Project #3 Clock: Sunset

Austin Bailey

CC Lecture - Shirley Leung & Aarati Akkapeddi

https://editor.p5js.org/AustinBB/sketches/KtZYI9bFL

Design Process

I grew up in a place in Virginia called the Blue Ridge Mountains. Everyday, I would look towards them to see how much daylight was left in the day. Over time, I could roughly calculate how many hours were left given the position of the sun. Mid-day the sun would be at its highest point and then when it reached the top of the mountains, there would be roughly two hours left in the day to get home and finish up anything outside.

When I first read the assignment, my mind instantly went to the world around me. First I thought of clocks and an abstract depiction of them. Then I thought about what kind of clocks control the earth we live in, the sun. Lastly, I tried to pinpoint a system that directly showcases the progression of time within a day, congestion of traffic.

I ultimately went with the landscape scene showcasing a location I grew up in because it was a happier thought than the stressor of sitting in traffic. The mountains were created with a combination of ellipses and triangles, staggered side-by-side and colored in a way to resemble looking at the mountains from a distance. Darker in front, with lighter shades in the back. I chose blue to resemble the light that reflects off of them as a blue. The sun is rotating using a p5.Vector and millis(). Two trees grow in conjunction to the second() function to track time and also show growth. Clouds in the sky are moving back and forth by utilizing conditions. Lastly, if you click the landscape, it turns into a night scene. The clouds disappear and the background and sun change color to resemble night.

Overall, I learned how useful conditions are and also that I shouldn’t take time for granted. Every second counts no matter what you are doing or not doing.