Well, I started on the buttons...and then fizzled.  I couldn't really get into it, so I will simply share the two sets that I put together.  They are 'gel' buttons geared to media player applications, so obviously of limited use.  It was a worthwhile exercise, with use of layers and thinking about how layers should be organized.  Use at your own discretion I was just messing around.  I threw in a feather that I did when I was messing around for good measure.

 

I have found myself doing a bunch of arrows.

I'll package all of the arrows together once I finish the desktop background I am using them for.  There are actually 20 arrows in the image on the left, don't see 'em?  Count again.

So I was sitting around, taking a break from work on the buttons (forthcoming I assure you), and I decided to have a look at some of the paint effects that are built into Expression Design.  Up to now, I have been using Paint.net.  It is an invaluable tool for image editing and adjusting things, even if all you are going to do with the picture is import into another program. If you don't have it, get it at www.getpaint.net.

I began by going into the user's guide (First Item on the Help menu), and went from there.  It is useful but I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at what the effects do to a larger image than what is provided in the help section.  Turns out I was right, you really do need to test this stuff out on a larger image.

I have put together I rather large Office document containing the images that resulted.  If you like, download it and take a look.

Also I am working on a personal banner and logo...forthcoming as well.

Well, aside from working at the WAG, I haven't been doing much.  Just trying to win.

I've been doing some artsy stuff I guess, a little in Expression Design, but nothing to brag about or show off.  Just putting together some things that I will compile later on into something bigger.  I have a few wallpapers in mind, but I don't have everything ready yet so no sharing.

I have begun mapping out my next project, though.  And it is a little more ambitious than the last.  It's a Button Pack (obviously for us in Expression Blend or Web projects), and I am planning on 50+ buttons in the pack.  This is much more than the 10 splatters I went with on the last one.  I am thinking that each if the buttons will be presented with an un-pressed and pressed state, for those who might use it.  I am hoping that I can push this one through in about a week.  That's why I am writing this now, I would like to have it ready by Friday (or next Monday at the latest).

In other news...buy The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy.  I just finished it yesterday and I was rather impressed.  And to think, it was his career launching book!  He has remained true to his style, and his level of detail and realism is incredible.  One caveat, you may want to buy a used copy, as some CIA employees would not like you to contribute to his success.  I met a retired one, Ledbedder I think his is, and heard his lecture soon after.  He said that some of what Clancy writes could only really be known to such detail if he has some kind of source within the organization, which means someone on the inside is breaking the law for this man.  The moral of his story "Don't give this man your money, but do read his book."  Thus, buy a used copy or get it at the library.

 

Okay, so I have been busy in my boredom.  Click here to be taken to the download of the free splatter brushes that I have been working on for the past few days.  They are a combination of tracings from scanned hand drawn images, and other pictures than I found around.  They are all hand traced using the paintbrush tool.

They are in the .design format so you will need to actually have Expression Design installed to be able to use them.  Please let me know if you ever use them for anything.  I would like to see whatever they end up in or on. 

Download Now!

Just finished with some experimentation with the cloning tool in ED.   I think I like it, though not for what I used it for.  I ended up doing some 'Warhol-esque' stuff with it, just demonstrating to myself how it works after I saw a really boring video tute on it.

Some clarifications concerning cloning:

1.) Cloning is not the same as copying in this case.  Yes, it makes an exact copy, but that copy is completely subordinate to the original, meaning when you change the master, the others change as well.  With a regular path, copied and pasted, you would have to go through path by path to edit them.  This could be a very useful tool when designing some patterns, or even brushes.  Anything that might need a regular pattern (which sort of screams graphic design, hence it's inclusion in the software).

2.) Twins don't have to look the same.  I am an identical twin, we have the same DNA but different fingerprints, skin tones, attitudes, and hair styles.  In the same way clones do not have to be  the same as the original, not exactly.  You can individually edit bits and pieces by changing brush strokes, color, and other little things like that.  One of the only things you can't do is add effects to the clones.  You can still add them to the original (like a drop shadow), but the clones do not inherit this and you can't add it to clones individually. 

