Snowfall

Individual - RMIT Graduate Student - July to August 2024

I coded in JavaScript to create visual artwork in p5.js and Processing that can interact with a user’s mouse. I was inspired by code previously written by Open Processing user jung.

Click on the interactive window to change the animation’s properties via keyboard input by typing the letters “s”, “m”, “l”, “b”, or “r”.

Inspiration

I first recreated the code on my own by replicating how the balls fall and are repelled by a mouse. The difference between the inspiration code and my adaptation is that I used vectors for position, speed, and acceleration, while the original author used numerical variables. I also kept the ball radius and color constant throughout the code.

To develop the design further, I started exploring different ways to influence the behavior of the balls. I set the ball spawn location to be a random location along a diagonal line along the screen. Then, I reversed the behavior of the ball to the mouse by having the balls be slightly attracted to the mouse. I also removed the influence of “gravity” by taking out the vertical acceleration of a ball.

My code’s behavior is based on various keystrokes.