August 1, 2008 at 7:23 pm · 348 views · Filed under tutorial
Overview
Allowing users to use the keyboard as well as the mouse is a great way to incite interaction with your flash. This tutorial will show how to code it and what you can do with some keyboard events. This changed with actionscript 3, note this tutorial is AS3.
altKeY (Boolean) Indicates whether the Alt key is active (true) or inactive (false).
charCode (uint) Contains the character code value of the key pressed or released.
ctrlKey (Boolean) Indicates whether the Control key is active (true) or inactive (false).
keyCode (uint) The key code value of the key pressed or released. KeyboardEvent
keyLocation (uint) Indicates the location of the key on the keyboard. KeyboardEvent
shiftKey (Boolean) Indicates whether the Shift key modifier is active (true) or inactive (false).
Steps
import KeyboardEvent,
import flash.events.KeyboardEvent;
assign any keycodes
//keycodes
var left:uint = 37;
var up:uint = 38;
var right:uint = 39;
var down:uint = 40;
function keyDownListener(e:KeyboardEvent) {
trace(e.keyCode.toString());
}
or
function keyDownListener(e:KeyboardEvent) {
if (e.keyCode==left){
ship.x-=10;
ship.rotation = 90;
}
if (e.keyCode==up){
ship.y-=10;
ship.rotation = 180;
}
if (e.keyCode==right){
ship.x+=10;
ship.rotation = 270;
}
if (e.keyCode==down){
ship.y+=10;
ship.rotation = 0;
}
}
Example
Here we have a swf with the keyboard event listener on the stage, and feedback boxes to give us all we can know about the event. It will tell us about certain keys (alt, ctrl (cmd), and shift) with a Boolean, it will tell us the keyCode and the charCode. The keyCode is the number that is tied to the actual button pressed or key, and the charCode relates to the character represented by the button(s) pressed. So hitting ’s’ and then hitting ’shift + s’ will tell you different charCodes, ’s’ and ‘S’. but you’ll see that the s key has the same keyCode (you’ll also see the ’shift’ keyCode as well). If needed you can use the String.fromCharCode function to determine what the charCode for something is. The location on the keyboard is even reported, this helps distinguish between the left shift and the right shift and even the numbers across the qwerty and the numpad on the right of the screen.
June 25, 2008 at 10:20 pm · 205 views · Filed under portfolio, work
StomperNet now has a site map. Only it’s much bigger than just a site map, we’re calling it Stomper Universe! It contains all the pieces parts that make up StomperNet. It links to different sites, video series, tools, and more by giving a 3D interactive space to inspect the thumbnails and click through to the sites! It will help visitors navigate easily to all areas of StomperNet, whether they are new to them or old favorites.
April 24, 2008 at 8:07 pm · 1,478 views · Filed under tutorial
Overview
The Shared Object is like a cookie for flash. It lets flash store some data on the local machine, so between sessions it can remember things. Learn more from wikipedia.
Shared Objects are used to store data on the client machine in much the same way that data is stored in a cookie created through a web browser. The data can only be read by movies originating from the same domain that created the Shared Object. This is the only way Macromedia Flash Player can write data to a user’s machine. Shared Objects can not remember a user’s e-mail address or other personal information unless they willingly provide such information.
I’ve seen many Local Shared Object tutorials and examples, which have users input their name and/or hometown and other filler data. But I wanted to show how to creatively incorporate shared objects into interactions. So I’ve thrown in many simultaneous examples including the uber-simple ‘input your name and I’ll remember it’ approach. I hope I didn’t throw in so much that it got confusing… just let me know if you have any questions or anything is unclear. Keeping it simply and broad there’s only a few things to know about Shared Objects.
Steps
Simply put there are only a couple things to worry about with Local Shared Objects
Create them.
As in create the shared object
Write them.
As is write to the shared object
Set them.
As in setting variables in the shared object
Get them.
As in getting variables back out of the shared object
Clear them.
