Skip to content
<open-source>
Oeiuwq Faith Blog OpenSource Porfolio

jashkenas/ruby-processing

Code as Art, Art as Code. Processing and Ruby are meant for each other.
Source code at GitHub http://github.com/jashkenas/ruby-processing/wikis
jashkenas/ruby-processing.json
{
  "createdAt": "2008-04-13T14:39:59Z",
  "defaultBranch": "master",
  "description": "Code as Art, Art as Code. Processing and Ruby are meant for each other.",
  "fullName": "jashkenas/ruby-processing",
  "homepage": "http://github.com/jashkenas/ruby-processing/wikis",
  "language": "Ruby",
  "name": "ruby-processing",
  "pushedAt": "2020-08-31T18:22:59Z",
  "stargazersCount": 1285,
  "topics": [],
  "updatedAt": "2025-10-27T11:17:11Z",
  "url": "https://github.com/jashkenas/ruby-processing"
}

IMPORTANT: Ruby-processing is deprecated and unsupported

Section titled “IMPORTANT: Ruby-processing is deprecated and unsupported”

Use the updated version [JRubyArt][jruby_art] or the standalone alternative [propane][], which target processing-3.5.3 and processing-4.0 (like jdk11+) respectively, and support ruby-2.5+ syntax. Works on same platforms as vanilla processing (windows, mac, linux) for Android see Yuki Morohoshi [ruboto-processing2][].

[Processing][] provides a tidy API, with a bunch of handy methods you can call from Ruby-Processing. Here’s a smattering:

alpha, arc, background, blend, blue, ellipse, frame_rate, hue, lerp, load_image, load_pixels, mouse_pressed, noise, rect, saturation, shape, smooth, text_align, translate, triangle, vertex…

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

We assume you have some version of ruby installed if not, there is a [guide to installing][] ruby on various platforms including windows. Or here is an [alternative install][] guide.

MacOSX users please try out this new method or see this [japanese][] guide.

Ideally you should install jruby, at the very least you will have at least ruby-1.9.3 installed. You should [download][] and install vanilla processing-2.2.1 prior to installing this version of ruby-processing. You must also set the PROCESSING_ROOT in the .rp5rc yaml configuration file, the easiest way to do this is by running the SetProcessingRoot.pde sketch in the processing ide.

Then install ruby-processing (from rubygems-org) in the usual way

gem install ruby-processing some systems eg Ubuntu may require sudo access

To install jruby-complete use our built in tool (relies on wget to download jruby-complete-1.7.26)

since ruby-processing-2.5.0 rp5 setup install (was install_jruby_complete)

If you haven’t got wget just download jruby-complete-1.7.26 (for ruby-processing-2.7.1) to the vendors folder (then run above tool)

The vendored jruby-complete is only required for application export, and running certain sketches (eg shader sketches see [wiki][]).

Documentation

Section titled “Documentation”

See [Wiki][]

See also [FAQs][], [Contributing][] and [Samples][]

Usage Example

Section titled “Usage Example”
Terminal window
rp5 run my_sketch.rb

or if not using system jruby (and not JRUBY: 'false' in ~/.rp5rc)

Terminal window
rp5 --nojruby run my_sketch.rb

where a simple my_sketch.rb could look like this

def setup
  size 400, 400
  fill 255
end


def draw
  background 0
  ellipse mouse_x, mouse_y, 100, 100
end

or a simple 3D sketch cube.rb features ArcBall from vecmath library

load_library :vecmath


############################
# Use mouse drag to rotate
# the arcball. Use mousewheel
# to zoom. Hold down x, y, z
# to constrain rotation axis.
############################


def setup
  size(600, 600, P3D)
  smooth(8)
  ArcBall.init(self, 300, 300)
  fill 180
end


def draw
  background(50)
  box(300, 300, 300)
end

See [samples][] for many more examples

Supported java version

Section titled “Supported java version”

NB: you can’t use jdk/jre installed by processing

  • Open jdk8 (latest version preferred, is the default linux install)
  • jdk8 from Oracle (latest version preferred, or required by Mac)
  • jdk7 should also work (typically ubuntu linux or some other linux distro)

Supported ruby version

Section titled “Supported ruby version”

This gem has been tested with the following ruby implementations

  • Ruby 1.9.3
  • Ruby 2.0.0
  • Ruby 2.1.2
  • Ruby 2.2.1
  • Ruby 2.3.0
  • [JRuby][] preferred use jruby-1.7.XX but also works with jruby-9.1.2.0 release

Supported processing version

Section titled “Supported processing version”
  • processing-2.2.1 (required)
  • for processing-3.0+ see [JRubyArt][jruby_art] or [propane][propane]

Ruby alternatives for processing convenience methods

Section titled “Ruby alternatives for processing convenience methods”

Many processing (convenience) methods make little sense in ruby (and many are no-longer implemented). See ruby alternatives for [details][].

[License][]

[license] !:LICENSE.md [contributing] !:CONTRIBUTING.md [jruby]: http://www.jruby.org/ [processing] !: http://www.processing.org/ [download]: https://processing.org/download/ [samples]: https://github.com/ruby-processing/Example-Sketches [wiki]: http://github.com/jashkenas/ruby-processing/wikis/ [details]: https://github.com/jashkenas/ruby-processing/wiki/Replacing-processing-convenience-methods [FAQs]: http://github.com/jashkenas/ruby-processing/wikis/FAQs/ [release]: https://github.com/jashkenas/ruby-processing/releases/ [guide to installing]: https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/installation/ [alternative install]: http://tutorials.jumpstartlab.com/topics/environment/environment.html [fix]: https://github.com/jruby/jruby/issues/1917 [japanese]: http://qiita.com/yohm13/items/f3f82f423b507cec1dcc [jruby_art]: https://ruby-processing.github.io/JRubyArt/ [ruboto-processing2]: https://github.com/hoshi-sano/ruboto-processing2 [propane]: https://ruby-processing.github.io/propane/