ate bit

January 15, 2009 2:48 PM

How do I go about making visuals like those used in 8-bit/chiptune shows?

I've only been to a couple chiptune shows but they always seem to incorporate a visual element (via a projector) and it always has a certain style/aesthetic to it that I'm interested in learning how to create.

Here are some examples (youtube links):
1
2
3
4
5
6

What hardware/software/techniques/etc are they using? How do I get started? To me, it looks like the visuals in the videos are produced by different means, but I'm not sure.

posted by god particle to media & arts (4 comments total)

This stuff looks like pretty straightforward, simple effects from classic demoscene coding techniques (scrollers, CA visualizations, palette shifting, and so on) in some cases combined with rudimentary visual editing. If you're not highly interested in writing raw 6502/68K code against ancient raster hardware to get the results you want I'd imagine you can do a vast majority of this kind of stuff with something like pygame and a little experimentation, or with processing.
posted by majick at 3:18 PM on January 15

While these aren't the type of visuals I usually work with, I think you could achieve them using any number of tools, depending on your skills and preferences. If you're comfortable programming (and short on cash) you should check out Processing, a free programming language built for visual artists. Other "visual programming" approaches include vvvv and Apple's Quartz Composer (free with the Developer tools!).
Another approach is to work with video clips in a VJ program and mess them up with filters. While there might be custom pixelation filters (check out Freeframe filters) to best generate this look, you could come close by jacking up your saturation and contrast. Popular VJ programs include Resolume and Modul8 (here's a clip of someone messing around with Modul8 and a video camera at an 8bit show).
I think you could get some excellent source material by recording in old video games, either from your TV with a video capture card or off your computer by using MAME and a video screencapture program. Oh, and I highly recommend the blog Create Digital Motion if you want to get into this type of stuff. Have fun!
posted by Hutch at 3:55 PM on January 15

Thanks...I have looked into processing before but had trouble getting into it. I couldn't find any tutorials that were related to what I want to do with it. Any suggestions?
posted by god particle at 6:01 PM on January 15

Hi god particle,

This is an area where starting with one basic thing and really digging into it can pay off a lot in the long run. Pick something like processing (free) or Max/MSP/Jitter (costs $) or open frameworks (free) and take a look at the tutorials/examples/demo code. Then, just start changing variables. If you go into it with an open mind and are prepared to be a bit tenacious, you'll start having fun before too long, I swear!

One thing to add if you are going to get into this stuff: it helps to think as abstractly as you can--so if you have an idea about some text scrolling on the screen, then look into some patch/code/etc. that does text, and then if you find one that does scrolling but no text, see if you can replace whatever it is scrolling with your text...etc. Rinse, repeat as necessary...

Good luck! Message me if you want to go further in this direction, I can help.

D
posted by dubitable at 7:54 PM on January 15