Math Models for Creative Coders

Introduction

We will study several Mathematical Models and apply them to Art and Design. The algorithms will be examined and then coded in R and/or p5.js; however other open source tools (FOSS) may also be introduced as and when needed.

This course stands on “three legs”: Maths, Code + Tech, and Artifacts, as shown below. As this course grows and hopefully becomes popular ;-D, more and more of these modules below will become reality!

Math Experiments with Code

Maths	Code + Tech	Artifacts
Iterated Functions Complex Numbers Random Numbers Vector Algebra Fourier Series Perlin Noise	p5.js / Processing Shapes Stack, Push and Pull, Translate Vectors Recursion Constructors and OOP	Fractals Kolams Angolan Sona Patterns L-Systems Symmetries Textures
Electrical System Theory (poles / zeroes / resonance…)? DSP basics? AM/FM/PM Modulation? Bessel Functions? Waves / Echoes ? Nonlinearities / Saturation / Hysteresis?	Adding External Libraries Camera, Sound and Mic Handphone based Interactions OSP Protocol based interactions with external hardware over WiFi / BT	Sound Video Text Crowd-Sourced acts ( jam session / flash-techno mob..)? Mouse / Touchpad Orchestra?
Classification, Regression Matrix Algebra Training and Backpropagation	ml5.js libraries	Multi-Layer Perceptrons Convolutional Neural Networks Pose, Gesture, and Face Detection
Complexity and Emergent Phenomena? “Literary” Events with Tech?	Interfacing with Makey-Makey / Arduino / Raspberry Pi? Sensors? Working with other materials like sand, water, paper, wood, cloth, balloons ? “Action at a Distance” using say IFTTT?	Friendship Networks? Games? Public Space Installations? Simulations? Remote Education with Gesture tracking and live Coding?

References

General

1. Bret Victor. Learnable Programming. https://worrydream.com/LearnableProgramming/

2. Michael Nielsen.(February 2016). Toward an exploratory medium for mathematics. https://cognitivemedium.com/emm/emm.html

p5.js and Processing

1. Coding Train with Dan Shiffman:

   • Website: https://thecodingtrain.com/
   • Github: https://github.com/CodingTrain/website-archive

2. p5.js Wiki. https://github.com/processing/p5.js/wiki

3. https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-p5js

4. https://www.codecademy.com/courses/learn-p5js/articles/p5js-creating-a-local-project

5. https://openprocessing.org

6. https://happycoding.io/tutorials/p5js/

7. https://www.codecademy.com/content-items/5e5c0d2a7b20535fbe8aed05e739e027

8. Rune Madsen. Programming Design Systems. https://programmingdesignsystems.com. A free digital book that teaches a practical introduction to the new foundations of graphic design.

R language related

1. Thomas Lin Pedersen:

   • Website: https://www.data-imaginist.com/art
   • Website: https://ambient.data-imaginist.com/index.html (R package ambient)
   • Github:

2. Antonio Sánchez Chinchón:

   • Website: https://fronkonstin.com
   • Github: https://github.com/aschinchon/abstractions

3. Danielle Navarro’s Generative Art:

   • Website: https://art-from-code.netlify.app
   • Github: https://github.com/arvindvenkatadri/art-from-code (forked by me)
   • Website: https://art-from-code.netlify.app

4. Claus Wilke:

   • Website: https://clauswilke.com/art/

5. Generative Art by Katharina Brunner:

   • Github:https://github.com/cutterkom/generativeart
   • Webpage:https://katharinabrunner.de/generativeart/

6. William Chase:

   • Website: https://www.williamrchase.com/
   • Github: https://github.com/will-r-chase
   • Blog Posts: https://www.williamrchase.com/writing/
     • https://buttondown.email/willchase/archive/the-generative-art-dataviz-spectrum/
     • https://www.williamrchase.com/post/strange-attractors-12-months-of-art-february/
     • https://www.williamrchase.com/writing/2019-09-30-flow-fields-12-months-of-art-september/
     • https://www.williamrchase.com/writing/2019-08-30-12-months-of-art-august/
     • Poisson Disc sampling https://www.williamrchase.com/writing/2019-07-29-textues-and-geometric-shapes-12-months-of-art-july/ and the poissoned R package by @coolbutuseless

7. Marcus Volz:

   • Website: https://marcusvolz.com
   • Github: https://github.com/marcusvolz

8. https://generative.substack.com/p/generative-art-and-r

9. https://paulvanderlaken.com/2020/05/02/generative-art-computer-design-painting/

10. https://www.bigbookofr.com/art.html#thinking-outside-the-grid---a-bare-bones-intro-to-rtistry-concepts-in-r-using-ggplot

Deep Learning and AI

1. Practical Deep Learning for Coders https://course.fast.ai/
2. Michael Nielsen. http://neuralnetworksanddeeplearning.com/index.html

Using Other Tools

1. https://generatecoll.medium.com/how-i-used-excel-to-create-abstract-album-artwork-fee740d4414f

2. Random Digital Beauty. https://anaselk.com/p/generative-r/

3. Making Explanations (tools): https://explorabl.es/tools/

Tools

1. Using p5 in R. https://alistaire.rbind.io/blog/p5-in-r/

2. createCanvas Podcast. https://soundcloud.com/processingfoundation

3. https://processingfoundation.org/education

4. https://nannou.cc

5. https://openframeworks.cc/

6. https://libcinder.org

7. Sophia Crespo: (makes speculative biological creatures using neural networks)

   • Website: https://sofiacrespo.com/
   • Website: https://entangledothers.studio/
   • Github:

Other Interesting Websites and Works

1. The Book of Shaders by Patricio Gonzalez Vivo and Jen Lowehttps://thebookofshaders.com/
2. Scott Murray’s D3 Art page: https://scottmurray.org/
3. Inigo Quilez, Digital Artist: https://iquilezles.org/ (ShaderToy, GraphToy, and MadeThisThing)
4. Reddit Generative Art Forum. https://www.reddit.com/r/generative/

Creative Coding Courses Elsewhere

1. Allison Parrish. https://creative-coding.decontextualize.com

2. Matthew Bardin. https://pdm.lsupathways.org