October 2019 – ongoing
As we trace our paths through life, we turn, fall back, and encounter the lives and legacies of others. Persistence creates meaning in community, legacy, and society.
100 invisible dots trace paths across the screen. As they move forward, they create and strengthen the places they move through, rendering them visible upon the blank canvas. Moving backward weakens these places, and they fade. Futility continues until the user decides it should end.
Process
Created with Processing 3.5.4 and translated into p5.js, this project started as a simple algorithmic coding practice. The initial build generated lines which were not aware of whether they were moving forward or backward, but had nearly the desired functionality and aesthetic. After being tabled for several months, I rebuilt the sketch from the ground up using newly-learned Object-Oriented design process.
I used modified user diagrams and scenarios to generate objects and methods. The results informed the design of class diagrams and relationships:
This process was repeated until I felt prepared to start writing code. From there, I implemented the classes in Java with Processing IDE before translating them into JavaScript with the p5.js library. All of the versions referenced can be found at my GitHub.