On that note, you can get around this problem with some clever cloning, blurring and color changes, but I'll let you figure that out for yourself.

So without further ado, the piece:

And how its done:  First you'll need your paths, pictures, etc. that you want to clone (and I'll always make sure to differentiate between copying and cloning).  Select them all together. 

If you would like to, create a single unified path through Object->Compound Path -> Make.

Then select Edit->Clone, and place the newly created clone wherever you wish.

A warning, if you have any detail work in your vector image, i.e. different stroke widths, fills, or other little differences, you probably will not want to create the compound path.  It will generalize all of these individual paths to conform to a single one.  In this piece, I tried it.  The result was that all of the finer details were defaulted to the stroke width of my border.

Now go design something!

Just a short one today.  I've been online downloading photos for use in some ideas I have for the future and I thought I would share the link.  Its at www.stockvault.net.  They have thousands of photos for free download.  They are all released under a common license (much like open-source).

 

I'll be updating on some of the artwork that comes out of these downloads.  Working on a desktop background right now.  And thinking about a Channel8 icon pack.  I'll be putting together some detailed tutorials together as I go.

Here's a sampling of the latest (done last night and today):

 

Well, today marks my second foray into the capabilities of Expression Design.  Granted I haven't even scratched the surface yet, but I am excited.  This piece took me about an hour, and unlike the last one, is likely to actually be finished.

I began by importing an image.  This time it wasn't hand drawn, but very well could have been.  I took it from a comic book that I have had sitting around for a couple of years.  I don't even know what it was, but I saved the picture for possible inspiration for artwork sometime in the future (now).

So, begin by importing the image to be traced.  Here you have to be a little flexible, especially if you are using a color filled image.  With straight pencil and ink a opacity of about 10 or 15 percent is okay for tracing, but with color you will have to leave it a little higher.  I went with 20 on the image layer.  

Then lock the image layer so you aren't drawing on that one.  Add another on top of it, but make sure that the opacity on the new layer is at 100 percent so that you can see your drawn lines well.

For this image I selected the paintbrush tool (just above the pen tool at left of screen).  You will then have to zoom in and out (get used to doing this if you are tracing anything by hand) and go through one line at a time.  This is much easier with than with the pen tool, or the b-spline option, both of which require a little more finesse and planning to use efficiently.

I have included another copy of the image as it was beginning to take shape, with the background turned off.  I had initially done this with a bush width  of three, but found it looked better with a width of 1, but that is entirely up to you.

That begun, it was a simple task, though a bit time consuming ( took me about 45 minutes all told) to finish the tracing and end up with a complete image.  See below.

 

 

 

 

And without the background.

I will be going back in to close all of the paths and generally clean up my new vector image.  I will also be adding some of the 'shading' in with the b-spline tool that was mentioned before, as I think this looks to be especially suited to the job...more to come when that is finished.

I do have to say, with all the brush options that I haven't really tried, and the other things that I see can be done, this is a very good program and can probably do a lot more than the designers seem to advertise.

So, after reading a few of the tutorials for Expression Design, and seeing a lot of stuff that looks pretty good, I decided I would finally sit down and see what I could actually do with the program.  And this is what I came up with.  I traced an old piece that I had taped to the side of my bookshelf using the pen tool.

Overall, I find the pen tool a little clumsy for tracing, but once you get used to the way it works, and the methods for creating new lines, i.e. double click on the last anchor point and then start your new line or quickly change tools and back, it becomes a fairly simple task to create a halfway decent image.  This one is far from complete and I may never come back to finish it, or even to close all the lines, but it was enlightening to see what I could do.

I look forward to pushing the limits of what can be done with the program.  Next up, the paint tool. 

