It’s the language behind some of the most amazing interactive experiences this past year and we’re giving you the top 5 books you can read to get into it.
Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.
Processing was founded by Ben Fry and Casey Reas in 2001 while both were John Maeda's students at the MIT Media Lab. Further development has taken place at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, Carnegie Mellon University, and the UCLA, where Reas is chair of the Department of Design | Media Arts. Miami University, Oblong Industries, and the Rockefeller Foundation have generously contributed funding to the project.
Some examples of projects made by Processing
Balloon Light System by Media Lab
First rough video of the system Media Lab Toronto developed to control 250 huge, RGB LED lit balloons that were designed and installed by KPMB for the Luminato Arts and Creativity festival festival in Toronto.
The system we built with was an array of mics hanging in the canopy of balloons. The audio was processed through a Pure Data app and passed along to the Processing which converted sounds data into light patterns and passed along that data to a third machine that sent DMX control messages to the RGB lamps that were inside each one of the balloons.
MACE Everyville
At the Venice Biennale, the mæve installation connects the entries of the EveryVille student competition and puts them into the larger context of MACE content and metadata. By placing physical project cards on an interactive surface, the visitors can explore an organic network of projects, people and media. mæve is designed and developed by the Interface Design team of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.
Visualizing Radiohead
Flight 404's take on Radiohead's 'Weird Fishes' using Processing.
Microsoft Live
For the re-launch of Microsoft Windows Live platform, Firstborn was approached by Emmy Award Winning studio Digital Kitchen and The Wexley School for Girls to create a generative art exhibition in honor of Operation Smile, a not-for-profit, volunteer medical services organization that provides reconstructive facial surgery to children and adults.
Some Processing Resources
- Processing Home Page
- Processing Exhibition
- Vimeo Channel
- Visual Complexity
- Flight 404
- Firstborn Multimedia
Emprnt’s Top 5 Books on Processing
Further Reading
Comments
1 Comment
Dennis Eusebio says:
February 06, 2009
Another cool resource for inspiration for this type of design is:
We Feel Fine