** Concept **

Capriccio is a musical term, which means lively and free. The centrepiece of it all is a spiral keyboard, which is where all the music begins and capturing the essence of Capriccio, beautiful butterflies flutter freely.

Following our genesis generative art project Cantabile (in a singing style) which features the fleeting beauty of Sakura captured in eternal code, we wanted to continue to share our love for music and art. Inspired by AlphaCentauriKid's beautiful pianos, we wanted to have a "piano" in code too, so we created Capriccio.

We love the idea of fxparams, whereby we engage our minters to participate in the process of art making. They will be able to create the centrepiece of their choice, in terms of colors and the number of spirals that affect the entire look and feel of the keyboard.

Down to the detail of the number and color of butterflies, the minters will make their choices, whether they are minimalistic or wildly artistic, there is immense freedom to create their dream Capriccio.

** Techniques **

1. Layering and Compositions

"Capriccio" has 5 layers: 1) Background Color; 2) Background Texture; 3) Background Spiral; 4) Piano Keyboard; 5) Butterflies. Minter can choose aspect ratio of preference for their canvas (9:16, 3:4, 4:3, etc), whether to have a textured background, the sparsity of the spiral, the proportion of keyboard on the canvas, and the density of butterflies on the canvas.

There is flexibility to create either a minimalist artwork of a plain background with a black/white piano and a giant butterfly, or a wildly artistic artwork of an orange/blue background with two dozens of butterflies of various sizes fluttering across the screen.

2. Colors and Aesthetic

Our artwork uses solid line work. The background texture is made up of randomly generated solid curves with different transparency and shades. We have tested using shapes (trapeziums, ellipses, triangles) but they are not aethestically pleasing. The background spiral is implemented using the Archimedean Spiral formula.

The piano keyboard also uses solid lines and curves. Extensive tests have been done with other options of using natural lines (randomness in the stroke lines and dots to give it a smearing effect), but the natural line option does not fit the the line work of "Capriccio". The butterfly curve is a transcendental plane curve, made up of 2-4 loops.

On the colors, we have tested many different color combinations before we decided on the color templates of choice. Minimalists may like White/Black or Black/White for the Background/Piano colors; the romantic minters may like the choice of Pink/Black or Black/Pink; and the wildly artistic may like the choice of Blue/Orange or Orange/Blue. For the butterflies, we have also handpicked three sets of colors (in different hues, saturation and brightness) of Blue, Yellow and Pink, that go well with the background and piano colors.

3. Butterfly Object

We have defined a BUTTERFLY CLASS, where we can create the butterflies object when the minter click on the canvas during "minting" mode. Each object contain information (appearance and its intial location) of an individual butterfly. The butterfly follows a set of predefined rules (implemented in the CLASS Functions) to create lifelike, captivating flight patterns.

4. Piano Keyboard Object

We have defined a KEYBOARD CLASS, where we can create a piano keyboard based on the parameters (max width, number of spiral, etc) selected by the minter. Each object contains information of the keyboard. The keyboard follows a set of predefined rules (implemented in the CLASS Functions) to make it look like the piano is playing.

5. Animation

The keyboard looks like it is moving, with its keys playing. The butterflies are flutter freely across the canvas, capturing the essence of liveliness and lightheartedness in "Capriccio".

6. Interactive User Interface

The minting interface is interactive. It allows the minters to select butterflies of various colors and sizes from a palette and place them onto the canvas.

** Goals **

1. Engagement: We hope to engage our minters to co-create with us for their "Capriccio" artwork. We provide them the art canvas, different color templates, and the ease of placing butterflies on the canvas, to create the a lighthearted animated artwork according to their preference.

2. Ease of Use: The minters can place the butterflies on the canvas in the locations that they want with a simple click. They can also change the color template easily, and see how the different elements come together.

3. Freedom and Collaboration: By allowing users to shape the artwork's appearance with "fxparams," "Capriccio" fosters a sense of ownership and collaborative artistry. Whether minimalist or wildly artistic, each participant has the freedom to create their dream "Capriccio."