hope its use full for you all (click here, seeing as the embed swf in this post doesn’t like the right click view source)

first we start of with creating a new flash file which we will be naming “ApeExample.fla”, after we have done that we create a new actionscript file called “ApeExample.as” and another called “Ball.as”.

then we go on the stage of the flash file and we create a circle object which we will convert to a movieclip symbol and we check the box “Export for ActionScript”. then you can delete the circle object from the stage as long as its still in the library its okay.

now we go to the Ball.as file we created and we paste the following into it(the inline comments should provide with enough explanation about how it all works):

after that’s done we go into our “ApeExample.as” file and paste in the following:

now test your ApeExample file and your flash movie should show the nice balls now if you click on the first one it should start the bouncing. if you still might have any further questions just contact me

files are for download here

making a group of over 400 balls being controlled by a slider.
they vary from creative to a world view and a structured grid.
this is being done using a physics library for ac3.

which works quite nicely

but cant go into to much detail yet but as soon as the final version has been released ill give a more detailed explanation of how it works and what its for.

for now i have added this little prototype of the work APE test project

this image below is a prototype for a potentiometer housing

as i made some prototype designs for the rapid prototyping printer i ran into some bumps as my design had some problems with the way normals where mapped in cinema 4d.
and thus giving strange results in the prototyping software as it couldn’t read it right. hope to have a solution posted on that soon on how to best prepare my models for prototyping using cinema 4d

but I have been spending my time reading books and web site’s about various programming styles people use and which would work best in my case the reason I spent a lot of time in this is because I wanted to see if I could find any kind of similarity between it all and I came to the conclusion there is.

it basically come’s down to using clearly structured code and making it humanly readable by this I mean you might be able to understand the code with out needing additional comments to go with it even if your not that experienced in the language. as well as using clear prefixes for certain variables and methods.

also the usage of neatly spaced code helps with the readability of it all.

the style I use will have more comments in it then you would normally use, but that is because I plan on using it for tutorials and such.

   1: // ActionScript file example layout

   2: /* 

   3: start class names with a capital letter

   4: 

   5: 

   6: in class files preferred not to use this as this makes for poor readability

   7: this example:

   8: this._area = this._width * this._height;

   9: 

  10: without this example:

  11: _area = _width * _height;

  12: */

  13:  

  14: //Constants 

  15:  

  16: /* these should have descriptive names like, FIRST_NAME:String = Joost;

  17: */

  18:  

  19: //public properties (variables)

  20:  

  21: /* define all private and protected properties with a underscore like so, _example:String = example;

  22: */

  23:  

  24: //private properties (variables)

  25:  

  26: /* start local variables with the letter p so its easy to track them back,  pExample:String = example;

  27: */

  28:  

  29: //constructor (class named function)

  30:  

  31: /*  for constructors use this method so its easier to keep constructors and methods apart

  32: 

  33: function myFunction(){

  34: //function code in here

  35: }

  36: */ 

  37:  

  38: //public methods (function)

  39:  

  40: /* 

  41: function myFunction()

  42: {

  43: //function code in here

  44: }

  45: */ 

  46:  

  47: //private methods (function)

  48:  

  49:  

  50:  

  51: //getter/setter methods

  52:  

the reason its been a bit quiet on my blog lately is because off my latest "toy" that came in the make controller kit. This thing is pretty fun it allows you to basically control anything that is electronic.

its also works with actionscript which is why I bought it, your want to know more about the board and my experience with it so far hit the jump

the make controller kit has a nice array of features which contain:

 8 analogue inputs - 10-bit inputs read voltages from 0-3.3V while protecting the controller from higher voltages.
8 high current digital outputs - can be configured to drive 8 individual outputs, 4 DC motors, 2 stepper motors, or any combination.
4 standard servo controllers - easily provide external power for driving large loads.
8 position DIP switch - for manual configuration.
 USB and Ethernet interfaces - can be used simultaneously.
 CAN interface - for networking several boards together.
 JTAG port - for on-chip debugging.

it communicates via the OSC (Open Sound Control) protocol. which allows it to be used by a nice array of programming language which include:

Max/MSP
Flash (as2/as3)
Processing
.NET C#
C/C++
Python
Java

well seeing as i plan on using it in adobe Flex instead of Flash i ran into some snags with the default classes that where supplied with it. as they gave a nice list of compile errors in flex.
but after a closer look at it, i saw it needed the intermediate program mchelper for a reason. cause actionscript can not talk to serial device’s which means it uses XML to communicate to the XML server in the mchelper application. so what i plan on doing is going to look at the default classes and try to convert them to some specific and simple classes for my own needs that work without a problem in flex. i hope to have some posts up soon with a detailed explanation of how to make a simple specific XML connection with it and what the XML diagram is like.

for the make controller board and resources go to makingthings

so here is my first version of my actionscript help sheet (PDF)

its something you have always wanted, so you might think what is it that i want. well its basically what you make it to be it can be  a GPS or a camera or a thief protection system and a whole lot more it can even be all those things in one. so your like huh? well as their web site explains:

BUG is a collection of easy-to-use, open source hardware modules, each capable of producing one or more Web services. These modules snap together physically and the services connect together logically to enable users to easily build, program and share innovative devices and applications. With BUG, we don’t define the final products - you do.

you can see it as a small Linux computer which has the option to plug-in additional devices and with looks like a easy to use SDK for programming the device and setting it up
the good thing about it is that its all opensource and can be hacked and tinkered with

the concept proves to be very promising though I hope they will do more with the layout possibility’s of the device

for more information and all visit Buglabs

it rarely happens but sometimes i am like shoot, I wish I did have a mac. well this happened to me when i saw this program called pixelmator, its interface looks so cute and colourful how could one resist it. that even my sister would be all over it.

What it is it’s Photoshop made simple and stylish (the new cs3 has nice looks to but more in a prof way) it has all the basic editing tools you might need, like: layers, painting tools, retouching tools, type tools, colour correction, etc.
so if you do have a mac. well your in luck! as you can download a free trail (full version is only like 60 dollars). some more screen after the jump