Project 3 - Metaphor Paragraph

Description of my metaphor installation:

Imperative Programming is a programming method of sorting and analysing code in a certain program and compiling it in an understandable list of sequences for the computer to work through in a sort of order. A list is essentially created to show the computer that before it can move on to the next task it MUST complete its current computation. Just like a dot-to-dot the image cannot be seen or understood unless the person works through it in a sequenced and numerical order. Only when the program sorts the data from the input code and sequences the code into a list of commands can the application of the lines of code come to fruition. My metaphor is that the way computer code behaves in order to run correct programs is similar to how someone might expect to behave when trying to uncover the image hidden by a list of events that must be met before the image is uncovered, in a defined and purposeful method of execution. The metaphor of the pen linking two points together to create a line which is extended every time the next point is connected adheres to the way computer code cannot operate unless it is told what to do once a specific task is completed.

Martin Grimmer

Thanks Enjoy

Project Three: Final Concept

My final concept is a "join the dots" sort of thing were people can come up to the stand and flip threw a book or a large long print image of dots that create a picture as the dots are linked, once all the dots are linked a picture will be formed. the first dot and the last dot will not link together in the end. This concept represents the imperative programming of processing. A step-by-step action that all programs follow to create the complete lines of code and essentially the "picture" of what the code intails.

I particularly like this concept because it is easily accessible and easy to understand by someone who doesn't know anything about coding. I still have to decide whether to have one long sheet of dots that makes one large picture or to just have a book of many smaller pictures. I also need to decide the pictures that would be made with the joining of the dots.

Project Three: Concepts

For the first metaphor concept i though a stop motion film depicting a set of tasks carried out whilst following commands written on post-it notes. This concept would describe a metaphor for Imperative Programming. The problem with this idea is that time would be an issue, editting would take hours and videoing even more. I would have to keep the same conditions for videoing too i.e weather, clothing, time. it could get very hassling

My second concept is of traffic lights being a metaphor for if/else statements, again i would use a stop motion film but time is another issue, weather would have to be the same in every shot which could become a problem if i was to stick to the deadline.

My third concept is of a bicylce wheel as a metaphor for the loop function. I would postion a bike wheel up side down on a table and have some kind of 'ticker', a piece of plastic or something of the sort to act as a representation of one full rotation everytime the 'ticker' clicks passed the metal framing. I believe this would accurately represent the loop function and is the easiest and most abstract concept for programming functions to carry out within the set time frame.

This is in essence the conceptulisation:

http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=81631

My other concept is a "join the dots" sort of thing were people can come up to the stand and flip threw a book or a large long print image of dots that create a picture as the dots are linked, once all the dots are linked a picture will be formed. the first dot and the last dot will not link together in the end. This concept represents the imperative programming of processing. A step-by-step action that all programs follow to create the complete lines of code and essentially the "picture" of what the code intails.

FINAL CODE

The final product!

I finally got sound working and cleaned things up with a bit of help. It looks great now and the sound is working well. I've come along way from my initial ideas and sketches that sadly I can not post on the blog as they have gone missing! oh well though, i think the inspiration is pretty obviously from my very first posted code from openprocessing. I had to make the screen size slightly bigger and incompassed a few more asthetic changes to make it look a little more interesting. All in all its a great accomplishment and I'm very happy with it. I added some pixel lag to the circles so you can see the streaks from the particles. i think it adds a cool element to the patterns of the particles once they start to get going as you can see where they have been and where they will end up travelling.

Have fun!

Project 2: Particle Engine Step Four

Well this is one of the lasts steps in the project. I've created a particle engine with multiple particles. I've made these particles interactive, added limitations and control, velocity and mass. What was left to do? GRAVITY of course! That's right. I used the gravity base code and picked a few lines out to both create what looks like a tiny planet in the middle of the sketch and an anchor point for interaction and possibly sound interaction also. I've changed the way particles are created. With the new gravity physics constantly active I editted the gravity pull to way past the limits of the 400x400 box so that when particles are created they are automatically under the influence of gravity, I did this to make the design more natural and free flowing. Now their is complete control and also complete chaos! I'm very pleased with this final design. I added motion blur to make the particles more interesting to look at as they move through the space, this sketch is very much reliant on how the actual particles move and interact.

The interactivity is perfect I believe. You can create however many particles you wish and then sit back and watch the beauty of the particle engine and physics based gravity unfold into interesting shapes and patterns as particles are constantly shot back and forth out of the field of gravity.



Sound is the new frontier... and it's not looking good.

I've made such an complex physics engine that I simply can't find any examples or tutorials on how to write the code to bring sound into play. I wanted to bring sound in when the particles passed through the rings of the circles but I can't think of how to write the code. My next step was to try something new. Perhaps velocity could be the component of sound. Either way I've got some work to do if I'm ever going to get sound in.

If worst comes worst I'll have to use one of my initial sketches and add sound to them, the code is easier to handle is the only difference. Wish me luck!

Project 2: Particle Engine Step Three

I've made a pretty big jump from when the concept was created. I've intergrated mouse control over the particles and added a reasonably good physics engine to the particles. The mouse being the interactive side is a good choice I think because simple clicking a key or even just the mouse is very boring unless it has other components, with this sketch you get to watch what you create and how it moves. I like this particle engine and I'll add to it even more I think. I'm coming to the end of this design though, there really isn't much a can do now to make it better except to add sound. I'll see what I can do though. I found a great processing page on the internet that helps with gravity of particles. Maybe ill try to bring some of those elements into the sketch.

As it stands im happy with the design of the sketch, I think the colours work well together to create an astheticalled pleasing sketch.

Stay tuned..

Project 2: Particle Engine Step Two

Step two, add more then one particle! And slightly more interaction with the mouse. It's starting to feel like a decent particle engine could come out of these minior changes. I want to create an interaction where the user actually creates moving particles when the mouse is moved. That way there is some kind of control over the particles, or least where they are going.

Haven't put much though into the sound incorporation. I'm not certain whether it should relate to each and every particle or the particles in a whole.