PROPERTY OF THE MIT PRESS
FOR PROOFREADING, INDEXING, AND PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
Processing
Second edition
PROPERTY OF THE MIT PRESS
FOR PROOFREADING, INDEXING, AND PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
Processing:
a programming
handbook for
visual designers
and artists
Second edition
Casey Reas
Ben Fry
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
© 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected].
This book was set in 9/12.5 pt The serif Plain by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Reas, Casey.
Processing : a programming handbook for visual designers and artists / Casey Reas and Ben Fry.—Second edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-02828-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Computer programming. 2. Computer graphics— Computer programs. 3. Digital art—Computer programs. 4. Art—Data processing. 5. Art and technology. I. Fry, Ben. II. Title.
QA76.6.R4138 2014 006.60285—dc23
2014016283 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PROPERTY OF THE MIT PRESS
FOR PROOFREADING, INDEXING, AND PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
Contents
ix Foreword xi Preface xi Contents
xii How to read this book xii Casey’s introduction xiv Ben’s introduction xv Acknowledgments 1 1. Processing . . . 1 Software 3 Literacy 4 Open 4 Education 6 Network 6 Context 9 2. Using Processing 9 Download, Install 9 Environment 10 Export 11 Example walk-through 16 Coding is writing 16 Comments 17 Functions 17 Expressions, Statements 19 Case sensitivity 19 Whitespace 20 Console 20 Reference 21 3. Draw 21 Coordinates 23 Basic shapes 28 Curves 32 Drawing order 32 Gray values 34 Attributes 39 4. Color 40 Color by number 43 Blend 45 RGB, HSB 48 Hexadecimal 51 5. Variables 51 Data types 52 Variables 54 Variable names 55 Processing variables 56 Arithmetic
58 Mind the data types 59 Data conversion 61 Order of operations 62 Shortcuts
65 6. Flow 65 Looping
69 Controlling the flow 70 Relational expressions 72 Conditionals
77 Logical operators 79 Variables scope 81 Formatting code blocks 83 7. Interactivity 84 Mouse data 89 Mouse buttons 90 Keyboard data 93 Coded keys 94 Events 94 Mouse events 97 Key events 98 Event flow 100 Cursor icon
vi
103 8. Repeat 103 Iterate 104 while loop 105 for loop 109 Loop and draw() 111 Nested loops 115 9. Synthesis 1 115 Sketching software 116 Programming techniques 117 Examples 123 10. Interviews: Image 125 Manfred Mohr, Une
Esthétique Programmée 129 LettError, RandomFont
Beowolf
133 Jared Tarbell, Fractal.Invaders, Substrate
137 Benjamin Maus, Perpetual Storytelling Apparatus 141 11. Text
142 Characters 143 Words, Sentences 144 Strings are objects 147 12. Typography 148 Draw text 149 Load media 150 Vector fonts 153 Pixel fonts 154 Text attributes 156 Typing
157 Typography and interaction 161 13. Image 162 Display 164 Tint, Transparency 167 Mask 170 Filter 173 14. Transform 173 Translate 174 Controlling transformations 176 Rotate 176 Scale 177 Combining transformations 181 Transformation and interaction 182 New coordinate systems 185 15. Vertices 185 Vertex 187 Points, Lines 188 Geometry 189 Curves 192 Contours 197 16. 3D Drawing 197 3D form 202 Camera 204 Lights, Materials 209 Texture maps 213 17. Shapes 213 Display SVG 216 Display OBJ 218 Transform 219 Create 221 Modify 225 18. Synthesis 2 225 Iteration 226 Debugging 227 Examples 243 19. Interviews: Interaction
245 Lynn Hershman Leeson, Lorna 249 Robert Winter, Ludwig van
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 253 Josh On, They Rule
PROPERTY OF THE MIT PRESS
FOR PROOFREADING, INDEXING, AND PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY 261 20. Calculate 261 Exponents, Roots 262 Normalize, Map 264 Simple curves 267 Constraining numbers 270 Distance 272 Easing 275 Angles, Waves 283 Circles, Spirals 285 Direction 289 21. Random 289 Unexpected values 292 Distributions 295 Random seed 296 Noise 301 22. Motion 301 Controlling motion 306 Motion along curves 310 Mechanical motion 314 Organic motion 317 Kinetic typography 323 23. Time
323 Seconds, Minutes, Hours 326 Milliseconds 327 Date 329 24. Functions 330 Abstraction 331 Why functions? 334 Create functions 342 Overload functions 343 Calculate and return values 345 Parameterize
350 Recursion
355 25. Objects
355 Object-oriented programming 358 Classes and objects
368 Multiples files 370 Multiple constructors 371 Composite objects 373 Inheritance 377 26. Synthesis 3 377 Modularity, reusability 377 Algorithm 378 Examples
391 27. Interviews: Motion, Performance 393 Larry Cuba, Calculated
Movements
399 Bob Sabiston, Waking Life 403 Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman, Messa di Voce 407 SUE.C, Mini Movies 411 28. Arrays
413 Define an array 414 Read array elements 416 Record data 419 Array functions 422 Arrays of objects 425 Two-dimensional arrays 427 29. Animation 428 Arrays of images
431 Animation format, resolution 432 Save sequential images 435 30. Dynamic Drawing 436 Simple tools 438 Draw with media
440 Speed
441 Orientation 443 Drawings in motion 444 Active tools
viii 449 31. Simulate 449 Motion 453 Particle systems 460 Springs 468 Cellular automata 475 Autonomous agent 485 32. Data 485 Format data 486 Export files 489 Data structure 491 Strings 493 Table 495 XML 500 JSON 505 33. Interface 506 Rollover, Button 512 Drag and drop 514 Check boxes 516 Radio buttons 519 Scrollbar 525 34. Image Processing 525 Read pixels 529 Write pixels 530 Copy pixels 531 Color components 536 Pixel array 540 Pixel components 543 35. Render Techniques 543 Renderers
544 Another drawing surface 548 OpenGL surfaces 550 Combine surfaces 555 36. Synthesis 4 555 Collage engine 558 Waves 562 3D letter 565 Noise landscape 569 Network 575 37. Interviews: Environment 577 Mark Hansen, Listening Post 581 Jürg Lehni, Hektor and
Scriptographer
585 Jennifer Steinkamp, Madame Curie
589 Ash Nehru, Origin 593 38. Continuing . . . 593 Extend Processing 595 Processing and Java
595 Other programming languages 597 Appendix A: Order of Operations 599 Appendix B: Reserved Words 600 Appendix C: ASCII, Unicode 605 Appendix D: Bit, Binary, Hex 609 Appendix E: Optimization
615 Appendix F: Programming Languages 623 Related Media
629 Glossary 633 Index
