For my assignment on data, I decided to look for my own API and my experience was both rewarding and stressful to say the least. To begin I wanted to say that there are certain APIs online that should be avoided to recoded because of lacking documentation. I decided to work with the following API:
Prior to working with this, I tried using Instagram’s API for generating a random image but I felt that it had been done countless times. For my project, I used the API that I found to generate a Donald Trump in a somewhat random manner. Every time the user clicks the mouse, a new trump quote will appear. I wanted to work with the GIPHY API as well and some of the comments may reflect that but I had some trouble making two APIs work. My final goal is to be able to generate a random Trump Gif with a random Trump quote just for the sake of banter. As soon as I get both to work, I will update my sketch.
Thank you for your time and see you all on Friday!
When we look at the history of computing and computer-generated models, we tend to think more in the realm of old room-sized computers that perform more science-oriented tasks for the computer scientists and engineers handling these early devices. This idea, however, is far from the reality of early computing. John Whitney, one of the first computer animators and one of the first pioneers in computer-graphics shows an interesting side to the history of animation.
Before computer-graphics, computers were used for more scientific or war-related efforts such as “to break Nazi codes” or to ease “British and American World War II defense efforts.” With the use of computer motion-control, John Whitney was able to produce a wide range of innovative visuals. Between the years 1960 to 1969, John became interested in computer generated films. One example of this interest was titled “Catalog” which was a demo created with a WWII anti-aircraft gun sight. The techniques he used in the development of his demo included geometric patterns and wave-like patterns. The choice of color in some of these images are like those used by companies nowadays such as PlayStation and the early Microsoft startup screen.
Although John Whitney’s early film proposals were rejected, the originality of his film ideas caught the attention of Jack Citron who would later program the computers, with the use of motion graphics, that he would use to make his first film. John’s later films, however, used the idea of Harmonic Progression. He experimented with different arts such as Islamic architecture which would end up as harmonic waveforms which were characterized as reverse curves.
The later part of his career involved developing the actual instruments that allowed the animations to come alive. He began to think more like a computer scientist and he started to show interest in composing visual and musical output. With the fact that most films prior to this were silent, it showed that Whitney was not only an artist but a visionary as well. After working for more than 55 years, his ability to work as both a filmmaker and computer scientist has inspired both individuals and companies. the quality of Whitney’s work when computers were not user-friendly is truly astonishing and it showed the idea that computers can be used as a medium to create art.
