Creative COW - a real hidden gem...

I have been recieving emails from Creative COW for ages now but only just found time to really take a look at what they were about... and that was because they sent me an email telling me about Stereoscopic 3D (something bound to get my attention, and certainly of interest to a student of mine who produced an anaglyph 3D animation recently).

So I clicked on over to Creative COW only to be astonished that they actually publish a PDF magazine you can download for free, with excellent articles by real professionals about film and media production.

I immediately downloaded the latest issue, and then all back issues.

It is not often you find something so well produced totally FREE.

Mouse control for flash games

Another of my students hit me with a conundrum to solve, and as usual I can't resist the challenge.

They are constructing a flash game to help new computer users become more comfortable with using a mouse. The idea is to have a top down driving game in which the player must move the car side to side to avoid on coming traffic and bad guys.

My student is already aware that you can easily make the player character follow the mouse, but they were not happy with such instant precise movements for the game (cars, after all, just don't respond like that). So I have been looking at some code to add a dampening or easing effect on the car so there is a smoother response when the mouse is jerked.

Easing with mouse chasing movieclips

To kick off, the frame rate of the movie is 30fps for nice smooth animation. Then chuck the following code into the first frame:

var easing = 0.1; //The higher the frame rate the lower this number must be

onEnterFrame = function () {
_root.player_mc._x += (_root._xmouse-_root.player_mc._x)*easing;
};

And it really is that simple. To tighten or loosen the easing just ammend the easing variable.

Then just whack a movie clip on the stage called player_mc and you're done.

Taking the game code further

It is too late at night to waffle about it now, but you may find the developed code helpful. I may even get round to finishing it:

/* Students are required to design and build a simple game that teaches mouse control. However one student complained that the mouse is too sensitive for his game idea (a topdown car game).

One solution to his problem is to have acar contolled only along the X axis (left and right) andthat we do some simple algbra to dampen or ease the control ofthe player car.

Here goes.*/

/*First declare some variables */

var easing = 0.1;
/*easing sensitivity, the greater the frame rate the smaller this value needs to be.*/

var crashcount = 0;

/*Then we hide the mouse cursor so the user is not distracted and can focus on the player movie clip instead (which will be constrained to follow the mouse only on the X axis.*/

Mouse.hide();

/*Now a function to implement the easing and test for collisions with the enemy*/

onEnterFrame = function () {
/*Here's the easing*/
_root.player_mc._x += (_root._xmouse-_root.player_mc._x)*easing;

/*Because of limitation on Flash's hit test (whole bounding box or just a single point) the following code checks for collisions on 2 single points on the player, the top right, and the top left of the player. Because all collisions will be front on, this will be sufficient to see if the player collided with the enemy. We choose the single point method because it allows us to lump all the enemies into one movie clip and for us to weave between the gaps without raising a collision as we would if we used the bounding box.*/

if (_root.enemy_mc.hitTest(_root.player_mc._x+(_root.player_mc._width/2), _root.player_mc._y-(_root.player_mc._height/2), true)) {
crashcount += 1;
} if (_root.enemy_mc.hitTest(_root.player_mc._x-(_root.player_mc._width/2), _root.player_mc._y-(_root.player_mc._height/2), true)) {
crashcount += 1;
}
};

Let's have some X3D support in browsers, please...

I have just been reading a very interesting article on the future of X3D by Ben Fancis on his blog. Ben suggests that while X3D is already mature as a standard, in terms of adoption it is still in its infancy, and that before it can fully mature we need to see some adoption of the X3D standard into mainstream browsers.

Since I have recently become interested again in Web3D and this time X3D (rather than VRML) I have been frustrated by the lack of support of web3D standards also. I left my own thoughts as a comment on Ben's blog, but just in case it doesn't make it past moderation I include them below for your consideration. It will make more sense if you read Ben's article first.

My Thoughts

I think Ben made some excellent observations on the factors surrounding adoption of X3D. I have been a fan of web based 3D for ages, but even since the VRML days the biggest block was browser support and now that X3D is here this still hasn't really changed.

