Hektor and Scriptographer 赫克特勇士與指令碼插件 (訪問 Jürg Lehni)
創作者：Jürg Lehni， Uli Franke
創作年份： 2001 - 2002
媒材： 自製硬體設備、Illustrator 的外掛插件（Plugin）軟體
軟體： 指令碼插件 (C++, JAVA, JavaScript)、PIC-Assembler
網址： www.hektor.ch
什麼是赫克特勇士與指令碼插件？
《赫克特勇士》是一種輕便的噴漆塗鴉輸出設備，適用於筆記型電腦，是我在2002年跟工程師Uli Franke 密切合作的作品，也是我在瑞士洛桑藝術與設計學院 (Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne) 的畢業作。《赫克特勇士》這個裝置既輕巧又脆弱，只由兩個馬達、齒形皮帶和一個可放一般噴漆罐的支架構成。噴漆會隨著圖畫的路徑走，有時在執行的時候因為機器抖動或搖擺，顏料常滴下。這種高低科技的反差帶來微妙的詩意，反使得《赫克特勇士》運作時觀賞起來很有趣。《赫克特勇士》經常由其他設計師和藝術家運用在許多獨立的計畫上。
《赫克特勇士》的運作方式是透過向量的圖畫，由Adobe Illustrator 直接透過指令碼插件（Scriptographer）控制的。指令碼插件是Illustrator 的外掛插件，是自由軟體可經 GPL 認證使用。它是 C ++ 和 Java 寫成的，能將 Illustrator 的功能放入內鍵的 Java 虛擬機器（JVM），並使用Rhino JavaScript 引擎來執行指令碼。因此有些JavaScript 語言背景的使用者可以用自己定義的工具來擴充Illustrator 的功能，如滑鼠動作、衍生的指示碼（generative scripts）、自動重複任務等等，更高難度的功能也可以直接用Java 寫成。Rhino 的Java bridge 能直接連結指示碼跟所有 Java library 和 Java Core API，這可以造就非常多可能性，如從串列埠或網路傳播到資料庫連結、高級圖像操控等等，而這只是隨口幾項而已。
為什麼你要創造赫克特勇士與指令碼插件？
《赫克特勇士》的製作反映了對設計和使用工具的態度。剛開始我們有股衝動想超越現今電腦、螢幕和向量圖像設計那種乾淨工整的侷限性。直覺在我們尋找新的輸出設備的過程中扮演相當重要的角色，將向量圖像的抽象幾何圖形轉化為不同一般印表機的輸出成果。
作品是為了讓其他設計師或藝術家用這個本質特殊且具獨特美感的新工具做實驗，藉以傳達我們對設計的理念。這個創作計畫很重要的一點就是提供技術讓大家使用，而非只用在我個人的目地。觀察不同背景的人如何看待這個工具，在技術的限制下創作，並去使用這樣的成果而非掩蓋它是相當有趣的。
現在的桌面出版（desktop publishing）設計連鎖廠商的所有標準和軟體，對產品美學有很大的影響力。這種工具提供的是一套預先設定的工作方法，要跳脫是不容易的，使用者必須能先意識到當中的侷限性。現今的軟體大都是依據普遍認知裡對真實工具的比喻和模擬而來的，但軟體在本質上其實是截然不同的。軟體有標準組件，能用程式控管，有很多彈性。可惜大多數大公司的應用軟體仍是背道而馳，常常設定都是預先定義的，僵化又不知變通。
指令碼插件的創作動機以及開放大家自由使用的作法，使得平面設計師的主要應用軟體有擴充的可能，也因此有一群人相應而生，融合程式設計到工作程序和既有的工具上，以不同的方式表現平面設計。
使用什麼樣的軟體工具？
《赫克特勇士》使用 Eagle 設計的電路板，和 PIC Assembler 寫的控制軟體。指令碼插件是用來開發《赫克特勇士》振幅逐漸下降的演算法，確保噴漆罐不會因此抖動太大。我們發現一個幾何上的解決方法，就是在向量圖的險峻形狀上增加相交圓和之間的切線。
指令碼插件也能透過串列埠的介面和PIC 控制器，傳送圖像動作並直接操控步進馬達。為了要達成這個目的，必須把幾何的直角坐標系統轉換為三角形的系統。
為什麼寫自己的軟體工具？
如之前提到的，赫克特勇士和指令碼插件的創作動機有一定的理想，不過兩者都是實用的工具，因此理想跟實務對這個計畫來說必須並重。如果是在創作一年後做的我可能會用 Processing 來完成一些任務，不過開始做指令碼插件的時候我並沒發現，不過也就是因為指令碼插件包附在既有軟體內（Illustrator），才在平面設計扮演重要的角色，也強調了我們的創作動機。
為什麼選擇用軟體創作？
從小時候瞎搞 Commodore VC-20 電腦和後來我弟的 C-64 開始，電腦就使我著迷。這個魅力主要是因為這些機器產生的視覺和聲音一直以來深深吸引我。多年來這也引導我學習許多電腦的相關語言和概念。程式設計仍是我偏愛的主要工具，時常試著在作品中質疑和開發它。我認為寫程式的能力（或更好的，將過程寫成公式）能為電腦使用方式帶來自由，我也希望這種工作方式會越來越普遍。電腦是各種工具的抽象表示，可以虛擬任何工具。我相信電腦在模擬的背後，還有更多其它可能性等待被發掘。
What are Hektor and Scriptographer?
