sakri rosenstrom blog

Mastering this powerful filter is something I’ve had on my ‘todo list’ since, oh, last october or so when I read Actionscript3 Cookbook . In chapter 10 : “Filters and Transforms” there is example code for generating “embossing, sharpening and Edge Detect” filters using the ConvolutionFilter, as Borat would say, very naaaiice…

Instead of typing in a gazillion “test matrices” I decided to follow the tradition of “flex [fill the blank] explorers”, so, behold,


The Dazzling ConvolutionFilter explorer
again, right click on the app for source…

I didn’t actually have the “moment of AAAH” that I was hoping for… I gained a wee-bit of insight, but more playing around is certainly required. If any one of you millions of fanatic sakri.net/blog readers (who no doubt will spend days playing with this 31337 application) happen to come up with interesting Matrices (or insight), don’t hesitate to post responses, or, if you are shy, send me an email from the contact form on my homepage…

On another titilating side note, this was the first thing I built with moxie… nope, I didn’t use any of the new features, but I thought I would sound far far cooler…

tah tah

As promised, here’s the first set of “samples” and source code from my multi-mania presentation… I started the session with an introduction (or reminder, or sleeping pill, depending on your level of Flexpertese (har har)) on the distinguished topic of “Inbuilt Text effects in Flex”. It does come with a fine selection, so the point is, get to know them well, before you put on your cowboy hat and try to recreate one thanks to not knowing what’s available.

This one covers the basics, be sure to test out the different easing functions and be CERTAIN to dazzle yourself with the sheer awesomeness of the IRIS!!!!11

The Incredible Flex Text Effects Explorer

Swish, eat your heart out… thanks to the TextField.getCharBoundaries(), The “Split Text Effects Explorer” (for the lack of a better marketing term), recreates a bunch of very common text effects, only, the amount of code required is drastically reduced from the day of old, and, the text retains it’s spacing integrity!

The Uncanny Flex Split Text Effects Explorer

Finally, my take on the ever so popular Web2.0 Logo Creator by Alex P. This one actually features some of the other topics of my session, namely, using BitmapData, Bitmaps, the Drawing API and BlendModes for “photoshoppy” text effects… More on those some other day. The reflection was pretty much stolen from : Ben Stucki . It still irks me that I didn’t have the time to add that spinning yellow “beta” star thingy-ma-bob…

The Thunderstriking Web 2.OMG WTF ROTFLOL LOGO Explorer

Either right click the projects for source, or go here. The code is crap, I know, (read the disclaimer in the source), not a fountain of sustainable project building material, but with a keen eye you’ll find the key routines etc.

enjoy!

I gave a session at multimania last friday (25th may 07) on the fine topic of “Exploring Text Effects in AS3 and Flex2″ (with the marketing name of “Dazzling Text Effects”). There was much rejoicement. My friend Pieter was kind enough to stay awake and take a picture!

As you can see, I pretty much rented an empty cinema to pose as a speaker!

Also worthy of note, I forgot my clipper at my inlaws a few centuries ago when I last cut my hair, so, I actually resemble my pirate smiley in the photo… YAARRRRRRR etc.

Apparently I wasn’t all bad, here’s what the guys at thesedays had to say about it

I promised I would swiftly provide source code to the files I presented… erm… I will, one at a time, at my own pace, I’ll actually have something to blog about… Like I said, I hacked most of it together only a few nights before the show, so, naturally I would be too embarassed to share such dribble…

Thanks again to Serge, Koen and the other organizers for smoking enough crack to invite me

Back in December I saw Tink speak at Flash On the Beach… He showed an application of his where the screens were lined up horizontally, and smoothly “slid” from one to another when navigating. For shits and giggles I decided to reproduce it in a cms project that I’m currently working on.

As I was tinkering (har har) I remembered a project I worked on for PlayStation Portable… I came in late to the project, Serge Jespers had written a menu that mimics the PSP one… I remember that being a few hundred lines of code… It occurred to me that with Flex I could write the same thing with far less…

well, here it is:

PSP Style Menu with Flex

I know I know, it’s not EXACTLY the same, but the concept is there (this is a test, not a paid project ) The First two yellow items don’t actually contain “sub menus”, the red ones do, so be sure to click up and down (or use the arrow keys)…

Rather than creating a “Playstation Menu Component” I modeified a Slider component from an older project. The “HorizontalSlider” and “VerticalSlider” extend a baseclass called “Abstract slider” (see the source, psp_menu_clasees.components package).

The Abstract Slider is a “Template Component”, meaning the class allows users to either add “menu items” by placing Tags in mxml, or, through actionscript by using the addSlideItem() method. Search the documentation for “Template Component” for futher details.
The Subclasses (or concrete implementations) are very simple… each places a Box component and direction specific “sliding” instructions.

…sooo, to conclude, the actual code for the menu is around a 100 lines or so… It could have been made with less, but for the sake of cleanliness and functinality it’s what it is…

Right Click “View Source” or click here to see the code…