I just got an email from Casey saying that processinghacks.com has finally officially been integrated into the main Processing web site. The new URL is http://processing.org/hacks/. Processinghacks was a great initiative by Toxi and Tom Carden, but has ended up in an inactive limbo over the years. Wikis are perfect for letting users contribute their own content, but they also requires a dedicated community to work properly. Sadly, that never quite happened.

Hopefully, the integration into processing.org will provide a little extra motivation for would-be contributors to step up to the plate. There are already links to empty pages indicating topics that should be filled, giving some useful starting points. I know there are some things in unlekkerLib that would fit, but I’ll have to see when I have the time to write them up.

In any case, congratulations to the Processing team for adding a new feature, and thanks to Toxi and Tom Carden for having the Processing hacks idea in the first place…

Contents of Code & Form code library v0001

I’ve decided to put my Processing hacks from the Code & hacks page and consolidate them into a downloadable archive. Thus the Code & Form code library is born. It will contain various demos and hacks, as well as example code for the unlekkerLib library. It should be much easier to publish code this way, since students etc. can simply download the archive and dump the contents in their sketchbook folder for quick access.

I’ve started a Google Code repository for this purpose, which seems a good way to go. I’m still figuring out SVN etc, hopefully I can switch to publishing the unlekkerLib source “live” through SVN once I figure it out. I’ll also publish archives of code written during past workshops to the repository.

There seems to be a growing list of Processing-related Google Code repositories out there, examples include Toxi’s Toxiclibs, interfascia and jddaniels. Do a search for processing.org to find more.

Layout with Packing 1b + 3b for Portuguese magazine EASI.

Horror Vacui: Fear of void, fear of empty space. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Is there really emptiness between the atoms? It is hard to imagine. Who can take comfort in the uncertain world of quantum mechanics? Better to consider strategies for filling vacuum, covering the blank surface with form and structure, and thus conquering it. It might seem extreme. Claustrophobic, even. But there is safety in numbers.

Two-page layout for EASI, a magazine from Porto, Portugal. See the image in high res to see the smaller details.

I’m still not quite done with the Packing series, even though packing algorithms have become a bit of a generative clichee recently. It becomes an issue of whether you’re able to give the image qualities beyond the default result of the algorithm. For now, I still believe that my take on it succeeds in doing so.

Workshop at Mary Schiller Myers School of Art, U of Akron

I’m teaching a workshop at the University of Akron as part of my residency at the Myers School of Art, which the ElectroPlastiques exhibition is a part of.

Code from the workshop will be online here:
workshop.evolutionzone.com/workshops/080324_uakron.

ElectroPlastiques: Object #1 / Grid distortion

I have a new exhibition coming up in Akron, Ohio as part of an artist in residence stay at the Myers School of Art. Titled "ElectroPlastiques", it is my first ever solo show. Interesting that it would take a show in the US for that to happen, although not really so surprising given that the European media art scene is geared towards festivals. The exceptions are the few European media artists who have found gallery representation, a process that seems to be going even slower in Europe than in the US.

I’m using this show to highlight some of the existing topics of my work with realtime animation, as well as a new direction dealing with physical output. I will screen a series of my generative animations, such as Neon Organic, ElectroPlastique #1 & #2 and Illuminations A. These pieces explore the plastic qualities of parametric software processes, where a single set of rules gives rise to an infinite sequence of possible configurations. The title of the show is intended to refer to the plasticity of digital media.

As a counter-point, I will be showing manifestations of my work in physical formats, where animation gives way to other qualities. My rapid prototyping pieces Object #1 - #3 and new work like the Grid distortion laser cuts explore the tactile possibilities of digital fabrication, while prints like the Packing series go beyond the limited resolution of the screen to explore issues of graphic detail.

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SinSurf, CNC-milled Corian panel, produced from STL files generated with Processing.

I just got an email with images from Lenny at HyperWerk, turns out my first foray into the world of CNC milling is done. And it looks better than I had ever expected, which is great news for me since I can now use it for my upcoming ElectroPlastiques solo show in Akron, Ohio next week.

The radial milling paths really make the piece come alive, of course it doesn’t hurt that Corian is such a beautiful material to begin with. I’ll definitely have to explore CNC more as a possible output medium, it provides some of the fine detail of rapid prototyping while allowing for much larger pieces. And the organic quality provided by the milling paths is very appealing, especially considering the digital origin of the form.

See my Flickr stream for more images. My thanks to Andreas and Lenny for their help with milling and photos!

As you might have noticed I’ve replaced the code formatting plugin that I use on the blog. I had trouble with the Geshi-based plugin I used before, so I replaced it with Alex Gorbatchev’s SyntaxHighlighter. This produces lovely formatting and works well - mostly.

SyntaxHighlighter hiccups when encountering the < character unless there is a blank space directly following it, most likely due to it being interpreted as the start of a HTML tag. Also, the "copy to clipboard function produces incorrect code because the text copied has < and > characters converted into the HTML entities &lt; and &gt;. However, I’m not sure if this is a problem with SyntaxHighlighter or with WordPress, since WordPress sometimes messes with formatting by automagically trying to provide good HTML substitutes for certain character combinations.

Most frustrating of all, WordPress has started replacing the ’s in “it’s” with a triple ellipsis character, as well as some other strangeness. Any tips for fool-proof plugins for posting properly formatted code would be most appreciated!

Code from the workshop will be online here: workshops/080310_khio. Check out Kuler for RGB color goodness.

Inspiration for media architecture:

• Realities:United
• Lab[au]: Dexia Tower

The following Processing example shows how to set up a separate thread for loading images into a sketch. I wrote it up in response to this post on the Processing forums, figuring it will be useful to some of my students too.

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We’re making good progress at the HyperWerk digital fabrication workshop, see the new Fabbing @ HyperWerk Flickr group for details.