Processing 2 creative programming cookbook pdf

But don't worry. When you start Processing for the first time, the OS will ask you to install a Java runtime if you haven't done that already. Processing for Windows and Linux comes with a java directory that contains everything you need to run Processing. You can however choose to use another Java runtime if you've installed one on your machine.

But you should only do this if you are an advanced user and familiar with Java on one of these platforms. Processing uses a folder called the Sketchbook , where you will keep your sketches, libraries, and tools.

Best practice is to keep this Sketchbook folder in the standard place for your OS. When you start to work with a new application, it's important to understand the interface. This is the easiest thing you'll do in this book. Just open the Processing application. When you open the Processing app, you'll notice that the PDE is a very basic programming environment. If you are an experienced programmer, you might miss a lot of features. The PDE was designed like this, so that people without any programming experience can get started with exploring code without having to worry about project settings, or learning a difficult interface.

Let's take a look at the different interface elements. This is the run button. If you click this button, it will compile your code, and run your sketch in a new window. Alternatively, you can hold down the Shift key while clicking this button to present your sketch. This will run your sketch centered on a gray fullscreen background. The stop button will terminate your sketch. You can also press the Esc key on your keyboard. Clicking the new button will create a new Processing sketch in the current window.

If you want to create a sketch in a new window, you can use the File New menu. The open button will open a menu with the names of all sketches in your sketchbook folder. This will open a sketch in the current window. If you want to open a sketch in a new window, you can use the File Open menu. The export button will compile your sketch as an application. Holding down the Shift key will export your sketch as a Java Applet. You'll learn more about exporting your sketches in the Exporting applications in Chapter 5 , Exporting from Processing recipe.

The message area is used by Processing to display messages when you save or export our sketch, or when you made a syntax error while coding. The console is used to display more detailed error messages. The output of the print and println functions will also appear here. You'll learn more about these functions in the Using math functions recipe later in this chapter. The core functionality of Processing is very basic. This was done by design, to make it easy for everyone to get started using it.

If you need to do something that's not available in Processing, you can use a library that adds the functionality you need. One of the new features in Processing 2 is the Library Manager. This allows you to install new libraries in the easy way. You'll find the documentation of the libraries included with Processing and a list with contributed libraries.

There are libraries to work with 3D, computer vision, geometry, and a lot more. This will give you a list of available libraries. To install the library you need to select it from the list and click on the Install button.

Processing will install the library in the libraries folder of your sketchbook. Unfortunately, not all libraries are included in this list. Some of the older libraries will probably still work in Processing 2, but the developer might not have added the new functionality to install the library through the Library Manager.

In that case, you'll need to install the library manually. Don't worry; this is not as hard as it sounds. You should download the library from the website of the developer and unzip it. Drag this folder to the libraries folder inside your sketchbook. Libraries are structured in a predefined way.

If the library is not structured like this, it won't work. The main library folder usually contains four subfolders: examples , library , reference , and src. The examples folder contains Processing sketches the developer made to show how the library works. The library folder contains the compiled library code that will be imported into your sketch. The reference folder stores the documentation on how to use the library. The src folder contains the source code of the library.

This might be handy for advanced users to learn how the library works and modify it as per their needs. The folder structure for libraries is important for Processing to find the library. The main folder for the colorLib library is named colorLib.

Inside the library folder within that directory, you'll find a file named colorLib. This JAR file will be included in your applet or application when you export your sketch. You can add import libraries into your sketch by going to the Sketch Import Library… menu and select the library you want.

Processing tools are little applications that extend the PDE. Processing comes with a standard set of tools: a color selector, a tool to create fonts, a tool to create movies, and some other useful things.

This overview includes all standard tools and tools made by people from the Processing community. At the moment, there aren't that many tools available, but the number of quality tools might grow in the future. Processing 2 has a new feature to install tools in an easy way: the Tool Manager. The Tool Manager works the same way as the Library Manager we've discussed in the Installing libraries recipe. Just like with libraries, not all tools are available in the Tool Manager.

