The Invisible World of Plants is a project born from the desire to connect technology and nature. During our introductory programming course, we discussed the idea of magic as a possible path toward a more harmonious relationship between people and their environment. While searching for a magical theme to explore, we repeatedly returned to plants and to the many ways these remarkable organisms support life.
From this, we developed the idea of using computational tools to observe and visualize some of the processes plants undergo on a daily basis which are for the most part invisible to our senses. With this goal in mind, we began designing the installation by first shaping the physical space. This included setting up the projection system and mapping the plants we intended to interact with.
Once the space was set up, we began coding the visualizations. We first created a particle system to represent the exchange of oxygen and CO₂ between a user and a plant. Next, we developed a generative root system that connected the plants to the soil through channels of light that broke into random patterns. Finally, we designed a third visualization focused on photosynthesis, illustrating how plants absorb and store light as energy.
Through this project, we learned how to work with projection mapping, as well as how to develop randomization techniques for visualizations, including a physics-based particle system and a generative drawing tool for the root structures.
