PET - Particle Emission Tool (Flash Version)

P.E.T. began as an elaboration on a section of the Unconventional Drawing project and has grown into a much deeper tool with numerous controllable variables. The main premise of P.E.T. is to emit graphical particles on screen—a simple and exceedingly open goal which has allowed the program to be used and customized for a variety of uses.

The Flash version of PET was used as a component in live analogue video performances, edited video compositions, as an image generator for prints, and was also shown on its own on a large "Smart Wall" touch screen that is part of the John Woods Studio at Alfred University.

• Play with the the Flash version of PET. (click the Flash movie to activate the keyboard controls)

And if you don't want to go about it blindly, all of the control keys are detailed in the PET commands image which was displayed along side the Smart Wall installation. "Touch Screen to Drag Emission Point" refers to the touch screen interface of the Smart Wall, for a traditional keyboard/mouse interface, this translates to "move mouse to move emission point". For a text list of commands, see blow:

basic commands

arrow keys

change particle size, hold CTRL to increase rate of change

top number keys

select particle type

SHIFT + top number keys

select particle movement

space bar

clear the screen

I or O

make new particle visible or invisible, respectively

advanced commands

[ or ]

decrease or increase the rotational scatter of new particles, min = 0 max = 360

SHIFT + [ or ]

rotates the direction of particle movement, rotational scatter must first be decreased

CTRL + [ or ]

rotates the direction of particle movement at a faster rate

/

zeros out the rotation of particle movement and sets the rotational scatter back to 360

SHIFT + left arrow or right arrow

decrease / increase the scatter range of new particles, centered on mouse position

SHIFT + up arrow or down arrow

increase / decrease the number of particles by 1, min = 1 max = 237

Delete

record the oldest particle into the buffer

SHIFT + Delete

record the 79 of the oldest particles into the buffer

CTRL + Delete

record all but single newest particle into the buffer

Tab

increase the number of particles by 79, max = 237

SHIFT + Tab

decrease the number of particles by 79, min = 1, this will also clear buffered particles

Caps Lock

toggles the order of actions within the emission script, the result is a reshaping of particles and movements *this may not work on mac os*

CTRL + number pad 0 - 9

saves the values of all current variables affecting particles and movement

number pad 0 - 9

recalls saved variables and applies them to all newly emitted particles, recalls default values if no value set has been saved on the current number

screen shots

Screen shots of P.E.T. (Flash version) in action as VJ tool in October 2003.