byteCrunch

Processing

Generative “Art”

Besides C# I have recently been playing around with Processing, the idea of Processing is to essentially make generative art easier in Java by providing simple methods that do the grunt work for you.

If you follow the link you can see the full source code, but I have provided it below anyway. The code will need to be run in the Processing IDE, it can be run in other IDEs such as Eclipse but needs modification if anyone wants that source code leave a comment.

//EllipseConnect
EllipseConnectDraw ellip1, ellip2, ellip3, ellip4;
boolean toggleLoop = true;

void setup() {
  size(500, 500);
  smooth();
  frameRate(10);

  ellip1 = new EllipseConnectDraw();
  ellip2 = new EllipseConnectDraw();
  ellip3 = new EllipseConnectDraw();
  ellip4 = new EllipseConnectDraw();
}

void draw() {
  ellip1.run();
  ellip2.run();
  ellip3.run();
  ellip4.run();
}


void mousePressed() {
  if (mouseButton == LEFT) {
    if (toggleLoop) { 
      noLoop(); 
      toggleLoop = false;
    }
    else { 
      loop(); 
      toggleLoop = true;
    }
  }
}

//EllipseConnectDraw
public class EllipseConnectDraw {

  //Declare Variables.
  float x, y, cx, cy;
  float _x, _y, _cx, _cy;
  float size;
  int col;

  //Constructor and Variable Initialization.
  EllipseConnectDraw() {
    x = width / 2;
    y = height / 2;
    _x = width / 2;
    _y = height / 2;
    cx = width / 2;
    cy = height / 2;
    _cx = width / 2;
    _cy = height / 2;
    size = random(10, 25);
    background(0);
  }

  //run() invokes the other methods in the class, called by draw().
  void run() {
    backgroundFill();
    ellipseDraw();
    curveDraw();
  }

  //backgroundFill(), fills the the background with a full screen rectangle with a sky blue colour and 5% opacity.
  void backgroundFill() {
    noStroke();
    fill(25, 150, 200, 5);
    rect(0, 0, width, height);
  }

  //ellipseDraw(), draws the ellipses based on a semi-random area, each ellipse point is within +- 50 of the previous ellipse.
  void ellipseDraw() {		
    size = random(10, 25);
    x = _x;
    y = _y;	
    cx = _cx;
    cy = _cy;

    col = color(random(100, 200), random(100, 200), random(100, 200));		

    _x = constrain(x + random(-50, 50), 0, width);
    _y = constrain(y + random(-50, 50), 0, height);				

    noStroke();
    fill(col, 75);
    ellipse(_x, _y, size * 1.5f, size * 1.5f);			

    fill(col*2);
    ellipse(_x, _y, size, size);

    fill(col);
    ellipse(_x, _y, size / 2.5f, size / 2.5f);
  }	

  //curveDraw(), links each ellipse with a curve, the curve control points are randomized within a limit so they stay within a reasonable distance.
  void curveDraw() {
    _cx = constrain(cx + random(-5, 5), 0, width);
    _cy = constrain(cy + random(-5, 5), 0, height);

    stroke(col*2);
    noFill();
    curve(cx, cy/2, x, y, _x, _y, _cx, _cy/2);
  }
}