genartlib

A Clojure library with simple utilities for creating generative artwork.

This library is built around Quil, a Clojure wrapper around the Processing framework. However, most of the functions are just mathematical utilies that could be used idependently.

To see and read about my artwork, visit tylerxhobbs.com or follow me on Instagram or Twitter.

Usage

To install, add this to your dependencies in project.clj:

[genartlib "1.1.1"]

Dependencies

This version of genartlib is compatible with Processing 4.x and Quil 4.x. It has been tested with JDK 21.

The previous 0.x versions of genartlib were compatible with Processing/Quil 3.x and JDK 1.8.

View the API Docs.

The genartlib library has the following tools:

Project Template

Under project-template/, you'll find the basic setup that I use for every new generative art project. This is geared towards creating static images.

`genartlib.algebra`

The following algebra-ish functions are defined:

avg - average
interpolate / interpolate-multi - linear interpolation
rescale - map from one range to another
line-intersection - find the intersection of two lines
lines-intersection-point - another way to find line intersections
slope / point-slope - get the slope of a line
y-intercept - get the y intercept point of a line
angle / point-angle - get the angle between two points in radians
angular-coords - calculate the offset location from a base point with angle and magnitude
point-dist - distance between two points
point-to-line-dist - distance from a point to a line

`genartlib.geometry`

polygon-contains-point? - a fast test for checking if a point falls inside a polygon
rotate-polygon - rotates around the average center of the poly
shrink-polygon - shrink by a ratio

`genartlib.curves`

chaikin-curve - a curve-smoothing algorithm
chaikin-curve-retain-ends - a variation that preserves the original end points
curve-length - calculate the total length of a curve
split-curve-with-step - break up a curve into chunks with the given length
split-curve-into-parts - break up a curve into chunks with equal length, given a number of parts to have
interpolate-curve - find a point that is a given percentage along the length of a curve
line-simplification - an implementation of the Ramer-Douglas-Peucker line simplification algorithm
trim-curve-to-bounds - returns a seq of sub-curves that are entirely within the bounds of the image
trim-curve-start - removes the specified length from the start of a curve
trim-curve-end - removes the specified length from the end of a curve

`genartlib.random`

gauss - sample a gaussian probability distribution
abs-gauss - basically shorthand for (abs (gauss ....))
gauss-range - returns a seq of integers from zero to a value sampled from a Guassian distribution
triangular - sample a triangular probability distribution
simple-triangular - like triangular, but assumes a = 0 and b = c
pareto-sampler / pareto-sample - sample a pareto probability distribution
random-point-in-circle - uniform sampling of points within a circle
odds - returns true or false with the given probability
choice - pick from a list of items with uniform probability
weighted-choice - pick from a list of items, each with an assigned probability
repeatable-shuffle - a version of shuffle that uses Processing's Random, in order to ensure repeatability with the same seed
limited-shuffle - performs n swaps on a seq in order to partially shuffle it

`genartlib.plotter`

sort-curves-for-plotting - sorts a seq of curves in order to minimize plotter travel distance

`genartlib.poisson-disc`

poisson-disc-sample - generate a seq of points from a Poisson disc set with a guaranteed minimum spacing

Capture

This namespace contains a set of macros that are useful for capturing draw operations in a sketch, and recording them (or translating) them to another format, such as an SVG that is suitable for plotting. The nice part is that the sketch will still function as normal.

with-plotter-svg-capture - create an svg file representing all line and shape operations that is suitable for plotting with an Axidraw. Note that Processing functions other than these two (e.g. ellipse, or bezier curves, or transformations) are not yet supported and are ignored.
with-command-capture - captures many draw operations in an EDN format that is easy to manipulate with Clojure
command-replay/command-replay-file - replays the results of with-command-capture

Utils

w and h - shorthand for expressing a length or position in terms of percentage of the image width or height - good for using a pseudo-vector approach to creating images
pi - shorthand for (* Math.PI value)
set-color-mode - set the color mode to HSV with ranges H [0, 360], S [0.0, 100.0], V [0.0, 100.0], alpha [0.0, 1.0]
in? / not-in? - test if a seq contains an item
between? - is a value inside an inclusive range?
enumerate - turns a seq of items into a seq like ([0 item-0] [1 item-1] [2 item-2] ...)
zip - combine two or more seqs into tuples
snap-to - snap a value to a given window size, kind of like configurable rounding
vec-remove - remove an item from a vector
distinct-key - given a function f to uniquely identify items, extracts all of the distinct values in a collection