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Make Your Own Algorithmic Art
A Gentle Introduction to Creative Coding with P5js. A fun step-by-step gentle introduction to creating digital art with computers, designed especially
Starting from the very basics, we'll learn We'll discover and practice basic computer graphics techniques, explore simple algorithms that create interesting visual forms, and work through example projects to experience the process of developing algorithmic art from inspiration, through problem solving, to final refinement. By the end of the course, you will be coding confidently, appreciating the beauty of mathematics and wanting to explore more advanced ideas and methods.
Starting from the very basics, we'll learn We'll discover and practice basic computer graphics techniques, explore simple algorithms that create interesting visual forms, and work through example projects to experience the process of developing algorithmic art from inspiration, through problem solving, to final refinement. By the end of the course, you will be coding confidently, appreciating the beauty of mathematics and wanting to explore more advanced ideas and methods.
- GenresProgramming
576 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2018
5 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2018
Unique and really good for anyone new to coding, not just creative coding. I'm going to recommend it to my artist friends who want to get into creating art with code and data.
I've tried several books to get into creative coding. I find there are several common problems for me:
* they are reference books on technical stuff like libraries and coding - not tutorials
* they assume technology experience which I don't have
* the examples aren't that inspiring
* they're too concise and dense
* none of them seem to explore how mathematics can actually create beautiful things
Make Your Own Algorithmic Art is unique because it doesn't have these problems:
* the book is a more like a guided conversation and hand-held-step-by-step tutorial
* there are lots of pictures for those of us who prefer visual explanations
* the book assumes zero previous knowledge or expertise and starts very gently (but the last chapter is advanced!)
* the book is in colour - too many books on art aren't and that's a real handicap
* there is no need to install any special software, everything works through a web browser
* although I'm not a maths expert, the author's enthusiasm for it really rubbed off - something no teacher has manage to do through my entire education
I know the author has another successful book. I am not surprised. He seems to write for the reader, not just to show how much he knows or how clever he is. That is rare and to be supported.
Any negatives? Well the book is printed by IngramSpark which means it isn't quite as perfect as a luxury coffee table photography book. And the chapter on chaos and fractals in the middle of the book felt like the smooth journey jumped up a gear a bit, before coming back down. Maybe that chapter should have been last?
Overall - I can now code! And with practice I am getting better at turning my ideas into code. The author is really good at reassuring us that this takes years of practise, so I didn't lose hope when I couldn't do it initially.
The last chapter on writing code that writes its own code that creates patterns is a real mind-bender .. but an exciting idea too. I actually understood it, but it took three readings for me to totally get it.
If you're an artist, or teaching children to code, this book really is worth a look.
I hope others will now start to fill this gap in the market - for an easy to read, step-by-step tutorial guide to creative coding for non-coder artists and designers.
I actually read the paper print edition of this book which is big but for me I liked that the author wasn't afraid to space the content out to make it easier to see and not seem like a dense textbook.
I've tried several books to get into creative coding. I find there are several common problems for me:
* they are reference books on technical stuff like libraries and coding - not tutorials
* they assume technology experience which I don't have
* the examples aren't that inspiring
* they're too concise and dense
* none of them seem to explore how mathematics can actually create beautiful things
Make Your Own Algorithmic Art is unique because it doesn't have these problems:
* the book is a more like a guided conversation and hand-held-step-by-step tutorial
* there are lots of pictures for those of us who prefer visual explanations
* the book assumes zero previous knowledge or expertise and starts very gently (but the last chapter is advanced!)
* the book is in colour - too many books on art aren't and that's a real handicap
* there is no need to install any special software, everything works through a web browser
* although I'm not a maths expert, the author's enthusiasm for it really rubbed off - something no teacher has manage to do through my entire education
I know the author has another successful book. I am not surprised. He seems to write for the reader, not just to show how much he knows or how clever he is. That is rare and to be supported.
Any negatives? Well the book is printed by IngramSpark which means it isn't quite as perfect as a luxury coffee table photography book. And the chapter on chaos and fractals in the middle of the book felt like the smooth journey jumped up a gear a bit, before coming back down. Maybe that chapter should have been last?
Overall - I can now code! And with practice I am getting better at turning my ideas into code. The author is really good at reassuring us that this takes years of practise, so I didn't lose hope when I couldn't do it initially.
The last chapter on writing code that writes its own code that creates patterns is a real mind-bender .. but an exciting idea too. I actually understood it, but it took three readings for me to totally get it.
If you're an artist, or teaching children to code, this book really is worth a look.
I hope others will now start to fill this gap in the market - for an easy to read, step-by-step tutorial guide to creative coding for non-coder artists and designers.
I actually read the paper print edition of this book which is big but for me I liked that the author wasn't afraid to space the content out to make it easier to see and not seem like a dense textbook.
December 17, 2020
In questo libro viene spiegato come creare “arte logaritmica” ovvero visualizzazioni legate alla matematica, programmando in p5.
Tariq inizia proprio da zero. Spiega come creare la prima visualizzazione, descrive i metodi di p5 “setup” e “draw”. Spiega come creare forme geometriche e come colorarle. Introduce concetti generali come “random” e “noise” (che implementa l’algoritmo Perlin Noise), i cicli “for”, i colori RGB,HSB e la trasparenza, il concetto di “funzione” e “ricorsività”.
Poi passa a descrivere le principali funzioni matematiche come “sin”, “cos”, “tan”, “map”, “exp”, “distance” e la formula per passare da coordinate cartesiane a coordinate polari e viceversa.
La parte più interessante riguarda la creazione di frattali come il “Mandelbrot Set” e “Whirling Dervish” utilizzando il concetto di numero complesso, e la creazione dei sistemi “Lindenmayer System” (L-System).
Molti degli argomenti presentati in questo libro li avevo gia trovati nell'ottimo The Nature of Code .
Tariq inizia proprio da zero. Spiega come creare la prima visualizzazione, descrive i metodi di p5 “setup” e “draw”. Spiega come creare forme geometriche e come colorarle. Introduce concetti generali come “random” e “noise” (che implementa l’algoritmo Perlin Noise), i cicli “for”, i colori RGB,HSB e la trasparenza, il concetto di “funzione” e “ricorsività”.
Poi passa a descrivere le principali funzioni matematiche come “sin”, “cos”, “tan”, “map”, “exp”, “distance” e la formula per passare da coordinate cartesiane a coordinate polari e viceversa.
La parte più interessante riguarda la creazione di frattali come il “Mandelbrot Set” e “Whirling Dervish” utilizzando il concetto di numero complesso, e la creazione dei sistemi “Lindenmayer System” (L-System).
Molti degli argomenti presentati in questo libro li avevo gia trovati nell'ottimo The Nature of Code .
April 14, 2019
What this book does that others don't is to take the reader from zero and slowly build up confidence and knowledge .. and avoid jumps and leaps that are too big. Lots of pictures, lots of gentle explanations and lots of practice .. and before you know it, you're coding with confidence!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews