Processing: How do i create an object every "x" time - function

Question

What I want to do is to create a new planet in my system for example every 10 seconds and that it starts to move and also prints a "hello" . At the end I want that the 8 planets (ellipses) will be moving together.
I try to use delay(); but I failed .
Can someone help me please?
Planet [] planetCollection = new Planet [8];
float [] wid2 = {100,200,300,400,500,600,700,800};
float [] hig2 = {50,75,100,125,150,175,200,225};
int [] colorR = {100,800,300,400,500,600,700,800};
int [] colorG = {50,225,100,125,150,175,200,225};
int [] colorB = {50,225,100,125,150,175,200,225};
int [] size = {10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24};
int lastTime =0;
int contador =0;
void setup (){
size (1600,1600);
smooth();
//INITIALIZE
for (int i=0 ; i<planetCollection.length; i++){
planetCollection [i] = new Planet(wid2[i], hig2[i], colorR[i],
colorG[i], colorB[i], size[i]);
}
}
void draw (){
background (0);
//CALL FUNCIONALITY
for (int i=0 ; i<planetCollection.length; i++){
planetCollection [i].run();
}
}
class Planet {
//GLOBAL VARIABLES
float val;
float x = 0;
float y = 0;
float wid2;
float hig2;
float speed;
int colorR;
int colorG;
int colorB;
int size;
int centerx = width/2;
int centery = height/4;
//CONTRUCTOR
Planet(float _w, float _h,int _colorR,int _colorG,int _colorB, int _size){
wid2=_w;
hig2=_h;
colorR= _colorR;
colorG= _colorG;
colorB= _colorB;
size = _size;
speed=10/(2*PI * sqrt ((pow(wid2,2)+pow (hig2,2)/2))); ;
}
//FUNCTIONS
void run (){
move();
display();
}
void move (){
x= sin (val);
y= cos(val);
x *=wid2;
y *=hig2;
//SUN/CENTER
noStroke();
fill (255,238,41);
ellipse (centerx,centery,40,40);
if (dist (mouseX,mouseY,centerx,centery)<20){
if(mousePressed){
speed =0;
}
}
//
x+= centerx;
y+= centery;
val += speed;
}
void display (){
//PLanets
fill(colorR, colorG, colorB);
ellipse(x, y, size, size);
///Orbits
noFill();
stroke(255);
ellipse(centerx, centery, wid2*2, hig2*2);
println ("posicionx "+x);
println ("posiciony "+y);
println ("width "+wid2);
println ("high "+hig2);
println ("val "+val);
println ("speed "+speed);
}
}

Answer 1

You can use the modulo % operator along with the frameCount variable inside the draw() function to do something every X frames.
Here is an example program that draws little circles most frames, but draws a big circle every 60 frames:
void setup() {
size(500, 500);
background(0);
}
void draw() {
ellipse(mouseX, mouseY, 10, 10);
if (frameCount % 60 == 0) {
ellipse(mouseX, mouseY, 50, 50);
}
}

Answer 2

You can build a timer for counting seconds using a helper variable and the in-built variable frameRate. (Note that this solution ensures that you truly count seconds independent on your machine's current workload.)
frameRate tells you how many cycles Processing is currently performing per second (one cycle = one execution of draw, also called one frame). This is usually 60 (frames per second) but can also be lower depending on other processes on your machine (e.g. when running video processing, 3D games etc. the frame rate goes down).
Here's a snippet to see what your current frameRate is:
void draw() {
println(frameRate);
}
And here's the timer using a helper variable counter which is reset every second. You should see a new dot appear on the console output every second.
int counter = 0;
void draw() {
if (counter > frameRate) {
print(".");
counter = 0;
} else {
counter++;
}
}
To make it count every 10 seconds you can just change the if condition to "counter > 10 * frameRate".