Autonomous agents created using machine learning are a growing
presence in our world, so we should use them for art! Participants of
this workshop will livecode virtual worlds and populate them with
intelligent agents.
The workshop will start with a brief overview of tools and
terminology. Training (outside the scope of this workshop) is
accomplished using Unity’s ml-agents and simplified with
PersonalityQuarks. The primary livecode interface is Arcadia with a
few helpful wrappers from baisless fabric.
The first half hour - hour will be the overview and setting up tools.
Participants should download Unity and a github repository with all
the important parts set up (link to be provided later), but there’s
always going to be complications.
The remainder of the time will be spent on exploring the environment.
Participants will start by creating an agent prefab and then
spawning it. Then they’ll experiment with multiple agents, then
modifying the environment for agents to interact together, and
finally (if there’s time) customizing their environment with colors
and lights. By the end of the workshop, participants should have an
understanding of how to use autonomous agents in a live performance,
and have the tools to train their own agents and create their own
environments.
This will be a moderately advanced workshop, and participants will
preferably have some familiarity with lisp and 3D environments.