Sarah Anderson – Looking Outwards

Not long into browsing for cool Processing projects and I already found some really great ones.

Curtain (on openprocessing.org)

http://openprocessing.org/sketch/20140

 

Curtain is a really cool physics-based program by BlueThen on Openprocessing.org. You are given this curtain/mesh grid and two different keys to press: one that turns the gravity on and off and another that resets the program. You just drag the curtain around with the mouse and see how you can mess with it. But the program doesn’t stop there. What I really like about this program is that not only does it take into account the strength of the curtain,  but it allows and even encourages you to break it if you pull too hard. You can even play with the broken pieces on the ground and the strings hanging about. Simple in concept as it is, I found myself playing with it for nearly 20 minutes.

Thinking Machine 4 (Processing exhibition)

http://www.turbulence.org/spotlight/thinking/chess.html

Thinking Machine 4 is basically just a game of chess. Except it’s probably the prettiest game of chess you’ll ever play. When it’s the player’s turn, pulses emanate from the pieces on the board. When it’s the computer’s turn you can see all the possible moves and scenarios that could be made, as calculated by the computer and depicted in green and yellow lines. What I really like about this program is the beautiful images that the visualization of these multiple connections make. I like how the player can actually see in real time, what the computer is thinking, but it’s such a confusing train of thought that no one except the computer would be able to follow it. It reminded me a lot of the one guy who did a visualization of flights landing and taking off and that spiderweb of connections made across the globe.

Sociomantic (Vimeo)

[vimeo 48480845 w=500 h=281]

Sociomantic from Michael Auerswald on Vimeo.

Sociomantic is a commercial for an advertising firm that was prototyped and animated almost entirely with Processing. He did use some Kinect software and XML for the walkcycle, but the rest really shows how truly graphic, visual, and professional Processing can be. I like it because it does look professional and it’s a good ad. Usually I don’t see processing used much in the professional company setting, or maybe I just don’t notice it. This commercial makes me wonder how many other ads I see, either on the television or internet, are created with processing.