June 26th, 2009
Okay, I’m making a resolution to stop filling actionscripter.co.uk with any more talk about Processing. It’s looking like I might be spending the next few months writing a book on the subject, so I’ll bottle my gushing and channel it into print. Also, my generative art already has its own home on the web so you can go explore my code there if you like.
But one last thing to say – if you want a quick start with Processing, give Robert Rourke’s HasCanvas a go. It is perhaps the quickest way of writing a line of code and seeing the result. If that doesn’t hook you, nothing will.
Posted in books, processing | 1 Comment »
June 5th, 2009
I started my 100 Abandoned Artworks project – a weekly series of Generative Art experiments created using Processing – back in October. Last week it reached the halfway mark, with number 50, where it is taking a well-earned break (which is the reason I suddenly find I have time to write blog posts again!).
The project has already far exceeded my expectations. The feedback I have received has been almost universally positive and I can see a clear upward curve in the quality of the work. I have also managed to keep on a weekly schedule without compromising my client work, losing my marbles or my wife leaving me. We even managed to have our second child somewhere around the 34 mark.
In January I also gave a talk on the subject of generative art, and the journey I had been on with the project, which proved both popular and warmly received. More recently, after seeing how good the stuff looks printed, there has even been talk of a book (!).
I will be continuing with the next fifty on a less rigid, more erratic schedule, starting soon; the project still has a long way to go yet. I suggest you subscribe to the feed if you want to follow its progress. But before I can start thinking about that I have six months worth of emails to answer …
Posted in books, design, generative, processing, web | 1 Comment »
May 16th, 2009
 The next version of Flex Builder (V4, code named Gumbo) has been renamed Flash Builder.
Makes sense. Flex is only the framework, Flash is the platform we are building for, whether we are using Flash or Flex. I was starting to feel a little odd referring to myself as one of Brighton’s Flash Developers when I hardly ever open Flash. Although technically, seeing how 90% of my work over the last two years has been Flex based, I am probably better described as a Flex Developer these days. At least I don’t need to worry about such rubbish now.
Flash Builder (aka Flex 4) is expected to have a Beta release in June, with final release expected in the last quarter of 2009.
If you have any questions on the rebrand, there is an FAQ here.
Posted in flash, flex | 7 Comments »
May 16th, 2009
as3.0 is like a strict german mistress. Very harsh but gets good results.
as2.0 is your stoner friend from college.
as1.0 is for script-kiddies, designers and other non-technical people
as2.0 is for girls
as3.0 is for real men
as3.0 is carefully crafted formulaic pop – predictable, slick, reliable, dull
as2.0 is glitchy electronica – some semblance of form, but playful with it
as1.0 is a child bashing saucepans – imprecise, messy, but lots of fun
as3.0 is a Japanese Chef’s knife. Finely crafted but requires care and technique in its use.
as2.0 is a Machete. Great for hacking things, but useless for anything requiring fine detail or control.
as1.0 is a plastic spoon.
With thanks to Owen and Jim.
Posted in as2, as3, flash, flash brighton | 6 Comments »
April 29th, 2009
Adobe have just released their latest Flash Player penetration stats, which suggest that Version 10 now has an approximate 75% penetration.
| |
Flash Player 7 |
Flash Player 8 |
Flash Player 9 |
Flash Player 10 |
| Mature Markets |
99.3% |
99.1% |
98.9% |
74.2% |
| US/Canada |
99.2% |
99.0% |
98.8% |
74.5% |
| Europe |
99.1% |
98.9% |
98.6% |
75.3% |
| Japan |
99.8% |
99.5% |
99.3% |
72.0% |
Previously Adobe’s own stats tended to be taken with at least a soupcon of salt, as they were based on visitors to their own site (who would obviously be more inclined to be Flash users), but in now employing third party market research for these statistics we might take them a little more seriously.
For an alternative view RIAstats offers some visual data too, which also puts FP10 around the three-quarters mark. Interestingly, they also give stats for Silverlight, Microsoft’s much mocked “Flash Killer“, which is now showing an actually rather impressive 25% uptake. I have slightly warmed to Silverlight in recent months, mostly thanks to conversations with Ed at Unwrong. It may yet be one to watch.
Posted in flash, flash player, flex, silverlight, statistics, web | No Comments »
January 14th, 2009
Flex has been around a while now and is ramping up in terms of popularity. I had a handful of Flex projects last year, all of which were a positive experience, and I have more lined up for this year. But while Flex has been embraced quite happily by the Coders (mainly because it is the first decent ActionScript IDE) I’m not convinced it has penetrated our symbiotic co-species; the Designers.
For all Adobe’s claims about improving workflow with the use of Flex Builder, which it certainly has for writing code, I’m not sure the way of creating components and skins for Flex (which cannot be done easily without one of Adobe’s other products) is quite as instinctive. The reason I suspect this is because for every Flex project I have worked on we have had real difficulty finding a suitably skilled Designer.
One of the stigmas associated with Flex is that every Flex site you see on the web, looks like a Flex site. So many times you see the default loader, default buttons and even the default grey colour scheme, which suggests to me the Designers are nowhere to be seen on these projects.
