DIY Positive Prints

The first portion of this video experimented with printing directly onto the film base using a photo printer. This whole process was an exploration of color and texture. The second half of the video shows the scan of the laser-engraved film which had non-representational imagery printed on it. As is the case with all films, the film looks much better when projected. The template is very close to being accurate but has some hiccups when running through the projector. Further adjustments need to be made.

Lastly, to print representational, frame-by-frame imagery and seamlessly replace each image, a basic code would need to be written for Illustrator so that the images don’t have to be manually replaced. I have attempted to draft such a code but need someone more adept at coding to get it fully running.

// ReplaceImage.jsx

// ReplaceImage function takes the file path of the new image and the name of the old image

function replaceImage(newImagePath, oldImageName) {

var doc = app.activeDocument;

var placedItems = doc.placedItems;

// Loop through all placed items in the document

for (var i = 0; i < placedItems.length; i++) {

var placedItem = placedItems[i];

var linkedFile = placedItem.file;

// Check if the linked file's name matches the old image name

if (linkedFile.name == oldImageName) {

// Replace the image with the new image

placedItem.file = new File(newImagePath);

alert("Image replaced successfully!");

return;

}

}

alert("Image not found. Make sure the old image name is correct.");

}

// Example usage: Replace the old image named "old_image.jpg" with the new image at "new_image.jpg" path

replaceImage("/path/to/new_image.jpg", "old_image.jpg");