Resident Processing Expert — Studio Missions

Card 01 / Start here

You are the resident expert.

You already know more Processing than the rest of us. These missions are here to stretch what you know without taking over the thing you clearly enjoy doing independently.

How to use this deck

Keep working through the Processing tutorials. When you finish one, pick a mission that sounds interesting. You do not need to complete them in order.

The only rule

Make a change that teaches you something. Tiny experiments count.

01

Card 02 / Remix it

Change one important rule.

Take something from a tutorial that already works. Keep the structure, but make one meaningful change so the result behaves differently.

Choose one rule: movement, timing, size, position, interaction, repetition, randomness, colour logic, or shape behaviour.

Predict the effect before you run it.

Run it. Keep the result if it teaches you something, even if it looks odd.

↻

Card 03 / Predict it

Call it before the computer does.

Choose a line of code you understand well enough to make a prediction. Change one value or expression, but do not run it yet.

Mission

Say, write, point to, or type what you think will happen. Then run the sketch and compare the result with your prediction.

If you were wrong

Good. Work out which part of your mental model needs changing. That is the useful bit.

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Card 04 / Break it

Break something on purpose.

Working code can hide what each part is doing. Deliberately damage one thing, observe the failure, then repair it.

Save a working copy first.

Change or remove one thing.

Describe the failure: error, blank screen, wrong movement, weird timing, unexpected drawing.

Fix it without reopening the tutorial if you can.

✕

Card 05 / Steal the technique

Same idea. New sketch.

Take one technique from the tutorial, then use it in a completely different sketch. Not the picture. The idea underneath it.

Possible techniques

Loops, arrays, mouse interaction, easing, randomness, transformations, vectors, image handling, noise, collision, recursion, 3D, classes.

Challenge

Make the new sketch look unrelated to the tutorial while still using the same underlying technique.

↗

Card 06 / Expert check

Teach DC exactly one thing.

DC genuinely has not used Processing before. Pick one small thing she should understand today.

You choose the format

Say it quietly. Type it. Point to the code. Change a value while DC watches. Draw a tiny diagram. Show before/after. Any method counts.

Keep it tiny

One concept. One example. One minute is plenty.

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Card 07 / Mystery brief

No tutorial this time.

Choose one brief. Work out what techniques you already know that could solve it. Search the Processing reference only when you need a specific command or detail.

Brief A

Make a sketch that never produces exactly the same image twice.

Brief B

Make something react to the mouse without using mouse clicks.

Brief C

Create a system with at least three moving parts that influence each other.

!

Card 08 / Curator's pick

Save one sketch worth remembering.

Not everything needs to become a finished project. But some experiments are worth keeping because they contain an idea you may want later.

Choose one sketch from this term.

Give it a useful name.

Add a short comment at the top: what it explores and what is interesting about it.

Optional: take one screenshot.

★

Card 09 / Big sketch

Combine what you know.

When several techniques start feeling familiar, build one self-directed sketch that combines them around an idea you actually care about.

Before coding

Write only three things: what it should do, what the viewer can control, and which Processing ideas you expect to use.

Build order

Make the smallest working version first. Then add behaviours one at a time. Test after every addition.

∞

Card 10 / One thing

What changed in your head?

At the end of a session, choose just one thing you understand better than you did when you arrived.

Any answer format counts

A sentence. A code comment. A before/after demo. A number you changed. A line you fixed. A sketch you want your parents to see.

Optional parent demo

Before they arrive, choose the one thing you want them to notice. You can simply show it. You do not need to give a presentation.

✓