As I mentioned in the previous post, I have a hard time getting started. Much like I have a hard time committing to doing laundry. Or cooking dinner. I think about all the steps needed to successfully wash clothes or cook a 3-course meal and I get all flustered and the lazy gene kicks in. But if I stop thinking about all the necessary steps and just focus on the next logical step, the chore seems to finish itself.

I suffer in the same way with coding. I’ll think, “I really want to make a robust environment complete with weather systems and night-day cycles and wind and trees and grass and clouds and bugs and birds and valleys and…” and before I even have a chance to get started, I overwhelm myself with all that needs to be done.

(note: Any code you see will likely be pseudocode based on bits from Cinder, Processing, OpenGL, GLSL, and whatever else might strike my fancy. These posts aren’t meant to be source-code repositories. I want to talk more about my process and not my actual code. There are much smarter people out there that can explain how to code. I’d rather talk about why I code).

Vec3f point = Vec3f( 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f );

What could be simpler than a single point? It is a location in space. A single x, y, and z position. It helps to ground me in the void. It is something to look at. By creating a point, I am giving myself an anchor. It becomes the focus of my attention. Something infinitely small in a space that is infinitely large.

There is definitely something compelling about the single point in a void. It is a perfect representation of duality. The void represents the infinite, an expanse which has no end. The point represents the finite, a location which has no dimension. What better place to start?

I have been referring to the void as black and the point as white. I do this because of the obvious correlation to outer space. We know the universe to be mostly empty space which to our eyes comes across as black. It is generally devoid of any light. In programming, we show this by setting the red, green, and blue components to zero. I think of a point as being like a star in space. To our eyes, it is a pinpoint of white which is represented with red, green and blue values of one.

Next up: Giving this point some personality.

This is how all my projects begin.

There is no red, green or blue. A complete absence of content or meaning. Anything can exist there. Any form. All possible worlds. But for now, it is the computational equivalent of nothingness.

Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery.

When I decided to attend art school, I was going to major in painting. I had a decent technique. I knew what paints to buy. I knew which brushes would last the longest. I would buy a large canvas, prep it with gesso, and then just sit and stare. Making that first mark was hard for me. I envied those that were able to just dive right in, seeming to know exactly where they wanted to end up. I was not like them. I wanted to plan it all out in my head before starting. As a result, I wasn’t a very good painter.

It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities.

My hesitance stems from not knowing what I want to create. When I start a new project, I occasionally have an idea in mind but far more often I simply want to create something new. I want to start down a path. I do not know where I want to go but I know that I want to go somewhere.

A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.

All I need to do is place brush to canvas. The simple act of starting is enough. I need not know where I want to go. By simply going, regardless of which direction I choose, I will be well on my way. Even if I do not yet know where that destination lies.

A journey of a thousand li begins with a single step.

Next up: Taking that first step.

The quotes in this post are from the Tao Te Ching, as interpreted by either Stephen Mitchell or Jane English and Gia-fu Feng.

I have been maintaining this blog since July 2005. Sometimes I post frequently, as often as once per day. Usually the frequency is closer to once per month. However, in that month there are usually several posts that were partially written and abandoned because I felt I wasn’t offering anything new. At some point I inevitably start to think, “Everyone knows this stuff so why bother writing it out.” It’s like I’m writing to tell you all that bacon tastes really good. Everyone knows that bacon tastes really good so what is the use in telling you.

Many of you have a stronger grasp on coding because you studied it in school or have just been doing it a lot longer than I. Many of you have a weaker grasp on coding because you are coming at it from a different discipline and just haven’t been doing it for very long. Some of you are only interested in source code. Some of you are only interested in viewing the outcome. Some want to know my inspirations. Some want to know about the tech. Some of you want music videos and send me links to your myspace page. To appeal equally to all of you is an impossible task.

I have decided that I will start publishing more of the abandoned posts. Hopefully, you will learn a bit more about why I do what I do, instead of just reading about what I have done. What’s the harm, right? It’s not like you can leave me mean comments. I turned those off long ago.