But think that outside of browser support the other factor is getting the creative community on board. Too often I think that the software engineers and techies think they own the web and that it is all down to them. But in reality, the popularity (and usability) and growth of the internet in its importance with the general public has a lot to do with the creative application of the technology. It is a collaboration between creative designers and techies that will really bring it about. This brings me to the other missing factor for X3D to become popular - tools for designers.

Vivaty Studio (Formerly known as Flux Studio) is the closest to being a decent X3D authoring tool. It's pretty powerful, having used it myself, but still has room to develop in terms of accessibility for beginners. At present a designer familiar with flash and a 3D authoring program could probably figure it out without too much trouble, but the animation and interaction editing could do with some refining to make it easier to use, and the modelling tools could learn a lot from other programs. Having said all that generally it is really good and certainly the best X3D authoring tool I have come across.

Vivaty Studio Screenshot

Authoring tools won't be enough, as we learn from Axel - an excellent authoring tool (vivaty can learn a lot from their animation and interactivity implementation), but lacked plugin penetration. This is where other vendors like Adobe have already got it made.

What concerns me is that while proprietary software vendors like Adobe have their own 3D standard, and push it out to all their current Adobe users in software already familiar to most designers, and nice integration with other Adobe apps, X3D will have a hard time getting a look-in. I for one cannot imagine Microsoft adopting an open standard either, when they no doubt add 3D to their Expression suite in the future.

It is refreshing that Vivaty are using an open standard however (unlike so many others "second life" for instance), and it is decisions like this that are X3Ds greatest hope.

Outside of that, I totally agree, browser implementation is the next step for X3D to come of age. MS will be the last to get on board but Mozilla/Firefox could lead the way closely followed by Chrome or Safari.

What also might help if Vivaty put their plugin source code back into open source. The Flux player used to be Open Source, but a visit to sourceforge now will show that all source files have been removed. Maybe the investors that made Flux into Vivaty want to guard their investment closely (who can blame them), but one wonders if by holding everything too tight X3D might just as well be a proprietary format for all the market penetration it has - and without the customer base of Adobe or MS, Vivaty will slowly dissolve like Axel and nameless others. In my view a better strategy would be to open their plugin source, get it included into a Mozilla release and start seeing popular browsers with built in X3D support. Surely that will help Vivaty's larger business aim (no plugin required) in the longer term, and get them on the market with a good authoring tool. Who knows but Google will buy them out under those conditions and build X3D into Sketchup for some real Web3D competition with Adobe.

Recognising the value of design...

Chuck Green is one of those names (a bit like Chris Pirillo) that has been around, sharing their wisdom, since before the dot com bubble burst - I first came across Chuck Green in 1999 and even then he managed to make plain old HTML look pretty good.

Anyway, I have been recieving Chuck's emails for a while, but today's was so especially interesting that I have decided to share a chunk with you:

To those who don't recognize the value of graphic design... »

I got a plea for help the other day. A designer who frequents this blog had shared a recent post with an engineer friend and the reply was a bit condescending. The post, "The talent that makes a good designer great," points to an engineer who I thought was particularly innovative. My purpose in drawing attention to him was to emphasize the importance of the same type of innovative thinking to the field of graphic design.

The essence of the engineer's response was they saw little correlation between the skills of an engineer and those of a graphic designer. How could that type of innovation, they posed, have anything to do with a designer's sense of style, their ability to choose typefaces, their knowledge of color, and so on. After all, the subject of my post, the engineer asserted, was a PhD candidate.

I laughed out loud. Every designer has had (or will have) this conversation. At its root is the implication that devoting one's career to the design of communications and an interest in the aesthetic is somehow less of a calling than some other, more significant field of endeavor.

My response is this:

The ergonomics and aesthetics of design are to engineering what taste is to food.

Remove the aesthetic qualities (style, organization, presentation) of the clothing you wear, the book you are reading, the automobile you drive, the room in which you spend your time, and so on, and all you have left is...function.

It is important for every student of design (and engineering) to recognize and appreciate the importance of form to function and vice versa. And it is equally important to understand that to be a exceptional practitioner of either discipline requires out-of-the-ordinary instincts, curiosity, knowledge, craft, and so on.

