My Colleagues‘ News

Christa Sommerer 12-11-2020
Verbarium Concept

in IEEE Symposium on Visual Language (VL'99) Conference Proceedings, (Tokyo 1999), pp. 90-95.
reprint only with permission by the authors.

1. VERBARIUM - a verbal herbarium

In 1999 we developed a second work for the Internet using the idea of the text-to-form editor. This system is called VERBARIUM and was created for the Cartier Foundation in Paris. The web site can be found at:

http://www.fondation.cartier.fr/verbarium.html (Verbarium is unfortunately offline at the moment due to a service provider change)

This time on-line users can create forms and shapes directly in real-time by writing text messages with the web site’s interactive text editor. The site was created by using JAVA applet programming.

Each of the incoming text messages functions as a genetic code to create a visual three-dimensional form. Depending on the composition of the text, forms can either be simple or complex, abstract or organic. The form can be viewed by the user instantly at the left-side window of the web page ( Fig. 11). Additionally, all incoming text messages become part of a collective image that is displayed on the right side of the web page (Fig. 11). This collective image functions as a "virtual and verbal herbarium" (hence the name VERBARIUM) of forms composed and created through the different text messages (i.e., verbs). The text messages can be written in many languages: the instruction editor displays instructions in about 20 different languages.

1.1. VERBARIUM’s Text-to-Form Editor

Similar to the "Life Spacies" text-to-form editor, we link the characters and syntax of a text message to specific parameters in the forms’ design. This time the default form is a ring with 10 vertices. This ring can be extruded in x, y and z axes, and during the extrusion process the rings’ vertices can be modified in x, y and z axes as well. Through addition and constant modification of the ring parameters the whole structure starts to grow, branch and develop. Different possible manipulations, such as scaling, translating, stretching, rotating and branching of the ring and segment parameters creates diverse and constantly growing structures, as for example those shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12a shows the basic ring with 8 vertices and Figure 12b the extruded ring that forms a segment. Figures 12c and 12d show branching possibilities, with branching taking place on the same place (=internodium) (12c) or on different internodiums (12d). There can be several branches attached to one internodium. Figure 12e shows an example of segment rotation, Figure 12h the combination of rotation and branching. Figure 12f and 12g are different examples of scaling. In total there are about 50 different design functions, they are subsumed in the design function look up table (Fig. 13). These functions are responsible for "sculpting" the default ring through modifications of its vertex parameters.

function1 translate ring for certain amount (a) in x

function2 translate ring for certain amount (a) in y

function3 translate ring for certain amount (a) in z

function4 rotate ring for certain amount (b) in x

function5 rotate ring for certain amount (b) in y

function6 rotate ring for certain amount (b) in z

function7 scale ring for certain amount (c) in x

function8 scale ring for certain amount (c) in y

function9 scale ring for certain amount (c) in z

function10 copy whole segment(s)

function11 compose a new texture for segment(s)

function12 copy texture of segment(s)

function13 change parameters of RED in segment(s)texture

function14 change parameters of GREEN insegment(s)texture

function15 change parameters of BLUE in segment(s)texture

function16 change patterns of segment(s)texture

function17 exchange positions of segments

function18 add segment vertices

function19 divide segment in x to create branch

function20 divide segment in y to create branch

function21 divide segment in z to create branch

function22 create new internodium(s) for branch(es)

function23 add or replace some of the above functions

function24 randomize the next parameters

function25 copy parts of the previous operation

function26 add the new parameter to previous parameter

function27 ignore the current parameter

function28 ignore the next parameter

function29 replace the previous parameter by new parameter

...

function50

The translation of the text characters into design function values is done by assigning ASCII values for each text character according to the standard ASCII table shown in Figure 5. The assignment of random seed functions to the actual updated values for the design functions in the design function table is done in the same way as explained in Chapter 2.a and in the example of Fig. 6.

As a result, each individual text message will create a very specific three-dimensional structure that can at times look like an organic tree or at times more like an abstract form. Figure 14 shows another example of forms created by a text message, this time the text was written in French.

3.2. VERBARIUM’s virtual diary: retrieving texts from images

On-line users not only help to create images through text messages and thus develop the complexity of the virtual VERBARIUM, they also have the option of clicking any part within the collective image to retrieve messages sent earlier by other users. The web page thus functions as a kind of virtual diary or virtual herbarium where personal text messages are stored and transformed into images. In their totality they build a common image that can become increasingly complex as more users send messages. As a result, the system will develop toward more and more complex structures that represent the amount of interaction created through the on-line users participation.

4. Conclusions

We have created two interactive web sites that enable Internet on-line users to create visual forms from written language. By using our text-to-form editors, we can treat text messages as genetic code and translate the text’s parameters, such as letters, syntax and sequencing of text, into three-dimensional structures.

While various artists [5, 6, 7, 8] have been using the Internet to create web-based interactive art works, "Life Spacies" and "VERBARIUM" are the first systems to translate written text into visual three-dimensional forms. Inspired by the idea of creating visual language, we translated written language into visual forms to create artistic and audience participatory systems for the Internet.