Just drag on any spot on the image. Move around and it will move like a piece of elastic sheet. Release your mouse and it will bounce back to normal.

Basically some vertices are defined and they will change upon dragging. I have add to them some elasticity. Then I use drawTriangles to map the source bitmap to the vertices to create this elastic-sheet effect.

You may also like to check out my past Flash experiments for other elasticity examples.

New AS3 techniques used: Vector, drawTriangles

container.graphics.beginFill(0xff0000);
container.graphics.drawTriangles(vector1, vector2);
container.graphics.drawTriangles(vector3, vector4);

This works fine. However, if I want to fill it with bitmap so that I can do some texture mapping,

container.graphics.beginBitmapFill(some_bitmapData);
container.graphics.drawTriangles(vector1, vector2, uvtData1);
container.graphics.drawTriangles(vector3, vector4, uvtData2);

only the first drawTriangles works but not the 2nd one.

I am very confused and after a long time I find out I should do the following:

container.graphics.beginBitmapFill(some_bitmapData);
container.graphics.drawTriangles(vector1, vector2, uvtData1);
container.graphics.beginBitmapFill(some_bitmapData);
container.graphics.drawTriangles(vector3, vector4, uvtData2);

That means I have to repeat beginBitmapFill everytime before I execute a drawTriangles. I am not sure if this is a bug or I have missed something?

Always remember to define the type

At least to me, this is a very common mistake. Just remember whenever and wherever u type the word “Vector”, it must be followed with “.<dataType>”. So remember it always looks like this:

Vector.<datatype>

2D Vector

Just like Array, Vector can be 2D. Say you want to store several lottery results in the Vector format. You can do the following:

var lottery:Vector.<Vector.<int>> = new Vector.<Vector.<int>>();
lottery.push(Vector.<int>([1,2,3,4,5,6]));
lottery.push(Vector.<int>([11,12,13,14,15,16]));
lottery.push(Vector.<int>([21,22,23,24,25,26]));

In the above example, “lottery” is a Vector with type “Vector.<int>”, i.e. each element of Vector store a list of integers. So for example, lottery[1] stores the list (i.e. vector) of integers from 11-16 and lottery[1][1] should return 12.

Vector() Global function

This is basically a function to change something into the Vector format. In the above lottery example, the lists of numbers in brackets [ ] are actually arrays (because for Vector you cannot define values with [ ] like in Array). So in the example we are actually changing the arrays of numbers into Vector of integer type, then push this vector into another vector “lottery”. You can refer to the AS3 Lang Ref for more details.

I made 3D cube many times in previous AS, and I make this again this time with the new AS3. The concept behind is the same (calculate a perspective factor, apply it to a 3D coordinate to make it 2D, etc…), with new technique used which include:

- Vectors to store data
- Matrix3D to do rotations
- drawTriangles for texture mapping and culling
- PerspectiveProjection() for field of view and focal length

The source code above is commented, but to read the code it is better you know something about the concept of faking 3D in Flash, read senocular tutorial on the new drawing API, and have the AS3 language ref with you. I believe re-creating old 3D stuff with the new techniques is a good way to get familiar with them.

I will also try to write something later on the new stuff mentioned above e.g. Vector.

HTC Diamond is cool, but its not my choice because of its small-sized battery and cannot use SD card. Then here comes HTC Touch Pro, which is basically an upgraded version of Diamond. It has everything of Diamond (same cool design, same spec plus some improvement) plus a larger battery (thus 5mm thicker), increase ROM & RAM (ROM: 512 MB, RAM: 288MB), QWERTY sliding keyboard, and you can use SD card.

Although there maybe another one with a better spec soon, I think Touch Pro is perfect enough for me. The only remaining problem will be the cost…..

http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=49524

Specification

* HTC TV Out cable needed.

Even after I deleted those codes, I could still see many rubbish codes in my html when I click “view source” in my web browser. However, I couldn’t find them in the theme editor. Then I came across this article. It talked about how people insert long string of cryptic-looking characters that most users wouldn’t question at first (including me although I felt a bit strange) which turn out to load in some text files from another server after decoding. That explained why I couldn’t find anything in the theme editor yet my site html was still full of rubbish.

If you think it is a bit long, you may just read the summary which is at the bottom of the article, or you can read it here:

• Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.
• Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.
• Keep the lithium-ion battery cool. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.
• Consider removing the battery from a laptop when running on fixed power. (Some laptop manufacturers are concerned about dust and moisture accumulating inside the battery casing.)
• Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing dates. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.
• If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge.

This looks useful to help us promote to the new stuff of 2.0

AIR beta 2: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/air/

Review on Google Doc: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=740

Review on SlideRocket: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=542

SlideRocket: http://www.sliderocket.com/index.html

found this in miniclip, and got addicted to it. Read the few rules and start playing