Installation
Here is a step-by-step installation guide for Mac and Windows:
What am I installing?
npm
npm stands for “Node Package Manager”. It allows you to install NodeJS software packages on your computer using the command line. You will need npm to compile and run arduino-p5js and to build executeable desktop-applications for Macintosh (app) and Windows (exe).
arduino-p5js
This is a boilerplate (a simple “template”) that has everything you need to get started with your project. It takes care of the “dirty work” and bridges the communication between your p5js-sketch and the Arduino Board. It ships with many nice features that make developing more fun:
Hotreload of your script: Changes to the sketch or CSS-file will be refreshed automatically in the browser without the need to manually reload
SCSS-Support: write your CSS using nested SCSS-syntax
Standalone development: Everything you need is in one, simple container. No need to run an additional Serialport-Server software like the p5bots-server
Deploy your project as a standalone app for Mac or exe for Windows using electron
nnarduino-sketch
This is the software that needs to be installed on your Arduino Board using the Arduino IDE It reads and writes to the Serial Port and allows the use of JSON to communicate between Nodes’s serialport and the Board.