For whatever reason, I think certain "humble" arrangements of vegetation or roads are beautiful. By humble, I mean that when staring out the window on a long car trip, I can look at what would normally be another patch of boring trees and feel serene, while all other patches are just trees to me. The sight does not have to be scenic.
What the heck is behind these preferences? Do you feel emotionally affected by certain arrangements of objects that were not made artificially, and are NOT ">that special?
What I'm really curious about is if this info will be helpful from a design perspective.
What is that feeling?
For me, a landscape thing is beautiful, when I want to ride a horse into it with my sword in the sunset.
Sometimes, when walking or driving around in an otherwise "normal" area, I get amazed by the simplisitic beauty of... the hills. Great mounds of dirt, with little green stuff (grass) growing on it? Somehow, just watching the smooth transitions from low to high, stirs something inside me.
We (or just me?) often try to make things beautiful by tossing more entities into the mix; we try to add more elements and make it more complex. But really, I think there is great beauty in simplicity, and we can learn alot from God's creation when it comes to designing our own worlds in games.
I don't know what particular emotion it is (maybe awe? I don't know), but to me, I feel something similar when I suddenly understand how a specific beautiful piece of a code is written, and how it all fits together perfectly using a single cohesive idea. It just feels "right", "whole", "complete", and not missing anything. A co-hesive whole, from beginning to end. (Maybe this is what the author of the Mythical Man-month was talking about, about integrity of design coming only from a single mind, and not by a group of people)
For example: Lua. When I finally understood that everything in Lua is a table, including Lua itself, I felt something similar to what I felt when looking at the hills. The feeling was slightly watered down, since Lua has a few parts that stick out, not perfectly meshed with the single simple design concept that the rest of Lua is built upon, but the same underlying feeling was there. Maybe it was even the opposite of this feeling that I had, when I then tried to get Lua to work with my C++ classes - they didn't fit together as a cohesive whole, so I felt... not frustrated... but that my code was un-whole, un-balanced, not 100% 'right'. I had to leave it in that state, since it was the best I could do, but it wasn't the ideal unity of code I wanted - not a perfecty seamless flow.
Perhaps we are 'impressed' with the splendor of the Eagle (appearance), but 'in awe' of the design of the hummingbird's wings (implementation), and we can get 'inspired' by either. Just thinking allowed (and probably misusing words).
We (or just me?) often try to make things beautiful by tossing more entities into the mix; we try to add more elements and make it more complex. But really, I think there is great beauty in simplicity, and we can learn alot from God's creation when it comes to designing our own worlds in games.
I don't know what particular emotion it is (maybe awe? I don't know), but to me, I feel something similar when I suddenly understand how a specific beautiful piece of a code is written, and how it all fits together perfectly using a single cohesive idea. It just feels "right", "whole", "complete", and not missing anything. A co-hesive whole, from beginning to end. (Maybe this is what the author of the Mythical Man-month was talking about, about integrity of design coming only from a single mind, and not by a group of people)
For example: Lua. When I finally understood that everything in Lua is a table, including Lua itself, I felt something similar to what I felt when looking at the hills. The feeling was slightly watered down, since Lua has a few parts that stick out, not perfectly meshed with the single simple design concept that the rest of Lua is built upon, but the same underlying feeling was there. Maybe it was even the opposite of this feeling that I had, when I then tried to get Lua to work with my C++ classes - they didn't fit together as a cohesive whole, so I felt... not frustrated... but that my code was un-whole, un-balanced, not 100% 'right'. I had to leave it in that state, since it was the best I could do, but it wasn't the ideal unity of code I wanted - not a perfecty seamless flow.
Perhaps we are 'impressed' with the splendor of the Eagle (appearance), but 'in awe' of the design of the hummingbird's wings (implementation), and we can get 'inspired' by either. Just thinking allowed (and probably misusing words).
Author
I'm trying to look at it from a graphic design perspective. If things like the Golden Ratio are pleasurable for us to see, I'm wondering if I'm just seeing other arrangements of things that are simply "pretty". Emphasis on arrangements.
The infinitive you're looking for is sublime. Overwhelming beauty of ordinary nature etc etc.
Quote:Original post by Servant of the Lord
I think there is great beauty in simplicity
Absolutely.
I hike a lot in my free time, and I like doing my own little unconventional landscape photography thing. Which incidentally doesn't involve the usual big style scenic vista pictures, but much more simplistic views of things I feel are more serene and "pure". It's hard to explain, it's like trying to capture the essence of something without external disturbances.
For example, one of my favorite pictures is one I took almost by coincidence, when passing at Sunset Crater a few years ago. It shows an isolated old grey tree within a empty and almost desolate landscape. My girlfriend finds it depressing, but there's something in this empty and cold space that is really attracting me. Well yeah, it's hard to explain.
These things inspired me a lot back when I was doing my landscape rendering engine.
Quote:Original post by Yann L
For example, one of my favorite pictures is one I took almost by coincidence, when passing at Sunset Crater a few years ago. It shows an isolated old grey tree within a empty and almost desolate landscape. My girlfriend finds it depressing, but there's something in this empty and cold space that is really attracting me. Well yeah, it's hard to explain.
Picture or it didn't happen.
Quote:Original post by BeanDog
Picture or it didn't happen.
Yeah, I have a poster sized printout hanging above my desk, but I have no idea where I put the image file. It's kind of similar to that one (I like weird isolated trees in empty landscapes ;) but less scenic, with the ground covered in grey and black ashes, giving it a very bleak appearance.
Author
I see what you mean! [smile]
I'm personally fond of spatial extrema: really, really wide open patches of land or really, really closed in spaces. Warehouses and grasslands give me this euphoric rush that makes me want to sprint.
I also like lonely paths that look like they lead nowhere, or to an area that will swallow you whole. Here's a pic I took when I was out visiting a lake park.
I'm personally fond of spatial extrema: really, really wide open patches of land or really, really closed in spaces. Warehouses and grasslands give me this euphoric rush that makes me want to sprint.
I also like lonely paths that look like they lead nowhere, or to an area that will swallow you whole. Here's a pic I took when I was out visiting a lake park.
Both photos are very nice and quiet. Serene. Mythical or just majestic even in the modern world we live in today.
I love these type of places as well.
Its hypnotic to see such places and try to imagine what happened in that very spot so long ago or just recently.
I love these type of places as well.
Its hypnotic to see such places and try to imagine what happened in that very spot so long ago or just recently.
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