Yanc - Mastering OpenFrameworks: Creative Coding Demystified

Confuius said, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life". Probably this piece of wisdom is meant right for you. Maybe you have already found your vocation. Maybe you are just looking for it. Anyway there's something that made you take this book. If so, let me tell you a little story.

My name is Igor Tatarnikov, also known as Sodazot. I'm an artist, although not by my education, but rather by my way of life. I keep on looking for a new and interesting occupation to take up. I've had different hobbies. I've tried a lot of jobs.

Three years ago I didn't even think about the interactive video, although my major occupation at that time was making video clips. I used to employ the stop-motion technique combined with computer animation. I also did some filming. By the by I grew more and more interested in the live VJ performances and generative video. I began experimenting with different techniques and posted my clips on the Internet.

At the same time there appeared the first available depth camera - Microsoft Kinect on offer. After it, things went crazy. Hundreds of video clips with reviews and tests of this camera's possibilities appeared every day on the Net. I took an interest in it all and kept track of the news. Watching the possibilities displayed I got a lot of new creative ideas. And finally my friends presented me the gadget. Of course I was happy, but at first I lost my head and didn't know what to do with it.

Also, it was not long since one person had written me an e-mail asking for permission to use my experimental video clip in his lecture for the students. I gladly agreed and since then we've been communicating by e-mail. It happened that this man lived in Ekaterinburg and we were thousands of kilometers apart.

As we communicated, we found a lot of common interests and decided to do something together. My head was boiling with ideas. I drew lots of sketches, shared them all with my friend, and he knew how to put them to life using the openFrameworks toolkit. We took counsel and the discussions brought us even more new ideas.

So we created our first commercial project for a special event at one of the Moscow cinemas. It was a funny video installation, where the picture responded to the visitor's movements. Coming up to the screen, a visitor saw himself as a funny character. The visitors of the event liked it very much and our big customers were happythey played before the screen of the installation like children. We enjoyed the result of the work and it inspired us to create something new.

We've been working together for two years since and we've made several interesting and successful projects, using openFrameworks as our main tool. This is how our visual laboratory Kuflex was created. Our projects now grow more complicated and interesting, and our team became more and more numerous. We also work with musicians, artists, dancers, architects, and we have recently created a project with a real symphony orchestra.

If you still haven't guessed, I'll tell you that the friend with whom everything started is the author of this book Denis Perevalov.

The content of the book is based on our experience of creating interactive installations and performances. It teaches you the openFrameworks' multimedia capabilities and the principles of their usage for building interactive projects, which work with video, 3D graphics, sound, and cameras. The core of the book consists of the real working examples of projects for openFrameworks. Some of them are based on our works, the others were designed exclusively for this book. Besides, across the text you will find hints that will help you avoid many pitfalls in the practical use of openFrameworks.

Study openFrameworks, invent, and create your own projects and soon you'll realize that you can implement practically everything you can imagine using it.

Igor (Sodazot) Tatarnikov ,

Artist