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.

Project 2: Particle Engine Step One

Particle engine step one.. I created a very simple particle engine in which I could edit the simple physics of a single particle. I'll have to start small if I'm going to have to deal with numerous particles. I randomised the direction of every new particle created and created a simple velocity chain to speed the particles up realistically, but I feel I need more interaction with the mouse itself. Simple colour scheme to keep things easy through the refining stage of the sketches. Limited interaction at this point, just a simple point and click ordeal. Infact its almost boring, but wait, there's more to come.

Project 2: Particle Engine Beginning

I knew I wanted to create a physics inspired particle engine after I came across this processing sketch on openprocessing. Not only do they look cool and keep you entertained but mainly for the soul reason that they are almost always unpredictable. This project calls apon more then just creative coding but also how to find ways to make interaction fun and creative. However, when dealing with multiple particles all doing their own thing it can be very confusing and hard to manage. I will need to set strict parameters to make sure they don't interfer with the smooth running of the program.