icam senior project
MARKED by MOTION
sophia xie
OVERVIEW
A digital and real-time interactive piece about human impact on the environment. The environment consists of 3 stages of change: balanced, transitional, and degraded. The more camera movement and time passing, the stages will change. Paintings of the stages are combined with the TouchDesigner components and a particle system. People can move the particles using camera movement, with changes in color, visual subject matter, and composition stability.
EARLY IDEAS
Concept and painting ideas
INITIAL HAND MOVEMENT and PARTICLE SYSTEMS
Hand camera movement is synced with particle systems
Reference image connected to particles
First hand controls the image
Second hand controls the color
PAINTINGS
The background of the particles consists of three paintings that represent human environmental change. The three stages include a balanced, transitioned, and degraded state. Age is used as a metaphor for environmental change to introduce time, generational responsibility, cumulative impact, and irreversibility. For the landscape scenery, I chose to include mostly aquatic environments. Painting compositions and references were created in Procreate. I digitally collaged multiple images of habitats, water, pollution, and portraits .
BALANCED STATE
The natural equilibrium between human presence and the environment. Human activity exists, but ecosystems remain stable and resilient.
Acrylic paint on canvas
12" x 16"
I used bright colors and high saturation of the environmental scenery. The portraits of children and happier emotions portray innocence and potential for stability or the future.
TRANSITIONAL STATE
The result of prolonged environmental stress caused by sustained human impact. Ecological systems break down, and natural balance is lost.
Acrylic paint on canvas
12" x 16"
I painted with muted tones to contrast with the first painting and start the more melancholic emotions. The plastic over the faces evokes a trapped sensation, and the remaining plastic pollution highlights human consequences. The portraits are now of adults with resting expressions to convey a sense of agency and visible impacts in the ocean.
DEGRADED STATE
The period where human activity begins to destabilize the ecosystem. The environment can still functioning, but there are major signs of stress and imbalance.
Acrylic paint on canvas
12" x 16"
I painted with warm and orange tones to show a change from the blues in the first two paintings. The fire emphasizes the overwhelming nature of the degradation. The portraits are now of the elderly to convey irreversible consequence, memory, and loss. The more controlled use of the fire combined with the disrupted ocean plastic environment represents the gradual consuming disruption.
Updated hand movement and particle systems
In TouchDesigner, I used MediaPipe to sync the hand camera movement with the particle system. MediaPipe tracks hand and finger movement. For this project, I tracked the middle finger tip location to control how the particles move. To make the particles, I used a grid connected to a particle SOP. The particles are improved from the previous version because they move more smoothly, and the hand movement now allows the particles to travel through the entire screen. I colored the particles with the paintings using the multiply TOP. The paintings change every 10 seconds.
TIMELINE
WINTER QUARTER
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7-8
Week 9-10
Draft painting and 3d model ideas and plan TouchDesigner components.
Work on the particle system with the camera movement.
Create references for each stage and work on the paintings
Midterm - Proof of Concept. Demo TouchDesigner: Some drawings connected TouchDesigner components. Demo art and 3d models.
Continue working on the paintings.
Final: Paintings connected and working with particle system in TouchDesigner.
SPRING QUARTER
Week 11-12
Week 13-14
Week 15
Week 16-17
Week 17-18
Week 19
Week 20
Finish the painting for the degraded state.
Connect the painting assets to the particle system.
Continue implementing the camera movement according to color, visual clarity, and composition stability of the piece.
Find and make the 3D models
Add all the 3d models to the piece and work on the background sound and implement the audio reactivity.
Final: Paintings connected and working with particle system in TouchDesigner.
Gallery install and exhibition.
@2026 Sophia Xie
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