Processing Sketches

A collection of Processing sketches — a mix of original creative coding experiments and learning exercises adapted from artists and authors I admire (Daniel Shiffman, Jared Tarbell, Holger Lippmann, and others).

Sketches

Generative Art

Sketch	Description
Peter_De_Jong	Strange attractor visualization using Peter de Jong equations. Based on Jared Tarbell's work.
RandomCurves	Generative bezier curves colored by sampling a source image. Inspired by Holger Lippmann.
RandomCurvesLink	Extended version of RandomCurves with chained multi-point bezier curves and decaying bounds.
AlbumSketch	Recreates album art by rendering song lyrics as characters colored from the source image.
mosaic_project	Space-filling box algorithm that reconstructs an image as a mosaic of colored squares. Based on Tarbell's work.
Stippling	Physics-based stippling using toxiclibs' Verlet physics to place dots that approximate an image.

Fractals & L-Systems

Sketch	Description
Koch	Koch snowflake fractal, rendered iteratively level by level.
Mandelbrot	Classic Mandelbrot set renderer with pixel-level iteration coloring.
lsys	L-system grammar-based fractal generation with turtle graphics rendering.
Tree	Recursive branching tree where branch angle follows the mouse.
Tree2	Non-recursive tree using an ArrayList to manage branching growth.
Tree3	Extension of Tree2 that adds leaves at terminal branches.

Cellular Automata & Simulation

Sketch	Description
GOL	Conway's Game of Life with wrap-around edges. Click to reset.
WolframCA	1D Wolfram cellular automata — auto-restarts with a random ruleset when it reaches the bottom.
Agent	Random-walk particle system where 50 agents paint semi-transparent trails on a canvas.

Data Visualization

Sketch	Description
AirlineSketch	Maps global airline routes as bezier curves over a 10000x5000 canvas using real airport and route data.

Image Processing

Sketch	Description
AggregateImage	Layers multiple photos with transparency to create a composite image.
Blending	Interactive demo of Processing's blend modes — click to cycle modes, drag to adjust alpha.
voronoi	Voronoi diagram using toxiclibs with Lloyd's relaxation (iteratively moves sites to region centroids).
voronoi_cone	3D cone-based Voronoi renderer that samples colors from a source image. Originally a computational geometry final project.

Bundled Code Packages

Folder	Description
Generative-Design-Code-Package	Companion code from the book Generative Design — organized into chapters on color/shape (01_P), math (02_M), and algorithms (03_A).
formandcode-examples	Companion code from the book Form+Code.

Running the Sketches

Install Processing

1. Download Processing from https://processing.org/download
2. Install and launch the Processing IDE (PDE)

Open and Run a Sketch

1. In the Processing IDE, go to File → Open
2. Navigate to any .pde file in this repo (e.g. GOL/GOL.pde)
3. Click the Run button (▶) or press Cmd+R (macOS) / Ctrl+R (Windows/Linux)

Each sketch folder follows the Processing convention: the folder name matches the main .pde file name.

Dependencies

Some sketches require external libraries:

• toxiclibs — Used by Stippling, voronoi, and voronoi_cone
  • In the Processing IDE: Sketch → Import Library → Manage Libraries
  • Search for "toxiclibs" and install it

Known Issues

• Several sketches have hardcoded Windows file paths for image loading (e.g. C:\Users\Danny\...). These will need to be updated to use relative paths or your own local paths before they'll run:
  • AggregateImage, Blending, RandomCurves, RandomCurvesLink, AlbumSketch, Stippling
• Sketches that load images from relative paths (like AirlineSketch, mosaic_project, voronoi_cone) should work as-is, provided the data files are present in the sketch folder.
• The purely algorithmic sketches (GOL, Mandelbrot, Koch, Tree, WolframCA, Agent, lsys) run without any external files.