So if you are a Flex Designer reading this, or a Flash Designer who isn’t scared off by Flex, please get in touch. Especially if you are in the Brighton or Birmingham area and are affordable. I have projects you can be helping me with right now.
And Adobe, listen up; Flex isn’t going to change the world until we can get the Designers on board. So perhaps you might want to make it a little easier for them to work with it.
Posted in as3, design, development, flash, flex, freelance | 4 Comments »
December 1st, 2008
There are only really two types of awards – those that your mom has heard of, and those that she hasn’t. And while I’m still really chuffed about the two DiMAS awards I accepted last week, this was slightly eclipsed last night by Littleloud, the company I used to work for, bringing home a BAFTA for their Bow Street Runner Flash interactive.
I had no involvement in it at all, but my friend and colleague Iestyn Lloyd lead the project, and almost had a breakdown because of it. It was simply not physically possible for one person to work any harder on a Flash project, so the kudos it has received since is very well deserved.
I had a piece of Director work nominated in the short-lived Interactive BAFTAs back in 2004, but it failed on the night, which was very disappointing. This is why, while I am extremely excited for the Littleloud crew, I’m also seeeeeeething with jealousy. Perhaps they’ll let me touch it next time I’m in.
Posted in awards, flash brighton | No Comments »
November 29th, 2008
While I have always been a proud member of the Flash Brighton group, I became even prouder on Thursday night when we, collectively, scooped a well deserved Strongest Community award at the 2008 DiMAS awards.
Inspired by the New York group FlashCodersNY, Flash Brighton (or FlashCodersBrighton, as we were originally called) started only two years ago, as a mailing list with a few irregular meetings, mostly kept alive by the enthusiasm of Seb Lee Delisle. But since then it has grown to almost 200 members, with regular weekly meetings attracting a consistent stream of quality speakers, initiating collaborative projects, transatlantic link-ups, big screen spectaculars, a one day conference last year, and never, so far, charging a penny for any of it. But, most importantly, it has formed into a highly cohesive group of Flash professionals who like to work together and share their knowledge.
At the awards ceremony the group was commended on how much we had achieved in a short time and the potential of our relatively young collective. But what really stood out was how our presence had become felt not just in Brighton, but across the web.
Pictured above collecting the award are (from left to right):
Al MacDonald – Viral Games Guru at the mighty Kerb.
Richard Willis – Ace Coder and Copywriter responsible, amongst other things, for the fantastic copy on the Flash Brighton blog.
Jo Summers – Creative Systems Lab alumni and lynch-pin behind the organisation of Flash Brighton’s weekly meetings.
Matt Pearson (me) – looking momentarily distracted by something shiny in the rafters.
Seb Lee Delisle – The brains behind Plug-In Media, PaperVision team member, international conference speaker, and founder/manager of the group.
Owen Bennett – one of Brighton’s finest ActionScript freelancers.
Sarah Bird – of AnimNation fame and DiMAS Freelancer Of The Year nominee.
And, the lady who presented the award – whose name, we’re embarrassed to say, no-one can remember.
As Rich pointed out, as well as the Community award, Flash Brighton’s members were all over the DiMAS like a rash this year, having contributed to works nominated in seven of the twelve categories . And I should add, with hopefully a sufficient amount of modesty, that I’m supremely chuffed to have come away with a second award that night too; winning this year’s Best Blog award for my writing on zenbullets.com. I won’t be giving up the day job quite yet though.
Posted in awards, blogging, flash brighton | 6 Comments »
November 25th, 2008
Processing, the Open Source visualisation language behind my abandonedart.org site, finally went “1.0″ yesterday (after approx 7 years in Beta). Full press release is here. Download is here.
I can’t recommend Processing enough – it’s very easy to pick up and a great way of sketching out ideas, even for non-programmers. And most of all, it puts the FUN back into coding. There’s oodles of source code on abandonedart.org if you are looking for a place to get started so go, splash around a little, you might like it.
Posted in generative, open source, processing | 1 Comment »
October 23rd, 2008
When I started working as a Flash freelancer in Brighton I assumed the whole world and their wife were all out there doing the same thing too. But I have since come to realise that while there are plenty of freelance Flash professionals out there (not so many Flex Developers though), there are only a few whose ActionScript is worth their day rate. Also, the good ones tend to be booked up months ahead, so don’t have any particular need to advertise their talents.
So, for those of you who are looking for an ActionScript freelancer, below is my pick of the best of Brighton.
Naturally I’m putting myself at the top of the list, as I need your work just as much as anyone else. But if you have spoken to me and I am busy, or you owe me money, or you’ve taken offence to my haircut or something, try one of the other guys. My colleague Kris has a longer list here, but these are the people I will personally vouch for.
Matt Pearson (zenbullets)
Neil Manuell (revision)
Matt Sayers (soplausible)
Owen Bennett (steamboy)
Rich Willis (rich text format)
If you contact them do let them know you found them via me. Beer is very expensive in this town.
