Papervision 3D Tutorials (with Videos)

Papervision 3D Core Training:
• PV3D "Setting Up" : View
• PV3D Intro - Hello World (I) : View
• PV3D Material Basics (II) : View
• PV3D Primitives (III) : View
• Swift 3D & PV3D (IV) : View
• PV3D Collada (DAE Files (V) : View
• PV3D Object Properties & Interactivity (VI) : View
• Animation using Tweener (VII) : View
• Applying Shader Materials (VIII) : View
• Applying Viewport Filters (IX) : View

Random Tips:
• Update materials at runtime: View
• Loading External .SWF Files as Materials: View

Swift 3D Support:
• DAE File Viewer (Pre-coded, just plug in. Has pre-build controls as well): View
• Apply WireframeMaterial(s) to your Model (Easy mod of ERMain.as): View

Flash Player 10 Announced!

Flash Player 10 was announced moments ago.
View this link for a full list of features.

Exploring RIA Development & Design w/ Flex

Hello everyone!
Sorry for my lack of posting lately. I've been focusing my energy on Flex and learning the in's & out's of the application.

As with doing training I have been reading up on RIA articles and watching the trends of how RIA's are positioning themselves withing the market(s). Given the way that Flex is being marketed; as a stellar programming api for AS3 combined with the MXML markup language to build rich media, data driven website... which it certainly is, I have also been looking at it from the design perspective.

You may have heard of the term "Devsigner". Someone who is a good designer and programmer alike. Flex is definitely an application that calls for these people. So, if you're a designer, jump into Flex and begin learning! Coming from a design background myself and jumping into Flex can appear daunting. I can't intelligently speak about Flex just yet but as I am learning the application I kinda see it as a "Suedo-Dreamweaver" application that exports to Flash and utilizes all the wonderful capabilities of Flash (and then some). To those of you who are designers and you want to learn Flex, don't let all the technical talk scare you. Flex is still a designer friendly app. If you're familiar with CSS you'll love working in Flex.

One great article on Flex that I recently read covers the risks and challenges of Flex (and RIA's in general). Its a great read and I highly recommend you read it.

http://www.uiresourcecenter.com/rich-internet-applications/articles/2008-the-year-of-rich-internet-applications.html?s=2_1

New Job & New Projects

Hey all, about 3 weeks ago I quit my job at crocs and started a new job working for a small high-end interactive design agency. Hence why I've been lacking on posting up on my blog. So far, i'm thrilled as hell about my new jobby job. I'm the Director of Interaction Design. So I get to focus my work on all the cool stuff that I love (Flash, Flex, Papervision, Swift 3D, etc).
The company I work for is called purple crayons interactive. You can see their site here: http://www.purplecrayons.com (the site is awaiting my "Flash Update" - *wink*).
I've already jumped in and begun developing projects that are going live (tomorrow / over the weekend). The client is JVC and below are the projects I've worked on. Anything Flash was done by me.
1. http://video.jvc.com/arsenal.jsp <-- Traditional Swift 3D animations and Flash 9 / AS3.2. http://video.jvc.com/index.jsp <-- Swift 3D / Papervision / Flash 9 / AS3.
You can switch to the Navigation Stereo with the visual nav below the PV3D stuff.
Cheers!
Jimbo

Planet Protectors Game Experiment

"Planet Protectors" is a game I was building while I was in the midst of learning the basics of Papervision 3D. At the moment it is an incomplete game. It doesn't have collision detection or several other "bare essentials" for what makes up a game. The models were made in Swift 3D. If I were to finish it I'd have to rewrite a good chunk of the code to make it a more effeciently running game. BTW, this game will eventually freeze your browser. View at your own risk. This game is modeled after the PS3 game Super Stardust HD a very fun and challenging game. If ya haven't played it I recommend you do. Its only $10 through the PS3 online store.

But anyways, I thought I'd just post it up for kicks. It certainly does have some "cool" aspects about it.

Game Link: Planet Protectors

Custom Component Architecture - Free Loader Component

As of recently I've devoted some of my time learning how to develop Flash components. I love components so I figured "why not learn how to make them?". I've been having some trials and problems along the way but for the most part I think that building custom components are just damn cool! I was bored and thought I'd make a simple "Loader Component" today. You can download it here.

Once you install the component (this is a Flash 9/AS3 Component - fyi) you can drag an instance of it to the stage (from the components panel... should be located under "Standard Components"), place it on the first frame of your timeline, add a stop(); script and then it will act as a loader. It is important to note that this loader doesn't have any useful visual feedback elements. The component is just a "dot", which you can drag the component off stage or set the alpha to 0 or set the blend mode to Erase so you won't see the "dot". Once the movie has fully loaded it will execute a nextFrame(); script and then your movie can commence. You might consider adding a little loader animation for user feedback if you do end up using this component.

Using the component (the short hand version):

1. Install the component
2. Drag an instance of the component from the components panel
3. Ensure that the component is on frame 1 of the timeline
4. The component will load your movie
5. When the movie is loaded it will go nextFrame();
6. Done...

Get it here: Loader Component

TyperHero.com Game Project

Myself and John Noad built a side project game website called TyperHero. It is modeled after Guitar Hero but your instrument is your keyboard. We created this game in good fun and to submit into Erain's Papervision Contest. The results of the contest are back and we are one of the winners! Nice...

To be honest, we spent a minimal amount of time on this project and it could be taken a lot further. But, for now, it is a great start and maybe the beginning of a bigger project still to come. The great thing that I love about this game is that it is not just 3D for the sake of 3D but it is actually a game that is helping to improve a real world skill set. Typing!

The music is provided by a talented young digital musician that goes by the name Jesse Valentine. You can view his newgrounds.com profile here. If you like his music, be sure to post a comment in his profile and let him know.

Click here to play the game. If you get a crazy high score be sure to post it in a comment with a screenshot link!