Awesome Creative Coding

Carefully curated list of awesome creative coding resources primarily for beginners/intermediates.

Creative coding is a different discipline than programming systems. The goal is to create something expressive instead of something functional. Interaction design, information visualization and generative art are all different types of creative coding – which has become a household term describing artworks articulated as code.

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Books
Online Books
Courses
Tools
Learning Resources
Communities
- Subreddits
- Slack
- Other
Math
Machine learning • Computer Vision • Ai
Inspiration
Events
Schools • Workshops
Blogs • Websites
Related

Books

Generative Art: A Practical Guide - Practical guide using Processing.
Generative Design - Visualize, Program, and Create with Processing.
The Nature of Code - Simulating natural systems with Processing.
Programming Design Systems - Practical introduction to the new foundations of graphic design.
Learning Modern 3D Graphics Programming - Series of tutorials on using OpenGL to do graphical rendering.
Programming Interactivity - Designer's Guide to Processing, Arduino, and openFrameworks.
openFrameworks Essentials - openFrameworks beginner Guide for programmer, visual artist, or designer.
Mastering openFrameworks: Creative Coding Demystified - Advanced in depth guide to openFrameworks.
Algorithms for Visual Design Using the Processing Language - Experiment with design problems to create 3D animations, GUIs, and more.
Foundation HTML5 Animation with JavaScript - Everything you need to know to create animation using the HTML5 canvas.
Playing with chaos - Programming Fractals and Strange Attractors in JavaScript.
Ray Tracing in One Weekend - Mini book about Ray Tracing.
Processing 2: Creative Programming Cookbook - Guides you to explore the Processing environment using practical and useful recipes.
Data-driven Graphic Design - Creative Coding for Visual Communication.
Real-Time Rendering - Learn how to use modern techniques to generate synthetic three-dimensional images in a fraction of a second.
Graphics Shaders: Theory and Practice - Introduction to shader programming in general, but focusing on the GLSL shading language.
Anton's OpenGL 4 Tutorials - Practical guide to starting 3d programming with OpenGL.
Physics for JavaScript Games, Animation, and Simulations - Teaches JavaScript programmers how to incorporate real physics into their HTML5 games, animations, and simulations.
Math for Programmers - Book teaches you to solve mathematical problems in code.
Synthèse d'images avec OpenGL (ES) - Book in french, which covers OpenGL, OpenGL ES and WebGL.
Hands-On Music Generation with Magenta - Explore the role of deep learning in music generation and assisted music composition.

Online Books

The Book of Shaders - Step-by-step guide through the abstract and complex universe of fragment shaders.
WebGL Fundamentals - WebGL from the ground up. No magic.
WebGL 2 Fundamentals - WebGL2 from the ground up. No magic.
Learn OpenGL - Extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL.
Scratchapixel 2.0 - Learn Computer Graphics From Scratch.
ofBook - Community-written book/guide on openFrameworks.
OGLdev - Collection of modern OpenGL tutorials by Etay Meiri.
OpenGL Tutorial - Site dedicated to tutorials for OpenGL 3.3 and later.
Open.gl - Guide that teach you the basics of using OpenGL.
Pixel Shaders - Interactive Introduction to Graphics Programming.
OpenGLBook - Free OpenGL programming tutorial in online book format.
Graphics Programming Projects - Book about 3D computational graphics by Morgan McGuire.
On Generative Algorithms - Notes about generating various organic patterns, with examples and Python code, by Anders Hoff.
Computer Graphics from Scratch - A raytracing and rasterization textbook that teaches you how OpenGL and DirectX works.
A Primer on Bézier Curves - A free book for when you really need to know how to do Bézier things.
3D Game Shaders For Beginners - Step-by-step guide to real-time shading techniques.
XEM WebGL Guide - Step-by-step guide to WebGL.
Creative Coding Notebooks - An authorial set of fundamental Python recipes on Creative Coding and Computer Art, by Diego Inácio.
WebGL Academy - Learn WebGL and 3D algorithmic in a progressive and interactive way.

