adaptive media :: generative content creation

The Adaptive Media project focused on the enhancement of interactive entertainment through new adaptive music processes and the application of generative and self-organising media systems. The project developed new algorithms and processes to generate and transform media content autonomously in real-time, with particular focus on adaptive music.

ACID developed expertise in generative and adaptive music and visualization systems through a range of projects. The Adaptive Media project focused on:

• increasing productivity for the provision for interactive entertainment through new adaptive media processes
• increasing access to interactive media experiences through the application of generative and self-organising media systems.

The Adaptive Media project investigated how computational processes could be used to generate audio/visual material that adapted to the (potentially dynamic) structure and properties of associated media. The technologies developed have application in TV, film, video games, dynamic video editing for music videos, museum exhibitions, and interactive audio/visual works for public displays. ACID developed processes that generated complementary structures between media to enhance their combined expressiveness, even under situations where their structures changed dynamically in real-time (such as interactive computer games).

Building on ACID's strengths in generative processes in media creation, in particular on the work in dynamic music, the Adaptive Media project focused on adaptive music for static visuals but also included adaptive visual media. The project examined the algorithmic representing and structuring music and digital visual content and how these structural features could be successfully coupled to provide aesthetic cohesion between media types. The project produced a range of exemplar works that clearly demonstrated the potential of the approaches developed and their application in applied contexts.

Screenshot from an Adaptive Media project application
(click image to view full-size)

Industry partner Auran (and other computer game companies) continued to identify generative content creation as a key next step in content productivity and enhanced user experience in interactive entertainment.

Adaptive Media systems presented opportunities for generating media for public displays, film, TV and other creative industries. Audio visual media were core elements of popular and experimental culture industries, including film and TV production, advertising, computer games, dance music, media arts and contemporary music theatre. The development of new and more productive methods of synchronising and integrating audio and visual works could assist these sectors to be more efficient in their production and allow them to innovate new media forms. These techniques could also assist the novice media creator to produce tightly coordinated audio/visual material with minimal effort or training. Additionally, the non-linear nature of contemporary interactive entertainment and information systems meant that there was an increasing demand for media content that could vary to accommodate unpredictable changes. At the time the producers of content for these systems had limited capacity to create works that adapt effectively, especially in the music field. This project enhanced our understanding of adaptive media and built technologies that enhanced our capacity to create content for non-linear and interactive contexts.