DrPunchBlog

Do you like dentures as much as I do?
Then you will LOVE these banners!
→ Free rants!

At it again…
I am constantly trying to improve AS2 banners… it is getting to be a lost art, as less and less people are using AS2 for anything. For me AS2 is still “food on the table”, so here it goes:

// load the banner code
#include "com/BannerBasics.as"

// load the particle code
#include "com/Particle.as"

/*
------------------------------------------------------------
//set outline examples:

_outlineColor = 0x000000;
_outlineWidth = 1;
------------------------------------------------------------
*/
_outlineColor = 0x000000;
_outlineWidth = 1;

/*
------------------------------------------------------------
	Here are some examples of how
	you can start/stop the effects
------------------------------------------------------------
// set your own variables:

setupParticle( minSpeed (seconds),
maxSpeed (seconds), spread, totalParticles,
speed, rotation, holder movieClip );

ex. setupParticle(2,4,50,200,150, 360, this );

// examples:
setTimeout( killParticle, 2000 ); // clears the scene
setTimeout( initParticle, 3000 ); // starts the animation
setTimeout( pauseParticle, 4000 ); // lets the ani finish
setTimeout( playParticle, 5000 ); // lets the timer start over

*/

setupParticle( 1, 3, 50, 800, 250, 360, holder_fx );
initParticle();

→ Click for the pleasure of reading.

Just so I have it for later,
I am posting the code here.  There really isn’t enough here for me to worry about posting a SWF or FLA.

/*
	Specifies the maximum amount of bandwidth that the
	current outgoing video feed can use, in bytes per second.
	To specify that Flash Player video can use as much bandwidth as
	needed to maintain the value of quality , pass 0 for bandwidth .
	The default value is 16384.
*/
var bandwidth:int = 0;
/*
	this value is 0-100 with 1 being the lowest quality.
	Pass 0 if you want the quality to vary to keep better framerates
*/
var quality:int = 0; 

// add the camera
var web_cam:Camera = Camera.getCamera();
web_cam.setQuality(bandwidth, quality);

// setMode(videoWidth, videoHeight, video fps, favor area)
// I use a mask object... want to make sure this is a little bigger then the mask.
web_cam.setMode( msk.width + 4 ,msk.height + 4, 15, true);

// Now attach the webcam stream to a video object.
var web_vid:Video = new Video();
web_vid.attachCamera(web_cam);

// throw it onto the stage (well in the vid_holder MovieClip)
vid_holder.addChild(web_vid);

My first step into augmented reality.
Not really that impressed with it so far. The tutorial was about as useful as an empty toilet paper roll.
Well, anyway… here it is.

I’m going to be attempting to refine it, shrink it down and try to get something into a 40k stand-alone deliverable. Firstly, how do I get the “.pat” file to be generated in flash? Yeah, stand-alone might be out of reach.

Make your own Markers Here: [ tarotaro.org ]
Thanks to DoJo for giving me no reason to continue this project at all… [ LiveMesh ]

OK, NOW I can sleep.
I had to knock out one more out.

I am in love with this effect, admittedly it is the video that makes it ( view the original on the drill down ).

I totally wish I had a video that rendered small enough to post… Media Encoder kept pushing stuff out to 300+ MG (Adobe Media Encoder, you suck), and I don’t know Apple Compressor well enough to get a decent web-friendly video under 100 MG.

→ Read the rest.

I’ve been modifying my YouTube Video Class…
and I really wanted to experiment with the Bitmap Classes as well. The result is pretty dandy.

The above effect (Shower Door) is my favorite, it consistently looks the best on all videos. It overlays a random pattern of pixels from previous frames over the live video feed and blurs them at random.

Go to the next page to see 3 other settings: Rain, Embiggen, and Sunny Day.

→ Submit.

Starting on teaching web code stuff.
Why? Because. Shut up.

Lesson 1: Getting ready: Not really a lesson, but get ready. Code types. Software you will need. Folder Structures and File Names. Lesson 2: Welcome to the internet with, HTML & PHP & CSS Building your basic page structure. Make it pretty. HTML template, your new best friend. Adding navigation. Lesson 3: Build something Simple Weather forecast. Using someone else’s code: the API and YOU. PHP graphics for everyone.

As you can see, I’m not planning on going very slowly here. There is going to be plenty of rushing past fluff to get to the good stuff. If you get lost, just comment on the blog, and I’ll eventually fill you in on the what’s-what.

Lesson 1 after the jump.

→ Click to read more.

Learning Python, starting today.
One more freaking language to learn… but it is a good excuse to start a propper dev server [http://dev.drpunchman.com/] and at some point, I guess the next step will be to unify the theme of all my sub-domains. Lame.

I started coding flash with Flash 3 (before ActionScript).
It is a few years later, and we have evolved from ActionScript 1.0 (1999) to ActionScript 3.0 (2006) and I have been reading about ActionScript 4.0 for over 2 years… However, it looks like for what I do, I will be stuck in ActionScript 2.0 for the remainder of my career.

Personally, I have a real issue with using software or code once it is old enough to be in school. There have been changes, and (hopefully) improvements in technology between the time of a product’s launch and now–regardless of the newness of the product. When the iPhone was released you wouldn’t expect Apple to throw up it’s hands and proclaim “That is good enough, we’ve done the best we could, and there will never be a need to improve on that idea.” However, this is not the always the case with web technologies, especially when it comes to adapting new ideas.

Imagine if you worked at a TV Production Studio and the boss of the company said, “I have decided not to film anything in HDTV. We have run the numbers, and it means that we would have to buy new cameras, change the way we do hair and make-up, and upgrade our editing equipment. It is too expensive.” You would think your boss was a moron, and immediately start looking for another company because staying there would mark the death of your career. Now imagine that the company you worked at was NBC or HBO or Disney, and they decided that HDTV was a fad and not worth putting the effort into. That doesn’t change your job, that changes the landscape.
→ Free rants!

This is a trimmed down version of my template banner class in ActionScript 3.0.
I hope someone out there in this cold, dark world finds it of use.

• Automatically adds the generic clickTag
• Automatically adds a 1 pixel black border
• Checks for a movieclip named “CTA” to animate when the banner is rolled over
• Pre-loader so the banner does not play until it is fully loaded and the functions are ready
• Generates a sample report after the banner is run

→ Surrender.

This is a pretty straight forward bit-o-code, that takes an HTML file and emails it.

I have a folder with 2 files in it:
1. the PHP MAILER
2. the HTML PAGE TO MAIL

When I goto and view the PHP page, it finds the HTML page, loads it up, and mails it out.
This way, I can pre-view the HTML by its self, and never have to break out each line again (as you do with the regular way of sending an php email).
→ Holy-Shit! There is more?

This is code you will need more often then you would think, counting down to something in a banner.
Usually, this is for a movie coming out to video, or a park opening, or what-have you.

→ Read the rest.