Please Save My Work  

The drawing programs do not have an undo function. This can easily be programmed, but goes against the spirit of computational drawing. The nature of computation is such that the state of a composition can be saved at any moment in time, and older states can be reverted to, mistakes can be undone. Is this desirable for drawing?

Each drawing is stored in computer memory as a vector of time annotated line objects, recording the coordinate points that make up the gesture, and the parameters and algorithms used to represent the gesture on the canvas. As such, each drawing is a computer file of numbers and methods. That file can be conserved and thus can be recreated and replayed. We must ask whether we want a unique process of drawing or a performance. Do we want drawing or animation?

Computational drawing is concerned with eventually shaping a static composition. As such, it cannot consist of a continuous animated environment. The dynamic lines have a pre-determined life span, and always settle in a deliberate final state. Their dynamism is an integral part of the process of drawing form. Dynamic lines execute some tricks as they elucidate their ultimate visual form.