Hektor is a portable spray-paint output device for laptop computers.It was created in close collaboration with the engineer Uli Franke for my diploma project at ecal (ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne) in 2002.Hektor’s light an d fragile installation consists only of two motors, toothed belts, and a can holder that handles regular spray cans. The can cis moved along drawing paths, and during operation the mechanism sometimes trembles and wobbles and the paint often drips. The contrasts between these low-tech aspects and the ligh-tech touch of the construction hold ambiguous and poetic qualities and make Hektor enjoyable to watch in action. Hektor has been used of many projects in different contexts, often in collaboration with other designers and artists.
Hektor works with vector drawings and is controlled directly from Adobe Illustrator through the use of Scriptographer. Scriptographer is a scripting plug-in for Illustrator that is developed as open source sofeware and is available under the GPL license. It is written in C++ and Java and exposes Illustrator’s functionality to a Java virtual machine that is embedded in the application itself. It users the Rhinp JavaScript engine to execute scripts. This allowa users with some knowledge of the JavaScript language to ewtend the functionality of Illustrator with their own definition of tools: mouse handlers, generative scripts, automated repeating tasks, ect. More advanced tools can also be written directly in Java, and Rhino’s Java bridge can be used to interface with any Java library and the Java Core API directly from scripts. This leads to a great amount of possibilities, from serial port or network communication to database connections and advanced image manipulation, just to name a few.
Why did you create Hektor and Scriptographer?
Hektor was created with a certain attitude toward design and the use of tools. In the
Beginning there was an urge to go beyond the limitations of today’s clean computer, screen, and vector graphic-based design. Intuition played an important role in the search for a new output device that would convey the abstract geometries contained in vector graphics in a different way than normal printers.
The aim was to make a statement about design by providing a new tool for other designers and artists to experiment with, a tool with an inherently particular and distinctive aesthetic. Making the technology available to others and not only using it for my own purposes was an important step in the project. It was very interesting to see what people from different backgrounds were seeing in this machine and how they were working with the technical limitations and using them in the results rather than trying to hide them.
Today's desktop publishing design chain with all its standards and softwares has a strong influence on the aesthetics of the products.The tools offer predefined ways of working,and
escaping these is not easy;it requires the user to be conscious of the limitations.Current software is mostly based on commonly known metaphors and simulation of real tools,but software is inherently different.It is modular and programmable and offers much more flexibility.Unfortunately the applications from most of the big companies still work the other way around-they are often predefined, inflexible, and monolithic
The motivation for creating Scriptographer and making it freely available was to provide a way to open up one of the main applications for graphic designers and to create a commmunity around it that finds different approaches to graphic design by integrating programming in the workflow and the tools they already use.
What software tools were used?
The circuit board for Hektor was designed with Eagle. The controller software was written in PIC Assembler.scriptographer was used to develop the algorithm for Hektor’s damping movements to make sure the can does not start to tremble too much. A geometrical solution was found that adds tangential circles and tangents between them at places where too harsh movements would happen in the vector drawings.
Scriptographer also directly controls the stepper motors through the serial port interface and the PIC controller, to which it sends the movements for the drawings.
In order for it to do so, the geometries must be converted from a Cartesian coordinate system into one based on triangulation.
Why did you write your own software tools?
As already stated, there were certain ideological motivations for creating Hektor and Scriptographer. But both projects are tools that are actually used, and both the ideological and the pragmatical parts of the projects are eqally important. A year later I would have probably used Processing for the same task, but when work on Scriptographer started I was not aware of it, and the fact that Scriptographer nests itself in an existing application that plays an important role in graphic design helped underline the motivations of both projects
Why do you choose to work with software?
Computers fascinated me at an early age,when I started to tinker around with the Commodore VC-20 and later with my brother's C-64.This fascination was mostly based on the optical and audible outputs of these machines and has never really left me sines. Over the years this led to learning many languages and concepts around computers.
Programming is still my main tool of choice, which I constantly try to exploit and question in my work.I consider the ability to write programs(or better,formulate processes) as a freedom in the way computers are used,and I hope that it will become more and more common to work in such ways.Computers are the abstraction of tools that can simulate virtually any other tool.I believe that beyond the step of simulation there are many other possibilities to be discovered.
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