This is a 6 week workshop. Saturdays, noon-4pm, October 20-December 1st (Except November 10)

Have you been working with Processing or ActionScript, but need more performance to realize your interactive project? Are you a JavaScript hacker who’d like to add c++ to her arsenal of skills? If so, it’s probably time to make the jump to openFrameworks, an open source c++ toolkit for creative coding. OpenFrameworks is not only a very powerful tool for creative coding, but a great way to enter the sometimes daunting world of c++. For just a few examples of the type of things that are possible with openFrameworks, check out the oF gallery here.

This 6-week intensive workshop is for coders who are already familiar with object oriented programming concepts, but would like to dive into openFrameworks. We will cover topics such as interfacing with web services, intermediate-level oF/openGL classes, common computer vision techniques, and working with addons. For a full list of topics covered, please see the agenda below.

Participants are encouraged (but not required) to come in with a specific idea for a project they’d like to do. Each week, we will work for 3 hours on covering new concepts, and then (time permitting) spend the last hour working on individual projects.

A word about prerequisites: This is an intermediate level workshop. You must be comfortable with object oriented programming concepts to participate. If you aren’t sure whether you are ready to take this workshop, please ask me. If you would like to take this workshop but aren’t sure you meet the prerequisites, please contact me and let me know. If there is enough interest, I will run a 3 week “Introduction to Creative Coding with openFrameworks” workshop before this one.

Agenda This is is a rough outline of the topics that we will

cover in the workshop. I will try my best to get through every topic listed here. However, at Kitchen Table Coders we keep wokshop sizes very small so that we can personalize each one as much as possible. So it may change over the course of the class based on interest and skill level.

Week 1: Oct 20 - Introduction

  • openFrameworks introduction
  • basic drawing and colors
  • ofImage vs ofTexture (what’s the difference?)
  • using vectors in 2D and 3D space
  • ofTrueTypeFont, ofDirectory
  • ofVideoGrabber, ofVideoPlayer
  • the dreaded pointer
  • arrays
  • the ‘new’ operator

Week 2: Oct 27- openGL

  • matrix transformations
  • ofMesh (ofVBO, ofVboMesh)
  • ofCamera
  • ofFbo
  • ofShader

Week 3: November 3 - Networking

  • ofxOSC (for communicating between machines)
  • ofURLFileLoader
  • interfacing with web services (REST, JSON)
  • Flickr, Twitter, YouTube
  • basic regular expressions
  • calling command line programs from within oF

Week 4: November 17 - Computer Vision

  • sifting through pixels
  • isolate a single color in video input
  • background subtraction
  • blob detection
  • blob tracking

Week 5: November 24: Box2D

Box2D is a powerful physics library that will allow you to have realistic-looking reactions and behaviors within your app. If you are interested in making a 2D game, this library is for you.

Week 6: December 1: Addons

  • finding addons
  • using addons (I’ll take suggestions here)
  • creating addons

About Kitchen Table Coders:

Hi, we’re David, Amit, Ted, Tims & Jeff. We design software & hardware for a living and share a studio in Brooklyn. We’re ever curious about new and old languages, as well as the people who shaped them. Sometimes we teach graduate courses, so we figured why not do informal workshops at our studio with like-minded folk. Every week we host a workshop on a topic we’re passionate about. We keep it down to 6 people because that’s how many fit around our kitchen table. There’s no projector. We just hang out for the day, and enjoy a collaborative learning experience. Check out our previous workshops or more info!

For updates and news, follow us on twitter @ktcoders