Olivetti, Bezier, and Weighted Randomness

January 6, 2013 · by Kim Ash · in

For this assignment, we were supposed to select a classic Olivetti typewriter poster to recreate in code. All of the posters employ randomness (or at least perceived randomness) as a design principle. I chose this one:

This is my version of the poster:

I explored many different kinds of randomness in the process of designing this poster. To create the looping lines, I made a base Bezier curve, and then used it as the framework for a series of similar ones with randomized changes to the control points. The colors for the lines were determined by a weighted randomness function from ToxicLibs–I wanted the colors to be random, but red to be selected more frequently. Here is the code:

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//Kim Ash
//Printing Code
//Olivetti - weighted randomness inspired by Olivetti poster
 
import toxi.util.datatypes.*;
 
PGraphics canvas;
int canvas_width = 5100;
int canvas_height = 6600;
 
float ratioWidth = 1;
float ratioHeight = 1;
float ratio = 1;
 
PVector bezAnc1, bezAnc2;  //bezier anchor points
PVector bezCon1, bezCon2;  //bezier control points
 
void setup()
{ 
  size(510, 660);
  colorMode(HSB, 360, 100, 100, 100);
  canvas = createGraphics(canvas_width, canvas_height);
 
  calculateResizeRatio();
 
  canvas.beginDraw();
    canvas.colorMode(HSB, 360, 100, 100, 100);
    canvas.background(360, 0, 100);
    canvas.smooth();
    canvas.noFill();
 
    //create a weighted random set of loop colors
    color r = color(6, 98, 100, 70);
    color g = color(149, 82, 44, 70);
    color b = color(204, 98, 95, 70);
    color k = color(360, 100, 0, 70); 
    WeightedRandomSet<Integer> loopColors = new WeightedRandomSet<Integer>();
    loopColors.add(r, 40);  //more weight on red
    loopColors.add(g, 20);
    loopColors.add(b, 20);
    loopColors.add(k, 20);
 
    //PVectors for bezier points
    bezAnc1 = new PVector(canvas.width/2, 5*canvas.height/6);
    bezCon1 = new PVector(0, 3*canvas.height/5);
    bezCon2 = new PVector(canvas.width/3, canvas.height/20);
    bezAnc2 = new PVector(13*canvas.width/14, canvas.height/4);
 
    //curves
    canvas.strokeWeight(height/15);
    canvas.beginShape();
    for(int i=3; i<18; i++)  { 
      canvas.stroke(loopColors.getRandom());  //select a random color from the weighted set
 
      //introduce randomness to anchor and control points
      PVector bezAnc1Ran = new PVector(bezAnc1.x - i*random(canvas.height/40), bezAnc1.y - i*random(canvas.height/50));
      PVector bezCon2Ran = new PVector(bezCon2.x - i*random(canvas.height/50), bezCon2.y - i*random(canvas.height/30)); 
      PVector bezAnc2Ran = new PVector(bezAnc2.x - i*random(canvas.height/30), bezAnc2.y + i*random(canvas.height/30));
 
      canvas.bezier(bezAnc1Ran.x, bezAnc1Ran.y, bezCon1.x, bezCon1.y, bezCon2Ran.x, bezCon2Ran.y, bezAnc2Ran.x, bezAnc2Ran.y);
 
      //circles on the ends of the curves
      canvas.stroke(360, 70, 0, 100);
      canvas.fill(360, 70, 0, 100);
      canvas.ellipse(bezAnc2Ran.x, bezAnc2Ran.y, canvas.width/30, canvas.width/30);
      canvas.noFill();
    }
    canvas.endShape();
 
  canvas.endDraw();
 
  float resizedWidth = (float) canvas.width * ratio;
  float resizedHeight = (float) canvas.height * ratio;
  //displays canvas onscreen
  image(canvas, (width/2) - (resizedWidth/2), (height/2) - (resizedHeight/2), resizedWidth, resizedHeight);
 
  canvas.save("olivetti.tiff");
}
 
 
/* resizing function */
void calculateResizeRatio()
{
  ratioWidth = (float) width / (float) canvas.width;
  ratioHeight = (float) height / (float) canvas.height;
 
  if(ratioWidth < ratioHeight)  ratio = ratioWidth;
  else                          ratio = ratioHeight;
}
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