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Starry Night Review - Plus 5 Copies to Give Away

Starry Night (interactive animation) for iPad from Petros Vrellis on Vimeo.

With hypnotic relaxing visuals and audio, Starry Night (interactive animation) for iPad is our new favourite thing to play with on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

What's it like?

In this truly immersive experience, beautiful melodies tickle your ears (especially if you wear headphones) whilst the lush colours used in Van Gogh's original 'The Starry Night' painting are pushed together and mixed into a river of moving particles guided by your touches on the iPad's screen.

It is easy to imagine there is real paint under the glass as you push these fluid colours around the screen, the motion cleverly creating what seems like resistance as real oil paint might. Using clever algorithmic calculations, the app can either continuously flow the paint at different speeds or in another mode the paint slowly returns to its resting state before starting off in motion again.

It is hard to describe what a wonderfully immersive experience it is getting hands-on with an art piece like this, you just have to have a go.

Reactive music

The music reacts to the motion you introduce too, so if you go crazy and madly swirl the paint around with all 5 digits on one hand, for example, the music gets louder and more intense, then fades and simplifies as the motion slows. We found that it could be a little intense at full speed, but around half speed or even slower it is a much more gentle experience.

If you prefer, you can turn the music off altogether, but there are three different patterns to choose from and we think it adds a great deal to the hypnotic effect of the app.

Take time out to explore

Suffice to say we love playing with this app and exploring Van Gogh's painting in this fully interactive way. It can even serve as a musical picture frame on your desk when your iPad isn't being used.

If you allow yourself time out of a busy and hectic day to just lose yourself in the experience that Starry Night offers you, we are sure you will love it too.

We've been waiting for this app to be updated before reviewing it here, as the first version wasn't quite Retina iPad ready, but now with Version 2.0 we wholly recommend downloading a copy

But wait, before you do, read on for your chance to win a free copy of Starry Night for your iPad.

Giveaway time

To be in with a chance of winning 1 of 5 copies of Starry Night (interactive animation) simply leave a comment below naming your favourite Van Gogh painting.

Please remember to leave your name and e-mail address (your e-mail will not be visible to the public) so we can contact you if you are a winner.

We will randomly select 5 commenters to receive a copy of Starry Night (interactive animation) after this giveaway closes at 1900 GMT on Friday 27th April 2012.

Thank you to the App Developer, Petros Vrellis, for providing a review copy and the 5 promo codes for our giveaway. 

App Store Link: Starry Night (interactive animation) $1.99 / £1.49

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Reader Comments (23)

Wow! One of my favorite Van Gogh painting turned into a really awesome app! Kudos to the developers, it looks spectacular.

I'm not sure I can decide just one favorite painting, but if I was forced to pick just one it would be Starry Night. I love The Emperor Moth as well, but my favorites list goes on and on.

April 26, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterJulia Grace

Probably The Bridges at Arles or The Potato Eaters.

April 27, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterDoug wittnebel

My favourite painting is starry night

April 27, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterSam
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