Senocular’s Free Transform ToolFiled Under: Uncategorized

I’ve found a free alternative for greensock’s TransformManager. Here’s very similar code written by Senocular. Unfortunately it does not support TextField transformations and groups, however it’s a great work. Thank you

Box2D ActionScript 3.0 manualFiled Under: Uncategorized

Good news for those, who want to get familiar with physics engine Box2DFlashAS3! Somebody has translated manual from C++ to ActionScript 3.0 so now it’s much easier to comprehend.

Flash Player 10 released!Filed Under: Uncategorized

It’s here

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

flashpageflip.comFiled Under: Uncategorized

My company have recently bought a flip book component from flashpageflip.com. In a nutshell - don’t buy this crap! This is one of the worst code samples I’ve ever seen. What’s more this “component” doesn’t even work when loaded to another swf file. Here’s some code from the fla file (of course it’s ActionScript 1.0, not 2.0 as they say on the site)

//load first page
if(eval("_root.pages.p4.page.pf.ph.pic.p"+(_root.page+1)).Page.doneLoading!=true){
	eval("_root.pages.p4.page.pf.ph.pic.p"+(_root.page+1)).Page.loadMovie(_root.pageNames[_root.page]);
}
//...
pageClips = new Array();
pageClips[1] = pages.p1.page.pf.ph.pic;
pageClips[2] = pages.flip.p2.page.pf.ph.pic;
pageClips[3] = pages.flip.p3.page.pf.ph.pic;
pageClips[4] = pages.p4.page.pf.ph.pic;

Quick peek at timeline:

So if anyone asks you if it’s worth buying you have your answer above.

FITC Amsterdam 2009Filed Under: Uncategorized

I’ve just bought a ticket for FITC 2009. Super early bird pricing ends 18.X , so if you’re a student buy a ticket now, since it’s only 130 euro (comparing to Adobe MAX this is freaking cheap)

Simple Mouse Avoiding AlgorithmFiled Under: Uncategorized

Today I’m gonna show you how to make a simple mouse avoiding algorithm. Check out the example below:

We’re gonna run quickly through the code:

package {
	import flash.display.Sprite;
	import flash.events.Event;
	import flash.geom.Point;
 
	public class MouseAvoider extends Sprite {
 
		private const DISTANCE_DIVISOR:uint = 10; //see moveToDestination()
		private const FRICTION:Number= .9;
		private const FEAR_DISTANCE:Number= 150; //if mouse gets closer than this value  sprite moves away
		private const MAX_AVOID_FORCE:uint = 10; //maximum length of avoid vector
 
		private var _destinationPoint:Point; //destination point
		private var _speed:Point = new Point(0, 0); //speed vector
 
		public function MouseAvoider():void {
 
			drawStuff();
		}
 
		private function drawStuff():void {
 
			graphics.beginFill(Math.random() * 0xFFFFFF)
			graphics.drawCircle(0, 0, 10);
			graphics.endFill();
		}
 
		public function set destinationPoint(value:Point):void {
 
			_destinationPoint = value;
 
			addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, move);
		}
		protected function move(e:Event):void {
 
			moveToDestination();
			avoidMouse();
			applyFriction();
			updatePosition();
		}
 
		private function moveToDestination():void {
 
			_speed.x += (_destinationPoint.x - x) / DISTANCE_DIVISOR;
			_speed.y += (_destinationPoint.y - y) / DISTANCE_DIVISOR;
		}
 
		private function avoidMouse():void{
 
			var currentPosition:Point = new Point(x, y);
			var mousePosition:Point = new Point(stage.mouseX, stage.mouseY);
			var distance:uint = Point.distance(currentPosition, mousePosition);
 
			if (distance < FEAR_DISTANCE) {
 
				var force:Number = (1 - distance / FEAR_DISTANCE) * MAX_AVOID_FORCE;
				var gamma:Number = Math.atan2(-mousePosition.y + currentPosition.y, -mousePosition.x + currentPosition.x);
				var avoidVector:Point = Point.polar(force, gamma);
 
				_speed.x += avoidVector.x;
				_speed.y += avoidVector.y;
			}
		}
		private function applyFriction():void {
 
			_speed.x *= FRICTION;
			_speed.y *= FRICTION;
		}
		private function updatePosition():void{
 
			x += _speed.x;
			y += _speed.y;
		}
 
	}
}

_speed is a Point class instance in which we store speed vector components (the x-axis speed and the y-axis speed). I use Point because it has some interesing static functions, which might be helpful time-to-time

1. drawStuff function draws a random color circle in our sprite.
2. destinationPoint setter initalizes the algorithm and sets Event.ENTER_FRAME handler.
3. move function launches one-by-one four functions:

• moveToDestination makes our object move to destinationPoint we previously set.
• avoidMouse - if distance between out object and mouse is less than FEAR_DISTANCE constant this function forces sprite to move away from pointer.

var force:Number = (1 - distance / FEAR_DISTANCE) * MAX_AVOID_FORCE;
var gamma:Number = Math.atan2(-mousePosition.y + currentPosition.y, -mousePosition.x + currentPosition.x);
var avoidVector:Point = Point.polar(force, gamma);

force is length of avoidVector. The closer the mouse, the larger the force.
Math.atan2() counts direction in radians of avoidVector
Point.polar() function given length and direction of vector returns a Point with it’s components. This is extremly useful for those, who don’t want to play with trigonometry.

• applyFriction - multiplies speed vector by FRICTION, if we don’t apply this out sprite would act as a pendulum in no-friction enviroment (without this sprite would never stop)
• updatePosition adds speed vector to sprite position.

Hope you gonna like it Here’s the source of example.