Midterm Project

A project of your own design, where the first half’s skills come together. See the Course Home page for the full framing on what this project is about and why.

Class code: class code repository.

Build. A visual art piece with motion, through rotation, changing position, or both.

Coding concepts. Must include:

• Variables
• Loops
• Arrays
• At least one class

Movement. At least one object on the canvas must have some kind of movement.

Inspiration. Something simple and well executed is better than something complex and not well executed. You don’t need advanced coding to make a strong piece.

OpenProcessing is a good place to look for inspiration. The site holds everything from very advanced work to very simple work, so it’s useful for seeing what’s possible at your own level, not just the high end.

Explore randomness further and experiment with it. Two well known coding challenges are worth a look, both fully achievable with what’s already been covered in class:

• The random walker: a point that takes one random step at a time, building an organic, wandering path over many frames.
• 10 PRINT: named after a single line of code that draws randomly alternating diagonal lines, producing a maze like pattern from one rule repeated over and over.

Both are good starting points to push into something of your own. Other coding challenges are worth exploring too: experiment and build something new.

Another direction is to take an existing art piece and turn it into a moving image. Geometric and abstract minimalist artists such as Piet Mondrian, the De Stijl movement, and Wassily Kandinsky are good references, their work is built from geometric shapes and abstract minimalism, which translates well into code. You can recreate one of their pieces and add movement in your own way, or simply use the work as a starting point.

Submission.

1. Submit your project through GitHub Pages and the class repository, the same process you’ve used since Week 2.
2. Fill out the official CalArts p5.js projects form at creativecomputing.calarts.edu/studentform. In the Sketch URL field, paste your GitHub Pages link, not the repository link.
3. Take a screenshot of your successful form submission and upload it to Canvas along with the rest of this assignment.

Presentation. You will present your piece in class on October 21, as part of a shared Midterm presentation across the three Fall 2026 Creative Computing courses (Coding Art Fundamentals, Intro to TouchDesigner, and Coding Music Fundamentals). This is an open door event, so other students are welcome to come watch.