Basic Particle System with Processing

This is my first set of experiments with particle systems. Here I have put together a very simply system that basically manages an array of particles in what I am calling an Emitter. I learned a bunch of really interesting things (and continue to do so) with this experiment. I am having alot of fun exploring what that amazing little equation from my main man Isaac Newton can do, F=ma... or more importantly for this system a=F/m.

I am really not doing anything new and exciting here but it just feels good to watch the resulting image from running this. Take a look at my code, let me know what you think. I have read through Daniel Shiffmans Nature of Code a bunch of times so my resulting logic models alot of his. My goal with these explorations is to gain a better understanding of the artistic medium that I am exploring. That is, using the computer as a medium for generative art. I have discovered Processing as an awesome tool for achieving this although I do believe it is a little more convenient to distribute a .swf with the Flash player but hey, both are fun!

In this iteration I have a bunch of particles going on a random walk using a random force to guide them on their way. I call it the emitForce in the program. The resulting image is the artifact of the path each individual particle took. I used a Christmas style color palette just to keep with the times. Looks kind of like Christmas confetti and then like worms as it evolves. Clicking the image will tell the program to re-emit the particles or it will automatically redraw every few seconds.

Click here to launch the program and access the code.

Happy Holidays!!