Online Course:
Processing and Arduino in Tandem
Creating Your Own Digital Art Tools

This Online Training Course Has Concluded
The sessions were presented live during August and September, 2010.

Purchase the Video
Download the full online course for $89. Code examples and slides are included.

• Use Processing to create basic software applications
• Make your own drawing and animation tools
• Create a GUI (Graphical User Interface) to control your software
• Use an Arduino to provide physical controls for your drawing and animation tools

Create your own drawing and animation software–and learn basic programming and electronics skills at the same time. This engaging 5-week online course introduces you to two simple tools: Processing, a programming language for visual thinkers, and Arduino, a hardware platform for working with electronics. You'll learn how to use these tools together to build something useful right away.

You don't need programming or electronics experience to get started. Processing is easy to learn, and you'll get to know Arduino with a starter kit. You'll also have direct access to the instructor via online Q&A during the workshop. And here's the best part: the courses are free. It's a fun and inspiring way for designers, artists, and beginning programmers to learn basic graphics programming.

Download the full online course for $89. Code examples and slides are included. This video package is also available on Safari Books Online.

• Artists, designers, inventors and/or technicians who want to expand their digital toolkit
• Beginning to intermediate coders familiar with some programming basics
• Anyone interested in creating physical interfaces to their own custom software
• Creatives of all kinds who want to learn how to build their own digital art tools

• Mac OS X, Linux, or a Windows PC with Windows XP or Windows 7
• Processing IDE 1.2 or greater, available online at processing.org/download
• Arduino 0018 software, available online at arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
• ControlP5 GUI library for Processing, available online at www.sojamo.de/libraries/controlP5/
• The projBox Kit:
  • Available from MakerShed. This electronics kit contains everything you need, with no experience necessary. See details.
  • Build your own kit: You can also collect the parts to make your own electronics kit. You'll need an Arduino, Breadboard, 4 10k potentiometers, 4 SPST switches, 4 LEDs, USB cable and a basic electronics toolkit (such as wires, wire-cutters, solder, and a soldering iron). You'll also need a project box to hold everything together.

Joseph Gray, a Seattle-based artist and designer, has taught workshops on Processing and Arduino at Metrix Create:Space in Seattle. After earning a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in 1999, he began learning programming in the graphic design industry – which led him to create custom software and hardware tools for art installations and visual performances. His sculptural and performance work has been exhibited at Unit B Gallery in San Antonio, Meridian Gallery and The Lab in San Francisco, and a multitude of venues in the Pacific Northwest, including 911 Media, Bumbershoot, and the Seattle Art Museum Gallery. A portfolio of his work can be found at grauwald.com.