Lots of people view art and science as a comfortable coexistence. But for those who are particularly attuned to one or the other, it is good to remember that the most debilitating form of blindness is to minimize the way in which others see. It is not only a sure way to limit your potential--it is a certain and swift strategy for diminishing your influence.

An example of substance without style... http://www.ideabook.com/substance_without_style.html

Reminds me of a conversation I had with an engineer on this very blog. Thankfully my engineer friend is open minded to the value of aesthetics, just as I see function as being fundamental too.

Carrara 6 Pro - Free with DigitalArts Magazine

For those of you interested in 3D modelling and animation I have to recommend that you buy the April 2009 edition of DigitalArts magazine (came by mail today - expect in WHSmiths very soon I expect).

The free software in this edition is none other than Carrara 6 Pro, an extrememly powerful and versatile 3D modeller and animator. Other people have written far more detailed reviews than I ever will, but to sum up the changes:

Carrara 6 allows users to choose from an unprecedented array of tools while exploring new dimensions in 3D creation. Carrara 6 provides 3D figure posing and
animation, modelling, environment-creation and rendering tools within a single
application.

Carrara 6 features include non-linear animation, giving users the ability to create clips of animation that can be reused and combined on multiple tracks. Also includeds is dynamic hair that allows artists to style, cut, brush and drape the hair, and displacement modeling where the user can paint detail on a model using free-form brush tools.

Apart from the non-linear animating and the hair, the icing on the cake was that it can export in DirectX (.X) format, and converts procedural shaders into raster images on export. Finally, I can use a program I am extremely familiar with to make models for 3D games and export them directly without having to convert them using other programs (at least that is the implication with .X export - I will of course try it out with my copy of The 3D Game Maker, and FPS Creator (also available free for learning purposes).

Ever since version 1 I have found Carrara to be one of the most easily learned 3D animation and modelling programs. Even so beginners may be glad of a little help in which case they will find Mark Bremmer's video tutorials helpful to get started.

I am certainly not going to complain that Daz is continuing to follow its strategy of giving freebies to DigitalArts readers (or readers of any other creative journal for that matter), and earning most of its income from selling content for its Daz Studio product. On pondering why I considered 2 possible causes. First, E-on have had their open beta of Vue 7 going for a while and by launching cornucopia have thrown down the gauntlet to Daz in the pre-made content arena. Second, by giving Carrara away free on design and creative journals they may encourage more talented 3d designers to produce content which can then be sold in their store. Well... it's a nice theory. Whatever the reason, Carrara 6 for the price of a magazine has to be a bargain.

Internet Explorer 8

Web designers will be interested to know that Internet Explorer 8 is coming very soon. At present you can download release candidate 1, this means that it is ready for public testing while they iron out the last few bugs.

You might want to add it to your stash of browsers for testing purposes. After all, you want to make sure the next most popular browser shows your websites nicely.

Download it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/worldwide-sites.aspx

Dodgy play/pause button? Try this...

I have spent a lot of time looking at FLV players custom built from scratch, since my students have been designing and coding them.

One problem that keeps popping up is the play/pause button not showing the right icon at the right time. I looked at my latest version and found that my code was slightly different. Here it is in case you want to try it.

This replaces the play button code in the flv player described back in August:

//Alternative play button code
video_ns.onStatus = function() {
if (video_ns.time >= duration-1) {
playstatus = 3;
_root.pause_mc.gotoAndStop("pauseoff");
} else {
playstatus = 1;
_root.pause_mc.gotoAndStop("pauseon");
}
};

_root.pause_mc.onRelease = function() {
if (playstatus == 1) {
video_ns.pause();
playstatus = 2;
_root.pause_mc.gotoAndStop("pauseoff");
} else if (playstatus == 2) {
video_ns.pause();
_root.pause_mc.gotoAndStop("pauseon");
playstatus = 1;
} else if (playstatus == 3) {
video_ns.play(currentvid);
_root.pause_mc.gotoAndStop("pauseon");
playstatus = 1; }
};

For users doing the Flashvars or Query String method the only other thing you have to change is the value of the playstatus variable at the top of your code as follows:

playstatus = 3;

See how you get on. The biggest difference is that I now have 3 playstatuses, not 2.