If you find a tool online, you can install it manually in the tools directory. This procedure is the same as installing a library manually. The Tool Manager looks as shown in the following screenshot:. Tools are installed in the tools directory in your sketchbook.

Each tool directory usually contains two directories, one for the tool, which contains the tool JAR file, and one with the Java source code. This JAR file is executed from the tool menu. When Processing first came out, there was only the standard Java mode. But a lot has changed over recent years. Processing 2 also enables you to create apps for the Android operating system.

If you click it, you'll get a small menu to select the other modes. Processing 2 comes with three modes: Standard , Android , and JavaScript. There is also an Add Mode… option in the menu, which will open the Mode Manager.

This mode is useful if you want to create native applications that will run on a computer. Running a sketch in JavaScript mode will start a local web server on your computer, and open your default browser so you can see the sketch run within a HTML5 page. Android modewill run the sketch in the Android Emulator or on your Android device. You'll need to install the Android SDK to make this work. The color scheme of the PDE is also different in Android mode, so it's a little easier to see in which mode you are.

This book also covers the new JavaScript and Android modes in depth. Before you can draw things to the screen, you need to know how the coordinate system works. Design applications might use a different point for the origin of their drawing surface. For instance, Photoshop uses the upper-left corner as 0,0 , while Illustrator uses the bottom-left corner as 0,0.

Type this line of code in the Processing editor and press the run button. Processing uses the upper-left corner for the origin of the window. The size function sets the dimensions of your sketch window. The first parameter is used to set the value of the system variable width , the second parameter is used to set the value of the system variable height.

Imagine that you want to draw a point at the bottom-right corner of the window. If you were to draw that point at , , you won't see anything on your screen. You need to draw your point at width-1, height-1 to make it visible on screen.

This may look a little strange, but it's actually very logical. If you want to draw a point at the origin, you'll use: point 0, 0 ;. This line of code will fill the first pixel on the first row.

As we start counting at 0, the last pixel on that row would be , or width The same is true for the height. The following screenshot shows our window of by pixels, divided into squares of 50 x 50 pixels. In the previous recipes, you've learned all the boring stuff such as installing Processing and libraries. It's time to get your hands dirty now and write some code. This is the full code for your first sketch. This sketch will draw some lines and points with varying stroke weights.

If you run the sketch, you'll see the results of your hard work. It will look as shown in the following screenshot:. In this recipe, you've learned the most basic functions to create a simple Processing sketch. Let's take a deeper look at what these functions do:. The setup function is called only once when you run your sketch. You'll use this function to set the size of your sketch, add values to some variables, load images, and so on. The draw function is called continuously, at a rate of 60 frames per second.

The size function sets the size of your sketch window. You can use size screenWidth, screenHeight to create a sketch with dimensions that match the resolution of your computer screen.

The smooth function is used to enable anti-aliasing. This means that all your shapes will have a soft edge. If you don't use this function, the shapes will have a more jagged edge. The point function is used to draw a point on the screen. The first parameter is the x-coordinate, the second one is the y-coordinate of the point you want to draw. The line function is used to draw a line on the screen. To draw a line, you basically need two points to define that line, as you might remember from math class in high school.

The first two parameters of this function are the x and y coordinates of the first point, the third and fourth parameters are the x and y coordinates of the second point. The strokeWeight function will change the appearance of the shape you'll draw to the screen. The parameter will set the width of the stroke. For example, you can use strokeWeight 4 to draw a line with a thickness of 4 pixels. Processing sketches have a specific folder structure.

Processing uses this folder structure to keep everything it needs to run the sketch together. This will be very handy when you write more complicated sketches that use more code files, or other data such as images or fonts. You'll likely use some basic math when writing sketches with Processing. Don't worry if you forgot some of the math you learned in school, the Processing language comes with some handy functions that can do the hard work for you.

