iUseApple

Create Visuals with NodeBox! (Part 1)

I get excited when I find new and easy methods to create art with my Mac. Quartz Composer is a fantastic free application created by Apple that uses OpenGL and Core Image to create 2D and 3D animations in real time. Installing Quartz is a little bit of a hassle, which is why I am excited to tell you about NodeBox!

NodeBox is a Mac OS X application that lets you create 2D visuals (static, animated or interactive) using Python programming code and export them as a PDF or a Quicktime movie. NodeBox is free and well-documented. (Nodebox website)

Don’t be afraid to start programming

Basically, I type in some code and out pops some amazing visuals. The programming language Python is well documented online, so even a newbie to programming should find it easy to figure out. Anyone with a good foundation in C should have no problem. Python looks cleaner than OpenGL and is easier for me to figure out.

NodeBox Does it All!

NodeBox includes support for Adobe products. So I can import vector art created in Illustrator and output 2D art in PDF. These features alone make me want to use NodeBox over Quartz Composer for 2D art making. NodeBox is open source, meaning anyone can improve upon it. It even supports Core Image, which opens up exporting in different formats and creating layers for 2D animation.

Subscribe to iUseApple and find out instantly when I post a “Getting Started” tutorial for NodeBox! Download NodeBox from the Official Website and check out the Official NodeBox Tutorial.