a fragment on distributed becoming I. Init There is a scatter at the start. Not a plan — a dispersal. ofx is the prefix of possibility: ofxGui, ofxKinect, ofxOpenCv, ofxMidi, ofxSyphon. Each one a lens, a limb, a leak.
This is the loneliness of the modular self. Connected everywhere, held nowhere. But sometimes — rarely — the scatter aligns.
You are the host of ghosts. Each ofx addon is a minor deity, and you, the heretic priest, pray not with belief but with ofEnableBlendMode(OF_BLEND_MODE_ADD) . So write this into your setup() : scatter ofx
ofSetWindowTitle("scatter ofx"); ofSetFrameRate(30); // just enough to feel alive. Then walk away from the machine. Let the scatter run without you — cameras watching an empty room, MIDI clocks ticking into silence, OSC messages piling up in a buffer no one flushes.
ofxFaceTracker finds eyes where you swore there were only pixels. ofxAudioUnit hums a frequency that matches your breath. ofxWebSocket receives a message from a stranger’s machine in Berlin: /light/blue 0.8 a fragment on distributed becoming I
Thus: = the acknowledgment that no single node contains truth. Truth is in the routing. Truth is in the ofAddListener(ofxSomeEvent, this, &ofApp::someCallback) . IV. The Code as Confession void ofApp::setup(){ // I admit I cannot see alone. kinect.setup(); // I admit I need rhythm from outside. midiIn.openPort(0); // I admit my memory fails. recorder.init(ofGetWidth(), ofGetHeight()); } Scatter is not chaos — it is organized forgetting . You offload depth sensing to ofxKinect . You offload GUI to ofxGui . You offload your own obsessions to ofxSurfing or ofxMio .
What remains of you is just the router: kinect.getPixels() → shader.setTexture() → midiOut.sendNoteOn() . A scatter of ofx means no core. No single point of failure — but no single point of meaning either. ofx is the prefix of possibility: ofxGui, ofxKinect,
And you realize: scatter is not fragmentation. Scatter is polyphonic identity .