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toby*spark

@tobyz.net
51 followers 89 following 37 posts

art, design and engineering → tobyz.net, since 1999

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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 21/09/2026
If I told you there was still a 320x240 clip in my Fuel piece, last played at 5xHD… it revives 2001, after all! tobyz.net/project/fuel/
tobyz.net
Fuel: bass, breaks and the Y2K that never was
Fuel: bass, breaks and the Y2K that never was
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 21/09/2026
Also: long time! Been an age since I’ve been in Brighton. If you’re ever in Bristol, holler!
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 21/09/2026
Cinepak FTW. …and did you see the link from that post? I did the whole 320x240 to the holodeck thing. Was quite a moment, standing there.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 21/09/2026
8038 x 5798 via NDI, you say? <furious typing> tobyz.net/diary/2026/0... #lpm #avnode
tobyz.net
*spark stage » immersive
For artists, the entire system appears as one single canvas measuring 8038 × 5798 pixels. There is no need to manage individual projectors, nor to handle warping, edge blending, or synchronization. Ar...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 14/04/2026
Finally, a title, blurb and teaser video – tobyz.net/diary/2026/0...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 02/04/2026
How is Fabric useful to me? Check this, hot off the digital anvil – tobyz.net/diary/2026/0...
tobyz.net
*spark stage » scenes + demo
why *spark stage, then? you can use it as a basic projection mapping tool, fed from other apps via syphon. but the articulating idea in the app is managing a 3D stage. and it’s an idea, i think, with ...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 02/04/2026
If you remember Quartz Composer fondly, check out fabric.graphics – an open-source, modern reimagining. Early days, but for me at least today’s release has crossed a threshold of usefulness. github.com/Fabric-Proje...
github.com
Release Releases/Alpha-13 · Fabric-Project/Fabric
Whats new: Fabric Swift Package Fabric's core engine is now a Swift Package, making embedding Fabric into custom Swift apps possible. This is a major milestone that mirrors a core use case from Qua...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 30/08/2025
Friday. Success.
A full-size hacksaw blade held along the end of a wooden batten by pan head screws. Saw-on-a-stick #4
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 30/08/2025
Thursday
Snips with handles extended by two long metal tubes. Saws-on-sticks weren’t working; change of plan.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 30/08/2025
Wednesday
Junior hacksaw blade taped to the end of a wooden batten. Saw-on-a-stick #3, mk1Junior hacksaw blade taped to the end of a wooden batten, offset to the side. Saw-on-a-stick #3, mk2Junior hacksaw blade held to the end of a wooden batten by pan-head screws, and offset. Saw-on-a-stick #3, mk3
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 30/08/2025
Tuesday
A junior hacksaw fixed onto the end of a wooden batten. A full-size hacksaw blade, in holder, taped onto the end of a batten. Saw-on-a-stick #1 & 2
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 30/08/2025
Monday
A junior hacksaw fixed onto the end of a wooden batten. Saw-on-a-stick #1
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 25/06/2025
beautifully simple concept, neatly executed tobyz.net/diary/2025/0...
tobyz.net
masha rozhnova
the talk that blew me away i did not see coming. its blurb launches with with “instrument”, in my experience a signifier not of expressivity, but of how far we are from it. but! masha had a beautifull...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 25/06/2025
amongst other things, another syphon pint tobyz.net/diary/2025/0...
tobyz.net
touch designer london
in past times, i’d made pilgrimages to check out the state of the art and be inspired by people pushing at it. time to do so again; i have questions about what makes sense for “visual systems” in 2025...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 23/05/2025
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tobyz.net
insieme / spacepope
garry spacepope, cardinal of tomorrow. need i say more?
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 23/05/2025
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tobyz.net
insieme / szolnok
doing visuals at insieme has been a shared endeavour. henry rolls took care of friday, with saturday for “szolnok and *spark”. this is new! i’ve been collaborating with local friend and talent zsolt, ...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 23/05/2025
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tobyz.net
insieme / fuel
did the fuel piece. nice memory of the crowd locked in to tipper’s ‘tug of war’, the fuel records 12” catalogue animating along, and in that moment connecting back to when i record-shopped one of them...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 23/05/2025
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tobyz.net
insieme / terrain
saturday night: time to get to work. early evening, three hours: terrain take over the festival. insieme had commissioned a skinny gud illustration for the poster, and it came out great. happily, the ...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 23/05/2025
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tobyz.net
insieme / to the barn
friday night: some old friends, a new scene, the night yet young
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 23/05/2025
Having been holed up writing an academic chapter on live visuals (and interaction), getting out and reconnecting with nature, visuals and the night was most welcome… tobyz.net/diary/2025/0...
tobyz.net
insieme / whitewashed cube
my interest was piqued when i found out a neighbour runs a micro-festival. i was sold when i saw a photo of the late-night barn: thick sound-absorbing stone walls, whitewashed and begging for visuals ...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 06/05/2025
May the wind be in your sails, and the seas of powerful customisation crash upon the robust shores of pro apps once more.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 06/05/2025
Fabric is to 3D what V is to 2D?
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 03/04/2025
Cinema screening of the stage adaptation of my favourite film. #mediatisation, but I’m here for it, figuratively and literally.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 03/04/2025
To bring this back to your original point, I bounced off it a few times back when the parts of it that touched macOS didn’t behave natively. It only became a viable Mac ‘citizen’ to me after some years of refinement.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 02/04/2025
Given all that – amen! – the irony to me is that Sublime Text has the best designed UI of all code editors. It exposes a lot of functionality with a minimum of chrome. To wit: I wish it was a Mac-assed idiom that multiple-select of items in a sidebar is how you manage n-up document display.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 22/10/2024
I was just thinking that “six month contract” must be up around now. Happy you’re (still) having fun.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 26/08/2024
Not mad! Having been to a out-of-town micro-festival that was solar+battery, it was even more pronounced there – a genny can really intrude on the bucolic idyll – not just the rumble but the whole idea of it.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 26/08/2024
massive attack and uva – still unique, hell of a show. tobyz.net/diary/2024/0...
tobyz.net
massive attack
one-off, climate-change framed home-town gig for massive attack.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 28/04/2024
More gigs like this please: me and laptop vs. immersive space.
Performer’s view looking out over immersive space: a room with projection as all four walls
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 18/04/2024
this talk came up in discussion afterwards. well worth a watch – www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUn...
youtube.com
Death of the Follower & the Future of Creativity on the Web with Jack Conte | SXSW 2024 Keynote
Portuguese and Spanish language translations for SXSW 2024 Keynotes and Featured Sessions presented by ItaúPatreon CEO Jack Conte explains how the current in...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 18/04/2024
diary post – crux » fuel / three-d tobyz.net/diary/2024/0...
tobyz.net
crux » fuel / three-d
again thanks to mike for the photo. this is from later on, a story-telling part where the ability to be in a 3D engine and build-up abstracted but understandable scenes comes into its own.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 18/04/2024
diary post – crux » fuel / two-d tobyz.net/diary/2024/0...
tobyz.net
crux » fuel / two-d
finish talk, straight into performance. quite the shift, happily it was a smooth transition.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 18/04/2024
diary post – crux » four good ideas and an iffy one tobyz.net/diary/2024/0...
tobyz.net
crux » four good ideas and an iffy one
i’d imagined the 45 minutes as a masterclass, but at some point realised the greater good would be promoting some of the ideas volta is built upon. so i made a deck full of videos showing volta in act...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 18/04/2024
diary post – crux » four good ideas... tobyz.net/diary/2024/0...
tobyz.net
crux » four good ideas...
to crux festival, a two-day event that has come out of an ongoing series of audio-visual-ish nights in london – “a meeting space to experiment, collaborate and be entertained”.
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 12/04/2024
London talk + gig alert: four good ideas and one iffy one for live performers and their tools. Featuring a demo of Volta, a performance of my Fuel Records piece. My favourite slide – festival.crux-events.org/programme-20...
slide deck showing slide saying "a classic rock album documentary for the rave generation”, "friday night on BBC 4, with a club PA”, followed by a shrug
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 21/02/2024
Bristol gig alert: a test performance of my Fuel piece at We All Play Synth. Thursday 22nd, Dareshack. aka tomorrow! www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/dar...
headfirstbristol.co.uk
We All Play Synth - Electronic Music Open Mic at Dareshack
We All Play Synth™ is back in 2024 at the wonderful Dareshack! Drag yourself out of the bedroom studio and into the warm, friendly atmosphere (and INCREDIBLE SOUND SYSTEM!) of Dareshack, for another i...
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toby*spark @tobyz.net · 21/02/2024
Idiocy to imagine this might be any different? Federated discussions aside, being able to use my domain as my handle augurs well, at least.
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