5 Technologies to Create Art with in 2022
Hey everyone, it’s Kevin! As the year comes to a close, I wanted to make a video about what I’m looking forward to exploring creatively in 2022. I really love learning new ways to create art and tell stories and technology is a really big part of that. It seems like everyday you hear about these amazing, innovative apps or programs and they all have incredible creative potential.
So, if you’re looking to learn some new art skills, here’s a list of 5 technologies to check out in 2022.
1) Blender 3D
The first is Blender 3D. Blender is an open source 3D software for that entire pipeline from modeling, animation, visual effects, editing, compositing, and much more. It’s an all in one creation package that has so much versatility, I’m sure it’s going to be a standard in the near future. And because it’s entirely free, it’s accessible to everyone ranging from hobbyists to professionals. It also has an abundance of learning resources from the Blender foundation and the community.
If you’ve been to my channel before, you know that I really like working with Blender. I started learning it about 1 year and a half ago coming from the traditional Adobe Creative Suite and its become a go to program. And with the release of 3.0, introduction of Geometry Nodes, Cycles X, combined with an innovative and supportive community, the future for this program seems really bright.
2) Generative Art
The second is generative art which is art that’s been created with the help of an autonomous system. In my opinion, it’s one of the rawest form of connecting modern technology with art. The basic idea is that you set the rules and parameters of a system using code and a computer will produce a result based on that. The amazing thing is that it’s often surprising what your results are going to be and each piece is always different. If you don’t know how to code, this is actually a great way to learn how.
To get started with this, you can check out Processing @ processing.org which is a software sketchbook & language to create visual art that’s completely free. If you follow me on instagram, you can see some pieces I’ve created in processing using python over the past few months. It’s been really fun experimenting and has helped me become better at coding.
It’s also possible to create generative art in Blender via Python scripting.
3) Touch Designer
Now, if you’re not comfortable with traditional coding, you can check out Touch Designer which is a programing environment that’s entirely visual. Instead of using lines of code, you can use visual indicators or operators to create generative visuals in realtime which is pretty incredible. Things like audio visualizers, interactive installations, or integrated multimedia projects. Because it’s a visual environment, this opens the door for other creatives to make visuals that aren’t possible to create in other digital media programs and who aren’t programmers in the traditional sense. Touch Designer is free for non-commercial projects, but they do have licenses for educational and commercial purposes.
4) XR (Extended Reality) Art
The 4th is XR or Extended Reality, which encompasses augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality. XR is a fast growing technology used in many different industries. And for creatives, it allows you to design in new dimension, literally. Now Unity is a popular platform for creating immersive media and for AR, there are popular frameworks like Vuforia.
But, if you’re looking for something more simplistic to experiment with, Adobe Aero might be worth checking out. Adobe Aero allows you import your own art to create simple AR interactive experiences and animations. And, it’s completely free for iOS.
If you want to create an AR photo filter, social networks actually have their own unique AR platforms. But a popular one is Spark AR which is for facebook and instagram and completely free as well. Last year, I experimented creating a filter in Spark AR using assets made in Blender and it was really fun. So if you want to check out that program, I highly recommend it.
Honorable Mentions
Before we get to number 5, here are 2 honorable mentions:
1) Procreate - which is still my favorite program on iPad to draw with and with the release of 5.2, there’s so many more feature to check out like 3d model painting.
2) Adobe Character Animator - Character Animator is capable of motion capture animation and multitrack recording. And it supports the creation of recorded and live performances.
5) AI ML
The last one is what I’m most excited about which is artificial intelligence and machine learning. AI and ML have been making leaps and bounds within the past few years. And I’ve covered a few popular creative uses for it like neural style transfer, image generation, and text to image translation. This technology is quickly becoming part of the artists toolkit by being able to render landscapes, generate things that don’t exist, create anime versions of people, realize conceptual ideas, and much much more. I know there are skeptics to this technology, but by understanding how AI and ML works, it can be a very valuable tool for your creative workflow.
Machine learning does require a powerful GPU and if you don’t have one, you can check out Runway ML. It’s a website where you can experiment with some machine learning models remotely and host some of your own. There is a pricing structure for it, but to get started is completely free. Another free alternative is Google Colaboratory. You can use one of their GPU’s remotely for a set amount of time for free in order to work on your machine learning project. And if you want more time, you can upgrade to the pro version. There are limitations to this, but it’s a great solution for those wanting to try it out.
So, these are all the technologies I’m planning to explore in 2022. If you have a few that you’re looking forward to , let me know in the comments below. And if you’ve enjoyed this video, considering subscribing for more content. If you have any questions, you can find me on instagram @kevandram. Thanks again and Happy New Year!
Resources
❚ Blender 3D: https://www.blender.org/
❚ Processing: https://processing.org/
❚ TouchDesigner: https://derivative.ca/
❚ Adobe Aero: https://www.adobe.com/products/aero.html
❚ Spark AR: https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/
❚ Procreate: https://procreate.art/
❚ Adobe Character Animator: https://www.adobe.com/products/charac...
❚ Runway ML: https://runwayml.com/