BALL STATE UNIVERSITY
Judging Results of the Fall 2018 CS 120: Computer Science 1
Eleventh Semi-annual All-section Art Show
Sponsored by the Department of Computer Science

Held in the AJ Atrium on Friday, November 2, 2018 from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM

The collages shown below were created by students in the CS 120 course, and judged by a panel of faculty (CS and non-CS), administrators, and CS 222: Advanced Programming students to be the best in the show. Prior to the event, they were judged by their peers to be the best in each section of the course. Although these could have been created using an image-editing program, these students have written the code themselves to create these collages programmatically by manipulating individual pixels.

This page displays the entries from this semester. You may view entries from all other semesters. All student work included in this and other shows, as well as many other CS 120 students' work is provided in an online digital media repository maintained by the BSU University Libraries.

 

Best in Show (overall)

Roll your mouse over the collage for a larger image.

"Road to nowhere" by Kade Dentel Freshman; Computer Science major

Artist's statement: "The most challenging piece of the project was positioning the scaled down images to where I wanted them. The most rewarding part was the aesthetic quality that I find from the collage."

 

Best in Show (aesthetic quality)

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"Back to the Past" by Clay Reber Sophomore; Computer Science major, Entrepreneurial Management minor

Artist's statement: "The most challenging part about creating my collage was making sure my images were working off the original picture, and not simply editing the picture before it. Example: My negative picture would try to use the grayscale image, and not the original photo. The most rewarding part was slowly understanding how pictures are modified in a digital space. I know that seems very simple, but it never occurred to me before how different digital art is when compared to a physical sketch or painting."

 

Best in Show (code quality)

Roll your mouse over the collage for a larger image.

"Machine Mind" by Andrew Thomas Freshman; Computer Science major, Mathematics and Entrepreneurial Management minors

Artist's statement: "The most challenging thing that I was successful with, was creating an algorithm that would scale down any image the amount needed for the specific layout. There were lots of variables (initial dimensions, number of pictures, number of rows, number of columns, even the layout of the collage was random 1000x726 or 726x1000) so it required a lot of time and thinking before the implementation. I found the complexity of randomness to be rewarding. When you are working with set values it’s easy to see mistakes and fix them, but when an error is only replicated 1 in a million times, the logic has to be thoroughly understood to be fixed. Whether to include the last number in a range would dramatically change the programs functionality in many places. I think it helped me develop a deeper understanding of the language."

"Cursed Cauldrons" by Levi Connelly Sophomore; Computer Science major Artist's statement: "What I found most difficult was that not only did I want my picture to be reminiscent of a retro game (like the NES), but I also wanted my code to be reminiscent of the code they used in the cartridges. Now obviously I wasn't going to write this in assembly code because it was a Python assignment, but I took a lot of inspiration from tile and sprite placement and manipulation. This was a bit of an extra challenge for me. The most rewarding part was seeing it finished, and watching it all come together; in addition to this, I feel as though I've developed a greater understanding for Python in the process, even if a lot of it was JES." Artist credit: Katie Luzadder

"El Mar" by Tenney Luke Freshman; Computer Science major Artist's statement: "By far the most difficult part of this collage was figuring out the sin and cos equations that manage the swirl effect on the center image. The most rewarding part of creating this college was being able to take boring lines of code and make them produce a cool piece of art."

"Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion)" by Camryn McMurtry Freshman; Japanese major Artist's statement: "What I found most challenging was getting the previous modifications of the picture to not copy into my next modification. The most rewarding part was the outcome of the picture."

"Dissonance" by Mera Alfawares Freshman; Computer Science major, Graphic Arts Technology minor Artist's statement: "To start the project I planned out how I wanted the final product to look, and I may have set my standards too high and so the most challenging part was to create a program that would meet the standards of what I had in mind. I definitely had to compromise a few things. Sometimes you just have to let JES win. Though it was very exciting to see the final product (and to actually submit it on time!), the most rewarding part of the project was whenever a section of my code—that repeatedly gave me errors—would finally work."

"Relax" by Jacob Mcghee Freshman; Computer Technology major Artist's statement: "The most challenging part was writing my own program(s) to flip/mirror an entire picture, and not from a “mirror point”. The most rewarding part of this project was putting (copying) all the pieces together and adding final touches like the lines and my signature."

Section 1 "Caravan Dreamin" by Eric Hinojosa Sophomore; Physics major		Artist's statement: "I found the most challenging aspect of this collage was choosing the picture I wanted to manipulate. The most rewarding part of this project was seeing the collage as a result of my code. Being able to make code that displays a collage was rewarding to me and brought about excitement that I was able to create this myself through simple coding."
Section 2 "The Psychedelic Penguins" by Kendra Furlano Freshman; Computer Science major		Artist's statement: "I had a lot of trouble with the copy function and I had to resize my photo about 7 times. However, I am very happy with how it looked in the end, trouble or not this collage is something I will continue to be proud of, even later when I will be able to code much better. I love how well it came out despite how much trouble I had with it."
Section 3 "Kyoto" by Gail Wiley Junior; Japanese major; Asian Studies and Computer Science minors		Artist's statement: "The most difficult part of creating this collage was getting the kanji (the Japanese writing) onto the picture of the geisha. I was trying to use the chromakey function, but it was not working. Eventually, I had to open a new window of JES and work on it separate from the rest of the code. When I finally got it to work, the kanji was not where I wanted it to be on the picture. And then once I got I centered, not all of the kanji was visible. However, I found I could add to the length of the picture in the range; that is what fixed it. This became the most rewarding part of making the collage. I felt so happy I finally got it and I still am."
Section 4 "The ring of fire" by Marcus Weimer Freshman; Finance major		Artist's statement: "Making the images fit on the canvas and keeping the code in order was very challenging. The finished product was rewarding… 'Hard work always has pleasing results.'"
Section 5 "Shattered Reflections" by Matthew Rhinehart Freshman; Computer Science major		Artist's statement: "The most challenging part of this project was figuring out a way to copy the picture onto the canvas backwards and be able to use both the forwards and backwards picture. The most rewarding part of this project was when all the code finally came together and showed the final product, which I had not quite imagined until that happened. It was cool to see everything come together so well."

Copyright © 2018 by the collage creators identified with each image.
Fall 2018 CS 120 All-section Art Show organized by David Largent with significant support from Paul Buis, Kim Bechdolt, Karl Mesarosh, and Vinayak Tanksale.