IDEAL is an audiovisual piece created in 2007.
Watch a rendition of the first version on Vimeo
A second version was presented in 2009.
It was included in a concert at Montana State University in 2024.
IDEAL is part of a cycle of five works about the number five, written in 2007 at the University of Manchester. It runs a simple simulation in which agent particles move between vertices on the graphs of the five Platonic ("ideal") solids. These gather energy from the graph nodes and reproduce, with mutations, before dying. The piece was built with two pieces of Free and Open Source (FOSS) software: Processing runs the simulation, draws graphics and sends control signals to Supercollider to generate audio. It runs in real time, controlled by user keyboard input to create and perturb the particle agents and change the target graph. It was later adapted to an installation incorporating camera input. This version is a recording of the original "performance" by the composer.