ATTENTION: You must signup in advance to attend this workshop. You will need to have a valid SXSW badge, and an activated SXsocial account. To reserve your seat, please go here: https://sup.sxsw.com/schedule/IAP20100

It wasn't long ago that if you wanted to do some creative coding, Flash was your tool of choice. In 2013 things are different. Flash has faded from it’s former glory and numerous other options have sprung up to meet all kinds of needs. From code frameworks like Processing, openFrameworks and Cinder to visual tools like TouchDesigner there are a plethora of choices. Back in the browser Javascript, CSS and HTML are now capable of things we never could have imagined them doing a decade ago and of course they aren't constrained to desktop computers anymore either.

Where does this leave you, the developer looking to broaden your skills or the designer who wants to bring some interactivity to your creations? Attend this session and be taken on a tour of the creative coding landscape where you'll see what the code looks like, learn what tools you'll need and see samples of the kinds of project each platform excels at.

We'll start with an overview of the top 3 creative coding frameworks, Processing, openFrameworks and Cinder. You'll see samples of projects that have employed these technologies in an attempt to show the diversity and strengths of each. Other creative coding tools will be included in the discussion to help understand where they fit in and how they relate to the three being featured.

The overview will conclude with insights into which framework is the right choice if you have particular requirements such as targeting mobile devices or building physical installations by taking a look at the target platforms for each and at their limitations.

The second half of the workshop will actually dig into Processing and openFrameworks, creating Hello World type apps and showcasing some popular libraries for working with them.

You'll benefit the most from this workshop if you are interested in creating powerful visualizations or physical interactive experiences but have little or no prior knowledge of working with these tools.

Creatives who are interested in the possibilities of working with creative coding frameworks will also find this workshop useful in helping them think beyond their traditional toolset.

Prerequisites:
This is a beginner level workshop so there are no real pre-requisites. Some experience working with code, such as JavaScript would be beneficial for the second half of the workshop, but not required.

What to Bring:
- You are welcome to bring a laptop with Processing and openFrameworks pre-installed so you can follow along in the latter portion of the workshop, but this is optional.

- Processing is a quick and simple installation and can be downloaded here: https://processing.org/download/

- openFrameworks is more involved and requires an IDE to work with. You'll want to install the Windows/OSX/Linux version (not the mobile or Linux ARM versions). Downloads and installation guides can be found here: http://openframeworks.cc/download/