MyLineRider

I was on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I am back.

Continuing from my last example Flex 3 Example: Drawing a path at run time with adding and deleting points capabilities, I expanded the code to allow creating polygons at run time.

To create a polygon, the previous code was enhanced with graphics.endFill(); on the RedrawPath method.

I had to include additional methods to finish the polygons, as well as a method to create the last insert anchor point when finishing a polygon and more.

Below is the application to play with. To start, click on the “Add Polygon” button and then click on the stage to add points. At any time you can move any anchor (even as you are creating a polygon) to edit your polygon or any insert anchor point (light red dots) to insert additional anchor points. To end drawing a polygon click the “END” key.

Once a polygon is created in can be fully edited. Anchor points can be moved, inserted and deleted. The code is fully commented and thus I don’t go into explaining how it works in here. If you have questions post them via comments.

Get the code here.

Expanding on my last example, Flex 3 Experiment: Drawing a path at run time with insert points, here is the same example, but in this version it is possible to delete anchor points by clicking on a black point and then hitiing the DELETE key.

Although in this example and in the previous two, the title suggests is a Flex example, all the path functionality is in a AS file, so it can be run as an Actionscript project as well. It requires Flex 3.2+, Flash CS4 or other IDE that can compile for Flash Player 10.

In this case I called this a Flex example and not an experiment, because these are not really experiments ( i am not trying to do anything new really – at least not yet).

The code is available here.

Continuing from my previous post about how to draw a curve with editable points at run time, I decided to post a new one, on how to make draw a path (with straight lines) that include points to insert additional segments. Again, this is based on the book: “Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects” by Todd Yard.

By clicking a light red point between any two black points you can bisect the segment creating a new black point for manipulation, adding another light red point and repositioning the previous moved one and the new light red points to the center of their corresponding segments.  In addition, any black point can be clicked and dragged to change the location of that point. It easier to understand by drawing a path. to do that, click on the canvas below a couple of times. Then move the black points to modify the path or the light red circles to add new segments. This requires Flash Player 10. Grab the code here.

It has been a while since my last post. I Have tons of experiments and ideas to post, but I guess I procrastinate too much.

Anyway, a couple days ago a got the book: “Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects” by Todd Yard and its great. I just finished Chapter 1, but I have so many ideas to play with that I guess it will take a while to finish the book (I sort of browsed the whole thing already though).

One of the descriptions in Chapter 1, which deals with AS3 Drawing API is about changing points in a path.You can see the example below. Click on the canvas (anywher), then click somewhere else, etc.  At any time  you can drag the points to edit the path.

Another example refers to drawing curves. In this case a curve is drawn of the stage, but the user can change the start and end point and the control point.  You can play with the curve below.

Then, I decided to make some changes and make something like the changing points in a path, but with the path made of curves. The result is shown below. Again, click on the stage a couple of times to draw some stuff. Now besides been able to move the points, you can move the control points (in light red).  The source code is available here

Enjoy.

That’s right. I have known about Twitter for a long time now, but I could not see the value on it. OK, I am still not sure about that. However, I decided to do some research – basically I goggled “How to Use Twitter for Marketing” and I got plenty of persuasive links (see some of them below). So, I thought, hey why not experiment a little.

You can follow me on Twitter by clicking here.

And here some of the links:

HubSpot – How to Use Twitter for Marketing and PR

DoshDosh -17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners

Carbon Graffiti - How to use Twitter for marketing

MarketingProfs -Why Do People Use Twitter?

Following my post from yesterday about augmented reality, what better than to link to experiments made by Seb Lee-Delisle with PV3D and FLARToolkit.

The followng video shows the awesome concept…

Papervision3D augmented reality wormhole from Plug-in Media on Vimeo

Enjoy!!

A few weeks ago I saw a post on the PaperVision3D list about augmented reality using a 3D instantiated using PaperVision3D. I didn’t know what to expect, but I follow the link to check it out. The post at Sander Wichers blog, shows a nice combination of a 3D cube (made with PV3D) that can be manipulated in the real world. Sander uses a Mammoth media server (in alpha) and an augmented reality library named ARToolKitPlus as a server plug-in.

A couple of days later a saw another experiment using also PV3D and FLARToolkit a Flash implementation of ARToolkit (is in Japanese) made by Sagoosha. 

Papervision – Augmented Reality (extended) from dpinteractive on Vimeo.

I found some other interesting work on augmented reality by a French company called Total Inmmersion, that specialized on this (commercially). They have presented at the DEMO conference in 2004 and 2007. The following video is from their 2007 presentation

[wp_youtube]g8Eycccww6k[/wp_youtube]

You can access the DEMO 2004 presentation at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6523761027552517909

A few days ago, via the Papervision3D blog (again), I found that Sagoosha published even a cooler demo to wish all of us a Happy New Year.

[wp_youtube]TW6_X9qBeds[/wp_youtube]

And you can even interact with this one by going here. Enjoy!!

I have been thinking in doimg this upgrade for a while, but I was afraid I will break something in the blog.

Finally, today I thought: what the hell, let’s give it a try.

Actually, it was pretty easy and it seems to be working fine. Now I have to get used to the new admin interface, but it looks intuitive. I specially liked the capability to update the plug ins directly. What a time saver.

I also took the opportunity to include some additional plug ins, including the “about me” and “UsersOnline ” widgets (on the right sidebar).

I would like to find a plug in to add some sponsor ads – Flash boxes or something. I have not much traffic yet, but I can include a sponsor ad for Baloka.com to support my wife business. Hey, I guess I am promoting her site in many places in here. Well, I guess that’s fine.

Gilbert

A few days ago I started working on some interactive charts with Flex 3 Builder Pro, and I have been making some nice progress. In the past I did some stuff with Flex 2, but the documentation and examples weren’t that great.

Now in Flex 3, the dynamic help has more and better examples and the livedocs are quite good. The charting API, however has so many possibilities that the examples and explanations are not enough. Hence, there is a lot of work required to customize the charts the way I need them.

In a few days i will start posting some examples, so others can learn from what I have been doing and hopefully I will learn more as well for the comments and feedback for my readers (Are you outthere?)

Today I went to monthly meeting of the BFPUG (Boston Flash Platform User Group) to see a presentation about Gamebrix. Naveena Swamy, the founder of the company, showcased their platform, and it was a real threat.

I believe Gamebrix is up to something big. With their platform you can create games in 2 ways: One, by using the Gamebrix express, in which you can customize preexisting games or game templates by changing assets (graphics, audio, animations). The otherone by using the Gamebrix Builder. With the later you select your assets (graphics, animations, audio), either provided by the system or by importing your own. Then, you can add intelligence to your objects (again images or animations). By intelligence I mean interactivity – user actions (mouse clicks on the object), behaviors (how the objects react to events- i.e. to collisions), constraints and more. Finally you create the game, which is compiled on the server and produce a swf file (Flash file) that can be placed in any website or social networking site.

The platform has been built with Adobe Flex and its very easy to use. Once a user finishes creating a game, she can share it through the Gamebrix platform or post it in her own website. The game creator can easily edit games, change graphics, sounds and logic and quickly produce completely different games based on the same main storyline.

One cool idea is to use the platform to create contexts. A company can define certain rules, like use those graphics ( a logo, and some other branding elements) and use these themes to create games for that company in exchange for prizes and recognition. If you want to explore the potential of this for your own organization you may need to contact the company.

Right now the platform is in public beta testing and the access to create and share games is totally free of charge. We discussed a little about their business model, but not enough to be able to mention anything in here.

Well, what are you waiting for. Go there and create some cool games and share them with the world!!