Cool Demo

[Colin]

Here's something cool that Desmond came up with using AutoPlay Media Studio 5.0.

It demonstrates a number of features that are new to v5.0, such as:

• Publishing to a compressed executable
• Alpha channel transparency
• On-the-fly image opacity
• Dynamic object positioning
• Advanced math functions like Sin and Cos
• Self-referencing ("this")
• Button objects
• Label objects

http://www.indigorose.com/temp_web/logodemo.exe
(1.8 MB)

Cool isn't it?

[Bruce]

That was very cool! I would love to see the code.

[eric_darling]

I'll second that... The source code would reveal a lot to me, too.

[AGRO]

I'll third that!!

"show me the money. uh............I mean code"

[Corey]

OK please bear in mind that I am truly not in the same league as Desmond et al here, but attached is my amateurish simulation of Desmonds project. I used a dot instead of a logo but it's easy enough to alter that. Please don't be surprised if my code is ridiculously stewpid, I know for a fact the math is flawed but since the preview looked similar to Desmond's right off, I didn't bother to spend any time fixing it... As Colin says, elegance isn't as important as getting it done quickly and looking good enough to satisfy the majority...

P.S. Code is On Page Show and On Timer...

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[eric_darling]

Hey Corey...

That looks pretty darned close to me. Thanks for doing your darndest. One of these days, I think I'll take math again.

[Corey]

Yeah I really should start taking some night courses myself... Great quote from my roomate just now:


"In an ideal world, everything would be ideal."

- Marvin Yakoweshen

We were looking through some night course catalogs a while ago from local colleges. We saw one for "infant massage", we were thinking about enrolling our friend Steve the goon (think miniature Andre the Giant) so he could walk in, peruse the other students' babies and then pop off his shirt and lie down face first on the table stating, "I don't know how THEY plan to fix THIS sacroiliac with THOSE weak little hands but since I'm already here... Time is money people [clap, clap]..."

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Bruce]

OK please bear in mind that I am truly not in the same league as Desmond et al here, but attached is my amateurish simulation of Desmonds project. I used a dot instead of a logo but it's easy enough to alter that. Please don't be surprised if my code is ridiculously stewpid, I know for a fact the math is flawed but since the preview looked similar to Desmond's, I didn't bother to fix it.

PLEASE!

[Colin]

Just for fun, here is the code desmond used. Just put it into an image object's "On Click" event and go. It uses a pretty cool (and a bit advanced) technique for an object to reference itself without knowing its name...

Corey's code that uses timers is an improvement, as you'll notice the rest of the runtime environment remains responsive while the animation occurs. That's awesome and really gives you a glimpse into the power of AutoPlay Media Studio 5.0.

-- The original example script
-- Put this script into an image object's On Click event
global_speed = 30;

--count used to keep track of position in loop
count = 0;

--gets the current position of the object
pos = Image.GetPos(this);
while count < 100 do
x = Math.Sin(count);
y = Math.Cos(count);
Image.SetPos(this, pos.X+(count*x), pos.Y+(count*y));
Image.SetOpacity(this, Math.Abs(count-100));
Application.Sleep(global_speed);
count = count + 1;
end

while count > 0 do
x = Math.Sin(count);
y = -Math.Cos(count);
Image.SetPos(this, pos.X-(count*x), pos.Y-(count*y));
Image.SetOpacity(this, Math.Abs(count-100));
Application.Sleep(global_speed);
count = count - 1;
end

[Corey]

Flash is timeline based so timers will make sense to most flashers because it's exactly like a frame loop which is how they think. Desmond clearly has a better understanding of how this works, (and math) I just fluked out.

As you know I specialize in fluke luck, and once you learn to *really* depend on luck it's amazing how reliable it actually is. I call this hypothesis the, "Theory of Lazniess". Kind of like the Frank Grimes episode of the Simpsons.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Lorne]

I like the way your version produces a trail by modifying the opacity, Corey.

[John-oh]

Wow,

I'm lost in admiration.

Corey, I always thought I was lucky, but I suspect your luck requires more ability than mine.

Of course, obviously, Desmond's just a clever b_eeder.

I hope you 'soaring eagles' keep throwing this stuff out, so that we sparrows can keep feeding on the crumbs.

Cheers

[Corey]

BTW Further to the Flash comment, I've said it before and I say it again now, if we could get it across to the Flash developer community what AMS can do for them, i.e. finally they can easily make complete, secure, professional windows software out of their apps we could expand our user base by double or triple in a very short time. I've always meant to do that but time has been like a rabid schnauzer snapping at my britches for the entire year...

And I don't suspect the next year will be any less leisurely given John-oh's sudden thirst for trinketry. Still it would be nice to barnacle onto a couple of these fat fish as best we can with 5.0... Then again the MX line's popularity is waning rapidly so maybe this is old news but then again market is SO HUGE that even a near miss could double our users... And I'm not just wheezing Dixie.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[AGRO]

I downloaded the logodemo.exe from Colin and it works great.

If I click on the logo and the animation starts, I can not close the window. I have to wait for the animation to stop. Is that designed to work that way, having to wait for the animation to stop?

[Colin]

Due to the way that example works, it basically enters a loop and doesn't end until it's finished, the application "blocks". Corey's example uses timers, so the app remains responsive. Two different techniques!