Cinder vs OpenFrameWork which one is better for a C++ beginner?

Question

I'm MFA visual design student who's looking for a visual solution for my current project, so i decided to use creative code to generate some sort of geometric visual effect. I wonder as a beginner, cinder or OF which one i should dive in first? and if please, could you explain me why?

Answer 1

I think OF is better suited for beginners. I use both but anyway, here are my main points:

• OF has a lot more users, addons and published code on web. Probably what you need to do is already done and generously published as a addon.
• Cinder is designed with a more C++ style, that can be a little bit confusing for beginners. I think OF is easier to pick up.

I recommend you download and try both of them. Check out their examples, that will show you how each one writes its code.

Answer 2

Neither: if you don't know C++ enough, you will trip over all sorts of loose wires. Having said that, you are more likely to find help if you mention OF on the web, even when the problem relates to C++ rather than OF itself. My impression is that the OF community is slightly more forgiving towards this because it's bigger, so there are more eyes and man-power to spare to answer non-OF questions.

On the other hand, once you get more comfortable with C++ and the problems start to be with the framework, I found that the admittedly smaller community around Cinder is much keener -- and more densely packed with specialists -- than that of OF. I suspect this is because the Cinder community has a higher density of highly expert users and practitioners.

Answer 3

This being a 2 year old question, this is less for the original poster and more for posterity:

A Morpheu5 says above, if you're an absolute beginner both libraries may impose a frustratingly steep learning curve. For beginners, Processing or it's web version, P5.js, may be a better option.