Comments on: What are those mefi artsy types up to now?

What are those mefi artsy types up to now?

madamjujujive — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:09:59 -0800

First, interrobang got the ball rolling with his cool illustrations that can be shuffled in any order to create a new continuous panorama. Cortex added some coded widgetry to automate the process, creating a neat little toy. Then taz and iconomy joined in with their own creative spin. It's nice to see a contemporary techno version of the polyrama, a fine creative tradition dating back to the mid 1800s.

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:17:13 -0800

Wow, missed interrobang's work the first time around. Love it. I like the new apps, too, but particularly crazy about the original illustrations.

By: rocketman

rocketman — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:19:22 -0800

Old-timey diversions are so interesting, especially when resurrected like this. Neat stuff!

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:22:32 -0800

Hot shit! Just got the word on the wire. Thanks, mjjj! When John first started posting this stuff on flickr, I thought, hey, neat—but the ball has started rolling this week, with taz and iconomy creating their own brilliant sets on zero notice, and John working on a second hotel-themed set. The contrast between John's and taz's and iconomy's sets really please me. A nice line from old-school to digital tomfoolery. I've got a couple of potential photographic ideas of my own, as well, but I haven't really had any photography time this week to collect the specimens. Anybody with a hankerin' to create their own polyorama is encouraged to do so—I'd be happy to expand the current catalogue with more mefite art.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:25:18 -0800

Thanks for the post, madamjujujive! The Myriotel is here, and will continue to be added to for a couple of days.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:26:41 -0800

Oh, also here.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:31:45 -0800

These are really, really cool and very well done. Good work, y'all!

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:45:13 -0800

OK, this is frippin' rad. Nice work, kids.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:13:02 -0800

best of the web.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:33:11 -0800

[this is good]

By: diddlegnome

diddlegnome — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:54:06 -0800

These are really fun. Nice job, y'all.

By: muddgirl

muddgirl — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:58:19 -0800

I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to tell interrobang that I really dig his artistic style, so now's my chance. interrobang, thanks.

By: melissa may

melissa may — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:10:31 -0800

Awesome timing -- I just wrote to interrobang to buy a set and I'm glad I got in before the rush! So many of the MeFites whose talents I adore are involved with this, and so to have it posted with historical background by the sublime madamjujujive is like getting a pretty red ribbon on top. Thanks to all of them for doing this fantastic work and to you too, dear madam!

By: sleepy pete

sleepy pete — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:55:46 -0800

Wonderful stuff from all involved. Thanks to everyone for their art and expertise.

By: luckypozzo

luckypozzo — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:58:40 -0800

I love these polyramas. interrobang is amazing.

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:04:30 -0800

Very cool. Thanks OP, and thanks postees!

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:09:58 -0800

You filthy polyramaists. Brilliant job!

By: peacay

peacay — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 22:59:50 -0800

Yay team MefiArt. See! Mefi makes you talented.

By: taz

taz — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 01:18:27 -0800

I fell over when I saw interrobang's set, and cortex's presentation idea was too delicious; I got polyorama fever, and had to do a test drive to see if I could even figure out how to work one. I think interrobang has blazed a trail, because so far I haven't found anyone else doing contemporary polyoramas (poloyoramae?) on the net, and now I'm dying to see more, more, more, in all sorts of different styles - so if anyone has a yen to try one on, I really hope they go for it. We've also tossed around the idea of a collaborative set, which could be interesting. If we figure out the details of how that would work, we'll post it at metachat.

By: miskatonic

miskatonic — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 03:35:18 -0800

Wow, these are loads of fun. Great work, great post!

By: hypersloth

hypersloth — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 04:09:15 -0800

metafilter: I love these polyramas

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:59:21 -0800

Very nice! For some reason I especially love the hotel, but then I love old hotels with wooden banisters and cracks. (polyoramae?) The Greek plural would be polyoramata.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:18:30 -0800

And if John does another hotel suite, it could be a polyoramada.

By: taz

taz — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:35:54 -0800

The Greek plural would be polyoramata. hehe. D'oh. I guess that should have occurred to me, huh? And if John does another hotel suite, it could be a polyoramada. *tries to make "polyoramadan* joke, fails*

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:59:51 -0800

It's good to see this excellent thing as an FPP.

By: StarForce5

StarForce5 — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 07:10:57 -0800

Great work. Good post.

By: sveskemus

sveskemus — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 07:29:16 -0800

Wonderful.

By: stagewhisper

stagewhisper — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 08:51:40 -0800

nifty!

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 12:46:22 -0800

And here I thought this was a polyorama.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:25:42 -0800

I can say without qualification that these make up the greatest polyoramada I have ever seen in my life. Also, probably the only. But still. Thanks MJJJ!!!!

By: 3.2.3

3.2.3 — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:17:39 -0800

really good.

By: aine42

aine42 — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:23:49 -0800

Wow. These are great! I used to love playing with polyorama as a kid (though I only knew them as "picture cards"). I suspect that if I'd had Iconomy's set as a kid, they'd have worn out from overuse. I was really, really into Pez dispensers then. All of the sets so far are fantastic. Thanks for putting the work into these, everyone. I'm having such fun playing with them.

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:43:28 -0800

Brilliant new set by iconomy has just been posted: The Long Boat.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:54:53 -0800

what's the secret to making a polyorama? as far as I can figger, you make a couple of simple horizontal patterns (foreground, horizon, sky/background) and then embellish each frame. is that it? what am I missing? also, cortex, if you're amenable to suggestion, I don't suppose you could make a longer combination stay on one line? I just tried viewing all 12 frames of The Long Boat and it split the picture up. might be better with a horizontal scroll.

By: cortex

cortex — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 01:33:57 -0800

The secret to making a polyorama is having a consistent left-right symmetrical border on both sides of each panel. Nothing more. What you do with that is totally up in the air—John's first polyorama, and taz's experiment, are both fairly aggressive in their use of the frame: they break off from the common horizon at oblique angles at times, creating nearly discontinuous movements when panel meets panel; whereas iconomy's sets, and John's Myriotel, are all more even-keeled in their use of the horizion theme. Either method works, as long as you respect the basic outer-frame for every panel. Basically, if you can make the left and right single-pixel frames be consistent for each panel, everything in the middle is kosher. It's a good sign that a polyorama will work, at least at the most basic level, if you can paste the same perimeter of 1-2 pixel-wide art around every individual panel without causing nastiness. As for the horizontal scrolling—taz (I think) suggested the same thing, I just haven't updated the css with the appropriate nobreak (or whatever) styling. I'll get there—probably do a bit of cleanup and de-kluging this weekend.

By: tickingclock

tickingclock — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 01:37:28 -0800

I've never made a polyorama before, but I think the trick is to ensure that the left-most column of vertical pixels and right-most column of vertical pixels always match up. If you look at iconomy's, for instance, you can see that every individual image has the shelves at the same y-coordinate.

By: tickingclock

tickingclock — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 01:38:48 -0800

D'oh -- four minutes too late! Alas. I really like the things you make, cortex!

By: cortex

cortex — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 01:57:01 -0800

I really like making things that people like! Win-win!

By: interrobang

interrobang — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 10:53:53 -0800

I'll probably be starting a new polyorama later today—the setup for it requires a lot of measuring, and that's finally done.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 20:35:42 -0800

Love the long boat! Talk about even-keeled...