Processing 2:

Creative Coding

Hotsht

Learn Processing with exciting and engaging projects to make your computer talk, see, hear, express emotions, and even design physical objects

Nikolaus Gradwohl

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI

Processing 2: Creative Coding Hotsht

Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

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First published: May 2013

Production Reference: 1130513

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Livery Place

35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78216-672-6

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Nikolaus Gradwohl (nikki@local-guru.net)

About the Author

Nikolaus Gradwohl was born in 1976 in Vienna, Austria, and always wanted to become an inventor like Gyro Gearloose. When he got his first Atari, he decide that becoming a computer programmer was the closest he could get to that dream. He has since made a living writing programs for nearly anything that can be programmed, ranging from an 8-bit microcontroller to mainframes. In his free time, he likes gaining knowledge on programming languages and operating systems.

Nikolaus has been using Processing since 2008, and has written countless sketches and some Processing libraries.

You can see some of his work on his blog at http://www.local-guru.net/.

This is a huge thank you for my wife, Mars, and my kids for all their support, patience, and love.

I want to thank Zita, "the Spacegirl", for her feedback on the first project and on my robots.

I would also like to give a big thank you for all the help, answers, reminders to deadlines, and feedback to Amber D'souza, Kartikey Pandey, Hardik Patel, and Joel Noronha from Packt Publishing.

About the Reviewers

Mag. Erwin Gradwohl is a retired consultant and former bank auditor, interested in programming, music, and videos.

Kasper Kamperman is a teacher and creative coder based in Enschede, Netherlands. He works on the Art and Technology program at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences, where he teaches subjects like Interaction Design and Programming and Physical Computing.

Besides his work as a teacher, Kasper designs and develops interactive installations. He has a fascination for light and currently uses Processing and Arduino to prototype and develop dynamic light objects.

You can check out his projects at http://www.kasperkamperman.com.

I would like to thank the Processing development team for creating this great open source programming language and environment. Also thanks to the writer of this book, Nikolaus Gradwohl, and the Packt Publishing team, it was a pleasure to review this book.

Tim Pulver is an interface design student from Potsdam, Germany. He studied software engineering while at University, giving him the knowledge to realize his creative ideas. He uses Processing as an artistic medium for building his own tools. One of his recent projects is a gigantic real-time data visualization software, which is used for visualizing global crop production. It has been specifically made to be viewed in a planetarium/full dome environment.

In another project, Tim wrote a program that translated an image of an eye based on its structure into unique jewelry, which was printed out using a 3D printer.

He likes the idea of sharing and free culture. In 2011, he founded the electronic music netlabel Yarn Audio, which supports sharing and remixing of the released music. All the cover artwork for this netlabel has been generated using Processing too.

I would like to thank my family for their support, Isi for motivating me to do what I do now, and Hanna and Paul for inspiring talks and chili con carne.

R.A. Robertson discovered Processing late in the summer of 2008, and with it, the joy of generative art. Along with some occasional forays into Quartz Composer, Ross found Processing to be an entrance into the world of procedural literacy as well as a path for understanding nature, society, and himself.

For most of his adult life, Ross has studied music and design (formally and otherwise), and spent many years as a professional Aikido instructor in Austin, Texas. In addition, he holds a Bachelor's degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Texas in Austin. Although superficially disparate, these streams converge with programming as multivalent languages whose grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and structure serve to inform and enhance one another. Ross' work is a continuing effort to unify these elements into a coherent way of design for the purpose of exploring beauty, the meanings of fitness, and the cultivation of a better human being capable of creating a better world for all.

Ross is the founder and host for Processing's Austin meet-up group, and owner of the nascent Still Moving Designs studio.

A lover of travel, Ross is pleased to call Austin his home base, where he resides with his lovely consort, companion, and friend, Dr. Catherine Parsoneault. Ross has three grown children—Ehren, Calen (and his delightful bride Taylor), and Raanan—who are unequivocally to him the most interesting and wonderful people on this planet. For Ross, the time spent in discourse and shared activity with these amazing people is better than Heaven's own manna.