Monday, April 06, 2009

Hey, Mom, sell that one



That's what Molly thinks. I've been revising that little gallery to the left of this post with new art, since a couple of pieces have sold. (not on line yet.)

But this meant I had to go into my old Flash code which I haven't worked on in a long time... And this was one of the hardest things I ever coded because it was in ActionScript 3 and involved video cue points, Paypal, sound off and on, images loading, text files, you name it. And all the old fonts had taken a dive when my computer took the virus.

I didn't have much luck with my photography, because it was a sunny day and the animation cels are so glossy-- I couldn't figure a way to get the picture without streaks and reflections. But it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so maybe I'll be able to put it all together then.

It's funny when I start getting into code again-- it's very addictive, and I just don't want to take a break from it. Just want to keep going going going till it's all done. It wasn't as hard to figure out as I'd thought, but when I first looked at the code I thought, what, huh, what part of your brain ever figured this out.

Here's a function from it:

function b5go(event:MouseEvent):void
{
var myhigh:int = numChildren
removeChildAt(myhigh-1)

buzztalk="Giddy Gluey, $275.";
ummtalk=buzztalk+" "+a5;
tellus();
var image_mc:Loader = new Loader();
var pictURL:String ="bigarab.png"
var pictURLReq:URLRequest = new URLRequest(pictURL);
image_mc.load(pictURLReq);
this.addChild(image_mc);image_mc.x=370;image_mc.y=45;

}

7 comments:

stray said...

Beautiful artwork! I love code, too. Once I start working on a site I don't want to take a break at all until something's working.

Linda Davick said...

That's an incredible feat, being able to click on the little TV that takes you to the exact spot in the movie where the art is. I looked at it last night, but got caught up in the movie, and then went back just now and the same thing happened. I know it's the code you're talking about but may I just mention the family tree!!

Your code is very poetic.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Looks like another fab scene from "Face Like a Frog!"

I'm a dummy when it comes to code.
I tried to decipher your example but only got this far...

Function b5go is triggered by [something tied to what the mouse is up to]... there's a variable called myhigh (I bet it's an integer] and it's the same value as numChildren... ...run the function removeChildAt using myhigh-1...

Uh oh... my brain blew a fuse!

Sally said...

I think I got it working. The video is lower quality than I'd intended, but all the buttons seem? to be working. I had to scan the art to get nice images.

I think the reason you get that demon don't bother me thing going with code is that it IS another language, and takes an effort to switch over, and once there you don't want to lose what you have.

When I opened this file, first done in 2007, I wanted to cry.

Namowal, it used to be easy to load images in Flash, but now you have to create loaders, to load the image, and in addition you do this add child thing, which if you don't handle right, you get them one on top of the other and looks bad.

It's incredibly strict and fussy, compared to earlier versions of ActionScript, and so off putting.

If you ever wanted an actual explanation I might be able to help but can't guarantee.

Coding the video stop points was especially tricky because there's so little information on how to do it.

Anyway, there you have it. Gotta change the icon now on the blog.

Linda Davick said...

Coding the video stop points was especially tricky because there's so little information on how to do it.

Probably because this is a first! (Have you ever seen it done before?)

Sally said...

Linda, the documentation at Adobe is pathetic, and I see lots of questions posted via google search from people who can't figure it out. But ideally it could be used in other ways, like selling shoes similar to what are worn in the cartoons, or something...

Sally said...

damn, the whole thing worked locally but when I check it now the video playback isn't working. damn.