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Audio issues in Processing on Leopard

chandler — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:58:31 +0000

A few of my students have run into an issue where the right speaker is distorted when playing audio through Minim or Sonia. After much googling we found a somewhat convoluted solution:

1) Go to Applications / Utilities and open Audio MIDI Setup.

2) In the drop-down labeled “Properties For” choose “Built-in Line Output.”

3) Under “Audio Output,” set the format to “44100.0 Hz.”

4) Quit Audio MIDI Setup and restart Processing.

Parrot text-to-speech library for Processing

chandler — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:27:25 +0000

A student in my Programming Media II class wanted to use some text-to-speech for a project, so I created a processing library that is a light wrapper around Apple’s Java API for accessing the speech engine. The library allows you to set the current voice and speak away. Of course, its mac only.

You can get the library from the project page and you can download the eclipse project for the library from github.

Passing arguments to Processing sketches

chandler — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:13:13 +0000

I recently received an email asking about how to pass arguments when launching a processing sketch from the command line. I hadn’t ever done such a thing, but after some poking came up with an easy, though not exactly robust, solution. This example sets the value of the r, g, and b variables and uses them to set the background color.

The main method just clones the array of arguments into a “global” variable of the sketch. That variable needs to be declared static so it can be accessed by the main method, which is also static. Also, make sure that the string in PApplet.main(new String[] { "passing_arguments" }); matches the name of your sketch. Next, just parse the array of arguments like you would anything else inside setup. It’s a good idea to make sure that you have any arguments at all (by checking for != null) and that you’ve got the number of arguments you expect.

Next you export the sketch (File > Export) then you can execute the .jar file from the command line using: java -jar passing_arguments.jar 255 255 1 where passing_arguments.jar is the name of the jar file, and 255 255 1 are the values you want to use for the r, g, and b variables.

If you need something more robust, or need to use named switches, check out this article on using the Apache Commons CLI Library.

Processing Workshop at Machine Project, Again!

chandler — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 17:00:12 +0000

Once again I’m teaching a 4 day intensive workshop on Processing at Machine Project. The course starts on Feb. 14 and runs for 2 weeks. It will provide a good introduction and covers everything from the basics of the IDE up to libraries and media. No prior programming experience necessary (though it always helps).
For more info check out the course page.

Processing Workshop at Machine Project

chandler — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:45:39 +0000

Starting this Saturday, I’m teaching a 4 day intensive workshop on Processing at Machine Project. The course is designed to be a good introduction and covers everything from the basics of the IDE up to libraries and media. No prior programming experience necessary (though it always helps).
For more info check out the course page.

Megapuss + Dukoff + Hammer Pictures

chandler — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:54:22 +0000

Photo: Pitchfork

So everything went pretty well the other night. A few places wrote about the show and the band’s “unique” choice of fashion accessories. It was a difficult task of showing images from Lauren’s forthcoming book, many of which feature Devendra, while not showing too many pictures of him projected behind him which is just weird. We did our best and tried to pick the strongest shots that allowed for some fun animation potential. At one point, Devendra got upset about his image on the screen, but in the end I think it all worked out.

For the animations we used a combination of manual work in After Effects and procedural elements from processing. The procedural elements were fairly simple, some image averaging to blend faces together, some perlin noise to make images flap in the wind, a few particles, a little bit of random walking lines, and — in perhaps the most bizarre code I’ve ever written — recursively packing the space around Devendra and Greg using images of the prosthetic penises they wore for a Megapuss photo shoot with Lauren.

The entire animation lasted about 40 minutes, so I’ve compressed all that into a quick 1 minute video showing all the vignettes back-to-back. Something is definitely lost since we were going for a thick, slow, molasses-y feel to the whole thing, but who has 40 minutes on the internet?

The Public School

chandler — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:41:05 +0000

The Public School is a new, community driven, program happening at the TELIC Arts Exchange. The idea behind the school is that anyone can sign-up, propose a class they want to teach, or a class they’d like to take, and express interest in classes that others have proposed. A rotating curriculum committee then chooses which classes to offer based on interest, feasibility, etc.

The general thrust of the curriculum is art and technology based, but there has been interest in a variety of topics which hopefully will keep things lively. I’m a member of the course-selection committee (D.A.N.) and after our first meeting I’m even more excited about the school and what’s to come. There are so many great classes proposed so far, I can’t wait for class to begin.