First things first. I wanted my tornado (ellipses) to start off at a certain point so to do this i declared 3 floats as mentioned in a previous post, i then gave these floats the value of 255,which is the location on the xy scale where they would start.
float z = 255;
float x = 255;
float y = 255;
and the stroke was simply done
stroke(#d504ff);
I then realised that i should construct my animation itself. Meaning what did i want to happen depending ont he wind speed. I looked at the data and saw it was in this mathematical format 3.12. So i was going to use the whole number for my animation, which meant using an IF statement.
int q = int(title[i].getContent().charAt(0));
int w = int(pubDate[i].getContent().charAt(1));
int e = int(value[i].getContent().charAt(2));
I used 3 random letters so that i could use the value of q, which was being pulled in through the xml feed.
so i started with...
if (q <= 210) {
text ("Windspeed is slow, have a nice day! ", 80, 200);
else {
text("Windpseed is high! Take it easy out there!", 50, 150);
Now came hours of research and tutorials..
fill(x,z,y); - This fills my ellipses with colour.
stroke(#d504ff); - this gives it the pink storke outline.
Two very simple lines for code.
ellipse (abs(x+=9*cos(z+=.5-noise(i++)))%L,abs(y+=9*sin(z))%L,40,40);
So using this code it moves the ellipses around the sketch. Ive revised the functions used in this line of code and I do understand why they are sued and what they are for however I dont think id be able to write it off the top of my head. Still in gives me the effect I wanted in my processing. However to get it to move in certain ways I have to change the values of x,y, and z in my IF statement.
text ("Windspeed is slow, have a nice day! ", 80, 200);
z = z - 1;
x = x - 1;
y = y +1;
}
else {
text("Windpseed is high! Take it easy out there!", 50, 150);
x= x - 5;
z = z - 8;
y = y + 5;
}
The numeric values are random numbers I chose, this proved to be very temperamental as the slightest change in the number can result in a completely different animation, as it changes how and where the ellipses fall. It also changes the speed of which they move around the screen, I simply did trial and error with this values till I found an effect I liked for both parts of my IF statement.
Lastly I thought I would explain this..
filter(18);
filter(11);
The filter function is a very artistic function and gave me the wave/ripple/cloud effect when the ellipses move. It distorts the image or in my case my ellipses to create a tail of colour. The numeric value of filter can also be very temperamental however this is a good thing as it makes for very varied animations, and I think it matches my specification perfectly.
So conclusion? Im proud of my work. At the start i hated processing and could not get to grips with it. However tutorials like with most things are a god send! The process was frustrating as I had to learn further before I could really start my sketch, when I just wanted to get it done. There is obviously a lot I still dont understand but I feel through this assignment ive covered the basics and more. As a note its much easier to sign the applet on a mac terminal window as opposed to windows CMD. This process was made simple thanks to Chris saunders. As well as Chris a big thanks goes to
www.learnprocessing.org as it has been a huge help!
My processing sketch is available on
http://busy-signal.co.uk/processing.html
