I learned a lot from this attempt however. The acrylic rods holding the letters were just too flexible once put in the frame. They rubbed against one another causing letters to be knocked off. The foam frame held up well and served its purpose perfectly, the columns were just too loose. I could not get them taught enough.

Here is a picture of that frame.

This is just a short set back however. Having the lines assembled and standing, even though brief, refreshed my energy for this sculpture. My initial attempt to not have a solid physical body holding up the letters is just unavoidable. I think in the next attempt I will attach the letters to a flat surface and then bend that surface into a cylindrical shape. This will allow for a much speedier production and a much more rigid form which this project needs.

Here are the rest of the pictures of the assembled columns as they were before disintegrating.

FML

I spent last night organizing them all alphabetically. There were a few more than 2000 letters.

Here is the end result.

The colors and size may still end up being tweaked and a new font will probably be chosen, but this is pretty much the completed functionality for the code.

There may be one more update with some stylistic changes, variable names, font choice, colors, etc. But functionally it will be the same.

Here is the newest rendition.

 1 import processing.core.*;  
 2 import java.io.*;
 3
 4 public class HelloQuine extends PApplet {
 5     // the size of the stage
 6     private final int WIDTH  = 1280, HEIGHT = 740;
 7     // shape rotation values
 8     private float zRotation = 0, xRotation = 0, yRotation = -1;
 9     // shape translation values
10     private float xMove = WIDTH/2, yMove = HEIGHT/4, zMove = HEIGHT/4;
11     // structures the characters to display
12     char[][] charMatrix; // in the form char[tall][across]
13     File sourceFile;    
14
15     /** Do everything that should be done before objects are drawn. **/
16     public void setup() {
17         size(WIDTH, HEIGHT, P3D); // the size of the stage
18         lights(); // give the stage some ambient light
19         textFont(loadFont("Univers66.vlw.gz"), 8);
20
21         sourceFile = new File("C:\\Users\\Trip\\Desktop\\eclipse\\" +
22                 "workspace\\HelloQuine\\src\\HelloQuine.java");
23         try {
24             charMatrix = new char[countLines()][80];
25             for (int x = 0; x < charMatrix.length; x++) {
26                 for (int y = 0; y < charMatrix[0].length; y++) {
27                     charMatrix[x][y] = ‘ ‘;
28                 }
29             }
30             loadChars();
31         } catch (IOException e) {}
32     }
33
34     /** Repeatedly called to keep drawing to the screen. **/
35     public void draw() {
36         background(0,0,0);  // the background color in RGB
37         pushMatrix();   // start developing a shape
38             translate(xMove, yMove, zMove);
39             rotateX(xRotation); rotateY(yRotation); rotateZ(zRotation);  
40             drawCylinder(100, 80);  
41         popMatrix();    // draw the shape to the screen
42     }
43
44     /** Draw a cylinder of the specified dimensions to the screen. **/
45     public void drawCylinder(float radius, float sides) {
46         float angle = 180;
47         float angleIncrement = radians(360 / sides);
48
49         // draw letters to the screen
50         fill(0×88, 0×99, 0xFF);
51         for (int j = 0; j < charMatrix.length; j++, angle = 180) { // rows
52             for (int i = 0; i < sides; i++) { // letters
53                 beginShape();
54                     text(charMatrix[j][i], 0, j * 9, radius);
55                     rotateY(angleIncrement);
56                 endShape();
57                 angle -= angleIncrement;
58             }
59         }
60     }
61
62     /** Load characters from the source file into the matrix. **/
63     private void loadChars() throws IOException {
64         BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(sourceFile));
65         String line;
66         char[] chars;
67         int lineCount = 0;
68
69         while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
70             chars = line.toCharArray();
71             for (int i = 0; i < chars.length; i++) {
72                 charMatrix[lineCount][i] = chars[i];
73             }
74             lineCount++;
75         }
76     }
77
78     /** Count the lines in the source file. **/
79     private int countLines() throws IOException {
80         int lineCount = 0;
81         BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(sourceFile));
82
83         while ((in.readLine()) != null) { lineCount++; }
84         return lineCount;
85     }
86 }

Computer Programming as an Art

Hacking Perl In Nightclubs

The Manifesto of Futurist Programmers

Works by Ben Fry:
Revisionist
deprocess

Here are some images of the object that this code generates.

Also, I found a nice way to post code in here as well, surprisingly GVim has an option to convert whatever it is displaying into html formatted text. Here is a portable version for Windows that doesn’t require any installation.

HelloQuine.java – Draws the cylinder to the screen.

