• Blob Thing - generate unusual textures using 2D FFT:

    Blob_thing is a toy program I wrote while learning to use Processing, which is an excellent toolkit for experimentation with graphics and sound.

    To use it, download and extract the Java app if necessary. It should run by just double clicking on it.

    You should get a window full of colorful stuff that changes very gradually.

    While it's running, you can press the following keys:

    • Space    Freezes the image, so you can take a screenshot if you want. Hit space again to resume the animation.

    • M or m   Switches between full color and monochromatic.

    • R or r   Randomize. Makes a new random texture.

    • < or >   Zoom in and out. This also affects the speed of the animation.

    • G or g    Shows a grid you can click in to change the texture. Click the boxes to turn them on or off.

    • Q or q    Quits the program.

    In the grid, each square represents a spatial frequency component. Low frequencies are close to the center, high frequencies near the outside. Once you activate a frequency component, the program will slowly animate the value. Different components animate at different speeds, so you see lots of different combinations.

    You can also get interesting results by taking a screen shot and then processing it in photoshop, or your favorite image editor.

    Here's an example: blob_ps_demo.jpg

    Download blob_thing:  [java]