Spellburst: A Node-based Interface for Exploratory Creative Coding with Natural Language Prompts

TL;DR

Spellburst is a novel creative coding environment that combines a node-based interface, natural language prompts, and dynamic code editing to facilitate artistic exploration and semantic programming.

Contribution

It introduces a new LLM-powered environment integrating semantic and syntactic coding for artists, with a node-based interface and prompt-driven interactions.

Findings

Artists found Spellburst helpful for rapid creative exploration

The environment effectively bridges semantic concepts and code syntax

User feedback indicates improved workflow in digital art creation

Abstract

Creative coding tasks are often exploratory in nature. When producing digital artwork, artists usually begin with a high-level semantic construct such as a "stained glass filter" and programmatically implement it by varying code parameters such as shape, color, lines, and opacity to produce visually appealing results. Based on interviews with artists, it can be effortful to translate semantic constructs to program syntax, and current programming tools don't lend well to rapid creative exploration. To address these challenges, we introduce Spellburst, a large language model (LLM) powered creative-coding environment. Spellburst provides (1) a node-based interface that allows artists to create generative art and explore variations through branching and merging operations, (2) expressive prompt-based interactions to engage in semantic programming, and (3) dynamic prompt-driven interfaces and direct code editing to seamlessly switch between semantic and syntactic exploration. Our evaluation with artists demonstrates Spellburst's potential to enhance creative coding practices and inform the design of computational creativity tools that bridge semantic and syntactic spaces.