Category: Assignments

The transition from a hand-drawn sketch to a Processing sketch was more difficult than what I imagined. Since Processing doesn’t provide coordinate grid on the sketch, it was hard to think in coordinates and approximate where a center of an arc has to be. Speaking of arc, it was near impossible for me to successfully create arcs. It took me almost 30 mins to figure out semi-ellipse arc for the mouth. I still cannot freely create arcs that I want. I also wanted to create new shapes, but for the shape function, Processing had trouble defining the variable s. As for rectangles and lines, they were easy to position once I escaped the blank canvas, and was able to position elements in relation to the others.

https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/503888

Its been over a year since I’ve had to use processing.  I used it in my data structures lab to implement visual representations and methods of the data structures we discussed. it was very stressful since we were actually graded for it. But this time it was a little bit more relaxing, especially because this is not data structures. I was never a good sketcher, and I never will be. However, coding my face actually seemed a lot more natural to me since i just have to tell the computer what to draw. I don’t really have good grasp of what my face looks like. So I just used my bitmogji as reference. Perhaps, I will be able to add on to this sketch as the semester continues.

 

 

 

 

I thought drawing the portrait was hard until I had to recreate it in processing. Compared to drawing, coding the portrait was much harder. While working in processing, there was a lot of trial and error and studying the processing website to figure out how exactly to use the functions. The biggest challenge in changing mediums was the lack of control; in processing, it was difficult to gauge where you were since the program works on a grid system. Additionally, coding anything curved or odd shaped was extremely challenging. I found making the hair the hardest part because there are a lot of different curves and hair is typically not one shade, and I had to compromise and make it one rather than doing fifty different strands and shades. Coding in processing was much more time consuming and I felt as though I was making a lot of compromises because I could not replicate my drawing perfectly.

              

 

Drawing the portrait was overall easy to do, and I tried to incorporate shapes in the portrait that would be easier to translate into Processing. Constructing the self-portrait in Processing was more difficult and also a long a process; I especially struggled with manipulating arcs. A lot of the process was also spent punching in numbers, checking to see the output, and adjusting accordingly. I probably should have planned or calculated my measurements from the start instead of guessing-and-checking, and so the measurements may be off/asymmetrical. While it was easy to draw in shapes and color them in on the paper, it was harder to fill in shapes in Processing, especially ones that were comprised of arcs.

Link to sketch: https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/503597

Drawing a self-portrait out on paper wasn’t too difficult – it didn’t take me too long to sketch out a picture of myself with pencil and paper. But creating a sketch of myself with processing was a long process. The task easily took me at least a couple of hours, as I tried to fine tune all of the features of my face and made sure the color and stroke width were right. On paper, I could visualize in my mind the picture I wanted, and it was easy to transfer that vision from my mind to my sketchbook. On the computer, it was definitely harder, as I couldn’t control exactly where I wanted the lines and features to go. I think both mediums were the same in terms of visualizing the final product, but as for actually creating it, it was much more difficult coding it in processing.

Link to sketch: https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/501626