As in clearing the shared objec
Actionscript
here’s samples on how to do each of those
/* Create them. */
//make Local Shared Object named myLocalSO(in as) called "myflashcookie" on disk
var myLocalSO:SharedObject = SharedObject.getLocal("myflashcookie");
/* Write them. */
//flush the SO, write the SO to disk
myLocalSO.flush();
/* Set them. */
//set key's value to specified value in SO
//key is the name of the data
//val is key's value
function setVal(key, val){
myLocalSO.data[key] = val;
trace(key +" set to "+val);
/* including writing to Shared Object in the setter function */
//flush the SO, write the SO to disk
myLocalSO.flush();
}
/* Get them. */
//get key's value from SO
function getVal(key){
return myLocalSO.data[key];
trace(myLocalSO.data[key] +" received from "+key);
}
/* Clear them. */
myLocalSO.clear();
Example
here’s my colorful example.
The purple/yellow circle is draggable, so place it where you want it. Enter your name and age in the input boxes. Press the center red ‘Set cookie’ button to copy those values to the shared object that is on your computer now. The red transparent circle represents the cookie positions. You can position the purple/yellow circle from the cookie contents with the dark green ‘Position from cookie’ button, or position it randomly with the blue ‘Position randomly’ button. Erase the cookie with the orange ‘Erase cookie’ button. Toggle easing (animation) with the Bright green button (which changes to dark red when off), it tells the current mode of ease. I have the cookie coordinates displayed and the current coordinates of the purple/yellow circle also displayed.
The cookie includes a date object, which is used to calculate the age of the cookie (watch it reset when you erase the cookie (orange button)).
The ‘All Time Visit’ stat is the only thing that does not get reset when you erase the cookie,
An interactive link list. Vertically scrolling list of links or just text. Could be used for a nav menu or a link list, or even just a scrolling list. Scroll speed calculated dynamically from mouse position to give not only scrolling control, but also speed control. Reads an external XML file containing just titles and url paths and creates this interactive click-able link list! On click the link is highlighted and on release loads the url either in a blank window or not (configurable). On rollover the list item grows with animation and is highlighted (all configurable, size speed etc). Once end of list is reached scrolling stops, another version is available with a wrap-around feature: Dynamic Scrolling Link List XML driven Auto wrapping
March 14, 2008 at 6:51 pm · 3,692 views · Filed under portfolio, tutorial
I have been thinking of different interactions that are possible with objects. If you’ve read this blog at all you’ll know that I’ve played with physics and gravity and throwing balls and bouncing balls and all sorts. But I hadn’t wrapped my head around an interactive spinner. I know it’d be easy to make a slider or something that would apply a spin to an object, but this just isn’t interactive enough for me.
Circle with slider to rotate and button for random spin:
This attempt at spinning is ok. I mean, it spins the object and it even glides to a stop if you press the button for a random spin… But it’s just not intuitive and not fun. But if you want this, here’s how I did it.
I want to grab it and spin it though. I want to apply the same principles from physics, like acceleration and friction as forces to the object, so I can grab to spin and release to watch it glide gracefully to a stop. I’ve been thinking about this and how I’d have to use trigonometry and stuff to do it. One day I finally had the time and tried it out. It took me a minute but I figured out that what I needed was arctangent. So (with pointers from jbum, thanks Jim!) I came up with this:
Interactive grab-able circle to spin and twirl:
This one is much more interactive and intuitive. I really think this is because there are no sliders or buttons, no controls, just an object to interact with. It’s much more like real life!
Steps:
In order to make a grab and spin object
1. You have to know where you grab. The user clicks on the shape (knob) and you must figure out what degree or rotation point they have started at. (atan2)
2. As the knob is clicked and the mouse moves (dragging), calculate new rotation by mouse position
3. When mouse is released figure out the current speed of rotation and apply it to the knob with friction, so it can be thrown and spun in that way. (Of course this is optional, if you just want to spin it when the mouse is down you’re done at step 2)
Actionscript:
damp = .96; //friction
r = 0; //rotation
accr = 0; //speed of rotation
knob.onPress = function(){
dragging = true;
//find mouse y coordinate in relation to knob origin
a = _root._ymouse - knob._y;
//find mouse x coordinate in relation to knob origin
b = _root._xmouse - knob._x;
//using arctangent find the spot of rotation (in degrees)
//find mouse y coordinate in relation to knob origin
a = _root._ymouse-knob._y;
//find mouse x coordinate in relation to knob origin
b = _root._xmouse-knob._x;
//using arctangent find the spot of rotation (in degrees)
r = Math.atan2(a,b)*180/Math.PI;
//use current rotation and previous rotation
//to find acceleration
//averages the acceleration with the
//previous acceleration for smoother spins
accr = ((r - oldr) + accr)/2;
//apply the acceleration to the rotation
knob._rotation += accr;
//remember current rotation as old rotation
oldr = r;
feedbacka.text = a;
feedbackb.text = b;
}
else{
knob._rotation += accr;
//apply friction to acceleration force
//and if acceleration gets tiny, just set it to zero
if(Math.pow(accr, 2) > .0001){
accr *= damp;
}
else{
accr = 0;
}
}
//spit out feedback continuosly
feedbackr.text = knob._rotation;
feedbackaccr.text = accr;
}
I commented the code to explain what is happening, if you need more just post a comment. Let me know if you find this useful and what you end up making with it.
