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Topic: letter shaped particle systems (Read 626 times) |
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sspboyd
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letter shaped particle systems
« on: Sep 24th, 2004, 9:56pm » |
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I am trying to create a particle system that begins within the confines of a letter shape.
I think I remember seeing something Charles Hinshaw had done that was similar but I cannot find the thread anymore.
I want to have particles moving around within a letter shape and then at some point determined by user interaction have the particles 'released' from the shape of the letter and free to travel within the window.
Any pointers or ideas?
Thanks,
Steve
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gmail.com w/ sspboyd username
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forkinsocket
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Re: letter shaped particle systems
« Reply #3 on: Nov 21st, 2004, 11:24am » |
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one way to do this:
1. create a gif or jpeg of the letter you'd like to start with. this gives you precise control of the form and typeface. be sure that the image is the same size as the processing canvas you plan to draw on. be sure you are designing with black type above white background.
2. import the image into your processing program but do not draw the image on screen.
3. instead, loop through the pixels in the image. if there is a black pixel, take note of its (x, y) position and place a particle in the corresponding location on screen.
4. now all of your particles are intialised in the shape of the letterform composition you have designed.
yippee. hope that helps.
ps. this is a pretty common idea. if you poke through flong.com, you will find an applet (from the late 1990s) that does something like this.
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| « Last Edit: Nov 21st, 2004, 11:24am by forkinsocket » |
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