 1 import processing.core.*;
 2
 3 public class HelloQuine extends PApplet{
 4     //shape rotation values
 5     private float zRotation = 0;
 6     private float xRotation = (float) -0.2;
 7     private float yRotation = 0;
 8     private float xTranslate = width/2+400;
 9     private float yTranslate = height/2+175;
10     private float zTranslate = 200;
11
12     /**
13      * setup
14      * do all of the things that should be done before objects are
15      * drawn to the stage.
16      */
17     public void setup(){
18         size(900, 600, P3D);      //the size of the stage
19         textFont(loadFont("Ziggurat.vlw"), 8);
20     }
21     
22     /**
23      * draw
24      * repeatedly called to keep drawing to the screen.
25      */
26     public void draw(){
27         lights();                     //give the stage some ambient light
28         background(0×000000);         //the background color in RGB
29         noStroke();                       //hide the wire frame
30         
31         pushMatrix(); //start developing a shape
32         
33         translate(xTranslate, yTranslate, zTranslate);    //moves the shape
34         rotateX(xRotation);               //rotates around the x axis
35         rotateY(yRotation);               //rotates around the y axis
36         rotateZ(zRotation);               //rotates around the z axis
37
38         //draw a cylinder object to the screen at the location specified above
39         drawCylinder(100, 100, 350, 80);  
40         
41         popMatrix();  //draw the shape to the screen
42     }
43     
44     /**
45      * drawCylinder
46      * draws a cylinder of the specified dimensions to the screen.
47      */
48     @SuppressWarnings("static-access")
49     public void drawCylinder(float topRadius, float bottomRadius,
50                                                     float tall, int sides) {
51         float angle = 0;  
52         float angleIncrement = TWO_PI / sides;
53         
54         fill(0×88, 0×99, 0xFF);
55         CharacterMatrix cm = null;
56         try {
57             cm = new CharacterMatrix("C:\\Users\\Trip\\Desktop\\eclipse\\" +
58                                 "workspace\\HelloQuine\\src\\HelloQuine.java");
59         }
60         catch (Exception e) {}
61         
62         //draw letters to the screen
63         for(int j = 0; j < cm.getCharMatrix().length; j++){   //strips
64             for(int i = 0; i < sides ; i++) {            //letters
65                 text(cm.getCharMatrix()[j][i], topRadius*cos(angle)-5,
66                                     ((i*20)/80)+j*8, topRadius*sin(angle));
67                 angle -= angleIncrement*2;
68             }
69         }
70     }
71     
72     /**
73      * keyPressed
74      * constantly listened to by the PApplet.
75      */
76     public void keyPressed(){
77         //listen to the non lettered keys
78         if(key == CODED) {
79             if (keyCode == RIGHT) {     yRotation -= .03; }
80             else if (keyCode == LEFT) { yRotation += .03; }
81             else if (keyCode == UP) {   xRotation += .03; }
82             else if (keyCode == DOWN) { xRotation -= .03; }
83         }
84         /* listen to the letter keys */
85         else if(key == ‘w’){ zTranslate += 2; }
86         else if(key == ‘a’){ xTranslate -= 2; }
87         else if(key == ‘s’){ zTranslate -= 2; }
88         else if(key == ‘d’){ xTranslate += 2; }
89         else if(key == ‘r’){ yTranslate -= 2; }
90         else if(key == ‘f’){ yTranslate += 2; }
91     }
92     private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
93 }

CharacterMatrix.java – Reads in a text file and turns it into a matrix.

 1 import java.io.*;
 2
 3 public class CharacterMatrix {
 4     
 5     private static  char[][] charMatrix;   //in the form char[across][tall]
 6     private static String    sourcePath;   //path to the source file
 7     private static File      sourceFile;   //objected source file
 8     
 9     /** CharacterMatrix **/
10     public CharacterMatrix(String filePath) throws IOException{
11         sourcePath = filePath;
12         sourceFile = new File(sourcePath);
13         charMatrix = new char[countLines(sourceFile)][80];
14         fillMatrixWithSpaces(charMatrix);
15         loadChars(charMatrix);
16     }
17
18     private void fillMatrixWithSpaces(char[][] matrix) {
19         for(int x = 0; x < matrix.length; x++){
20             for(int y = 0; y < matrix[0].length; y++){
21                 matrix[x][y] = ‘ ‘;
22             }
23         }
24     }
25
26     public static char[][] getCharMatrix() {
27         return charMatrix;
28     }
29
30     private void loadChars(char[][] matrix) throws IOException {
31         BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(sourceFile));
32         String line; char[] chars;
33         int lineCount = 0;
34         
35         while((line = in.readLine()) != null){
36             chars = line.toCharArray();
37             for(int i = 0; i < chars.length; i++){
38                 matrix[lineCount][i] = chars[i];
39             }
40             lineCount++;
41         }
42     }
43
44     private int countLines(File file) throws IOException {
45         int lineCount = 0;
46         BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
47         
48         while ((in.readLine()) != null) { lineCount++; }
49         
50         in.close();
51         return lineCount;
52     }
53 }