Project #1 Title
Description
In parameterized design, you are a conductor rather than an individual musician. Instead of producing a single design where you have to draw out all the details step by step, you are using code to create a set of parameters that generate a variety of results. For Assignment 2, you will explore the possibility of a form through its parameters. Then you will create a simple generator that will create multiple variations of the form through mouse or keyboard interactions. This is an individual assignment. You are welcome to ideate and brainstorm with your peers, but the work you submit should be your own.
Design Process
I started out with a sketch of my cat in two different sizes. Originally I had planned for the cat to vary in size and color. However, I quickly realized that scaling the triangles I used for the ears was really difficult. Triangles are defined by coordinates, so trying to scale them resulted in them moving across the canvas too. I decided to leave the project for a few days and circle back to it. Ultimately this was the right choice. I took a deep breath and just sketched out the cat like a regular code drawing, without overthinking the formatting. I added whiskers and made the cat's tongue stick out a little. I was worried the tongue would look silly, but it made the rest of the process really fun. It was hard to get angry with my code when the code just made a silly looking cat. I then made three random variables. One for the eyes, one for the cat, and one for the background. I tried to see if I could get the code to make the cat and background complementary colors, but that was a little too much. I tied the random variables to mouse clicks, so each time you click you can get a different color cat. I took what I learned from trying to find complementary colors, and decided to change the color of the cat's tongue. I wanted the color of the tongue to be random shades of light pink, so I defined a new set of three random color variables with parameters. This way, the cat's togue would always have a little more red than other colors, but would always be a shade of pink.
Reflection
I went into this project feeling overwhelmed, but I learned to go a little easier on myself and instead of pushing myself too hard, I ended up happy with what I created. I learned that taking a step back and just playing around with new concepts was really helpful. I learned how to improvise a little bit and to code things that make me happy while working on them. I also learned a little bit more about how to solve my own problems. Earlier this week I was really struggling getting used to drawing using coordinates. I thought it would be really great if there was a p5js code to tell you where your mouse was on the screen! I ended up just powering through my little cat sketch, but after I finished I found a code for it online!
The code can be found here and makes this https://codepen.io/jafish/pen/oejKeJ
I tweaked the code a bit. I wanted it to tell be the coordinates of a point clicked on a 400x400 grid, like the one we use for class projects. I ended up with this:
I'm really proud of myself that I was able to understand and customize some code to make something I wanted.