Toolset Action Coding System: A Generalized Method for Tool Measurement

The evolution of artist toolsets has created opportunities for new media and industrial growth. As these tools evolve, clear advantages of digital media emerge. Still, many digital toolsets grow further apart from their traditional predecessors, developing highly technical workflows and unfamiliar interfaces. With no standard language or classification system across artist toolsets, the measurement of these various paradigms becomes convoluted. Moreover, it is unclear how augmenting production pipelines affects the practitioner workflow within a professional studio. This paper presents a generalized approach to measuring artist tools through data collection, field studies, interviews, and an iterative refinement process. We define a broad category of creative practice known as the ‘sculptural process’ and introduce a taxonomy for a technical coding system. Our findings indicate an obstruction of artist processes for professionals in digital media, particularly 3D, exposing a significant gap between traditional and digital media. These measurements create a foundation to reinforce artist-driven design in human-computer interaction.