Tag: Flash

I R Ub3r 1337

John Winkelman

I have finally made it back into flash, And i have come up with an egregious hack for drawing a circle using the drawing API. Apparently using curveTo() is rather awkward for drawing a simple circle. This method uses the beginGradientFill() method:

_root.createEmptyMovieClip("grad",1);
 with (_root["grad"]) {
 colors = [0x000000,0x000000,0xffffff,0x000000,0x000000];
 alphas = [0,0,100,0,0];
 ratios = [0,124,128,132,255];
 /* adjust the 'spacing' of the middle three numbers to adjust line thickness */
 matrix = { matrixType:"box", x:0, y:0, w:400, h:400, r: (100/180)*Math.PI };
 beginGradientFill( "radial", colors, alphas, ratios, matrix );
 lineStyle(1,0x000000,100);
 moveTo(0,0);
 lineTo(400,0);
 lineTo(400,400);
 lineTo(0,400);
 lineTo(0,0);
 endFill();
 }

Put this code at the root level of your Flash file and run it. Nothing more need be done. Also, you can find a compiled version here . Sure, it’s not much to look at now, but just think of the possibilities!

I Live…Again

John Winkelman

I have my life back. The giant time-and-energy-sucking project was handed off yesterday, so I rewarded myself by spending the entire day playing around with Flash MX. The drawing API is a thing of wonder and beauty. Using the mutated Rose trigonometry formula from my first Flash 5 showpiece I created this thing , of which I am rather proud.

Received a notice from Amazon that they are processing my order for A New Kind of Science. I suspect that there will be a great many things in it which will be the basis for a great many future Flash experiments. If reading the book doesn’t make me so smart I transcend the flesh I may post a few.

Holograph

John Winkelman

Hello. I’ve missed you all.

Two important announcements: First, at the end of April…and possibly before… this site will be reborn as www.eccesignum.org . Don’t bother looking; there is nothing there yet. And second, I am playing around with Flash MX, and it is a super-duper wondrous geeky toy. So when (if?) I have any time, I will be posting new experiments.

I want to take a moment to give Mad Props to the ubermensch at Modwest , who will be hosting the new incarnation of this car-crash of a website.

Small Minds

John Winkelman

GEARS!

Six months ago we all grew up a little.

A friend of mine recently told me that the owner of the graphic design company he worked for, made comments which I feel are pretty much typical of Americans when they think no-one is looking: After the first tower came down, Mr. Owner told his employees to come up with patriotic flag-covered t-shirt designs, because sales of flag covered shit always go up after events like 9-11. And, he said to print the designs on the cheap shirts because people will buy any old ratty shirt as long as it has a flag on it.

That friend quit a few days later.

Carrying around a flag makes you a good American in about the same way going to church makes you a good Christian. In other words, it really, ultimately, means nothing.

Engine

John Winkelman

Just to prove that Flash is great for making 80’s style arcade games, here is a little thing I whipped up in about an hour this evening. Use the arrow keys to move, and the mouse to aim. If the arrow keys don’t do anything, click on the window to bring it into focus. I will add destructive ability when I figure out how to attach a #%*)%*#%# click event to the root level of a Flash movie.

Tools of the Trade

John Winkelman

Flash is sucking my time away faster than prime time television. No time to read, no time for fun stuff. Not that Flash isn’t fun.

I have a few development links for you, my three readers. First is this page , which has some extremely good tips for optimizing Javascript performance. It also includes benchmarks which show that the techniques actually do work.

Next is a Java development environment called NetBeans which is aimed at web developers. You will need the Java SDK in order to install NetBeans.

In other news, I have been listening to a great German band called Corvus Corax. Medieval music with bagpipes, with a distinct dark-ages feel, coupled with an overtone of punk. Good angry programming music. The problem is, the CDs appear to be nigh impossible to get here in the US. This is not really a problem as long as Audio Galaxy is around, but they are good enough that I want to have their music on CD. Original CD. Not burned copies.