At the surface, the player looks much the same, but as you dig into the secondary functions, you’ll see a slew of enhancements made with you and all freeiq-ers in mind.
The layout has been updated to be more dynamic, more readable and web 2.0 friendly. The graphics got a make-over.
The updates to the playlist have cleaned up the interface and give helpful information about the content. We still get the ReviewRank for each item, and also we can see our personal viewing history, a feature we’re calling the ‘high water mark’. You can see how far into a video you’ve been. This high water mark is also shown in the scrub bar, for returning to where you left off quickly, just click the yellow arrow to return. Also the video currently being played in the player is specified as ‘Now Watching’ (how original).
The author window still displays the author’s portrait, biography and links to the author page. The author biography may contain html- such as links, which help viewers learn more about authors.
The IQPON window connects viewers to providers by giving users access to the content provider’s services!
Sharing options have been improved greatly!
Users may embed content on their own site directly from the player now! By choosing options for auto play and format user’s copy embed codes straight from the player, and paste it into their own site. The normal format uses javascript to ensure maximum compatibility with different browsing software, and the the extra simple format is for embedding content into sites which restrict javascript, such as MySpace and a handful of others, so there is always a way to embed content into your very own space.
Sharing by email is much faster now, as you can send to multiple people at once directly through the player itself (just separate the email addresses with a comma).
Sharing with the web is just as easy! You can copy the link or click your preferred social bookmarking site. Social bookmarking capabilities are built into the player, so with one click you can bookmark content to any of a number of social bookmarking sites (del.icio.us, digg, furl, google bookmarks, magnolia, reddit, stumble upon, technorati, windows live favorites and yahoo! bookmarks) with more to come.
All these methods are used to share content and are useful no matter where the player is embedded!
This player release features updates to the Full Screen mode as well. To take full advantage of the screen size we stretched the control across the bottom of the screen! The control tray will slide away after a few seconds giving access to full screen video playback. To bring the controls back, just more the mouse again.
Volume controls are updated for faster more intuitive interactive control.
By using the internal menu (just right-click to access it) you have access to all options in the player.
Also updated with this release is the integration with Google Analytics! There is new tracking built into the player and best news of all is that the player now supports both versions of the Google Analytics Tracking Code. So whether you’ve updated to the new tracking system or still use the Legacy code, this player logs interactions with the player to your google analytics reports! It will tell you how much people are watching your videos, which ones and how users interact with the player on your site. We’ll post about that later, once you’ve gotten used to your new player!
Another point to mention… if you’re a Free IQ regular and have already embedded content onto your site, the updates are automatic. You have nothing to do to enable these updates! It’s already done!
Enjoy the updates, we put a lot into it!
Let us know any suggestions you have for making the Free IQ video player even better - for you!
February 20, 2008 at 7:01 pm · 472 views · Filed under portfolio
Here’s a graphic of a circle of men. You may recognize the outline from any public restroom. They’re standing in a corny circle holding hands, like an all over the world theme., let’s just hope they all washed their hands…
I made the graphic a while ago, and have been wanting to interactive-ize it. I’ve really been wanting to play with elasticity, throwing things and snapping to a point… Although I’m still thinking about a version where I’d spin the objects rather than just throw them, I figured I’d put it up for any feedback that comes.
The different pieces all rotate differently and it changes if you are dragging or ‘holding’ them. Then you can press the anchor (gray) button to toggle the snap. The objects will all center around the anchor and spring into place (elasticity applied to position and rotation). And then the interactivity changes and rather than dragging and dropping them, you push and bump or throw them. It almost turns into a game…
