SWF It Good

My thoughts on the writers strike

Though Jay Leno and Conan are coming back, there’s still a strike. My advice to you if you are trying to find something to do is, Code more!

Add comment December 27th, 2007

I bought Actionscript 3.0 Design Paterns

My wife’s parents gave me the annual gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, so this year I got Actionscript 3.0 Design Patterns. I am excited about it. Last Christmas I got Advanced AS3 Design Patterns but I was just learning AS3 so I couldn’t figure out Design Patterns also.

I have since understood a good deal of the book but I think this one is a little more basic and has more examples. I hope I can apply these new ideas in to my new job as I am coding in a low-level manner so that the work can be used in either Flash or Flex.

Add comment December 26th, 2007

Papervision 3D 2.0 / Great White Example

If you haven’t heard from the whole Flash community Papervision 3D 2.0 is out w/ textures, more interactive features and new coding conventions like BasicRenderEngine Class. I was working on a Coverflow thing for a client a week ago that I abandoned and just moded Doug McCune. But when I was going to do it myself I was using the Great White Trunk.

Here is what I came up with:

[as]

package
{

import caurina.transitions.Tweener;

import flash.display.*;
import flash.events.Event;

import org.papervision3d.cameras.*;
import org.papervision3d.materials.*;
import org.papervision3d.objects.*;
import org.papervision3d.objects.primitives.*;
import org.papervision3d.render.BasicRenderEngine;
import org.papervision3d.scenes.*;
import org.papervision3d.view.Viewport3D;;

public class PV3DTest extends Sprite
{
[Embed(source="images/one.jpg")]
private var Pic:Class;

public var scene:Scene3D;
public var camera:Camera3D;
public var viewport:Viewport3D;
public var renderer:BasicRenderEngine;
private var photoContainer:Plane;

public function PV3DTest()
{
stage.scaleMode = StageScaleMode.NO_SCALE;
stage.align = StageAlign.TOP_LEFT;
init();
}

private function init():void
{
scene = new Scene3D()
camera = new Camera3D();
camera.focus = 500;
camera.zoom = 3;

renderer = new BasicRenderEngine();

viewport = new Viewport3D(stage.stageWidth, stage.stageHeight, false, false, true, true);
viewport.addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init3d);
addChild(viewport);
}

private function init3d(e:Event = null):void
{
var data:Bitmap;
var photoMat:BitmapMaterial;

data = new Pic() as Bitmap;

photoMat = new BitmapMaterial(data.bitmapData);
photoContainer = new Plane(photoMat, 220, 210, 6, 6);
camera.target = photoContainer;
//photoContainer.yaw(45);

scene.addChild(photoContainer);
renderer.renderScene(scene, camera, viewport);
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, render);
}

private function render(evt:Event):void
{
Tweener.addTween(photoContainer, {rotationY: 45, transition:”linear”, time:.5});
Tweener.addTween(viewport, {x: 300, transition:”linear”, time:.5});
renderer.renderScene(scene, camera, viewport);
}

}
}

[/as]

Source | Example

1 comment December 26th, 2007

Temp Dev Rig

So I’m working from home this week since none of my co-workers are in. So I wanted to work on the couch and not the desk. Then it hit me a can make a table out of something sturdy like a snare drum stand, minimal and efficient.

Add comment December 26th, 2007

Merry Christmas to all…

I say Merry Christmas. Some may not celebrate Christmas so Merry _______________(insert holiday). Or Happy Day off. And remember today is a day for family so close down Flash and Flex Builder and watch A Christmas Story with them.

Add comment December 25th, 2007

Custom ColorPicker Component – How to extend a Flash CS3 Component Class

Ok so at my last job I was working on a boat client’s site. They asked for me to do a color option flash piece in two days. So I thought what was the quickest and easiest way to convey color options to a potential buyer…A color picker. But I thought a conventional ColorPicker was ugly and had a lot of things I didn’t need like the hex code input. Secondly the ColorPicker has a bunch of colors and I only needed a few in one row. So I started getting into the Flash CS3 components code, found ColorPicker and ColorPickerEvent Class and extended them to do what I wanted. The result is the CustomColorPicker.

It uses almost everything the ColorPicker does except this color picker stays open for a time after you have selected a color. The picker event passes which index in the Array was selected and you can use that to listen for a color change and trigger an Array in you app to be used in tandem.

Only problem so far is it doesn’t register the first one selected (on INIT, which is 0) inside of the class yet. You have to do it in your app.

In the working example, it loads xml and that is broken up in to VOs. Each VO’s color is pushed into an Array to be pushed into the CustomColorPicker’s colors property and when clicked it sends a message to change the view of the car, color text and color swatch of the corresponding index. For example if you click index 3, it get VOS_array[3].image, text and displays it.
All this is done on the inside all you have to do is grab the color and array index from the CustomColorPickerEvent.COLOR_CHANGE and you are good to go.

Please excuse the mess, I stripped the client data and grabbed images off of a google search of 08 Honda Civics, and changed up some stuff to look a little different. Leaving it ugly, but it looks good enough for you to get the use of the component.
Hope you like it and let me know if you have any improvements or question.

Source | Example

1 comment December 13th, 2007

New Job is official

It’s official, starting December 13th I will be an employee of Travelocity. My official title is Web Design Contributor but I will be working alongside the flash team working on upcoming projects. It’s exciting, I’ve always been “The Flash Guy” now I can be one of the flash guys. This is an opportunity to learn and collaborate in a way I have never been able to do. I’ve been teaching myself for the past 2 yrs.
Here is the sad news I have to leave my current job at Eisenberg And Associates. I will have only been there a year on Dec. 3rd. I am in shock. The offering of my new job and the offering of mine last year is almost to the day. I am very grateful for the job I have had. Last year I didn’t get Flex completely and all I could do in ActionScript 3 was make clickable boxes and some other stuff.
Because I was the flash guy at my current job, I was able to build up my knowledge to where now I build only in Flash CS3/AS3/Flex w/ OOP. I had no one to say, “What about the people who have flash player 6″. My thought is they don’t want to see flash anyway if it’s that old, forget them. I had that liberty. That helped build up my skills a lot and helped me get the Travelocity gig.

I enjoy all the people at my current job. I will miss them and getting Eisenstein’s in the morning and being able to walk to work. But sometimes you have to move on. If we didn’t, some of us would be still living with our parents. It’s not that you hate your parents, just another chapter.

So if any Eisneberger’s are reading this…I wish you all the best.

Travelocity here I come.

P.S. I’m working on an Advanced ColorPicker Component for Flash CS3 that I think would be good for the Automotive industry.

P.S.S There’s an opening at Eisenberg’s for a Flash Developer. You can develop how ever you want. I was strictly AS3 and such. For more info post a comment. This is a Dallas Job.

Add comment December 1st, 2007