Courses

Create 3D Graphics in JS Using WebGL - Get started creating content with WebGL without any frameworks.
Learn HTML5 Graphics and Animation - Introduction to the canvas 2D drawing API.
Interactive 3D Graphics - Udacity course that teach you the principles of 3D computer graphics.
Interactive Computer Graphics - Computer graphics course from Coursera.
Kadenze Creative Coding - Selection of Kadenze courses covering p5.js, TensorFlow, Max/Jitter, and ChucK.
Creative Programming for Digital Media & Mobile Apps - Coursera course on creative coding with processing.
Imaginary Institute - Learn how to create gorgeous interactive graphics.
Future Learn: Creative Coding - Use computer programming as a creative discipline to generate sounds, images, animations and more.
Intro to JS: Drawing & Animation - Use JavaScript and the ProcessingJS library to create drawings and animations.
Advanced JS: Natural Simulations - Combine JS, ProcessingJS, and mathematical concepts to simulate nature in your programs
Interactive Data Visualization with Processing - Learn how to read, map, and illustrate data with Processing.
Programming Data Visualizations: A Coding Toolkit for Processing - Join information designer Nicholas Felton in the world of Processing.
Introduction to Data Visualization - Join Nicholas Felton for a smart, comprehensive, and inspiring intro to data visualization.
Programming Graphics I, 2, 3 - Learn generative art and Processing with art with Joshua Davis.
Creative Coding with Canvas & WebGL - Workshop by Matt DesLauriers. that teaches you about generative art, interactive animations, 3D graphics, and shaders.
Advanced Creative Coding with WebGL & Shaders - Workshop by Matt DesLauriers that go deeper into graphics programming, math and shaders.
Three.js Journey - This course by Bruno Simon will teach you the secrets to create the coolest WebGL websites with Three.js whether your are a beginner or an advanced developer.
3D Computer Graphics Programming - Learn all the theory and the math behind 3D graphics while creating a software renderer from scratch using the C programming language

Tools

Frameworks • Libraries • Ecosystems

Processing [Cross-platform] - Computer programming language and IDE for visual arts.
py5 [Cross-platform] - A library that intergrates Processing into the Python 3 ecossystem.
Cinder [Cross-platform] - Open source library for professional-quality creative coding in C++.
openFrameworks [Cross-platform] - Open source C++ toolkit for creative coding.
C4 [iOS] - Open-source creative coding framework for iOS.
Unity [Mac, Win] - Game engine, but useful for creative coding and installations.
Godot [Cross-platform] - Open source game engine, that can also be used for all sorts of things.
PlayCanvas [Cross-platform] - Open source, realtime collaborative WebGL engine.
hg_sdf [Cross-platform] - GLSL library for building signed distance functions.
nannou [Cross-platform] - Open-source creative coding framework for the Rust language.
thi.ng [Cross-platform] - Open source collection of computational design tools for JavaScript, TypeScript, Clojure and ClojureScript languages.
PixelKit [iOS, Mac] - Open source, live graphics, Swift framework, powered by Metal.
OPENRNDR [Cross-platform] - Open source library for creative coding written in Kotlin.
Phaser [Cross-platform] - HTML5 framework for building games, uses both a Canvas and WebGL renderer.
Canvas-sketch [Cross-platform] - HTML5 framework for making generative artwork in JavaScript and the browser.
AsyncGraphics [iOS, macOS] - Open source, live graphics, async / await, Swift package, powered by Metal.
Lygia [Cross-platform] - Granular and multi-language (GLSL, HLSL, WGSL, MSL and CUDA) shader library designed for performance and flexibility.
Fragment.tools [Cross-platform] - A web development environment for creative coding.

Visual Programming Languages

vvvv [Win] - Hybrid visual/textual live-programming environment for easy prototyping and development.
NodeBox [Mac, Win] - Cross-platform, node-based GUI for efficient data visualizations and generative design.
TouchDesigner [Mac, Win] - Visual development platform to create realtime projects.
Quartz Composer [Mac] - Development tool for processing and rendering graphical data.
Vuo [Mac] - Live interactive-media programming environment.
Max [Mac, Win] - Visual programming language for media.
Pure Data [Cross-platform] - Open source visual programming language for multimedia.
ossia score [Cross-platform] - Interactive, intermedia audio-visual sequencer.
tooll [Win] - Open source tool for creating interactive 3d content and animations.
XOD [Cross-platform] - Open source visual programming language and environment for microcontroller-based projects.
Isadora [Cross-platform] - Scene based media control software with integrated projection mapper.
cables [Cross-platform/Web] - Your model kit for creating beautiful interactive content. Currently in private beta, invites can be requested.
eternal [Web] - Programs as graphs and graphs as compositional tools for creation
Notch Builder [Win] - Node-based authoring tool with a strong focus on real-time graphics. Currently in beta.
JOY.JS - Realtime visual coding tool, easy to understand and aimed at beginners.
Circles [iPhone, iPad, Mac] - Live graphics node editor, powered by AsyncGraphics.
TIC-80 - Make pixel art style games and art on a 240*136 pixel screen.

Sound Programming Languages

SuperCollider [Multi-platform] - Platform for audio synthesis and algorithmic composition.
ChucK - Strongly-timed, concurrent, and on-the-fly music programming language.
TidalCycles - Domain specific language for live coding of pattern.
[Sonic

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