A physical book
A physical book makes a digitized book "physical" by rendering it in a simulated space where properties like gravity, friction, and velocity all apply. The program randomly perturbs the letters, then takes a snapshot at a point in time, re-assembling the images into a new, "un-digitized" book. Prepared originally for National Novel Generation Month 2017.
Perturb your text
Choose an effect, or paste in your own text. Click "Download image" to save the result.
...or paste in your own text here:
CREAM CHEESE AND PINEAPPLE SANDWICH
Chop the pineapple fine and drain. Spread lightly buttered white bread thinly with cream cheese; sprinkle with pineapple and press together, then cut the sandwiches in thin, slender strips.
BANANA AND TOASTED BROWN BREAD SANDWICH
Between thin slices of buttered brown bread from which the crusts have been removed, place slices of banana, press together and place in the oven and leave until bread is toasted. Serve hot, Very good for invalids.
Implementation
A physical book uses the web-based game engine Phaser. Text is rendered into an invisible <div> (to produce correct leading and line-height), then copied into the Phaser game world with each letter instantiated as a distinct addressable sprite.
NaNoGenMo entry
To produce the required 50,000 words for National Novel Generation Month, the program was fed The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book: 400 Ways to Make a Sandwich (1909). For each page, one of a dozen transformations was applied to give the text varying physical properties such as mass, acceleration, collision, or opacity. A browser automation tool called all 500 pages in succession, taking a screenshot at a random point in the animation. The final book was rendered in a two-page spread PDF.