Recursive Patterns

Recursive Drawing - Patterns:

With Recursion, we can often think of a set of rules being executed for each function call. This can be used to create interesting patterns, because we can often decompose graphic patterns to be expressed as a set of rules. In the artwork below, a simple pattern of concentric rectangles is created wherever the mouse is pressed.

Guidelines for Writing Recursive Functions

When writing recursive functions there are several factors to consider:

1. Identify the base-case or stopping condition

2. Insure that the variable that controls the stopping condition will be modified in the recursive function so that it will eventually reach the stopping condition.

3. Locate the conditional test for the stopping condition before the recursive function call, to prevent execution of the recursive call if the stopping condition has been met.

4. Determine whether the function task should be performed before or after the recursive call.

5. Insure that input parameters to the recursive function provide all information needed at each step, and be careful when modifying values passed as arguments.

6. Be aware that each instance of a recursive function call causes a unique instance of the function's code to be placed on the call-stack, this can potentially cause stack-overflow errors if the program runs out of available program-execution memory space.

Recursive Pattern Drawing Application

The recursive function: recursivePattern(length, level) takes 2 input parameters: length controls the size of the rectangle and level, which controls the number of concentric rectangles drawn. By adding slight random variation in the rotation angle, rectangle size, and hueValue of the fill and stroke for each drawn rectangle, the user can create a unique artwork each time they run the program. The hueValue can be mapped to the x position of the mouse. Using the Hue, Saturation, Brightness: colorMode(HSB) allows for slight random variations of the hueValue to give slight variations in the hue of the drawn pattern.

Overview: Main Program Structure

• If the user is pressing the mouse

void Draw(){  //use processing Draw function
    if ( mousePressed){
    //Draw a Pattern at the Origin
        translate(mouseX, mouseY); //move origin to mouse position
        recursivePattern( 100, 5); //draw 5 nested patterns
        resetMatrix();  //move origin back to upper-left corner 
    }
}

• Draw a Pattern (drawn at origin): move the canvas origin to the current mouse position.

    translate(mouseX, mouseY);

• Draw some pattern based on length parameter, by calling the recursive function: recursivePattern( );

    recursivePattern( 100, 5); //Recursive Pattern Called

• Move Origin back to upper left corner

  resetMatrix();

Define Recursive Function

Here we define a recursive function: recursivePattern so that it calls itself for level number of times, with a length parameter that determines the pattern size:

    void recursivePattern( float length, int level) {

1. We need to add a test for the termination condition as the first task in the function:

    if(level < 1) { 
        return; //stops recursion
    }

2. We will draw a shape at the origin using the length parameter

   fill( 255, 255, 100);// set some fill color
   rect( 0, 0, length, length); //draw at origin, use length parameter

3. Recursive function must call itself, within the function , make sure to modify the function parameters:

   • change length: length * 0.8

   • change level: level - 1

   recursivePattern( length * 0.8, level - 1 );  
   }  //end of function

Complete Recursive Function Definition

void recursivePattern( float length, int level) {
    if(level < 1) {
    return; //stops recursion
    }
    fill( 255, 255, 100);// set some fill color
    rect( 0, 0, length, length); //draw at origin, use length parameter
    //recursive call
    recursivePattern( length * 0.8, level - 1 );  
}

Example 2: Recursive Function Variation

Below is a slight variation on the recursive function, here we're using a global variable: lenMin to determine when to terminate the recursion. In addition, we're using global variables to determine the fill values for Hue and Brightness, where we'll set colorMode in the setup function: colorMode(HSB, 360, 100, 100);

//global Variables
float lenMin = 30;
float lenMax = 100;
color c1;

void setup(){
size( 600, 600);
colorMode(HSB, 360, 100, 100);
c1 = color( 270, 100, 100);
}

//use length as termination variable
//specify valid length range as global variables
 void recursivePattern( float length){
    if ( length < lenMin ){ //test for termination
        return; //termination condition is true
    }
    float hueVal = map( length, lenMin, lenMax, 130, 160);
    float brightVal = map( length, lenMin, lenMax, 0, 100);
    fill( hueVal, 100, brightVal); 
    rect( 0, 0, length, length); //draw a pattern based on length parameter
    recursivePattern( length * 0.8 ); //call recursive function
}

Complete Program

Here's a simple program that defines and uses a recursive function to create a pattern. Notice that in this case we are using global variable: lenMax as the range value for the Map( ) function which is determining the fill for the vertexShape.

Recursive Pattern with VertexShape In the code below, we're calling our vertexShape function inside the recursivePattern. Each time we call recursivePattern, we have reduced the size of the length parameter.

float lenMax  = 100.0;
float lenMin = 5.0;
color c1;

void setup(){
  size( 600,600);
  colorMode(HSB, 360, 100, 100); 
  background(0);//black backgroujd
  c1 = color( 270, 100, 100);
  }

  void draw(){
    if(mousePressed){
      translate(mouseX, mouseY); 
          int numLevels = 5;
          recursivePattern( lenMax, numLevels, c1 );   //call recursive function
      resetMatrix();
    }
  }

  //define recursive function
  void recursivePattern( float length, int level, color c1){
    if ( level < 1 ){  //test for termination - termination variable
      return; //termination condition is true
    }

    float fraction = map( length, lenMin, lenMax, .2, 1.0);
    color curColor =  color( hue(c1), saturation(c1), brightness( c1)*fraction);
     PShape s = vertexShape( length, curColor ); //this is our task
     shape( s, 0,0); //render the shape to canvas
    recursivePattern( length * 0.8, level-1,c1 ); //call recursive function - reduce value of variables 
    }


    //Create one PShape each time it is called
//PShape size is determined by input parameter: len
PShape vertexShape( float len, color c1){
    PShape s = createShape();
    s.setFill(c1);
    s.beginShape();
    s.vertex(0,0);//list points in clockwise order
    s.vertex( len, 0);
    s.vertex( len, len);
    s.vertex( len * .5, len * .5);
    s.vertex( 0, len);
    s.endShape(CLOSE);
    return s;
}