Creative Coders

Josh · August 8, 2019, 12:33am

How many people here are into creative coding?

I’ve noticed an increasing number of meetup attendees who are into things like P5.js, Three.js, Unity, AR/VR, sound, and related creative coding topics. We can use this thread to help connect people with similar interests.

If you want to meet other creative coders, leave a comment below with information about your interests and any projects you’re working on.

I haven’t done much with creative coding, but I’m interested in the topic.

I’ve also created a wiki post where people can list Creative Coding Resources.

mattholamieux · August 8, 2019, 12:58am

Hey y’all! Today was my first time attending the self-study. I’m very much a beginning coder, but have some experience with using coding platforms for creative audio and video purposes. Most recently, I’ve been using Sonic Pi and Orca, in combination with hardware synthesizers, to do live performances of experimental ambient electronic music. I’ve also been working on visuals using the amazing Hydra video synthesis platform. I’m also currently trying to learn javascript by making super simple games with p5.js.

I’d love to meet other folks doing creative audio/visual projects with code. I’m also happy to help anyone whose interested in learning these programs!

bdjewkes · August 8, 2019, 4:02am

Welcome Matt! It was nice meeting you today.
Hydra looks really cool!
Happy to help out if you get stuck on any game programming problems. I don’t know p5.js very well, but know the general domain
Also hope we can collaborate on some audio for the xpgame project!!

mattholamieux · August 9, 2019, 5:25am

Thanks Brian! I appreciate the offer of help and will definitely take you up on it as I move forward with the game programming stuff.
Yeah, Orca is awesome. It’s really easy to create interesting visuals with just a few lines of code (especially if you take advantage of video feedback!).
And yes, I would love to collaborate on audio for the xpgame. I’m planning to dig into Tone.js soon, which could prove useful for this.

mattholamieux · August 9, 2019, 9:06pm

I thought I’d share a couple of p5 projects I’ve been working on. Both of them are interactive minimalist melody generators:

Here are github repositories for anyone interested in the code. I would love any feedback!

Next steps are to wrap my head around the Tone.js library so that I can add more expansive synthesis options (i.e. different waveforms, control over amp envelopes, filtering, etc.).

bdjewkes · August 9, 2019, 6:58pm

These are really cool! Looks like you forgot to add the github links, I’d be interested in taking a look

mattholamieux · August 9, 2019, 9:07pm

Oops! Just added them

Dan · August 11, 2019, 12:27am

I’m interested in creative coding too, although I haven’t done much with it yet.

Years ago I sort of went in this direction when I created some pages for students to explore the Chaos Game. (Sorry those pages are so clunky looking! )

But more recently I’ve been wanting to use p5.js to construct some more artistic creations. So far, I’ve only created this portrait of my wife with epicycles.

I have a couple more p5.js ideas involving a picture of my daughter and a picture of my friend, but haven’t started them yet. I will post them if I make any headway though.

natedonato · August 16, 2019, 2:08am

I am definitely interested in creative coding type of projects and would be down for a themed meetup specifically for creative coding sometime. Love the stuff you are doing with music @mattholamieux you are giving me some ideas for little sound projects of my own.

I am particularly interested in web projects that any one can pull up and easily view or play with. Also interested in projects that babies or very young children could enjoy. Here’s a simple thing I did a few days ago:

longevity.tina · August 25, 2019, 6:49pm

Hey! I am just beginning my self study using Khan Academy 's Intro to Programming: Javascript. I’ve learned a tremendous amount at a fairly slow pace. Now that I have some fundamentals I’m looking into more ways to engage and motivate a faster pace of learning. Creative-coding seems like a great avenue to dive into!

If my focus is to prepare for full stack coding bootcamp in January, do you think that doing something like the EDX creative coding intro might be a distraction from the fundamentals that I need to work on?

Any input is welcomed! Looking forward to coming to one of the meetups in Berkley

Edit:: I’m finding lots of info of this topic already, so also just wanted to say hi to everyone, I just joined

longevity.tina · August 25, 2019, 7:32pm

That’s an awesome portrait maker! Love the idea :]

Dan · August 25, 2019, 8:05pm

Thanks! I saw a gif of this sort on Twitter once. So I decided to try to create one of my own.

bdjewkes · August 26, 2019, 4:06pm

Welcome!

natedonato · August 30, 2019, 5:03pm

I just finished a bootcamp myself a few weeks ago; I think any coding that you actively enjoy and are motivated to do will help prepare you. Also welcome to the self study group!

The EDX class you linked looks like it has some good concepts that can apply to full stack development (specifically OOP, DOM stuff, and fundamentals like looping and functions). It is worth noting that p5.js despite using JavaScript is kinda its own thing and specific knowledge of the p5 library and syntax probably won’t be used too much in a bootcamp setting. The programming concepts though will definitely help though and I personally learn best when I have fun stuff I enjoy working on so if it is something you are interested in I would go for it.

natedonato · August 30, 2019, 5:09pm

Here are a couple creative sites I have recently enjoyed and found inspiring:

http://corndog.io/

OutsourcedGuru · September 11, 2019, 9:50pm

I’ll try to make one of the meetups here in the area. I’m currently working on the display interface for a really cool 3D printer that will come out in 2020, I’d guess.