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In this tutorial I show you how to create abstract 3D portraits from any image file. Here you will learn many basics about 3D and generative image rasterization.

Please let me know what you think! I am very curious about your ideas. And as always, feel free to share your results on Instagram or Twitter.

Here’s the final code:

PImage img;

void setup() {
  size(900, 900, P3D);
  img = loadImage("venus.jpg");
  img.resize(900, 900);
}

void draw() {
  background(#f1f1f1);
  fill(0);
  noStroke();
  sphereDetail(3);
  float tiles = 100;
  float tileSize = width/tiles;
  push();
  translate(width/2,height/2);
  rotateY(radians(frameCount));
  
  for (int x = 0; x < tiles; x++) {
    for (int y = 0; y < tiles; y++) {
      color c = img.get(int(x*tileSize),int(y*tileSize));
      float b = map(brightness(c),0,255,1,0);
      float z = map(b,0,1,-150,150);
      
      push();
      translate(x*tileSize - width/2, y*tileSize - height/2, z);
      sphere(tileSize*b*0.8);
      pop();
      
    }
  }
  pop();
}

Enjoy!

Recommended tutorial: Video-Export

If you want to know how to render videos from your sketches, check this post:

Exhibition