New sketch: Colorstorm

While the code is a minor variation of the previous two sketches I submitted, it looks quite different. This one reminds me of seeing lightning flashes through clouds. The funny part is that the interesting part (the afterimages/"clouds") are a result of a bug in the fade algorithm I wrote. Here's to happy accidents!

I may have to revisit the last few sketches I have done... the timing (and really, the overall effect) of the pieces relies too much on machine performance. But when you're in the thick of coming up with new stuff, it's hard to remember performance issues or code beauty/quality. In fact, I think the very sketchbook nature of proce55ing leads you to run headlong into what you're doing and worry about the less important issues later. In some ways, I think this is kind of a good thing. There is a certain rush of discovery that is a really important (and fun) thing.
posted on 1/29/2003 10:49:00 AM

New P5 Sketch
CircleForms is yet another Levitated-inspired sketch (another SortaPort, if you will). I promise I will start doing more stuff of my own soon. We see a series of forms that are generated by a series of circles rendered in foreground or background colors (so we get circles generating both positive and negative space). I think the forms that are generated are pretty nifty. In a very odd way it's sort of like walking around in a city that has lots of skyscrapers; you get the same sort of interesting positive/negative space juxtaposition.

CircleForms2 is a minor variation.

Anyway. Check it out. Proce55ing is lots and lots of fun, but I wish I could use IDEA with it (more about IDEA below). Proce55ing is Java-based, but it's not exactly Java. I think it's actually aimed at being a different language. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I would like to be able to use all of my favorite libraries with Proce55ing.

I'm also waiting with bated breath for antialiasing, better sound support, and hopefully some socket/XML stuff so I can write fun little graphical monitors of live phenomena.

IDEA is quite simply the best IDE I have ever used, bar none. Using any other environment feels unbearably slow now, because it takes a lot of the dumb excise tasks out of programming and refactoring. It's nice when programming approaches the speed of thought. (However, it's not so nice when the speed of thought isn't all that fast.)
posted on 1/26/2003 08:19:00 PM

wow.
Stop reading right now, pop over to bodytag.org and check out Glen Murphy's java / proce55ing work. Truly cool stuff. What's more, he figured out how to do antialiased lines in proce55ing.

Right now I'm playing with some spline approximations. I should have some more stuff online this weekend. Cheerio.
posted on 1/24/2003 10:39:00 PM

Ack. Blogger is acting flaky. I really don't like having to repost. Anyway...

New Sketches
Maeda Lines is a sorta-port of a neat Maeda-inspired work by Jared Tarbell (who continues to do amazing stuff over at levitated.net). For such a small amount of code, it generates some pretty interesting designs.

Bouncelines is another simple bit of code in which a number of particles bounce around, (with a bit of friction thrown in to make the movement more interesting) getting a random kick when they stop moving. I threw in the lines between nodes at the last second because it was easy to do and it added a little more visual interest.

Polyline is the same code as Bouncelines, but without drawing the particles themselves. It has quite a different feel to it. If you squint your brain hard it seems sort of like a cubist painting in motion. Or not.

Stay tuned... more to come.
posted on 1/20/2003 01:54:00 PM

I'm having a blast with proce55ing (see previous post). This weekend I should have a few experiments up to show y'all.
posted on 1/03/2003 08:13:00 PM

If you're at all interested in playing with visualization and programming, you owe it to yourself to check out Proce55ing.

(from the website)
Proce55ing is a context for exploring the emerging conceptual space enabled by electronic media. It is an environment for learning the fundamentals of computer programming within the context of the electronic arts and it is an electronic sketchbook for developing ideas.

I think it's the sketchbook part that's the most interesting to me. Tools that allow you to quickly put together and execute experiments enable a tight, responsive feedback loop that can make for some really interesting discoveries.

I'm not sure if this is merely an artifact of implementation, but Proce55ing contains a lot of elements of Java. As it stands right now, you can use classes coded in Java, which is really nice for java-slingers like me (Java is pretty much my native tongue in terms of programming).

The bottom line: Proce55ing feels like a Java-ish graphics language. I'm really really stoked about this. I can't wait for the final version (which looks like it will include antialiasing and sound). I know, I know, I could do all of this in straight Java, but it's a whole lot more fun to play with this stuff in Proce55ing.
posted on 1/03/2003 07:44:00 PM