BSc (Hons) Creative Computing

This module will introduce the fundamentals of programming and object orientation, including the following basic ideas of programming, including variables, memory and assignment statements, control through conditional statements, loops, functions and procedures, objects and classes, instance variables and methods, arrays, user interaction, interaction between objects, inheritance, polymorphism.

This module is an introduction to the basic concepts essential in the design and implementation of client-side web-based applications; it will cover a basic introduction to the Web, followed by more detailed lectures and labs on current best good practice with technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript.

This module is intended as an introduction to creative practice. Students work individually or in groups to conceive, develop and produce finished practical software projects in creative computing, making the fullest possible use of their creative and coding skills. Each project is uniquely specified to allow students the fullest possible creative choice, and projects are mentored by module leaders to ensure that they are at the appropriate level, and to provide students with specific programming and practical suggestions where required. All student projects must feature the creative use of digital media technologies through applied programming

In addition to allowing students to develop their skills in a chosen area of interest, this module encourages students to make coherent judgments regarding the application of their computing skills as they develop and reinforce their technical knowledge through creative projects.

This module gives a broad introduction to the creation of digital media and rich media websites and applications. It covers both the technical issues of programming with media, and the contextual topics of project management and designing applications to a particular commercial (or other) brief.

This module introduces fundamental numerical tools to support computational and algorithmic inquiry, and to enable effective computational experimentation.

You will:

• explain the need for different number systems
• understand what a prime number is and perform arithmetic modulo prime bases
• appropriately use combinations of trigonometric or special functions
• represent abstract locations in vector coordinate systems, and derive and apply transformation matrices

This module will cover the technical fundamentals of computing techniques used in digital media with a particular focus on graphics.

Topics will include manipulating images for creative contexts, image processing, application of 2D and 3D geometry for animation and interaction, creating simple physics simulations.

Students will practice this knowledge through a series of practical and creative exercises, undertaken throughout the module. These will be undertaken using an appropriate programming environment with graphics capabilities.

This module will cover the technical fundamentals of computing techniques used in digital media with a particular focus on sound and music computing.

Topics will include applying and manipulating digital audio media for interactive contexts, sound synthesis theory and fundamentals, basic signal analysis techniques, and rudimentary digital signal processing in an audio buffer.

Students will practice this knowledge through a series of practical and creative exercises, undertaken throughout the module. These will be undertaken using an appropriate procedural environment with supported audio libraries.

This module will allow you to develop an intuitive understanding of the expressive power of computation and reinforce important mathematical and programming concepts through engaging and creative work.

You will be introduced to a variety of generative techniques through analysing the work of other artists and studying code examples. Possible techniques you will use include phase modulation, uses of the sine function, additive synthesis, stochasticism, perlin noise, and extensive variation through parametrisation. 

This module introduces students to C++ for the first time whilst building on the programming techniques covered at level 4. Through the use of a framework designed with creative practice in mind, students learn the rudiments of C++ through a multi-media driven approach.

Topics include:
Types, Arrays and Control Flow, Functions, Vectors, I/O, 3D graphics with primitives, object orientation, constructors, passing by reference, pointers and inheritance.

This module aims both to build on the skills and competences developed in the technical modules in the Creative Computing Programme at Level 4, as well as the critical and creative awareness fostered in the Introduction to Creative Practice module. Providing knowledge and skills to be used in exploratory fashion in the Creative Projects, this module will also allow you to develop your own creative practice in general. It will provide you with a detailed appreciation of human visual and audio perception, allowing you to explain the limitations of your own sensory gamut, and to be able to exploit similarities and differences between observers perceptual systems.

You will learn the fundamentals of signal processing and systems, including a programming language suited to the signal processing domain, and how they are applied in typical multimedia applications; andwill then be shown how to combine these signal processing techniques with an understanding of perception to produce multimedia information retrieval systems.