But you might need to sharpen your math skills if you want to use these functions for some more advanced things such as data visualization. We're going to write a small sketch that uses some of the math functions. The output of the app will be logged to the console. This is the full code for the application we are going to write. We'll start by declaring some integer and float variables. The numbers variable is an array of floats containing the values of the variables we declared before.

This sketch uses the println function to log the output of the abs , ceil , floor , round , sq , sqrt , min , max , and dist functions to the console. If you run the sketch, you'll see that Processing will show an empty gray window of x pixels. This is the standard window size Processing uses if you don't use the size function in a sketch.

The output of the application will look as shown in the following screenshot:. You've learned a lot of new functions to work with numbers in this recipe. Let's take a look at what they do:. It can be used by students and instructors in a first course on programming, as well as by anyone eager to teach them self to program. The book description reads, "Data-driven Graphic Design introduces the creative potential of computational data and how it can be used to inform and create everything from typography, print and moving graphics to interactive design and physical installations.

Using code as a creative environment allows designers to step outside the boundaries of commercial software tools, and create a set of unique, digitally informed pieces of work. The use of code offers a new way of thinking about and creating design for the digital environment.

Oistros Edizioni. Text in Italian. Art and science were in great turmoil. Science, with its theories and experiments, was approaching artificially mimicking both natural phenomena, such as light and sound, and the human phenomena of language and communication. Art, with its aesthetic and exhibitions, had transcended the boundaries of the avant-garde. Antonio Rollo takes us on a tour of these seminal works from his unique perspective of the artist, through the code! There's additional information on the publisher's website.

Published September Maker Media. This casual book is a concise introduction to Processing and interactive computer graphics. Written by the founders of Processing, it takes you through the learning process one step at a time to help you grasp core programming concepts.

You'll learn how to sketch with code -- creating a program with a few lines of code, observing the result, and then adding to it. It was written to help readers:. Published August Morgan Kaufmann. The second edition of Learning Processing has been updated for compatibility with Processing 3 and includes several new chapters of content including video, sound, data visualization, and networking.

For more, visit the Learning Processing website. Dan Shiffman says, "This book tells a story. It's a story of liberation, of taking the first steps towards understanding the foundations of computing, writing your own code, and creating your own media without the bonds of existing software tools. This story is not reserved for computer scientists and engineers. This story is for you.

The publisher says, "This book teaches the basic building blocks of programming needed to create cutting-edge graphics applications including interactive art, live video processing, and data visualization. A unique lab-style manual, this book gives graphic and web designers, artists, illustrators, and anyone interested in learning to code a jumpstart on working with the Processing programming environment by providing instruction on the basic principles of the language, followed by careful explanations of advanced techniques.

Published January The publisher writes, "The SparkFun Guide to Processing teaches you to craft your own digital artwork and even combine it with hardware—no prior programming experience required.

The MIT Press. The second edition of the Handbook has been thoroughly updated, influenced by the seven years of Processing being taught in classrooms, computer labs, and studios since the first edition. Every chapter has been revised, and added chapters introduce new ways to work with data and geometry.

Interviews have been added that cover a wider range of projects and history. PDF, Paperback. Text in German. Based on research funded by the National Science Foundation, this book brings together some of the most engaging and successful approaches from the digital arts and computer science classrooms:. Published February The Pragmatic Programmers. Paper and eBook. The publisher writes, "Create mobile apps for Android phones and tablets faster and more easily than you ever imagined.

How can we capture the unpredictable evolutionary and emergent properties of nature in software? How can understanding the mathematical principles behind our physical world help us to create digital worlds? This book focuses on a range of programming strategies and techniques behind computer simulations of natural systems, from elementary concepts in mathematics and physics to more advanced algorithms that enable sophisticated visual results.

Readers will progress from building a basic physics engine to creating intelligent moving objects and complex systems, setting the foundation for further experiments in generative design. Subjects covered include forces, trigonometry, fractals, cellular automata, self-organization, and genetic algorithms.

