PQ torus knot
lab :: papervision3D math art
here we go again, another papervision3D demo featuring math permeated lines. this time im working with a classic piece of code known as the PQ torus. the vague idea is that you have 2 numbers (P + Q) that are used in the algorithm to define the knot. in general, given P + Q mutually prime, the line wraps meridionally around the torus P times and wraps the longitudinally around it Q times. i was having some trouble grasping exactly how this was going to be achieved, until i read this article on blackpawn’s website. he really breaks down the algo to a very simplistic level...
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custom flex skins
code :: customize your components
creating web-applications with flex 3 is great. there are a ton of pre-made components, and an open-ended architecture to allow you to create your own. built into flex is also a variety of options to change the visual styles of the components. today i will talk about two different types of customization. first, the simplest method, is using css to style your components. next, the more advanced technique, is creating component skins. for this example i will be using flash cs3.
with in a flex mxml application, css is natively understood. so by utilizing the tags, we can create a variety of styles for an application. personally, i don't really care for the eclipse/flex built in css editor, but since flex uses valid css, any editor can work!
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tracing 3D objects with papervision3D
lab :: drawing the logo
a question popped up on the papervision3D mailing list the other day about using the lines3D class to trace a 3D object. i found the idea fascinating, so i whipped up this little demo to demonstrate how simple it actually was. i started out by creating a simple cylinder with a wide base and small top, and setting its visibility to false. then creating my lines3D object. finally in the render loop i create a new line3D that connects each vertice. by checking to see in a counter variable is less than the total object vertice count ((box.geometry.vertices.length)), and adding a new line3D if the counter is less than that, or deleting all the lines and starting over...
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the lorenz attractor
lab :: with papervision3D
we were discussing recursive algorithms and chaos theory at work yesterday. when one of the chemistry professors brought up the lorenz attractor. he was trying to draw one on the white board for about 10 minutes until i decided it would be easier to draw in flash, lol!
after a quick conversation w/ andy zupko about the new Line3D object, and my new CanvasView3D component for papervision, i made a sweet lorenz attractor!
the algorithm is super simple:
x1 = x0 + h * a * (y0 - x0); y1 = y0 + h * (x0 * (b - z0) - y0); z1 = z0 + h * (x0 * y0 - c * z0);
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CanvasView3D
code :: my native papervision3D flex component
after my last post about creating an actionscript project that extends the basic view, i got to thinking... my flex canvas3D is getting a bit outdated. these days i just make canvas then add my viewport3D or a basicView to it. so why not create a new UIcomponent that extends basicView? why not indeed...
introducing my new class, called CanvasView3D! this little flex gem makes setting up papervision3D in an MXML setting simple. by creating the CanvasView3D component, and initializing it to a local variable, you will automatically create a scene3D, camera3D, viewport3D, and a basicRenderEngine, all the core components of any PV3D application!
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papervision3D - face level interaction
lab :: interactive 3D objects
the new pv3d 2.0 release features an entirely new way of dispatching and handling events. earlier versions of the engine utilized two different flavors of materials, regular and interactive. with this new release, you just have materials with a boolean interactive property.
with this simple demo, im trying to learn more about the new interactive scene events. first, you create a 3D scene, and set it's interactive flag to true:
view = new Viewport3D(width, height, scaleToStage, interactive);
then create a material and set it's interactive property to true:
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flex forms as 3D textures
code :: use the bitmapData of any flex component
i guess this is more of a test then a real demo. in flex its extremely simple to access the bitmap data from any component on the screen as it is styled at that time. this includes things like text with in a text box.
in this example, create a flex panel
<mx:Panel id="myPanel" />
then create a bitmapdata object
var formTexture = new BitmapData;
then draw the panel right into it
formTexture.draw(myPanel);
then I use that texture on a 3D plane with the help of papervsion3D. and a little glow filter just because...