Software

Basically, there are two steps to get you going:

  1. Download PROCESSING 3.0a9 or later and extract it anywhere you want.
  2. Download the VisualCube library 2.0.0 and extract it into ~/Documents/Processing.
  3. You may further download some of the additional collections of sketches listed below into ~/Documents/Processing.

VISUALCUBE1e3 LIBRARY FOR PROCESSING

Platform-neutral library for PROCESSING.

VisualCube1e3 Library v2.0.0 (Mac, Windows, Linux) (en) for Processing 3.x.

VisualCube1e3 Library v1.1.1 (Mac, Windows, Linux) (en) for Processing 1.x, deprecated.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

You first need the PROCESSING Development Environment. Pure PROCESSING distributions are available at processing.org/download. Library v2.0.0 is compatible with PROCESSING v3.x, and has been tested with v3.0a9. For library v1.1.1, you must get an older PROCESSING v1.x from the web archive. Either way, you have to add the following libraries to your installation:

  • VisualCube1e3 Library
    The actual library for accessing the VisualCube hardware and a 3D simulation window which also works without device. Some exemplary sketches are integrated to showcase what can be done with a few lines of code.
  • Sonia Sound Library v2.6 outdated, though not required for most visuals to work
    Together with SoundflowerBed, Sonia enables enabled Mac users to virtually redirect line-out signals to line-in. Other libraries like Minim do not use OSX’s Core Audio, and therefore are limited to the line-in jack offered by your macbook (mic input). Cf. http://processing.org/discourse/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1189352183/10 and http://www.sojamo.de/blog/2007/10/15/sound-routing/.

Since Processing 2.x, you just have to extract the library zip file into your PROCESSING sketches folder ~/Documents/Processing and (re)start the IDE. Detailed installation instructions are here.

Under Processing 1.x, the given libraries must be added into the processing application folder. For installing the old library v1.1.1 into PROCESSING 1.x, we further recommend using a small Linux in a VirtualBox. You also need to install a legacy Java 6 VM (Java 6 for Mac, Java 6 SE RTE for Linux and Windows).

PREINSTALLED PROCESSING IDEs

Beginning with PROCESSING 2.x, the library is installed into the user’s private sketches folder. Thus, it doesn’t make much sense to offer a combination of IDE and library.

Processing v1.0.5 + VisualCube1e3 Library v1.1.1 (Windows+Java) (en), deprecated
Processing v1.0.5 + VisualCube1e3 Library v1.1.1 (Mac) (en), deprecated
Processing v1.0.5 + VisualCube1e3 Library v1.1.1 (Linux) (en), deprecated

EXAMPLE SKETCHES FOR PROCESSING

Several attendees of GPN created visual effects and mini games for the cube.

GPN 13 Effects Collection

This collection of effects contains:

  • MetaBawls
  • Plasma
  • ShadeBob for Kinect
  • Tetris3D

HfG Xmas 2009 Effects Collection

The collection of effects includes:

  • _Effects2_  (main sketch for random effect switching)
  • StarOfBethlehem
  • TreeHunt
  • Waeldchen
  • xmastree

GPN8 Games Collection
GPN8 Effects Collection

The collection of games includes:

  • Connect5
  • DiamondBlast
  • Pong3D
  • SpaceInvaders

The collection of effects contains (besides example effects and some from previous events):

  • GPN8Effects (main sketch for random effect switching)
  • Fire (sadly enough, this got lost in the woods…)
  • Icon
  • LonelyWorm
  • Matrix
  • Punkte
  • RGB_roxxx
  • Starbirth
  • ThreePoints

The VisualCube library brings along a set of examples which can be opened under the PROCESSING IDE via File > Examples > Contributed Libraries > visualcube1e3. The selection includes effects contributed by GPN attendees and HfG workshop seminarists as well as our own examples:

  • Beats (requires the Minim library)
  • Benchmark (for testing the device)
  • Checkerboard
  • ColorCraze
  • Coordinates
  • Fan
  • Flash
  • GameOfLife
  • HAL9001
  • Icon
  • LonelyWorm
  • MagicMoodLamp
  • Metaballs
  • Mixballs (a Metaballs derivate)
  • Pulsating
  • Shadebob
  • Snoozing
  • SoundTowers (deprecated, requires the Sonia library)
  • Spiral
  • Sprites
  • WickedWorms
  • XRayMirrorBall

Important: With the latest library v2 and PROCESSING 2.x/3.x, you need to adjust the setup method this way, if not already done:

void setup() {
  size(800, 800, P3D);    // open 3D canvas
  cube.open("10.0.0.1");  // say hello to the cube
  cube.clear();           // clear the display
  cube.simulate();        // start the simulator
}

Compare this to prologue code for the old library v1:

void setup() {
  cube.open("192.168.2.173");  // say hello to the cube
  cube.clear();                // clear the display
  cube.simulate(800, 800);     // show simulator canvas
}

Note the new IP address and, more importantly, the call to size() must now appear as the first line in setup(). Else, the OpenGL context for the canvas is created in a different thread context.

Please respect copyrights by the authors as stated in the comments of each sketch.

WORKING WITH THE SOURCES

If you want to build the library from the latest sources, contribute bugfixes or new sketches, check out the cube’s Github project:

VisualCube1e3 Github Project with Library Sources and all the Sketches.

Here you can download the Eclipse project containing [the library’s source code and all the sketches](https://github.com/qvt/vc/archive/v2.0.0.zip) available. Experienced Java programmers may prefer to write, edit and debug Processing sketches directly under the Eclipse IDE instead of the PROCESSING IDE. If you are one of them, you can also checkout the whole Git repository into your Eclipse IDE. There are only minor differences between a Processing sketch and full Java.