Topics include:

• Visual perception: cones, rods and the eye; optical illusions; colour vision; colour spaces and
• profiles; motion perception and Gestalt psychology.
• Animation: approaches to animation; perception in video and film; making animations; visualisation.
• Sound, hearing and music: sound and the ear; frequency, pitch and harmony; melody; rhythm;
• digital audio formats and compression.
• Signals: the nature of signals; special signals; audio signals and sampling; frequency, amplitudend phase; the Fourier representation.
• Systems: linearity and time-invariance; impulse responses and convolution; spectral analysis;
• convolution by spectrum multiplication.
• Audio and image filtering: EQ; filter design; subtractive synthesis; echo and reverberation; resampling; image representation; two-dimensional convolution and image effects.
• Multimedia information retrieval: retrieval, fingerprinting

This module focuses on the technology underpinning client-server applications. This includes relational database systems, mainly from a development perspective, offering an introduction to data modelling and database implementation in SQL and alternatives such as No SQL The focus is on applications of relational and non-relational databases and techniques relevant to the creation of dynamic web applications such as form handling and templating. It includes practical work related to programming client-server web applications with a focus on principles and up to date practices.

Building on their experiences in Creative Computing Project 1, this module develops practical and research skills for realising medium-scale C++ projects in the contexts of the arts and creative industries. Working individually or in groups students will conceive, develop and produce substantial practical software projects in creative computing. These works are expected to make the fullest possible use of their creative and programming skills and must feature the creative use of digital media technologies through applied programming.

Through this work, students will become familiar with a variety of C++ development environments and will learn how to research relevant open source libraries and use them through reading APIs and source code. Additionally, students will study a range of practical skills which are key to managing large code bases over long periods of development.

Physical Computing is of increasing interest to artists, musicians, choreographers and other creative practitioners for the creation of novel artworks and also for forms of computational interaction between these objects and people.

There are many other applications of Physical Computing, for example in museums, ubiquitous and embedded computing, robotics, engineering control systems and Human-Computer Interaction. A physical environment may be sonic, tangible, tactile, visually dynamic, olfactory or any combination of these.

The module will explain and demonstrate how the environment, which is essentially continuous can be monitored by analogue electrical and mechanical sensors. Computers, however, are digital machines programmed by software. A focus of this module, therefore, is the interface between the digital and the analogue. This study encompasses basic physics, electronics, programming and software engineering. The practical objective of this module is the development of the skills needed for designing and building interactive physical devices.

Students will study advanced topics in generative graphics with a focus on understanding and applying effects using shaders:

• Generating 3D environments from 2D perspective models with matrix transforms
• Understanding Geometry, Textures, Lighting
• Complete OpenGL pipeline
• Frag Shaders
• Vertex shaders
• Procedural rendering methods

In doing this they will apply perceptual knowledge acquired in Perception and Multimedia and mathematical skills acquired in Numerical Maths.

This module builds on the knowledge developed in C++ for Creative Practice by introducing students to a variety of specialist topics relevant to creative practice. This will be done through a project developed in weekly stages covering topics such as Networking with OSC, Event-driven programming with lamdas, memory management and smart pointers, developing GUIs, error handling, and test-driven development.

Through this grounded and practical work, students build greater knowledge of C++ syntax and techniques.

Students will cover a range of topics relating to sound, perception, signal processing and music information retrieval:

• Advanced audio and music perception: frequency, pitch, and harmony; melody; rhythm; spatial perception
• Audio signals: sampling, aliasing, quantising, compression
• Fourier analysis and working the frequency domain
• Digital signal processing: signals and systems, linearity and time-invariance, convolution, filters, reverb, EQ, filter design
• Signal processing programming
• Perceptually-motivated features for audio analysis, information retrieval, and recommendation

Topics will be practically explored through a series of lab assignments and final project in which students apply what they have learnt to creative ends.

This course extends the principles of creative engineering for use in arts, games, and more general interaction scenarios so that students can develop their own projects through the use of computational approaches to audiovisual processing. The lessons will be taught using Javascript or C++. It is recommended that students have some experience with using Processing and some background in digital audio and/or digital image manipulation before taking this course. We will spend the first few sessions exploring Digital Audio Signal Processing. This will cover synthesis, sequencing, filtering, sample loading and playback, panning and rudimentary analysis. Following this we’ll be looking at audiovisual interaction using video and 3D graphics.

Final Project in Creative Computing is an opportunity for students to apply the skills, knowledge and expertise that they have acquired whilst studying Creative Computing to a single and coherent body of work. The project allows students to follow an initiative that appeals to them, but the project must remain relevant to the Creative Industries; the outcome will be the most substantial project that they have had to develop as part of their studies. Example projects include a software tool for creative work, a portfolio of creative studies, an installation, a digitally-enabled performance, a digital game or toy. The project outcomes will serve as a showcase for student’s talents and could launch a professional career in industry. Students will have to manage their own time and set regular objectives, undertaking project analysis, design, implementation and evaluation.