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But all of this is skirting the issue. HyGrid is a complex maze of interlocked squares. HyGrid is a wickerwork of pixelated moebius strips. HyGrid is a hypnotic visual poetry space. HyGrid is a mathematician's mandala peristalsised through the bowels of a madwoman. HyGrid is an artwork that can't be displayed in two or three dimensions. HyGrid is magical. HyGrid is new every time you swim in it.
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BASICS The basic idea of HyGrid is similar to other GRID projects in that we're working from squares and blending images from square to square. This process has been nearly fully automated by CGI scripts that recognise your SYNERGY ID, filenames, pattern configuration and all that jazz. The big difference with HyGrid, is that it's sort of "hyperdimensional". When HyGrid first started each square (except for the origin, which I like to call the "mountaintop") had one parent and three children. The parent is the image another image is built onto and children are the images that link to the parent. It gets quite odd, because this "trilinear" process isn't built for 2D space (quite the reason we're constructing this in a hyperdimensional environment like the WWW)... and your brain might fuzzle at the thought that going "up and right" is not the same as going "right and up". In fact, it's quite deceiving to call this a "GRID" at all. It's more like an eternally trifurcating series of connected square images. A built in beauty system that tweaks the exploratory nerve. As HyGrid evolved, new elements were added that would allow Gridfitti artists to generate squares that would serve as "links" between multiple other squares. These "bridges" or "wurmhoels" added a mind-bending twist to the HyGrid. Before "wurmhoels", you could trace the evolution of the HyGrid's generations by merely counting the number of squares between the current square and the "mountaintop". After "wurmhoels", there was no real way of tracing the lineage of a particular square unless you compared the dates. This "linkage" also screwed up the whole "3 children" idea. If a Gridfitti artist were to create a "2link" (create an image that used two existing squares as its parents), the resulting image would only have two children of its own because it only has four sides to work with, two being taken by the parents. Likewise, if someone were to create a "3link", the resulting square would only have one side left open and therefore could only have one child image. As of June 1996, HyGrid has SOUND augmentation. Each square can have a small sound file associated with it and, when the environment is correct, automatically play and loop those sounds. As you crawl the HyGrid, sounds will turn off and on depending on what squares are on the screen. This creates a mutating enviroment-relational soundscape to accompany the wizbang graphics on the screen. You can mix these sounds at will and submit your own sounds as easily as you submit squares. Tribal drums of a disjunct digital culture. TRAVERSING To traverse the HyGrid, merely click on the square that you want to be the center of your pattern. The default pattern of a HyGrid display is called "Vanilla Plus" which consists of a center square and four surrounding squares, one for each side. Its name comes from its "plus" shape. There are several other patterns to choose from once you're up and crawling the HyGrid, each provides a unique cross-section of the over 400 images in the HyGrid. Once you've clicked on a square, it will slide into place as your center square and you'll see the four surrounding squares (including your previous center-image). Some (eventually all?) images have sounds associated with them... and if you have your sounds turned on (and the correct web-browser plug-in) you'll be able to hear the psychotic beat and do limited mixing (volume, ff/rw, pause). The HyGrid becomes a soundscape as well as chromograph. There are several modes and attributes you can modify using the control panel at the bottom of the HyGrid navigation screen. MODES: COLLAB - this controls whether or not you are shown unreserved or reserved squares (see ADDING). If COLLAB is ON, you will see these squares and you'll be able to click on them to reserve them. If COLLAB is OFF, you will only see squares that have been finished. This is cool for seeing the incidental beauty of the blocky HyGrid floating in the deep-space black background. SOUND - this controls whether QuickTime sounds are turned on and how they're looping if they are on. SOUND OFF will ignore sounds. SOUND ON will load and loop sounds if you have the correct PLUG-IN. SOUND LBF/PALINDROME will loop the sound back and forth automatically. PATTERN/SIZE: PATTERN - the default is "VanillaPlus" (the 5-square cross), but there are many (bigger) patterns to choose from. The bigger the pattern, the smaller you'll probably have to make your squares so it'll fit well on your screen. SIZE - the default square size is 100x100pixels. You can choose smaller (and bigger) sizes to fit your monitor and pattern. ADDING TO THE HYGRID Yes, you can be a part of this labyrinthian world. The guidelines are simple, but precise, please follow them closely. Be sure you have a Synergy ID. Synergy IDs are unique three-letter codes that are used in naming your HyGrid image donations. Find an imagespace labeled "unreserved" and click on it. Fill in the form and write down the filename you need to use when uploading your submission. Be sure to download/save a copy of the PARENT IMAGE you'll be working from... and REMEMBER WHICH SIDE YOU NEED TO CONNECT TO. Rev up your favorite image-manip program and do the art voodoo you do so well. Basically, without altering the parent, make your image flow smoothly from/into it. Did I mention MAKE THE IMAGE FLOW? Yes, well... sometimes people forget this part. The idea of the HyGrid is for the images to flow seamlessly together. Please do your best to do this. Your resulting image needs to be 100 pixels by 100 pixels and 72dpi resolution in either GIF or JPG image formats. The best way to accomplish this in photoshop is to change your "canvas size" to 100x100pixels while keeping the orientation at dead-center. Upload your image (via FTP) to sito.org /pub/sito/Incoming/hygrid. Be sure to use raw-data or binary mode. If you don't have a "confirm window" up already (such as, if you had to turn your web-browser off while working on your image) then just go to the HyGrid Mainpage and submit a "List Reservations" request with your Synergy ID. You will be given a confirm window for each of your reservations. If you are getting frisky and doing a LINK image, then you'll have to use the "LINK EXPLORER" to choose your link configuration and confirmation. If all goes well, your image should now be part of the HyGrid triniverse. CREDITS HyGrid was conceived and programmed by Ed Stastny using perl. Providing debugging help, moral support and structural assistance were Andy Booth, Jon VanOast, Ranjit Bhatnagar, and Bob Anderson. Thanks to all others with suggestions and encouragement.
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