Project

The goal of this project is to synthesize what you have learned about Processing, in order to do something cool. There are no particular requirements as to exactly what "cool" is, although in keeping with the goals of this course, it should be interactive, dynamic, and visual. Be creative, and have fun with it!

You are encouraged to work in pairs, since that should enable you to do something that is that much cooler. Feel free to use the Discussion Forum on Blackboard to recruit somebody else to join in on your idea.

Think of this as a chance to define your own homework; in fact, topics like those covered in the homeworks are perfectly acceptable. The expectation is for a more polished and innovative sketch than is required to meet the baseline homework requirements. Grades will be assessed in terms of visual appearance and interactivity, as well as demonstration of appropriate Processing constructs. You are allowed to use existing code from class, your earlier homeworks, the exhibition at processing.org, etc., with appropriate citation. However, your grade will be derived from what you do that is new or a significant modification. It is expected that, where it is appropriate, your sketch will include arrays and classes to package up state, and functions and methods to package up actions.

There are three deadlines with things to turn in:

1. Tue, Mar 3: email a short (one paragraph) description of your project idea, along with any prototype sketches (not required) you've played with. I will email back any suggestions, and respond to any concerns/questions.
2. Mon, Mar 9: do a "show and tell" in class. I'll let you know how long you have once I know how many projects there are, but it will be fairly short. Some of the time should be spent showing the sketch, and some of the time telling about how it works (overall structure and highlights of the code). The sketch need not be in its final state at this point, but should be good enough to show off and discuss.

3. Fri, Mar 13: turn in all your materials:
   • A zipfile containing the sketch and supporting files.
   • A short document describing the piece and how to interact with it. Include a representative screenshot, which you can obtain the screenshot with the save() function (perhaps invoked on a particular keypress).
   • If this is a webcam project, it is recommended that you create a short example movie file that shows it off, since demos can be flakey. You can capture a movie with webcam software and feed it in as input, or save out a processed movie using Processing's MovieMaker (with reasonable compression, please!).
   • If you have a partner, only one of you needs to turn in the above materials on Blackboard, but of course be sure to list both names. Furthermore, each of you should separately (and in your own words) turn in a short statement characterizing what you contributed and what your partner contributed.