hello,

sound interesting, but umh... little difficult.

When you speak of points and an attractor (as an own point or attraction among the points?), I have the impression you want to animate the points and make them move, influenced by the attractor. Difficult.
http://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/2097 attractor as an own point afaik
http://www.openprocessing.org/collection/1484 swarms...

you need to do one step after another


My idea for you

1. First step:

• Import one set of points of points
• display it on the screen

2. Then later

• Import several sets of points from different .txt files.
• display them on the screen in different colors
  
• make it so that the different sets can be switched on and off
• this can be done when you have one array for all of them and know from which index to which index each set goes. Have those start and stop in indices in another array

3. Still later

• start animate your points
• you could even think about to use your stored and loaded points (A) as attractors for a set of new points (B) that you create on the fly and that are randomly distributed points that move towards A
  

Greetings, Chrisir   

Thanks for your reply Chrisir.

hello,

here is a code for step 1 above.
You need to get your data from the txt by using loadstrings().
In my code this is only simulated.
To do it really, make line 2 without //
and make line 4-9 with // instead.
Also line 15 without // of course.

Name your txt as list.txt and copy it in your sketch folder.

Greetings, Chrisir   

1. // loadStrings or simulate it
2. // String[] TestCSV; //  loadStrings
3. // OR
4. String[] TestCSV = {  // simulate 
5.   "321,44",
6.   "11,18",
7.   "36,28",
8.   "144,156"
9. };
10. 
    
11. // your target
12. PVector [] points = new PVector[0];
13. 
    
14. void setup() {
15.   // runs once
    
16.   size(1000, 1000);
17.   //  loadStrings
18.   // TestCSV = loadStrings ("list.txt");
19.   println ("TestCSV.length is " + TestCSV.length );
20.   for (int i=0;i<TestCSV.length;i++) {
21.     String[] a1 = split(TestCSV [i], ",");
22.     // println ("a1.length is " + a1.length );
23.     PVector newVector = new PVector (float (a1[0]), float(a1[1]));
24.     points = (PVector[]) append (points, newVector);
25.   }
26.   println("points length is " + points.length);
27. } // func
28. 
    
29. void draw() {
30.   // runs again and again
    
31.   background(0);
32.  
    
33.   for (int i=0;i<points.length;i++) {
34.     fill(255, 33, i*70);
35.     noStroke();
36.     ellipse (points[i].x, points[i].y, 11, 11);
37.     stroke(255);
38.     point(points[i].x, points[i].y);
39.   }
40. } // func

same thing but with class

you might want to read
http://www.processing.org/learning/objects/

1. // loadStrings or simulate it
2. 
   
3. // this is the real loadStrings
4. // String[] TestCSV; //  loadStrings
5. 
   
6. // OR
7. 
   
8. String[] TestCSV = {  // simulate loadStrings
9.   "321,44",
10.   "121,18",
11.   "36,28",
12.   "144,156"
13. };
14. 
    
15. // your target: where you store you points
16. PointClass [] points = new PointClass[0];
17. 
    
18. void setup() {
19.   size(1000, 1000);
20. 
    
21.   // for loadStrings you need: 
22.   // TestCSV = loadStrings ("list.txt");
23. 
    
24.   println ("TestCSV.length is " + TestCSV.length  + ".");
25. 
    
26.   // loop csv and copy into points
27.   for (int i=0;i<TestCSV.length;i++) {
28.     // split one line to get its x and y value
29.     String[] a1 = split(TestCSV [i], ",");
30.     println ("a1.length for TestCSV ["+i+"] is " + a1.length  + ".");
31.     // make a new point-object of x and y value from this line
32.     PointClass newPointClass = new PointClass (float (a1[0]), float(a1[1]),
33.     color (random(255), random(255), random(255)));
34.     // copy the object at the end of our array points  
35.     points = (PointClass[]) append (points, newPointClass);
36.   }
37. 
    
38.   // done
39.   println("Array points length is " + points.length + ".");
40.   println("End of setup().  ----------------------------");
41. 
    
42. } // func
43. 
    
44. void draw() {
45. 
    
46.   background(0);
47. 
    
48.   // loop points and display them
49.   for (int i=0;i<points.length;i++) {
50.     points[i].display();
51.   } // for
52. 
    
53. } // func
54. //
55. // ===============================================================
56. //
57. class PointClass {
58.   float x, y;
59.   color col;
60.   float sizeOfPoint = 11;
61.   //
62. 
    
63.   PointClass(float x_, float y_, color col_) {
64.     x=x_;
65.     y=y_;
66.     col=col_;
67.   } // constructor
68. 
    
69.   //
70.   void display() {
71.     fill(col);
72.     noStroke();
73.     ellipse (x, y, sizeOfPoint, sizeOfPoint);
74.     stroke(255);
75.     point(x, y);
76.   } // method
77. 
    
