window Out
c. 2001

Fell the Window Out was the last project I created at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Two VCRs were modified to allow a single loop of tape to run between them. What one VCR recorded the other played back. The signal was fed back to the recording VCR creating an ever degrading loop.

<i>Fell the Window Out</i>
<i>Fell the Window Out</i>
<i>Fell the Window Out</i>
<i>Fell the Window Out</i>