Hi, totally new to Processing...
I need to create a few spheres and manipulate them. So normally (actionscript) I would create shapes and push them in an array. How do I do that in Processing? It looks like sphere() does not return anything... thanks.

that is correct. so it does not answer my question how i create a few of them and then let's say move them around the screen.

so, i would continuously re-draw the spheres and manipulate the positions?

Quote:

exactly.

Actually, you want an array of spheres, but Processing doesn't have built-in sphere objects : only a graphic sphere() method which draws a sphere at a certain position, that's all.

Start with a custom Sphere class describing what a sphere is, from your point of view, and then simply put them in a array :

Code:

class Sphere {
  
  // position, radius and color
  float x, y, z;
  float r;
  color c;
  
  // simple constructor
  public Sphere(float x, float y, float z, float r, color c) {
    this.x = x;
    this.y = y;
    this.z = z;
    this.r = r;
    this.c = c;
  }
  
  // display the sphere on the screen
  void display() {
    fill(c);
    pushMatrix();
	translate(x, y, z);
	sphere(r);
    popMatrix();
  }
  
} 

Code:

Sphere[] arrayOfSpheres;

void setup() {
  // set up the array
  arrayOfSpheres = new Sphere[10];
  arrayOfSpheres[0] = new Sphere(0, 0, 0, 5, color(100));
  // ...
  arrayOfSpheres[9] = new Sphere(10, 0, 0, 7, color(50));
}

void draw() {
  // clear the screen
  background(255);
  // display the spheres
  for (int i = 0; i < arrayOfSpheres.length; i++) {
    arrayOfSpheres[i].display();
  }
} 

one more question -
when I draw spheres, here's the display method from the Sphere class -
void display() {
   
   fill(c);
   smooth();
   noStroke();
   pushMatrix();
  translate(x, y, z);
  sphere(r);
  popMatrix();

 }

the spheres turn out to be segmented. like I can see faces that comprise a sphere. is there a way to make the sphere surface continues?

sorry, I probably was not clear enough.. when I use smooth() and noStroke()  I can see the faces being separated; in other words - where the stroke would go, I can see a gap.  
If I do not use smooth() the gaps disappear but then the edges are extremely aliased. So using smooth () is the only option but then how do I get rid of those gaps?