Fractal.Invaders, Substrate (Interview with Jared Tarbell) - Processing

number of pixels regardless of the length of the area being filled. This produces an interesting
density modulation across an even mass of pixels.
Why did you create this software?
For me, one of the most enjoyable subjects in computer science is combination. I ask myself
a question like, “Given some rules and a few simple objects, how many possible ways can they
be combined?” Seldom can I answer this using thought alone, mainly because the complexity
of even just a few elements is outside the realm of my imagination. Instead, I write computer
programs to solve it for me. Fractal.Invaders is definitely one of these questions, and is answered
completely with the rendering of every single invader. Substrate asks a similar question but with
results that, although beautiful, are a little less complete.
What software tools were used?
For Fractal.Invaders, I used a combination of Flash and custom software to create and
capture the invaders, respectively. In Flash, all work was done using ActionScript. A single
symbolic element (black square) exists in the library. Code takes this square and duplicates
it hundreds of thousands of times. The entire generative process takes about five minutes
to complete, depending on the size of the region to be filled and the speed of the execution.
Capturing a high-resolution image of the result is accomplished with a program that scales the
Shockwave Flash (SWF) file very large and saves the screen image out to a file.
Substrate was created entirely in Processing. Processing was particularly well suited for this
as it excels at drawing, especially when dropping millions of deep-color pixels. Processing can
also save out extremely large graphic images in an automated fashion. Oftentimes I will run a
Processing project overnight. In the morning I awake to a vast collection of unique images, the
best of which are archived as print editions.
Why did you use these tools?
I use Flash because I am comfortable working within it. I use Processing because it enables
me to do things Flash simply cannot. Both environments allow me to take a program from
concept to completion in a number of hours. Complex visual logic can be built up without the
bulky overhead required in more traditional graphic programming languages.
Flash excels at rendering very high resolution images nicely, displaying native vector
objects with a high degree of precision and full antialiasing. Processing gives me the
computational speed to increase the number of objects in the system by a magnitude of 20
or more. Both programs allow me to produce work that is capable of being viewed by a large
number of people worldwide.
Why do you choose to work with software?
With software, anything that can be imagined can be built. Software has a mysterious,
undefined border. Programming is truly a process of creating something from nothing. I enjoy
most John Maeda’s perspective: “While engaged in the deepest trance of coding, all one needs to
wish for is any kind of numerical or symbolic resource, and in a flash of lightning it is suddenly
there, at your disposal.”
Fractal.Invaders, 2004. Image courtesy of the artist.
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