Check out the latest release of openFrameworks, an open source toolkit for creative coding

I’ve been a fan of openFrameworks, an open source C++ toolkit for creative coding, since I first picked it up last year. Since then, I’ve watched as countless developers, designers and artists used it to build incredible projects — many of which truly break the mold of what you’d expect from an app.

The growing code as art movement is tied quite closely to openFrameworks, and this is why I was excited to find that an update to the massive 007 release has just been made available this past week. The release of 0071, as Create Digital Motion points out, “just about doubled the software in size. What’s in all that new heft? Well, it’s not bloat: critical tools that previously worked only as add-ons are now part of core, bringing lots of new functionality into the software. A lot of the release is also, crucially, examples, so it’s not only that it does more, but that you’ll be able to understand how to use that power.”

All in all this is an important update to what was arguably openFramework’s most significant release to date. If you haven’t yet heard about (or used) this awesome tool, the best way to get a grips on its power is to see what others have created with it. Here’s a few videos, from the openFramework’s gallery:

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From the openFrameworks changelog:

The main focus for 0071 was to add new examples to better show the features added in 007. 0071 is mainly an ‘examples + bug fixes’ release, with some additional, much needed, updating to the mobile releases ( iOS and Android ).

Project generator

A significant amount of the work which went into 0071 was in the development of a Project Generator. The Project Generator can make project files for all the OF platforms and it was critical to have this in order to increase the number of examples we could include with the release. The Project Generator is also able to add addons to existing projects, making the task of adding addons much faster than the current manual approach. Going forward, the Project Generator will be included with the new releases and be a key tool for generating, modifying and updating your OF projects. Currently, the Project Generator is in our github repository (https://github.com/openframeworks/openFrameworks) in apps/devApps/.

core:
+ loads of new examples! 96 examples now come with the desktop releases of OF. For a full list see: https://gist.github.com/2836913
platform specific:
+ android support for front camera
+ android support for ofSoundPlayer
+ new iOS examples showing how to mix OF with Native Apps
/ android compatibility with ndk r7+ and lots of bugfixes
/ loads of iOS bugfixes – including retina issue, FBO issues, native GUI fixes, video fixes.
/ XCode fix to avoid constant rebuild of projects
/ Some MacOS 10.7 fixes ( ofShowCursor / HideCursor )
/ Better compatiblity with XCode 4
/ linux: createProjects.py script dropped in favor of command line version of the projectGenerator

For a full list of commits for 0071 see: https://gist.github.com/2836647

➤ openFrameworks 0071, for OS X, Linux & Windows

For more, check all of TNW’s favorite experimental apps and projects here!