Saturday, June 27, 2009

FLASH Site Creation aka War and Peace

This post is a bit overdue, particularly given all of my griping about Flash... To recap, I originally put the ReadySetBlink.com site up as a basic html site with a couple of flash components to accomodate my gallery needs. I knew this iteration was just the first, as I really wanted to have a cool Flash site with some bouncy menus and flipping pages and sound effects.

Problem #1 - I know nothing about about Flash.

I also did not want to spend a ton of time re-inventing the wheel, so I figured I could leverage the fine coding work of others and achieve my objective. I researched many components; menus, page flippers, galleries, etc. and selected (and paid for) a suite of these that I liked. And I purchased Adobe's FLASH CS4 product.

Problem #2 - Failure to communicate.

Given the diversity of the component base I had a multi-tiered failure to communicate. There are (apparently) issues between things coded for FLASH CS3 versus CS4 and there are more apparent differences between projects developed under AS3 and AS2. In other words, not a good plan for cross or backward compatibility.

Problem #3 - Still optimistic that this should all work together.

Still being optimistic (or phrased another way - lazy - as I did not want to code a FLASH project from scratch), I was certain there must be a way to get these components to work together. My site design isn't overly complicated!?

Problem #4 - Forums while often helpful - sometimes are not.

Everyplace I asked my question about communication between AS3 movies and AS2 movies answered the question as though it were sooo simple. Just use the LoadMovie or LoadMovieClip command and et voila... WRONG! The fundamental communication challenges were still there and some components, that were designed to load other movies, were xenophobic, refusing to load a clip unless it was just right...

Three months later... I found a compromise solution that enabled me to get ReadySetBlink.com v2 up and running. Here is the summary:

1. My Flash project is under FLASH CS4, and is an AS3 project.
2. Used the JumpEye component to establish a communication bridge between AS2 clip and AS3 clip - here is the link - it is free -
http://www.jumpeyecomponents.com/Flash-Components/Various/ActionScript-Bridge-91/

Still never got the page flipper to work. The component I purchased had a conflict with the CS4-AS3 version and the company still has not put out a fix. So that is next on the dev list for the site... For now, though, I am taking a FLASH coding break!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

ReadySetBlink! Online Art Store

I've created a new online store presence for ReadySetBlink! via ImageKind. Click on the banner below to check out the ReadySetBlink! artist site!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Whimsy Series - Ocean and Trees Take Flight

Pictured are Whimsy - Ocean and Whimsy - Trees Take Flight; my latest paintings.



First, Whimsy - Ocean, this one was inspired by our first night on the sailboat in the BVI. The spectacular sunsets highlighting every shade of pink to red, purple to black, and fabulous blues. The clouds acting as showcase for the colors painted by the sun and sky. The depth on the horizon to the skytop varied in dramatic effect, creating a complexity and ordered randomness.


Whimsy - Trees Take Flight; this is the second take on this painting. The first one, was more muted, and multi-stroked included paint daubs. This version is brighter, showing the sky from twilight to night and capturing the escapism of the rooted trees into the starry night sky. The fantastical happens as the trees become their own 'worlds' incorporating bits of sky colors along with their own browns and greens.

Let me know what you think!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Spicy Asian Dip / Sauce Creation

We were planning to get together with friends (last evening) who had just started on the South Beach Diet. Being in week 1 they were all about protein and not about carbs. I myself have been on a high protein vegetarian diet for about a month now, so could certainly empathize with the desire to keep the protein way up... My good friend Rachel was planning to bring shrimp cocktail, and would then 'limit' the dips into the traditional cocktail sauce as it is a bit high in sugar.

I decided to create an equally tasty dip for the shrimp, which would provide a bit of a protein boost. So here is the creation - by the way, all measurements are approximated as I tend to mix things up to taste.

Spicy Asian Dip / Sauce

Ingredients

3 oz. tofu (I used Nasoya Extra Firm as that is what I had on hand)
1 jalapeno (in this case grown fresh in my garden!!!)
3 tbsp. Forbidden City Smoky Five Nut Steak Sauce (Asian flavored steak sauce available in most grocery stores)
3 tbsp. Sriracha (Asian hot sauce found in International aisle in most grocery stores)
1 tbsp. Sesame Oil
Scant 1/4 c Soy Sauce (Used this to get to the desired consistency)

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until well mixed and mostly smooth.

This dip is great for veggies, crackers, shrimp and as a topping for other seafood (we had it over the grilled salmon as well!)

Give it a try and let me know what you think!