Form Generator

Description

For this project, we were to make a simple generator that creates multiple variations of the form through mouse or keyboard interactions. The shape can be anything from a face, a plant, or a piece of furniture. Or it can be an abstract form that can shapeshift and transform. We had to include the following technical components in our sketch: User-defined variables, random(), mousePressed() or keyPressed().

Design Process

I knew going in that I wanted my form to be based on something that existed in the real world. I looked through some examples and was drawn to the ability to change colors with the mouse either through clicks or movement. I wanted more than one effect to take place and knew that I could also change the size of an object by clicking the mouse so I settled on a fish (a goldfish/beta fish combination) staring at us as it floats in its aquarium. I created the body first by making an egg-shaped ellipse and settled on the color orange (255, 166, 77). I then moved onto the mouth and cheeks which were also made out of ellipses. This is where I wanted to include my first effect, the thought was to have the mouth open and shut and have the cheeks on either side of its mouth expand or collapse with it. I applied a randomized scale value to each. My next step was including some more features of the fish. I put in some eyes as well as a tail and dorsal fin. As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to include a color change so I had the colors of the body and the fins change with the movement of the cursor. Finally, I decided to add a bit of character to the background and added some bubbles that move with your cursor.

Reflection

The most difficult aspect of this project to me was figuring out what I was going to make. Once I found a form that I could animate, I was able to put it together fairly easily. When it came to the required technical components, I was happy to be able to include them in the main subject of the project instead of applying them to the background like my last one. This time it was markedly more difficult to figure out the code and how to have the effects move as I wanted them to. Ultimately, I am really pleased with how the animation looks. After a lot of trial and error, I was able to get the bubbles to move with the motion of the cursor relatively close to how I wanted them to. The mouth and cheeks look just right to me and I think the color changes add a lot of character. Feel free to hover your mouse around the image and click away to watch it come to life.