GAFFTA Workshop, January 2012
Here you'll find my notes and materials (examples, links to resources, etc.) for the Quartz Composer workshop.
We'll also share cool projects that workshop participants create.
- FAQ
- Quartz Composer Plug-Ins
- Other Fun Stuff - Not plug-ins per se, but other applications you can combine with QC
- Quartz Composer Resources
Quartz Composer is a visual programming environment (like Max/MSP, PD, VVVV, etc.) which comes with Mac OS X. It is designed for creating real-time, interactive video and graphics. It is particularly useful for quickly prototyping and experimenting with interactive video art installations and performances.
In this workshop, we will learn to create and manipulate 2D and 3D graphics, interact with hardware ranging from webcams to the Kinect to MIDI hardware, and move video through the Mac OS system for integration with VJing, gaming, and other applications. We will also build a conceptual foundation for working with the graphics processor–the video card–which has a different programming model than the sequential model of traditional programming. Mac OSX is required to run Quartz Composer. No prior programming experience is required for this workshop.
Quartz Composer comes with Xcode, the free development environment that Apple provides. If you've already installed Xcode, then you already have QC. Look for it in /Developer/Applications/Quartz Composer.app (note it's in this /Developer/Applications folder, not the normal Applications folder).
To install XCode on OS X Lion, download it for free from the Mac App Store. Search "xcode". Click install. It will download an installer called "Install XCode" to your Applications folder. Run this installer and you're all set.
On OS X Snow Leopard, find XCode on the Snow Leopard DVD. Just run "XCode.mpkg" under "Optional Installs". If you don't have a Snow Leopard DVD, you can download Xcode for Snow Leopard (i.e. Xcode version 3) from Apple's Developer website.