Programming Media Art Using Processing: A Beginner's Guide

by Margaret Noble

Overview

Programming Media Art Using Processing: A Beginner's Guide provides an entry-level exploration into visual design through computer programming using the open source and artist-friendly language, Processing. Used by hundreds of students, this learning system breaks lessons down into strategic steps towards fun and creative media art projects.

This book provides a linear series of lessons with step-by-step examples that lead to beginning media art projects, including abstract designs, pixel landscapes, rollover animations, and simple video games. Computer programming can be overwhelming for the first-time learner, but this book makes the learning of code more digestible and fun through a full color, well-diagrammed, and deeply explained text presentation. Lessons are rhythmically broken down into digestible parts with code annotations and illustrations that help learners focus on the details one step at a time. The content is legible, flexible, and fun to work with because of its project-based nature.

By following the lessons and producing the projects sequentially in this book, readers will develop the beginning foundational skills needed to understand computer programming basics across many languages and also explore the art of graphic design. Ultimately, this is a hands-on, practical guide.

To learn more about Margaret Noble's work, please visit her artist's website and educator website.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367508289
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	12/17/2020
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Margaret Noble was born in Texas, raised in San Diego, and received her key artistic training in Chicago. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, San Diego and an MFA in Studio and Sound Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Margaret Noble is an accomplished media producer with a background in public education, artistic production, and large-scale exhibition development. Her artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Margaret Noble came to education from industry as a professional artist. Throughout her 13+ years of teaching in secondary and higher education, she has consistently supported diverse learners in producing meaningful, community driven, multimedia projects. Margaret and her students have also received several awards and recognitions for their classroom projects including features in Edutopia and Wired magazine. To learn more about Margaret Noble’s work, please visit: https://www.margaretnoble.com/

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Contributors xi

Author xiii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Designing Graphically with the Language of Code 5

Getting Started & Basic Overview 5

Lesson 1.1 Pixel Grid System 9

Lesson 1.2 Code And Canvas Windows 10

Lesson 1.3 Lines, Width, And Height 11

Lesson 1.4 More Shapes 18

Lesson 1.5 Grayscale 21

Lesson 1.6 Syntax, Comments, And Order Of Code 22

Lesson 1.7 Line Commands (Stroke And No Stroke) 26

Lesson 1.8 Coloring Pixels 27

Lesson 1.9 Adding Transparency Values 30

Lesson 1.10 THE PROCESSING REFERENCE - IMPORTANT RESOURCE! 31

Project: Geometric Design 34

Chapter 2 Creating Responsive Environments 35

Lesson 2.1 Dynamic Computer Programs 36

Lesson 2.2 First Animations 39

Lesson 2.3 Animation Trails 43

Lesson 2.4 Finding Exact Coordinates 44

Lesson 2.5 Complex Shapes 47

Lesson 2.6 Linking Shapes For Synched Movement 49

Lesson 2.7 Adding Text 50

Lesson 2.8 Rotating Shapes 51

Project: Interactive Environment 54

Chapter 3 Automated Animations 57

Lesson 3.1 Counting Variables 58

Lesson 3.2 Moving Objects In Multiple Directions 64

Lesson 3.3 Growing Shapes With The Mouse 67

Lesson 3.4 Println() For Debugging 69

Lesson 3.5 Constrain() For Stopping Animations 71

Lesson 3.6 Random() Opportunities 76

Lesson 3.7 Automated Rotations 80

Project: Automated Environment 82

Chapter 4 Animated Collages 85

Lesson 4.1 Preparing And Importing Imagery 86

Lesson 4.2 Moving Images 91

Lesson 4.3 Fading And Coloring Images Using Tint() 93

Lesson 4.4 Resizing Images & Multiples 95

Lesson 4.5 Constraining Mouse Movements 98

Lesson 4.6 Void Key Pressed() With Image Rotations 100

Lesson 4.7 Create Fonts 102

Lesson 4.8 Project Optimization And Nosmooth() 106

Project: Animated And Interactive Collage 107

Chapter 5 Conditional Interactions and Rollovers 109

Lesson 5.1 Conditional Statements And Relational Operators 110

Lesson 5.2 Conditional Statements With Custom Variables 114

Lesson 5.3 AND vs. OR 116

Lesson 5.4 Logical Operators Defining Spaces 120

Lesson 5.5 Variations With Mouse And Keyboard Actions 123

Lesson 5.6 Two Variables: Alternating Movements 126

Lesson 5.7 Color Detection Using The Get() Function 128

Project: Rollover Animation 132

Chapter 6 Events and Interactions for Simple Games: Part 1 135

Lesson 6.1 Turning Things On With Boolean Variables 137

Lesson 6.2 Toggling Between Two States Using Boolean Variables 139

Lesson 6.3 Multiple Buttons Alternating 142

Lesson 6.4 Booleans Working With Numerical Variables 145

Lesson 6.5 Specific Keyboard Interactions 147

Lesson 6.6 Creating A Walking Character 150

Lesson 6.7 Boundaries 153

Chapter 7 Events and Interactions for Simple Games: Part 2 157

Lesson 7.1 Timers 158

Lesson 7.2 Continuous Motion Key Controls 162

Lesson 7.3 For Loops Are Efficient 164

Lesson 7.4 Color Detection With For Loops 168

Lesson 7.5 Game Creation From Keys, Loops, And Color Detection 170

Lesson 7.6 Image Collisions With The Distance() Function 175

Lesson 7.7 Two Players, Directional Movement, And Jumping! 180

Chapter 8 Multilevel Architectures and Arrays 189

Lesson 8.1 Basic Levels Architecture 190

Lesson 8.2 States Within Levels 194

Lesson 8.3 Arrays 200

Lesson 8.4 Image Arrays 205

Lesson 8.5 Player Options 210

Lesson 8.6 Choice-Based Projects 214

Conclusion 222

Final Project: Multilevel Interactive Experience 223

Index 227