78. } // class
79. //

Thanks, this is great. I'm trying to integrate this with the DM_10 sketch but I'm getting nowhere, it's very difficult, Also trying to separate the class into another tab but I have no idea how to do this..

i was actually following the 'classes' tutorial on plethora projects and trying to apply the logic. What I've been trying to do was split the loadstrings for TestCSV into another class, so that I could have multiple classes for different .txt imports..

to have diiferent sets of points I posted a solution under the point 2. Then later
above.


alternatively
alternatively you can have different sets as different parts of a 2D array
instead of

1. PointClass [] points = new PointClass[0];

Really appreciate your help though I have no idea how to do that, really am a novice. Also, there will approximately 1400 points in total. 

I don't have the time to do this for you or to look at the links you posted

here is an approach on how you can tackle your files.
here you can have different sets as different parts of a 2D array.

I couldn't test it, since I don't have the files.

Good luck!  

1. // this version can handle multiple files.
2. // each file is regarded as one set of points
3. // // each set has one color
4. //
5. // your txt files - put in your names
6. String[] namesOfMyTextfiles = {
7.   "list.txt",
8.   "list2.txt",
9.   "list2323.txt",
10.   "ab.txt",
11.   "sssssssss.txt",
12.   "t1.txt",
13.   "t2.txt"
14. };
15. // your target: where you store you points (2D grid)
16. PointClass [][] points ; 
17. final int maxPoints = 1500;
18. final int undefined = -100;
19. //
20. void setup() {
21.   size(1000, 1000);
22.   // all points of all sets
23.   points = new PointClass[ namesOfMyTextfiles.length ] [  maxPoints ];
24.   resetPoints() ;
25.   // loop all files
26.   for (int i=0;i<namesOfMyTextfiles.length;i++) {
27.     loadTheTextfileIntoMySetsOfPOints (  i, namesOfMyTextfiles [i] );
28.   }
29.   println("End of setup().  ----------------------------");
30. } // func
31. //
32. void draw() {
33.   background(0);
34.   // loop sets
35.   for (int currentSet_i=0;currentSet_i< namesOfMyTextfiles.length;currentSet_i++) {
36.     // loop points and display them
37.     for (int i=0;i< maxPoints;i++) {
38.       // if point not defined go to next set
39.       if (points[currentSet_i][i].x == undefined) {
40.         break;
41.       }
42.       else
43.       {
44.         points[currentSet_i][i].display();
45.       } // else
46.     } // for
47.   } // for
48. } // func
49. // ---------------------------------------------------------------
50. void resetPoints() {
51.   // init
52.   // pre-defined color
53.   color white = color (255, 255, 255);
54.   // loop sets
55.   for (int currentSet_i=0;currentSet_i<namesOfMyTextfiles.length;currentSet_i++) {
56.     // loop points
57.     for (int i=0;i< maxPoints;i++) {
58.       points[currentSet_i][i] = new PointClass (undefined, undefined, white );
59.     } // for
60.   } // for
61. } // func
62. //
63. void loadTheTextfileIntoMySetsOfPOints ( int currentSet_i, String currentNamesOfMyTextfile ) {
64.   String [] TestCSV;
65.   // for loadStrings you need: 
66.   TestCSV = loadStrings (currentNamesOfMyTextfile);
67.   println ("TestCSV.length is " + TestCSV.length  + ".");
68.   // each set has one color (random)
69.   color currentSetColor = color (random(255), random(255), random(255));
70.   int border = TestCSV.length;
71.   if (border > maxPoints) {
72.     border = maxPoints;
73.     println ("maxPoints to low for file " +currentNamesOfMyTextfile);
74.   }
75.   // loop csv and copy into points
76.   for (int i=0;i<border;i++) {
77.     // split one line to get its x and y value
78.     String[] a1 = split(TestCSV [i], ",");
79.     // println ("a1.length for TestCSV ["+i+"] is " + a1.length  + ".");
80.     // make a new point-object of x and y value from this line
81.     PointClass newPointClass = new PointClass (float (a1[0]), float(a1[1]), currentSetColor );
82.     // copy the object at the end of our array points  
83.     points[currentSet_i][i] = newPointClass;
84.   } // for
85.   // done
86.   println(currentSet_i+". Array points length is " + border + ".");
87. }
88. //
89. // ===============================================================
90. //
91. class PointClass {
92.   float x, y;
93.   color col;
94.   float sizeOfPoint = 11;
95.   //
96.   PointClass(float x_, float y_, color col_) {
97.     x=x_;
98.     y=y_;
99.     col=col_;
100.   } // constructor
101.   //
102.   void display() {
103.     fill(col);
104.     noStroke();
105.     ellipse (x, y, sizeOfPoint, sizeOfPoint);
106.     stroke(255);
107.     point(x, y);
108.     /*
109.     if (i>0) {
110.      line(points[i].x, points[i].y, points[i-1].x, points[i-1].y);
111.      } // if
112.      */
113.   } // method
114. } // class
115. //