Archive for June, 2007

Basic Circle Drawing ActionScript

Do you know how to draw a circle with ActionScript code? It’s a handy thing to know. You can use it to draw pie charts, equilateral polygons, analog clock faces… you can even use it to script motion. If you use Flash for any type of drawing purposes, knowing the math behind the circles (trigonometry) can be very helpful. In the simplest of terms, drawing a circle can be as easy as counting from 0 to 1.
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ActionScript Easing Functions

Unlike most other easing equations or functions, my easing functions are 0 to 1 based (like the “Math.random” function). This makes it easier to isolate the concept of “easing” from the concept of “tweening”. Tweening is responsible for creating a series of equidistant values between an initial state and a final state. Easing is responsible for shifting those values so they are no longer equally spaced.

There are times when you may want to weight a single random value to favor one number over another. For example, you may want a random number between 0 and 100 but you would prefer a number closer to 0 than to 100. In this situation, there is no need for a “tween” as you are only generating one number and there is nothing to go be”tween”. This is where easing functions which have been isolated from their tweening counterparts can come in handy.

Here are my most frequently used easing functions:
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Needs More Cowbell?

I’m trying something a little different with this poll by allowing you to vote three different times. Choose wisely. 😉

[poll id=”4″]

If you’re suggestion isn’t on the list, go ahead and post it in the Comments section below.

Image Gallery Plugin Recommendation

As a follow up to my previous post WordPress Image Gallery Gotchas I thought I’d let you know what image gallery software I’m currently using. As you may recall, I tried combining Gallery2 (a full featured open source image gallery) with WPG2 (a WordPress plugin to place Gallery2 inside your blog) but I didn’t have much success so I began reconsidering my options.

I went to the WordPress Plugins page, then went to the Images Plugins section and browsed through all their offerings. Here’s my list of top contenders and my impression of each one:
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Tendril Gallery

These images were created with code similar to the ActionScript used in my previous “Tantalizing Tendril” post.

WordPress Image Gallery Gotchas

I’ve been considering various open source image gallery solutions for my WordPress blog but I couldn’t decide which one would best meet my needs. Heck, I wasn’t even sure what my needs were so I decided a bit of research was in order. The most helpful information I found was an Image Plugin article on Lorelle’s site where she discusses the most common and popular solutions for working with images in a WordPress blog. After reading her post and many of the articles linked within it I decided I’d install Gallery2 and the WPG2 plugin to get the most powerful and flexible system while maintaining modularity and simplicity. At least that was what I was hoping for.
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WordPress Plugin Recommendation (June)

It’s been a while since my last WordPress Plugin Recommendation so I thought I’d let you know how much of a “Plugin Ho” I’ve become since then. I’m currently using 32 WordPress plugins! Sure, it seems like a lot when you put an exclamation mark at the end, but I need each ‘n every one of ’em I tells ya, honest. In fact, I have so many plugins that I need a plugin to help me review them all. Here’s my list of currently installed plugins, each accompanied by a brief review:
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