Algorithms for Visual Design Using the Processing Language

As the first book to share the necessary algorithms for creating code to experiment with design problems in the processing language, 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.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xix Chapter 1 Elements of the Language 1 1.1 Operands and Operations 2 1.1.1 Variable Types 2 1.1.2 Name Conventions 4 1.1.3 Arithmetic Operations 5 1.1.4 Logical and Relational Operations/Statements 7 1.1.5 Loops 8 1.1.6 Patterns of Numbers 10 1.2 Graphics Elements 12 1.2.1 Code Structure 12 1.2.2 Draw Commands 13 1.2.3 Geometrical Objects 13 1.2.4 Attributes 17 1.2.5 Fonts and Images 20 1.2.6 Examples 21 1.3 Interactivity 24 1.3.1 Drawing on the Screen 24 1.3.2 Mouse and Keyboard Events 26 1.4 Grouping of Code 28 1.4.1 Arrays 28 1.4.2 Procedures and Functions 30 1.4.4 Recursion 33 1.4.5 Importing Processing Classes 34 Summary 35 Exercises 35 Chapter 2 Points, Lines, and Shapes 41 2.1 Sine and Cosine Curves 42 2.2 Bezier Curve 47 2.3 Pointillist Images 48 2.4 Polygons 51 2.5 Equilateral Polygons 53 2.6 Responsive Polygons 54 2.7 Responsive Curve 56 Summary 57 Exercises 57 Chapter 3 The Structure of Shapes 63 3.1 Introduction to Class Structures 63 3.1.1 Defining a Class Called MyPoint 64 3.1.2 Adding Methods to a Class 66 3.2 Organization of Classes 68 3.2.1 Class MyPoint 70 3.2.2 Class MySegment 70 3.2.3 Class MyShape 71 3.3 Standard Transformations (move, rotate, scale) 74 3.4 Implementing Transformations 76 3.5 Creating Grids of Shapes 80 3.6 Class MyGroup 83 3.7 Selecting Objects 85 Summary 90 Exercises 91 Chapter 4 Basics of Graphical User Interfaces 93 4.1 Basic GUI (Buttons) 94 4.2 Choice, Label, and TextField 98 4.3 Arranging GUI Objects on the Screen 99 4.4 Selecting Points, Segments, Shapes, or Groups 102 4.5 Color Setup 104 4.6 Putting the GUI Elements in Their Own Window 106 4.7 Mouse Wheel Control 107 Summary 107 Exercises 108 Chapter 5 Image Processing 109 5.1 Displaying Images 110 5.2 Preset Image Filters 111 5.3 Bit Manipulation on Pixels 115 5.4 A Paint Brush Tool 118 5.5 Edge Detection 121 Summary 123 Exercises 123 Chapter 6 Motion 127 6.1 Animation Basics 127 6.2 Erratic Motion 131 6.3 Line Traces 133 6.4 Interactive Transformations 135 6.5 Double Buffering 138 6.6 Motion and Friction 140 6.7 Collision 143 6.8 Elastic Motion 145 Summary 149 Exercises 149 Notes 152 Chapter 7 Advanced Graphics Algorithms 153 7.1 Voronoi Tessellation 154 7.2 Stochastic Search 158 7.3 Fractals 162 7.4 Interpolation/Extrapolation 165 7.5 Cellular Automata 168 7.6 Evolutionary Algorithm 172 Summary 177 Exercises 178 Notes 180 Chapter 8 3-D Space 181 8.1 The Third Dimension 182 8.2 Defining 3D Objects 183 8.3 Projecting on the Screen 187 8.4 Perspective Projection 190 8.5 Three-Dimensional Graphics in Processing 192 8.6 3D Point Formations 199 8.6.1 Cubical Formations 199 8.6.2 Spherical Formations 201 8.6.3 Superquadrics 203 Summary 205 Exercises 206 Chapter 9 Solid Geometry 209 9.1 Class MyPoint 209 9.1.1 Class MyFace 211 9.1.2 Sets of Faces 214 9.1.3 Class MySolid 215 9.1.4 Face Visibility 220 9.2 Shading 223 9.2.1 Vectors 225 9.2.2 Normalization 226 9.2.3 Cross Product 227 9.2.4 Dot Product 228 9.2.5 MyVector Class 228 9.2.6 Color Tables 229 9.2.7 Array of Shades 230 9.2.8 Shade Calculation 231 9.2.9 Class MyGroup 234 9.2.10 Sorting Solids (Painter’s Algorithm) 238 9.3 3D User Interaction 240 9.3.1 Picking Objects in the Scene 241 9.3.2 Simulating Menu Bars 244 Summary 246 Exercises 246 Notes 247 Chapter 10 File Read/Write 249 10.1 File Formats 250 10.2 Basic Write/Read in Processing 250 10.2.1 Exporting PDF and DXF File Formats Using Processing Libraries 253 10.2.2 Native File Write 255 10.2.3 Native File Read 256 10.2.4 The DXF File Format 258 10.2.5 Writing DXF Files 259 10.2.6 Reading DXF Files 261 10.2.7 The VRML File Format 263 10.2.8 Writing VRML Files 265 10.2.9 Reading VRML Files 266 10.3 Client/Server Data Transfer 268 Summary 272 Exercises 272 Chapter 11 Physical Computing 275 11.1 Basics of Electrical Circuits 276 11.2 Arduino Microcontroller Board 278 11.3 Arduino Language 279 11.4 LED 282 11.5 Photocell 284 11.6 Pushbutton 287 11.7 Servo Motor 288 11.8 Sound 290 11.9 Differential Values 292 11.10 Responsive System: Photo-Sound 292 11.11 A Feedback System: Photo-Motor 294 Summary 296 Exercises 296 Appendix A Equations of Lines and Planes 301 Appendix B Answers to Exercises 307 Appendix C Further Readings 335 Index 339

About the Author :
Kostas Terzidis is an associate professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He is an educator, designer, theorist, architect, and computer scientist. His professional work includes software development for Java media framework and Linux as a software engineer for AOL. Terzidis is also the author of three previous books.