John Dunn (software developer)

John Francis Dunn (June 6, 1943 - June 27, 2018) was an American music and art software developer.[1] He created several visual art, music, and design software programs, including Lumena, MusicBox, SoftStep, and others. He has also written and performed a variety of electronic music compositions throughout his career. He was a graduate of Sonia Landy Sheridan's Generative Systems program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He also founded Time Arts, Inc. and Algorithmic Arts.

John Dunn
At exhibition Making Waves Art and Science in Chicago 1986
Born(1943-06-06)June 6, 1943
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedJune 27, 2018(2018-06-27) (aged 75)
Fort Worth, Texas
EducationMFA in Generative Systems
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Music and art software developer
OrganizationAlgorithmic Arts
Websitealgoart.com

Education

Dunn attended the University of Florida.[2] In 1977,[3] he received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) after completing Sonia Landy Sheridan's Generative Systems program. While at the program, Dunn served as a graduate teaching assistant. He also helped Sheridan with work on an early computer graphic system[2][4] and assembled the program's first image-making computer using algorithmic software he designed.[3] Also while at SAIC, he began working on a paint software program prototype that later would be expanded into SlideMaster, then EASEL and Lumena.[5][6]

Career

After graduating, Dunn took a job at Atari where he worked as one of the company's first game developers.[7][8] In 1978, he programmed the Atari 2600 Superman video game, a tie-in game to the 1978 film of the same name.[9][10] Dunn designed the gameplay and graphics and wrote both the story and the game manual. In 2017, Guinness World Records identified it as the first superhero video game and the first video game/movie tie-in. Superman was also recognized as the longest-running video game character.[11][12]

His work on Superman drew interest from Cromemco. In 1980, Dunn developed Cromemco's SlideMaster software which was considered the first professional paint program for a microcomputer. SlideMaster used the company's Super Dazzler graphics board.[2][8][10] Dunn also continued developing a graphics arts program of his own called "EASEL." The software was initially designed for S-100 PCs like the Cromemco, and was later ported to the IBM PC.[2][13] In 1982, he founded Time Arts, Inc. in Glen Ellen, California to further develop the EASEL software. The software was eventually renamed "Lumena."[2][7] Updated versions of the Lumena software continued to be made throughout the 1980s. It is considered one of the most important pieces of software in terms of improving graphics capabilities. Dunn left his position at Time Arts Inc. and moved to Hawaii in the late 1980s.[14][15]

In 1986, Dunn created the electronic music software, MusicBox. He released it as "freeware" in the public domain. At the time, it was the only electronic music software of its kind to be available on PC platforms.[16][17] In the 1990s, Dunn founded Algorithmic Arts, an online company that primarily produces electronic music software.[18] He released a variety of software programs in the 1990s and early 2000s, including the Kinetic Music Machine, SoftStep, BankStep, and ArtWonk, all of which incorporated details of visual art and design.[18] SoftStep was a Windows-based MIDI step sequencer and "algorithmic-composing program."[19] ArtWonk, another algorithmic composition program, implemented algorithmic visual art, the use of mathematical functions, and DNA and protein sequencing with contributions from expert users.[18][20]

In 1997 he has collaborated to netOper@, the first Italian interactive work for the web, by the composer Sergio Maltagliati.[21][22]

The Kinetic Music Machine, SoftStep, and BankStep were three of Dunn's programs that could make musical renderings of DNA. Dunn's wife, biologist Mary Anne Clark, helped in the creation of these programs.[23] Dunn and Clark used both DNA and amino acid protein sequences to produce renderings.[18][24][25][26] They wrote an article on the subject of "sonifying" protein sequences ("Life Music: The Sonification of Proteins") that appeared in the February 1999 edition of the journal, Leonardo.[26][27] The two later rendered music from the DNA of vampire bats, sea urchins, slime molds, and the human sex hormone.[25][28]

References
  1. "John F. Dunn". burnettcountysentinel.com. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  2. Kirkpatrick, Diane (October 17, 1986). Making Waves: An Interactive Art/Science Exhibition.
  3. Esangga, Bridget. "Appetite for Disruption". School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  4. Kennedy, Brian; Burke, Emily (October 30, 2009). Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art. Hood Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1584657873.
  5. Garner, Gretchen (July 30, 2003). Disappearing Witness: Change in Twentieth-Century American Photography. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801871672.
  6. "Sonia Sheridan fonds". Daniel Langlois Foundation. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  7. "David's History with Computer Graphics & Desktop Publishing". First Image. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  8. Ball, Randy (November 2000). "Super Ideas: An Interview with John Dunn". Mindspring. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  9. Wilson, William (March 25, 2016). "'Superman' Soars On Atari 2600". Forbes. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  10. "John Dunn, créateur du premier jeu Superman". Geek-O-Matick. August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  11. Daultrey, Stephen (May 17, 2017). "Release of Injustice 2 sees Superman take Longest-running character in videogames record". Guinness World Records. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  12. Guinness World Records 2018 Gamer's Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Gaming Records (11 ed.). Guinness World Records. August 29, 2017. ISBN 978-1910561744.
  13. Shea, Tom (December 19, 1983). "Personal Computer Graphics: Pushing Technology to the Limit". InfoWorld. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  14. Moran, Tom (August 25, 1986). "Low-Cost Graphics Wares Stand Out at Siggraph". InfoWorld. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  15. "Time Arts's Lumena Sets a Standard For Graphics Packages to Follow with its Extensive Array of Features". PC Magazine. October 1, 1985. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  16. Train Adams, Robert (January 1, 1992). Electronic Music Composition for Beginners. Brown & Benchmark. ISBN 9780697124920.
  17. "Electronic Musician, Volume 6, Issues 7-12". Electronic Musician. 1990. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  18. Burt, Warren (2010). "Packages for ArtWonk: New Mathematical Tools for Composers" (PDF). University of Wollongong. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  19. Hamlin, Peter (December 1, 2001). "Algorithmic Arts SoftStep Pro 2.06A Review". Electronic Musician. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  20. Hamlin, Peter (September 1, 2004). "ALGORITHMIC ARTSARTWONK 1.2 (WIN)". Electronic Musician. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  21. netOper@ Accessed August 24, 2015
  22. Algorithmic Music & Images-John Dunn's links Accessed January 4, 2004
  23. Greenman, Catherine (13 September 2001). "Now, Follow the Bouncing Nucleotide". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  24. Greenman, Catherine (September 13, 2001). "Now, Follow the Bouncing Nucleotide". The New York Times. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  25. Shachtman, Noah (May 21, 2002). "A Good Sequence, Easy to Dance To". Wired. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  26. Wilson, Stephen (February 28, 2003). Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology. The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0262731584.
  27. Dunn, John; Clark, Mary Anne (February 1999). "Life Music: The Sonification of Proteins". Leonardo. 32 (1): 25–32. doi:10.1162/002409499552966. S2CID 57562936.
  28. "Musica genetica (Genetic Music)". Musica e Spirito (in Italian). 2011-04-24. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
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