256a-fall-2021/hw2

Homework #2: Sound Peeking

Due Dates

• HW2 milestone 1: due Friday (10/1): all three initial tutorials completed; HW2 webpage with progress report on learning/playing with Chunity
• HW2 milestone 2: due Monday (10/11, 1pm): HW2 webpage updated with milestone video + in-class critique
• HW2 final deliverable: due Monday (10/18, 1pm) HW2 final webpage/video + in-class presentation

reminder: please also organize your weekly reading responses online at http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~YOURID/256a/rrXXX/) -- replace XXX with the number of of the reading response.

In this assignment, you are to visualize sound in real-time, using Unity for the graphics programming, and ChucK (via Chunity) as a sound source. Your program will visualize: 1) live microphone input and 2) a designed sound narrative written in ChucK. This is a fun project but there are many moving parts; start early.

Specification (part 1 of 4): Tutorials + Readings

• follow and do the Unity [Roll-a-Ball tutorial https://learn.unity.com/project/roll-a-ball]
• next, follow and do the [Chunity tutorials http://chuck.stanford.edu/chunity/tutorials/]
• download and play with sndpeek for ideas
• Artful Design chapter 2 reading response: due Sunday (10/3) 11:59pm
• Artful Design chapter 3 reading response: due Sunday (10/10) 11:59pm

Specification (part 2 of 4): Real-time Sound Input in Unity

• follow and do Ge and Kunwoo's [Artful Design TV tutorial "HelloAudioVisualizer" https://youtu.be/nMeF2W2gv7E] (do Roll-a-Ball and Chunity tutorials first)
• ChunityAudioVisualizer starter project => Unity Package | scripts only
• end up with a usable Unity project as a starting point for your project
  • basic visualization of time-domain waveform and magnitude spectrum
  • test using the microphone input!

Specification (part 3 of 4): Visualizing the Spectrum History

• design and implement a waterfall plot (like sndpeek), a real-time scrolling spectrogram, or another way to display spectrums over time
  • "make it read"!
  • feel free to experiment on how to represent the spectrum history visually

Specification (part 4 of 4): An Audio-Visual Narrative

• using Chunity, create a ChucK program to run inside your visualizer
  • can use a combination of microphone (adc in ChucK) and sound synthesis
  • think about different "sections" or "movements", and how to transition between them
  • try to align the aesthetic of your visualizer and your ChucK program (give it personality)
  • (optional): can use keyboard input
• aesthetic goal:
  • polish not important!
  • technical fanciness not important!
  • making the viewer/listener feel something: important!!

Note

• have fun with it!!!
• comment your code!
• you are welcome to work together, but you must do/turn in your own work

Final Deliverables

Please note that ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CONTENT must be accessible from your HW2 WEBPAGE in order to count toward your grade. Specifically, your HW2 webpage should be polished and include the following:

• 0) reading responses, to Chapters 2 and 3 (upload URL to Canvas, as per usual)
• 1) HW2 project webpage (should be viewable at http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~YOURID/256a/hw2/). It should include:
  • a name and description of your audio visualizer
  • a few screenshots that capture great parts of your visualizer in action
  • a polished high-resolution video (2-3 minutes, with audio, screen capture or with camera) of both your visualizer in action AND your narrative
    • create a production build from Unity and capture video + audio using this build in FULL-SCREEN
    • upload to YouTube or Vimeo (or CCRMA) and embed the video from your webpage
  • instructions for using your visualizers, including any keyboard/mouse control
  • a production build of your visualizer; please specify the platform(s), e.g., MacOS, Windows, or Linux
  • your Unity project (stripped of unnecessary and intermediate files; just the essentials needed to build and run the project)
  • a final short text section that:
    • conveys your ideas/comments in constructing each program
    • describes any difficulties you encountered in the process
    • acknowledges help you received for this project
  • (feel free to include or not your previous HW2 milestones. If you do, these previous milestones should appear AT THE BOTTOM of your HW2 webpage)
• 2) submit to Canvas: URL to webpage and your Chunity code.