white space for now

Geared towards Flash devs. Can't wait to try it out -
http://www.sparrow-framework.org/

keybored2.mp3

(download)

Click here to download:

keybored2.mp3 (2.47 MB)

i don't actually expect anyone to listen to this, another random Audacity file of me fucking around from way back in the day. i'm mostly posting this as an homage to that unbelievably cool Hammond organ i purchased for probably $15 in some thriftstore in fuckville, middle america. a few months ago, there was a big noreaster that flooded my mom's basement where the organ was kept. when both the sump pumps failed, i begged my mom to rescue the organ before it was too late, but she wouldn't. i honestly believe she thought it would make for a more dramatic story if everything was destroyed. anyway, i'm pretty pissed i didn't actually record anything real with it.

WindBlowCover.mp3

(download)

Click here to download:

WindBlowCover.mp3 (3.7 MB)

I recently found some Audacity files from my old laptop. this was an absolutely awful way to record and i now recall the processor would overheat and make that whirring sound about halfway through every recording and ruin it. back in 2005, i could barely play guitar, but i still thought this cover was nice. it makes me wish i'd actually recorded a real album back when i was 25 and someone might've given a shit.

Peel Me, Tangerine (Gina Mix) by Wishlessness

(download)

Click here to download:

Peel Me, Tangerine (Gina Mix).mp3 (878 KB)

This is probably my favorite collaboration with my friend Adam.
Stumbled upon it again, thought I'd share with the world.

(download)

Click here to download:

Box2DFun.swf (104 KB)

So I finally got around to learning Box2D to help me prototype a skeeball game. It sucks there is barely any info on version 2.1, so I'll probably have to learn both versions for now. There's a surprising lack of info on drawing arcs/curves in general, so I thought I should share what I've figured out for v2.1 even though no one will ever read this :). There is an SVG parser for 2.0, which looks awesome, but for basic curves you can just loop through some points and apply it to a b2EdgeChainDef. First, I grabbed an arc drawing function from this wonderfully altruistic person. Second, I pushed the x and y coordinates into the b2EdgeChainDef.vertices array. Somehow I figured out to use the SetAsArray method on the b2PolgyonShape passing in those coordinates and set everything else as normally. You get nice curves in the debug draw, though the bigger the radius, the more dot-like the arc will be, but it doesn't seem to matter.

In the movie above (refresh to watch the ball motion), I needed 3 arcs: a big bottom rim, a smaller rim, and an outer facing rim. Seriously, if there is an easier way to create an empty shape, please tell me. As far as I know, there's no easy way to create an ellipse, so I overlap the 2 top arcs to simulate one. I'll keep the curved sprite in there so you can see it looking prettier than the debug draw output.

In the constructor:

_curve = new Sprite();
addChild(_curve);
_curve.graphics.lineStyle(10,0xFFFFFF,1);
drawArc(_curve,125,160,125,20,160,1);  //big bottom arc
drawArc(_curve,125,130,70,20,160,1); //middle bottom arc
drawArc(_curve,125,157,65,180,360,1); //top arc

In the body:

public function drawArc(sprite:Sprite, center_x:Number, center_y:Number, radius:Number, angle_from:Number, angle_to:Number, precision:Number):void {
            var angle_diff:Number=angle_to-angle_from;
            var steps:Number=Math.round(angle_diff*precision);
            var angle:Number=angle_from;
            var px:Number=center_x+radius*Math.cos(angle* Math.PI/180);
            var py:Number=center_y+radius*Math.sin(angle* Math.PI/180);

            sprite.graphics.moveTo(px,py);
           
            var chainDef:b2EdgeChainDef=new b2EdgeChainDef;
            chainDef.isALoop=false;
            chainDef.vertices.length=0;

            var chainShape:b2PolygonShape = new b2PolygonShape();
            var chainBodyDef:b2BodyDef = new b2BodyDef();

            var my_fixture:b2FixtureDef = new b2FixtureDef();
            my_fixture.friction = 0.5;
            my_fixture.restitution = 0.0;
            my_fixture.density = 0.0;
            my_fixture.userData = "vertex";

            var chainBody:b2Body;
            var vertexList:Array;
           
            for (var i:int=1; i<=steps; i++) {
                angle=angle_from+angle_diff/steps*i;
                px=center_x+radius*Math.cos(angle* Math.PI/180);
                py=center_y+radius*Math.sin(angle* Math.PI/180);
              
               sprite.graphics.lineTo(px,py); //non-box2D curve is drawn here
               
                vertexList=[{x:px,y:py}, {x:px+1,y:py-1}]; /// not sure the best way to handle the second b2Vec2, but you get interesting shapes when you play with the numbers
                for (var j:int=0; j < vertexList.length; j++) {
                       chainDef.vertices.push(new b2Vec2(vertexList[j].x / 30,vertexList[j].y / 30));
                }
                chainDef.vertexCount=chainDef.vertices.length;            
                chainShape.SetAsArray(chainDef.vertices, chainDef.vertexCount);           
                my_fixture.shape = chainShape;           
                chainBody = world.CreateBody(chainBodyDef);
                chainBody.CreateFixture(my_fixture);
               
                //clear the arrays
                vertexList.splice(0);
                chainDef.vertices.splice(0);
            }
           
        }


I'm mostly posting this for my own benefit, but maybe this will help
someone else.

1. If you end up with an inexplicable memory leak in an
animation-heavy Flash file, check your vector objects. Flash doesn't
seem to like moving pngs on top of vectors (especially for extended
time periods like on EnterFrame or Timer events). I just exported my
vectors as pngs, pulled them back in, and the movie usurps 1/3 of what
having all vectors did to the processor. Dang.

2. I often have to write CSS classes for dynamic text that I pull in
as CDATA from xml and have no problems. This time I was styling some
hyperlink states and everything was peachy except the links wouldn't
click through with a normal <a href="http://www.fart.com> around the
text. I tried listening for a TextEvent.LINK event and using
"event:http://www.fart.com", which I never do, but my brain was
malfunctioning. It didn't work, but you know what did?? Putting the
goddamn TextField inside a MovieClip. I forgot that text can misbehave
if it's not inside a MovieClip. Oddly, setting the mouseEnabled
property to true didn't solve this.

In sum, Flash is weird.

http://flowingdata.com/

Information is beautiful: 30 examples of creative infography

http://www.designer-daily.com/information-is-beautiful-30-examples-of-creativ...

Drew up a logo for my posterous blog. See above.

update: i removed this drawing. i got bored.