Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art

Figure 13-8. Two Rotating Custom Cubes sketch
I made the cubes translucent in this example (by lowering the fill color alpha to below
255) so that you can see the inner cube. Notice how the two create() method calls automatically
invoke the correct version of the method, based on the argument passed to the
method.
I created another example using the Cube class that’s a little more interesting, and of
course a little more complicated. The sketch includes a bunch of small rotating, moving
cubes within a larger rotating cube (see Figure 3-9). When the inner cubes hit the boundaries
of the outer cube, they reverse direction. In addition, the cubes are all connected by
a line. There’s actually nothing in this sketch that you haven’t already looked at. However,
thinking in 3D space is definitely more confusing than in 2D. Again, I didn’t bother repeating
the code from the updated Cube or Point3D classes; just remember to include both
classes beneath the following code or in their own tabs.
// Cubes Contained Within a Cube
Cube stage; // external large cube
int cubies = 50;
Cube[]c = new Cube[cubies]; // internal little cubes
color[][]quadBG = new color[cubies][6];
// controls cubie's movement
float[]x = new float[cubies];
float[]y = new float[cubies];
float[]z = new float[cubies];
float[]xSpeed = new float[cubies];
float[]ySpeed = new float[cubies];
float[]zSpeed = new float[cubies];
3D
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