In order to achieve the generative graphic style that I’m looking for I will be using GEM; this is an add-on library for Pure Data which will allow us to create Open GL graphics in real time within the visual programming language Pure Data. GEM was created by Mark Dans, supported by a grant of the Intel Research Council and Miller Puckette, the original creator of Pd.
This technique with which I will be creating my installation for Gallery 46, will follow closely Element 1 in this Specialising and Exhibiting unit, where we’ve been coding with Pd, and also will follow the line in Sound for Screen, as it is an screen based project.
GEM is widely used by media artists and creatives and its possibilities are endless. Here we can see some examples of performances and video works using GEM:
First steps with GEM
The first thing that I had to do in order to use GEM is installing it. Pd features a very easy to use system where we can download external libraries and add-ons, to access this menu we need to go to Help>Find Externals search for our desired library (Gem in this case) and click “Install”.
To load GEM libraries, we need to create the object [declare -lib Gem] this will open GEM in the console and we are ready to go. On my first experimentations I’ve find out that the majority of patches in GEM start with the object [gemhead] and then we can begin by creating a [square], [triangle], [circle] and so on; as well as specifying its size, colour and location, as we can see on other images software but with the visual coding interface that we are use to in Pd. I have also learn that in order to see the representative screen we need to create the object [gemwin] and the message [destroy] or [create]. This is a very basic patch that I created on my first session, it is just a square and a triangle moving around the screen randomly.