One notable problem with Java (and thus Processing) is that, on its own, it’s not the best solution for doing the pixel-by-pixel processing and computer vision / motion tracking / video analysis, as it’s not as efficient for those kind of tasks as C/C++. The motion tracking / computer vision library for processing JMyron is actually written in C++ and wrapped in Java, for instance — though it’s important to note that the ability to wrap C/C++ code in Java is very nice. (And once you’ve done the basic analysis, you can get away with some iterating through pixels in Java/Processing, and it is fast for some related tasks like doing the actual animation.)

But C++ can be a bit unfriendly. There are libraries that are very helpful for doing this kind of work, but you have to track them down. Chris O’Shea of Pixelsumo writes about a new solution that could bring some of the basic ease of use of Processing’s integrated libraries to C++ work, in the form of Zach Lieberman’s new C++ library “OpenFrameWorks”:

OpenFrameWorks at Ars Electronica [Pixelsumo]

I’d keep a close eye on this, as Lieberman’s extensive experience building work that uses these techniques means he knows a lot about what’s needed in the way of performance. But there are some major caveats that mean this isn’t quite “Processing for C++”: