Ask YC: Anyone done any work with Processing?

20 points by matth ↗ HN
I'm about to jump in and do some experimenting. Anyone have anything to share?

10 comments

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I don't have anything specific to share, but my past experiences were pretty good. It's definitely great for doing toy types of things (I wrote a 3d clock, for instance, that changed color based on where the hands were). There's also great library support and a pretty big community. If I happen to dig up that clock I'll post it.
Great stuff. It's very easy to dive in. The editor is clunky, though.

I'm currently working on a series of programs that process webcam input and render "magic mirrors" made out of words, wood, swimming fish, etc.

I've had great experiences using processing. It's been sweet for prototyping multimedia stuff - live video processing, physical computing, data visualization, toys. The libraries make it quick and painless to get graphics floating around.
There's a new Oreilly book out on it called 'visualizing data'.

I'm only a few chapters in, but it's quite good so far. Covers the basics, a few good sized 'real' projects, and quite a bit on integrating it with java.

I've messed around with it for some classes that had projects in it at GaTech, but that's about it.
I've been involved with the project off and on for a few years now. (I wrote the Interfascia GUI library for Processing.) As an interface designer, I find that it makes a great tool for rapid prototyping.