Just a note: in the blog by Will from the Expression Design team, he says that the b-spline tool is good for tracing.  I would like to say that it does not work with detail work, but can be made to work if your artwork is planned correctly.  Obviously his method of importing the image, making it transparent and then adding a layer on top of it works.  I deleted the layer with the original on it after I felt it was semi-complete.

Well, its been a few weeks since I've been on here.  I haven't done much in the way of coding or anything technical that has any substance, but I have been reading and I have finally started drawing some.  I'll be uploading some vector graphics and scanned images from the the old sketchbook for your viewing pleasure...but mostly because I'm bored and I want to learn Expression Design. 

Well my summer readings are well under way.  I have finished my first book and am working on several others.  I have a stack that I rotate through, and read around ten rather than just sitting and reading one at a time.  It helps me to focus when I actually do need to do just one thing later on.  Gotta have some mental scattering to feed some ADD tendencies. 

Anyway, the first book was called The Regulators.  It's by Richard Bachman (the lesser known alter ego of Stephen King), and is really strange but a fun read.  As expected I suppose.  I would have to say it was a good introduction to Stephen King and because of it I will likely end up reading everything he ever published sometime during the course of the next year.  It is about an ancient creature that inhabits the mind of a special young autistic boy who seems to have some mental powers.  Anyway he begins acting out his childish fantasies, with heavy influences from westerns and sci-fi.

Thanks Mom for getting that one to me.  If not for you, I would  never have picked up many of the books I read.  You semi-random choices of gifts always give me something to do, and I would not have found Peter Straub or Steve Cannell.  And I never would have picked up a book by Tom Clancy or Stephen King.

 

More to come...

So, I'm sitting on the couch and just finished some homework for one of my physics courses.  I should be getting my stuff together to the laundromat, but I'm coding instead (XNA if it really matters).  Got a little tired of working on other things, so I'm working on a little thing called Breakout...of which we have seen 1000 different kinds.  It seems though, that this is the next step in the process.  I read somewhere that it is a good idea to begin coding games from the very low tech and work your way up.  This is pretty mundane advice but it is fun and since some of the simplest are more fun for the longest time, I have decided to go ahead and follow it.  I have made a list of games I will try to do during the next two months or so.

1.)Pong,   2.)Breakout,   3.)Tetris,    4.)a sidescroller like Mario,   and then move on to other, better things.

Breakout and Tetris should be pretty easy I think.  I'd like to add multiple layouts to my breakout game, and add multiple levels to the sidescroller.  Also on the sidescroller, my plan is to add in some sprite artwork to give the game a less blocky and more 'artsy' feel.  I may also make a top down air or space fighter game (maybe both), again with multiple levels.

It will all probably go up on a website as well.  So, check number one off the list and move on to number two:)  Updates to begin soon.

So I haven't done any serious coding this week...too busy with school.  But I did sit down one day, while I was bored and wrap up a couple of changes to the Pong game that I finished last weekend.  I went online and collected a couple of Chuck Norris images, put it all together with Paint.net, and voila!  Here you have it, the Chuck Norris Pong Game.  Code is posted in my SkyDrive for public download, though the only thing that's really different from my original is the naming within the code and the images.

~enjoy:)

 

Thursday night...nothing to do...except maybe study, or get a leg up on next week's work.  I know I'm not gonna do that, so I drive

over to La Cantera to meet a friend at Kona Grill.  I must say, it wouldn't be the first choice for me on most nights.  I'm not much for waiting around for a table, but some nights it doesn't matter, especially when the happy hour specials are followed a couple hours later by some "reverse" happy hour deals (which amount to exactly the same thing).  That means 5 dollar appetizers since I chose to sit at the bar outside.  And, even if you have to wait around for a table, the company is good and you can always meet someone new while you're trolling around for a seat.  I happened to meet 3 nursing students who ended up sharing a table with us, adding immeasurably to the overall feeling of success from the night.

Kona being a national company, see www.konagrill.com, with locations in several states has a menu generally representative of what you would expect from a sushi place.  And if you're not up for sushi, get the potstickers or avocado egg rolls for an appetizer, and follow it up with a Sweet Chili Glazed Chicken.  You won't be disappointed.  Be warned though, you'll have to decide ahead of time if you want the classy atmosphere of the actual restaurant or the low priced happy hour specials at the bar (and a much louder but visually stimulating experience).  It's generally one or the other, though you can order anything from outside if you are willing to wait a couple minutes extra for your food.

The wines aren't bad and I have yet to find a drink that the bar won't make for me, even if I have to tell them how.  Now don't think that I'm bad mouthing the place, the chain has won numerous awards, and the food is a healthy alternative to pretty much anything you would eat otherwise...and the prices are definitely comfortable.  Its always a good time.

Well, I have finally finished the Pong Chapter from Benjamin Nitschke's book, Professional XNA Programming.  I was very nearly completely disappointed with it.  It opens by telling you that it is possible to code the game completely from the book, but the code in the book doesn't have the correct code.  To to it off, the source code that the book points you to isn't even the most recent version, though the book is very recently published and is supposed to support XNA 2.0.  Anyway, after a week and a half of tinkering around on my free time, I have finally finished it.  Without the unit tests that cause so many other people problems with the book. 

If you would like to take a look at the code, feel free to download it from the SkyDrive. I have included both the source, changed as I went along, and the installation files from when I published it.  It works with both the keyboard and the 360 controller.  I'll be putting together my own tutorial during the next couple of weeks.

Working on a soccer and hockey version as well, just changing the artwork and sounds mostly.

As I was going through chapter 2 in my XNA book (the one by Nitschke) I found some things that were overlooked (or not put in until the Troubleshooting section at the end of the chapter instead of when you need it), and some others things that really weren't spelled out explicitly but that I thought should have been.

To begin, it really helps out in the long run if you go back to chapter one and add in the commands that allow you to exit your program by pressing the Escape key.  I didn't do it the first time I went through, and it really irked me.

1.) When entering the code in initially the background is loaded using the standard SpriteBatch methods.  The code in the book uses two integers here (width and height).  These were not previously initialized and should have been.  The assignment of values to these variables is not as straightforward as it could be, either.  They should be assigned within the initialize method by:

width = graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width;   (and height is handled in a similar way)

If this is not done then all you get is the background color specified elsewhere in the Draw method, with your background image loaded and initialized with a size of width 0 and height 0.

2.) In order to get the menu to render you have to go fishing around for the code in the source files.  It turns out to be a pretty simple problem.  When loading the menu items one of the rectangle RenderSprite methods is called, one that doesn't do anything.  I ended up cutting and pasting the method that follows:

public void RenderSprite(Texture2D texture, int x, int y, Rectangle? sourceRect)
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Render sprite
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="texture">Texture</param>
    /// <param name="rect">Rectangle</param>
    /// <param name="color">Color</param>
    RenderSprite(texture,
        new Rectangle(x, y, sourceRect.Value.Width, sourceRect.Value.Height),
        sourceRect, Color.White);
} // RenderSprite(texture, x, y)

The method that was initially called was commented out so this one could do its work, doesn't seem to matter though because it didn't do anything anyway.

The result now matches figure 2-5

3.)The code in the book for rendering the lives, ball, and paddles is pretty straightforward.  The unit testing doesn't seem to be working though.  I have decided that it will be easier to simply convert the code given in the book to just go about adding the code into the game itself.  I have been getting good results from this.

So, I will not be finishing this post as originally planned (though I have obviously posted what was already written). 

However, I will be finishing the pong clone.  I guess I will just reduce the code to the game itself without the extraneous unit testing code, and then put together a Tutorial explaining its creation step by step, for the exercise and to help anyone who cares to read it.  I know there are a few out there, but maybe I can add a little something to the stuff that is already out there.  I'll make my code available as well.

So, I'm going down 90 and I'm looking at all the traffic.  Wait a sec, where is it?  I see all these cars and no traffic! 

I'm in Chicago, going down the highway just looking around in Virtual Earth, and I gotta say, "This is pretty damn cool!"  I remember watching video of a keynote speech by Bill Gates in which he had someone on stage with him, going through what was happening with Virtual Earth.  I remember thinking "Wow, that is pretty neat.", but I hadn't tried it out until today.  I hooked up my Xbox 360 controller to the laptop and flew around quite nicely. 

Now, the only problem I had with it is that the buildings definitely don't look as great as I imagined they would (I was in hybrid view tell me if I'm doing something wrong here).  I understand that it is a relatively new thing, and I would never complain about the product. It is awesome as I said.  Moving around on the planet didn't disappoint me, it excited me.  I want to do something with this, and I want to do something big.  There is a 3d model importer for the Virtual Earth world, which I will be trying to do. 

I went to Chicago, New York, Dublin, Stockholm, Vatican City, Las Vegas, San Jose, and a few other places.  But I am disappointed that there is nothing for San Antonio...somehow my city got skipped over in the 3d department (the Alamo is there so someone should get some kudos for that one but there is nothing else).

With all that, I have decided that I will add a few projects to the list of stuff that I want to do this summer/year:

1.) add some models to Virtual Earth from San Antonio (gotta represent)

2.) model my parent's house in New Jersey (or maybe I'll get my little brother to do it)

3.) on a separate but related note, I would like to model the University of Texas at San Antonio in 3D and then load it into an XNA game so that it can be navigated in its entirety (indoors and out) using the keyboard or the 360 controller.  (I'll probably add the university in over at Virtual Earth as part of the same project.

I will be sure to chronicle everything, and will likely put together more than a few tutorials during the course of the summer so keep a heads up.

If anyone wants to help out, shoot me a message so I can keep you apprised.

Go Microsoft!!

Statistician Shane Jensen has been crunching the numbers on defense in baseball.  It turns out, in terms of fielding the ball, and actually making the plays, some pretty surprising things happen. 

For instance, statistics say that Derek Jeter is among the worst shortstops in the league, completely unexpected. 

But by the same statistical method A-Rod really is as great as everyone says.  Granted he has some more data available from when he was with Houston.

Now, this statistical stuff is pretty new.  Not the actual methodology but just the fact that they are compiling defensive stats in this way.  Prior to this there has been much more focus on offensive stats; maybe now that will change.  Then again, there is another statistical formula that says that someone who has a higher batting average every year can actually appear to have a lower lifetime batting average.  Go figure, but I'll still watch.

I just finished chapter one in the XNA book that I got.  Definitely very useful.  It gets into some tiling stuff and moving around on the screen using both the keyboard and the 360 Game pad.  I haven't tried it out but I'm gonna put the 360 controller in the old USB port and try out the game pad. 

I know it looks simple but its my first real result with XNA.

So, I've been trying to go to sleep for about an hour...unsuccessfully to say the least.  That said, I think a short rant is in order.

I have been thinking a lot about programming lately, without actually doing any except what was required for a Fortran Class that I am taking.  Its arguably the most boring class I've ever had the pleasure of attending.  While this thinking and planning can be productive in its own right, it makes me feel immeasurably unproductive and I should like very much to get back at it.  At this point I have decided that I would like to make a 2d Robotech RPG, in the style of Final Fantasy 3 from back in my early nerd days.  I always loved the cartoon and even did own a players guide to the tabletop rpg by the same name.  I never actually did get into that one, but I did keep the book, so I may break it out to use as a reference. 

I have purchased a book about XNA programming and will be working from that to help myself actually get into XNA in a serious way.  I have downloaded and done some modeling in, Blender 3d.  So those are the two programs that I will be using at least to begin this project.

