Context Free!

_Context Free is a program that generates images from written instructions called a grammar. The program follows the instructions in a few seconds to create images that can contain millions of shapes._ To readers of **Make** http://makezine.com
magazine: We are delighted that Issue 17 http://makezine.com/17
has a four page article about Context Free by John Edgar Park http://makezine.com/pub/au/John_Edgar_Park.
After you've downloaded the program , and worked through the article's example, create some designs of your own and upload the best to our gallery gallery. For more information, check out our friendly forums phpbb/index.php. The gallery gallery contains almost a thousand works of art created by artists from around the globe.

Context Free alternatives

  • Processing.js

  • Processing.js is an open programming language, port of the Processing Visualization Language, for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions for the web without using Flash or Java applets. Processing.js uses Javascript to draw shapes and manipulate images on the HTML5 Canvas element.

    tags: animation art interactive javascript javascript-library
  • OpenFrameworks

  • openFrameworks is an open source C++ toolkit designed to assist the creative process by providing a simple and intuitive framework for experimentation. The toolkit is designed to work as a general purpose glue, and wraps together several commonly used libraries, including:

    tags: api art c-plus-plus generative generative-art
  • Nodebox

  • NodeBox is a new software application for creating generative art using procedural graphics and a new way to approach graphic design.

    tags: generative-art procedural-graphics
  • Quartz Composer

  • Quartz Composer is a node-based visual programming language provided as part of the Xcode development environment in Mac OS X for processing and rendering graphical data.Quartz Composer uses OpenGL (including GLSL), OpenCL (only in Mac OS X 10.6 and later), Core Image, Core Video, JavaScript, and other technologies to build an API and a developer tool around a simple visual programming paradigm. Apple has embedded Quartz technologies deeply into the operating system. Compositions created in Quartz Composer can be played standalone in any QuickTime-aware application (although only on Mac OS X 10.4 and later), as a system Screen Saver, as an iTunes Visualizer, from inside the Quartz Composer application, or can be embedded into a Cocoa or Carbon application via supplied user interface widgets. Because Quartz Composer makes extensive use of hardware acceleration and pixel shaders, it is recommended to have a graphics card with at least 32 MB of VRAM. While Quartz Composer is included with the iPhone SDK, there is currently no way of running Quartz Compositions on iOS devices. »

    tags: audio-sync dynamic-prototypes mockups node-based programming-language
  • Structure Synth

  • Structure Synth is a cross-platform application for generating 3D structures by specifying a design grammar. Even simple systems may generate surprising and complex structures. The design grammar approach was originally devised by Chris Coyne (for a 2D implementation see the popular Context Free Art).

    tags: 3d-graphics 3d-mesh 3d-modeling generative generative-art
  • Vuo

  • Vuo lets media creators make interactive animations, exhibits, performances, and professional-grade media projects by connecting up simple building blocks. Media creators can use these blocks to manipulate audio input, images, layers, videos, and 2D + 3D graphics, as well as record high-quality video of the results.

    tags: art blur-filter built-in-3d-model-viewer built-in-rss-reader built-in-video-mapper
  • Fragmentarium

  • Fragmentarium is an open source, cross-platform IDE for exploring pixel based graphics on the GPU.

    tags: 3d-graphics 3d-mesh 3d-modeling generative generative-art
  • Protovis

  • Protovis composes custom views of data with simple marks such as bars and dots. Unlike low-level graphics libraries that quickly become tedious for visualization, Protovis defines marks through dynamic properties that encode data, allowing inheritance, scales and layouts to simplify construction.Protovis is free and open-source, provided under the BSD License. It uses JavaScript and SVG for web-native visualizations; no plugin required (though you will need a modern web browser)! Although programming experience is helpful, Protovis is mostly declarative and designed to be learned by example. »

    tags: charts html javascript visualisation visualization
  • Shoebot

  • Shoebot is a pure Python graphics robot: It takes a Python script as input, which describes a drawing process, and outputs a graphic in a common open standard format (SVG, PDF, PostScript, or PNG). It has a simple text editor GUI, and scripts can describe their own GUIs for controlling variables interactively. Being pure Python, it can also be used as a Python module, a plugin for Python-scriptable tools such as Inkscape, and run from the command line. It was directly inspired by DrawBot and Shoes. Thus, “Shoebot.” »

    tags: graphics-generator python
  • Fugu Modelling System

  • Fugu is a procedural modelling system for 3D graphics. It supports the generation, manipulation and animation of 3D form using scripts written in the Lua programming language. Fugu contains a code editor with all the usual bells and whistles, and a 3D view in which to visualise your design.

    tags: Portable geometry lua procedural procedural-generation
  • Prismacode

  • Prismacode is an easy programming language for creating 2D geometric graphics. It's a combination of logic and art -- there are no right or wrong answers.

    tags: art design generative-art graphics procedural-graphics