Coracle is a portable generative/art/sketch playground written in Kotlin

Web Demos  Android Demo  Articles

Getting Started

Everything happens in Jetbrains IDEA, clone the Coracle repository and open the web, Korge, or Android project.

Coracle Repository

Platforms

Choose a platform:

Web  Android  Korge: JVM, iOS, Linux, Windows, MacOS

Computer art pioneer Frieder Nake

Reference

Structure

Coracle uses the same basic sketch pattern as Processing, you initialise state in setup(), then mutate values and update the screen in draw()

    class MyDrawing: Drawing() {
    
        override fun setup() {
            //Setup state
        }
    
        override fun draw() {
            //Draw in the main draw loop
        }
    }
        

size(width, height) - set the window size, this should be the first line in setup(): size(300, 200). Ignored on Android which uses the width and height of the CoracleView.

matchWidth() - use within draw() drawing width will fill the containing layout/window (especially useful for the web for building banners)

matchHeight() - use within draw() drawing height will fill the containing layout/window

matchWindow() - use within draw() drawing will fill the containing layout/window, useful for fullscreen mobile web apps.

background(colour) - clears the window, usually the first line in the draw loop: background(0xffffff)

background() - clears the window, using the host/parent layout/screen/window background colour. With this method your Drawings can match any light/dark theming changes in your Android or Web program.

foreground(colour, alpha) - draws over the window, use at the end of the draw loop without calling background: foreground(0xffffff, 0.1f)

noLoop() - not all drawings animate, this cancels the draw loop, call at the end of draw() when you're done.

Primitives

Inbuilt Objects

Line  Circle  Point  Bezier  CatmullRomSpline  Colour  Polyline  Rect

Direct Draw Methods

circle(x, y, r) - draws a circle centred at x,y with radius r: circle(width/2, height/2, 200)

line(x1, y1, x2, y2) - draws a line in the current stroke colour: line(0, 0, width, height)

point(x, y) - draws a point in the current stroke colour at the given coordinate: point(width/2, height/2)

text(text, x, y, size) - draws text in the current fill colour: text("Hello, Coracle", width/2, height/2, 22)

Colour

Coracle uses integers in hexadecimal notation, eg. black: 0x000000, white: 0xffffff, magenta: 0xff00cc

There's also a Colour primitive for more complex use-cases (with an interchangeable Color type alias for people who spell colour incorrectly).

Setting

fill(colour) - sets the fill colour and turns fill mode on: fill(0xff00cc)

fill(colour, alpha) - sets the fill colour with transparency and turns fill mode on: fill(0xff00cc, 0.5f)

noFill() - turns off fill mode, primitives will draw with a wireframe border

stroke(colour) - sets the stroke colour and turns stroke mode on: stroke(0x00ff00)

stroke(colour, alpha) - sets the stroke colour and transparency and turns stroke mode on: stroke(0x00ff00, 0.25f)

noStroke() - turns off stroke, primitives will only draw using the fill colour

Creating

color(r, g, b) - returns a colour integer: val blue = colour(0, 0, 255)

Colour(c) - returns a colour object: val blue = Colour(0x0000ff)

Colour(r, g, b) - returns a colour object: val blue = Colour(0, 0, 255)

Why not just use Processing?

I think in Kotlin and I wanted something ridiculously lightweight that could still be used to create advanced animations.

Goals/Non Goals

• Goals: Have fun, experiment.
• Non Goals: performance, correctness, everything else.

License

You probably don't want to use this, it was an itch I needed to scratch and there will be no support whatsoever.

I've not decided on a license yet, but if you think it was okay for the FSF to readmit Richard Stallman you can't use it.

Important

Trans rights are human rights, this framework kills fascists

Made by Orllewin