If it is a Flash Designer you are after, rather than an ActionScripter, they are much easier to come by. Your best bet may be to tap people randomly on the shoulder while wandering around Churchill Square. Roughly one in every five will be a Flash Designer.
Posted in as2, as3, development, flash, flash, flash brighton, flex, freelance | 10 Comments »
October 6th, 2008
There are two things I have had on my to-do list for a few years – 1. do a Generative Art project, and 2. do an Open Source project, so this month I have ticked off two boxes at once with my new 100 Abandoned Artworks site.
A year ago I saw Robert Hodgin speak at FOTB07, which introduced me to Processing, an Open Source Java-based programming language. It is always good to teach yourself a new language every few years, just to keep things fresh, and to give you new perspectives on your work. And while ActionScript is still great, as the language has evolved from the hacky AS1 to the strict, ordered, enterprise-focussed AS3, it has lost a lot of its sense of fun and experimentation; the thing that attracted me to the language in the first place.
So, while I can still use AS3 to make my clients happy, Processing can be my playground. Which is the idea behind 100 Abandoned Artworks (http://www.abandonedart.org). I don’t have the time, or the sympathetic business partners, to be able to emulate Hodgin’s sophisticated works, so instead I am intending to do a high-volume, fast turn-around project (the only thing I can do with a wife, child and 20odd clients to keep happy).
Over the next 100 weeks I will produce an experiment a week and throw it out there, in whatever state I have got it to before one of my dependents puts a stop to my playtime. But I will also post the source code, so if anyone wants to take these works and run with them, or adapt them for another medium, they are welcome to.
I’m hoping it’ll produce some good stuff, and you’ll be able to see a upward curve in the quality of the work over the two years. Make sure you subscribe to the feed, because the more subscribers I have, the harder it is for me to bow out and quietly abandon the project.
This is me bidding farewell to my weekends …
Posted in fotb, generative, processing, web | 6 Comments »
September 9th, 2008
Progress with my Isometric Engine has been slow to static, seeing how I only ever seem to spend a day every six months or so on it (damn you paid work). But every time I play with it I come up with something cool to share, so now, if you have five minutes to kill, you can have a play with my isometric world builder.
Within the cube you create your own isometric spaces and structures, and rotate and zoom around them. Click on the image to launch, and have a play around.
There will, inevitably, be a game built with this thing one day soon, so this will be the level editor. If you come up with anything cool-looking feel free to email the XML to me, or post it below. With any luck, if the credit crunch starts biting and the work dries up, I may find a day free to finish the physics sometime in the next year. Don’t hold your breath though.
Posted in 3D, as3, flash, gaming, isometric, vector graphics | 2 Comments »
August 27th, 2008
This is going to take longer to explain than it did to build (literally 10 minutes, and 8 of those were spent googling for the image). Click above to see it in action.
Richard Lord was guest speaker at our Flash Brighton user group last night, presenting his Flint particle system. I think every creative coder has found themselves toying with particle effects at some point (do check out my generative stuff) but Rich’s system takes all the heavy lifting from the coding and just leaves the fun part. And it can create some really authentic looking smoke, in very few lines of code.
The movie above is my riff on a very old David Lynch photograph from his “Nudes and Smoke” collection (see here). A lot of Lynch’s “still” art work involves incorporating moving parts into paintings and sculpture, so I hope he would approve of this subtle animation.
Rich will be introducing Flint to a wider audience at FOTB08 next month.
Posted in as3, flash, fotb, generative, innovation, particles | 6 Comments »
August 22nd, 2008
The simplest ideas are always the best. I did a project a few months back with the very talented Paul Lloyd of FourTwo.net. We built a little Flash carousel component in AS3 for a corporate client. And it came out pretty well.
The data that runs it all came from a remotely hosted XML, so rather than use a fixed set of cards, a whole new application could be created just by pointing it at another XML. Which is what I have done here – making some of my blog posts look pretty.
Now here’s the cool bit – if instead of using a fixed URL I tell the swf file to read the path to the XML from the QueryString, it becomes reusable by anyone. Even you. Here’s an example:
This is the url of the carousel: http://actionscripter.co.uk/projects/carousel/
Create a new XML, and upload it somewhere, eg.
http://www.zenbullets.com/portfolio.xml
… then give the URL of the new XML to the carousel …
http://…/carousel/?http://www.zenbullets.com/portfolio.xml
… and, wahay, we have a slick looking carousel showcasing a selection from my portfolio.
The structure of the XML should be self explanatory, so feel free to try it. Except when you try it with your own URL it doesn’t work. Why is that?
There’s one more thing you need: you have to give permission for the Flash file to use data from your domain. Flash Player has very tight security features, and won’t let swfs grab data from other domains, unless that domain has said it’s okay by putting a crossdomain.xml file on the top level. This applies both to the URL of the XML and the URLs of any images specified inside that XML. For more info, see here. The crossdomain.xml I used for the example above is here, if you copy this and put it at the top level of the domain where you placed your XML/images it should do the trick.
Posted in as3, blogging, development, flash, javascript | 2 Comments »
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