~ta

Oh yeah, I've decided that I will make a point to debunk certain stories that I hear, from a physics standpoint.  It turns out many common fears are completely unfounded, misunderstood, and fueled only by media hype...irradiated food for example, is not a risk.  Food is naturally irradiated, and it turns out "natural" and "whole foods" which are "organically grown" actually have higher levels of radiation than most other foods that anyone eats.  Not because they are disinfected that way or anything like that, but simply because that is how they grow.

I challenge anyone to get a 15 dollar Geiger counter and find out for yourself.

Well, I've been gone for a while, but I'm back now. 

It occurred to me recently just how essential solution manuals can be when taking advanced physics and mathematics classes.  See, I've been doing pretty badly in my Electrodynamics class and was in dire need of some help.  I love the lecture, but I don't seem to get much out of it in terms of problem solving.  There are only two other people in the class with me and I never see them except in class so I needed something else.  This was essentially my problem with Classical Mechanics last semester.  Too much interesting bla and not enough applicable problem solving examples. And I find that this is the primary downfall of many textbooks as well.  It has become more difficult for people who tend to be book learners to actually do any book learning.

Enter the solution manual.  I know, this should be cheating...but no, it isn't.  I do require of myself that the problems be solved in detail on my own, but I do use the solution manual to check my answers.  I use it to learn the actual methods for solution of the problems.  I use it to learn.  And I would encourage everyone who needs it to do the same.  As long as it doesn't become a crutch, and as long as you are not simply copying the answers straight from the page.  I use myself as an example; this morning I was able to go through three separate but related problems in one hour...a pretty significant feat for me...and in the process better understand how to solve two different types of questions, namely finding charge and current distribution using Maxwell's equations and not having been given the Electric and Magnetic fields.  A very useful thing to be able to do on a test.

Hopefully I can bring my grade up, now that midterms are over and I can finally get down to the business of actually learning. 

A note on study habits...

Do your homework when you have the time.  Wake up an hour earlier than you normally do, and you can get an extra 2 hours of studying time in.  The someone who wakes up early and starts doing something to avoid boredom ends up finishing everything earlier, and doing better in his or her classes, I've been doing it and it works.  Another thing is to head out to class a half hour to 45 minutes early.  While waiting around for class to begin you can work on some homework that you may otherwise leave until the night before.  This, again, is primarily a way of preventing yourself from getting bored and it pays off in the long run...as well as the short run, as you find yourself with more time for drinking and chasing skirt (or pant if that's your thing).

~J 

Well, I've been spending a little time going back over some programming stuff...just trying to relearn what I might have known but have lost along the way.  Below I found some specifics about variable declarations that aren't quite so obvious to the beginning programmer.

Aside from the regular declarations and calculations that can be done, A variable can also be signed or unsigned. Signed means that it can have negative numbers and unsigned means it can't but unsigned gives a variable a greater positive range. You simply put the words signed or unsigned in front of a variable declaration to use them.

unsigned int i;

Putting short or long in front of a variable gives it a smaller or bigger range respectively.

short int i;

Using signed, unsigned, short and long without a variable type will use int by default.

signed s;
unsigned u;
short sh;
long l;

A string is a type of variable that can store words and sentences. There are 2 kinds of strings. The first kind is a string pointer. You declare it as a *char. The * means that it points to the first char of the string.

char *s;
s = "Hello";

The second kind is an array of characters which you must give a size when you declare it. You have to use the strcpy command to put values in it. You must also include the string header file to be able to use the strcpy command.

#include<string>
...
char t[10];
strcpy(t,"Hello");

 

You can also declare constants much as in other languages.  I've been using fortran in a class at University, in which you can declare constants which cannot be changed by adding the declaration ", PARAMETER" at the point of assignment.  C++ is much more straightforward.

The value of a constant must always be set when it is declared. There are 2 types of constants. The first uses the word const in front of the declaration.

const PI = 3.14;

The other type of constant uses #define to create a constant.

#define PI 3.14