Princeton Architectural Press. This book is extraordinary; the design is clear and the production quality is fantastic. This is the design book about Processing that we've hoped for.

Unlike most other Processing books, it doesn't discuss programming basics so it's free to start with exciting examples. The publisher promotes, "Generative design is a revolutionary new method of creating artwork, models, and animations from sets of rules, or algorithms.

By using accessible programming languages such as Processing, artists and designers are producing extravagant, crystalline structures that can form the basis of anything from patterned textiles and typography to lighting, scientific diagrams, sculptures, films, and even fantastical buildings.

Opening with a gallery of thirty-five illustrated case studies, Generative Design takes users through specific, practical instructions on how to create their own visual experiments by combining simple-to-use programming codes with basic design principles. A detailed handbook of advanced strategies provides visual artists with all the tools to achieve proficiency.

Both a how-to manual and a showcase for recent work in this exciting new field, Generative Design is the definitive study and reference book that designers have been waiting for.

More information about buying this book in German, as well as the complete source code for the examples, are at the book's website. The O'Reilly website says, "Make cool stuff. If you're a designer or artist without a lot of programming experience, this book will teach you to work with 2D and 3D graphics, sound, physical interaction, and electronic circuitry to create all sorts of interesting and compelling experiences -- online and off.

Programming Interactivity explains programming and electrical engineering basics, and introduces three freely available tools created specifically for artists and designers: Processing, Arduino, and OpenFrameworks. Published March Manning Publications. Pearson Education. Text in French. O'Reilly Verlag. The OReilly. Die aus Java abgeleitete Sprache wurde geschaffen, um schnell und effektiv mit relativ wenig Aufwand zu beeindruckenden Ergebnissen zu kommen. Spielerisch wird dem Leser die 2D- und 3D-Programierung, Textrendering, die Bildbearbeitung und sogar die Videomanipulation nahe gebracht.

The book description reads, "Learn how to create gorgeous and expressive imagery with the Processing programming language and environment Walk with veteran author Andrew Glassner on a journey of shared discovery as he takes actual Processing projects from inspiration to reality.

You'll closely follow every step he takes and see exactly how each project evolves, including big and small mistakes he's made along the way and how to fix them! Once you see the results, you'll understand why programming is such a powerful skill for self-expression.

This book has a different perspective from the others because of Glassner's deep experience in computer graphics. His bio reads, "Dr. Andrew Glassner is a writer-director, and a consultant in story structure, interactive fiction, and computer graphics.

He is also a well-known writer, and has published numerous technical papers and books on topics ranging from 3D modeling, rendering, and animation to digital sound synthesis. His book '3D Computer Graphics: A Handbook for Artists and Designers' has taught a generation of artists through two editions and three languages. Glassner created and edited the 'Graphics Gems' series and created and wrote several chapters in the book 'An Introduction to Ray Tracing'.

He wrote the two-volume text 'Principles of Digital Image Synthesis'. Version 1. Die vorliegenden Version 1. The Wiley website says, "this book offers a series of generic procedures that can function as building blocks and encourages you to then use those building blocks to experiment, explore, and channel your thoughts, ideas, and principles into potential solutions. The book covers such topics as structured shapes, solid geometry, networking and databases, physical computing, image processing, graphic user interfaces, and more.

The O'Reilly website says, "How you can take advantage of data that you might otherwise never use? With the help of a powerful new programming environment [Processing], this book helps you represent data accurately on the Web and elsewhere, complete with user interaction, animation, and more.

You'll learn basic visualization principles, how to choose the right kind of display for your purposes, and how to provide interactive features to design entire interfaces around large, complex data sets. Martin Wattenberg from the IBM Watson Research Center says, "This wonderfully detailed guide, by one of the masters of modern data graphics, tells you everything you need to know to code your own visualizations from scratch. Perhaps most valuable are the many examples where Fry demonstrates how to refine a bare-bones concept into a beautiful, effective finished piece.