Archive for the '3D' Category

A History of the World

Published on January 19, 2010 in 3D, Flash and Videos. 2 Comments

I just returned from a trip round SE Asia to see my last project launch. Called ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects‘, it’s a joint venture between BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum to chart human history in a new way. I developed the concept for the Flash 3D object explorer with the guys at GT and built it using Flash 10’s native 3D capabilities. Users are able to explorer objects from throughout human history in a sort of 3D timeline and even make history by adding their own. Here’s the TV advert for the series:

Since it is expected to grow to up to 10,000 objects over the next 5 years, I used all the tricks in the book to optimise loading, rendering and memory management – which will bore most people to tears, so that’s for another time. Check out the Flash site itself here.

CoolIris type thing in 30 lines

Published on October 23, 2009 in 3D, AS3 and Flash. 3 Comments

package { // Piclens type thing in 30 lines (FP10+) Liam O'Donnell - spikything.com
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.events.Event;
    public class Main extends Sprite {
        private var container :Sprite;
        private var imageGrid :Sprite;
        private var images :Array = [];
        public function Main():void {
            container = addChild(new Sprite()) as Sprite;
            imageGrid = container.addChild(new Sprite()) as Sprite;
            for (var i:uint = 0; i <200; i++) images.push(getItem(i));
            images.sortOn("z", Array.NUMERIC | Array.DESCENDING);
            for each (var item:Sprite in images) imageGrid.addChild(item);
            addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, update);
        }
        private function getItem(index:uint):Sprite {
            var item:Sprite = new Sprite();
            item.x = -(200 / 3) * 210 / 2 + (index / 3) * 210;
            item.y = (index % 3) * 160 - 40;
            item.z = 100 + Math.random() * 2000;
            item.graphics.beginFill(Math.random() * 0xffffff);
            item.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, 200, 150);
            return item;
        }
        private function update(e:Event):void {
            imageGrid.x += ((stage.stageWidth / 2) - mouseX) * .2;
            container.rotationY = ((stage.stageWidth / 2) - mouseX) * .2;
        }
    }
}

Head tracking in 3D

Published on June 20, 2009 in 3D, AS3, Flash and Webcam. 0 Comments

I started trying to find useful things to do with face detection, but with limited success. I tried using the Libspark Haar Cascades implementation of face detection with Papervision3D to create a sort of head tracking effect, but it's a little flaky - partly because of poor tracking accuracy and partly because it's too CPU intensive. You can view it on its own page here.

You are here…

Published on April 10, 2009 in 3D, AS3 and Flash. 0 Comments

Playing around with Maxmind's GeoIP city database, I made this globe that 'should' look up your IP address and point to where you are on Earth - well, the nearest city at least:

Flash 10 Matrix3D demo

Published on December 10, 2008 in 3D, AS3 and Flash. 1 Comment

I quickly cobbled together this little demo using the new native 3D transforms in Flash 10. Alongside the regular transform.matrix property, DisplayObjects now have a transform.matrix3D property, which controls its appearance in 3-D space. It's pretty easy to play with in Flash CS4, without any coding knowledge - I can't wait to see a version of GTA built using this :)