I attended the 5D conference in Long Beach, California last weekend and am happy to say Processing was mentioned, used and hailed as the tool of choice.

Ben Fry and Casey Reas' name were dropped a few times, once by Paula Antonelli (curator of Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit at the MoMa - http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/).  Ben's work was shown (the chimp vs human image).

Jonathan Harris' work with Processing was touched upon.

David Kung—Vice (president, creative director, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online) briefly spotlighted Processing.

Processing was actually used live when Alex McDowell (founder of the 5D conference and production designer on Watchmen and Minority Report) showed off his collaboration with MIT on an opera stage design.

No other tool was getting such specific attention.



The conference itself was pretty inspiring.  I walked away more inspired by 3 panels there than I've been by the last 3 Siggraphs.

A wild variety of disciplines were let loose on each other in explosive, often messy panels that lead to some of the most creative on-stage brainstorming I've personally witnessed.


Hoping that this spirit will persist into the years to come, I would highly recommend attending 5D next year.  


http://www.5dconference.com/


Tom

I was at 5D on Saturday, but had to miss Sunday! Disappointing to miss these specific presentations. Thank you for reporting.

Casey