There’s nothing quite like re-configuring the past using the technology of the future. Or at least, the present. Felix Turner gives us a web app that replicates the Rutt-Etra video synthesizer, a favorite tool of the video art movement of the 1970s, used by artists like Nam June Paik. In its original incarnation, it was created by Steve Rutt and Bill Etra as an analog raster manipulation computer that abstracted images by manipulating the z-axis of the image for real-time animations. Think Joy Division’s cover for their album Unknown Pleasures and you’ll get the idea.You can already get a Mac plugin of it, v002 Rutt Etra 2.0.1, and now, thanks to Turner, it also comes in the form of a web app. Called Rutt-Etra-Izer, it mimics the 3D extrapolation effect of the synthesizer. You upload an image, or use a sample, changing parameters like line separation and thickness until you’re happy with the result. Along with the online app, he’s also created a real-time audio-reactive version using Processing, which is demonstrated in the video below.[via Creative Applications]
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