Interactive 3D World Map for TATA Communications

STC Associates asked me to produce yet another coverage map for TATA Communications! This time, since the data was pretty light and it included satellites, we thought doing it in 3D would add a bit of shinny. Truth be told, I am a 3D junky (obviously).

In comes Away3DLite, picked for its small footprint and performance. The location data is XML driven and uses actual geo-locations to place the PoPs and satellites around the earth.

I had ported to Away3D the original script, from Andy Zupko’s excellent tutorial, for a previous project. The scroll menu is based on this demo by Soulwire.

I modeled & texture the satellites and marker.. yea, these are some high class models

Check out the map!

Dynamic 3D Animation

A cool little flash project built in collaboration with STC Associates for an event during International Telecoms Week (ITW) 2010 in DC. The party was attended by over 1700 guests. They were asked to vote for a keyword to best represent the future of telecom. The result were rendered using this animation.

Originally I started using the built in 3D of FP10: that was a waste. Text looked horrible and native AS3 3D controls are not great. So I switched to Away3D and the amazing TextField3D class. The DOF is a simple blur applied to the ObjectContainer3D. I had a random movement on the camera but that was turned off in the event’s version.

Here are pictures of the animation and projection setup during the event.

OSM Mapped to a 3D Plane with as3Dmod

Building on my first experiment with OpenStreetMaps and Away3D, I decided to cook up two more!

The first one uses a block grid to display the map in 3D space. On zoom the blocks rotate 360. I used the ModestMap TweenMap, displayed in on the left, to allow control and capture the map’s bitmap data.

The second example uses a 3D plane to display the map’s data. I added a Perlin deformation with as3Dmod to create a wave or fabric like floating look.

The stats shows a rapidly increasing memory usage due to ModestMaps’ tile caching (defaults to 256 tiles). Once I have it cleaned up, I will upload the source code for these

Demo on HYPE's blog

Last night, while waiting for the London Flash Designer and Developer Meetup to start, I decided to create a demo using HYPE and Away3DLite. It is nice to be able to just tinker with complex renderings using very little code and focus on visuals.

In this demo Away3DLite is used to render 900 cubes and animate the camera. HYPE processes the sound being streamed (Magenta) and resizes the cubes accordingly. Two Bitmap Canvas are used to display the 3D rendering of Away3DLite. One is used to create the blur trail. The actual code needed to render this is less the 40 lines. The rest is AS3 structure.

Using frameworks like HYPE and Away3DLite allows us to go back to the innocent days of AS2 and use code as a pure creative enabler. That’s probably why I was a bit thrown off when another attendant of the meeting said he didn’t like using frameworks, which is ironic for a Flex developer.

I don’t think people appreciate how lucky we are to have open source frameworks like these available. Well, I do! Thank you for all your hard work. Please check out HYPE and Away3D for some serious fun!

Click here to view the demo.

Click here for the source code.

OpenStreetMap... The solution to Google's limitations

It was with much disappointment that I discovered Google would not allow us to manipulate its map tiles with Flash bitmap processing. Thus limiting greatly what is possible visually with the look and feel of their maps. Of course that also means no Away3D, PV3D, etc…

I managed to customize the look of Google Maps by using Tweener’s de-saturation feature to render the map tiles in Black and White. Many have posted on the Google Maps API bug reports and feature requests. Google is afraid that we would harvest their tiles and does not want to put a cross domain policy file.

I decided to revisit the issue and to look for alternate services that would allow such use. Of couse no luck with Yahoo! and Microsoft, just like Google, they want to protect their tiles.

But behold the power of open source: OpenStreetMap.org and ModestMaps. Using the Flash API from ModestMaps for openstreetmap and Away3D, I was able to map the maps onto a cube and have it renders beautifully. OpenStreetMap allows you to go trigger happy with their tiles, just as long as you add their security policy file to you project (see the source code). You can even download the tiles for offline use!

3D Cubes Roaming in Away3D

Though a bit late, this month’s experiment builds on last month setup and adds a bit of AI. Cubes now roam and avoid each other when near collision. A very basic detection system using a vector and couple of recursive functions. All calculations are made using Away3D’s functions like distanceTo() and movement is handled by moveForward(). The newer post are represented by bigger cubes. The icons are from PJ Onori’s excellent iconic.

Click here to view this experiment. Source code can be viewed here.

Update: For Valentine’s Day here is a special version and its source code.

3D render of a maze with hedges

A few 3D renders, mostly exploration around Puzzles, Mazes and Transparency. My favorite, the one with actual vegetation didn’t make the cut

Randomized 3D Layout using Coordy and Away3D

New year, new homepage! My new year’s resolution: Publish a new experiment every month… And update this blog more often!

This month it is using a newly discovered layout API called Coordy. The 3D is rendered using Away3D and tweens are handled via TweenMax. For coloring the cube I draw a random feed from the Kuler API and the blog data is a custom RSS Feed from my WordPress blog.PureMVC was used to structure the application. Coded in Flash Builder Beta 2 and designed in the Flash IDE.

Update: Added a new component: as3sfxr. This is a Flash 10 library to dynamically generate sounds for classic arcade games. It even included a random function!

Update: Souce code here.

3D Carousel using Away3D

Latest iteration of my 3D carousel. Built for re-use, since this is a popular format these days. It uses Away3D, an extensive XML config and external XML data. Constructed using PureMVC, it makes extensive use of the ExternalInterface to interact with the site (and Google Analytics).

Abylity’s website.

Sound Spectrum Rendered using Awa3DLite

Using Flash I generated animated sound spectrum renderings and edited them into two videos. The second video uses the new Away3DLite framework for Flash player 10. Amazingly the swf came in at 28kb and the framerate is great!

First video:
A 2D rendering using bars, circles, blur filters all rendered to a bitmap.

Second video:
3D renderings using Away3DLite and 484 cubes

Video of interactive 3D projects

While going through some of the recent interactive 3D work I produced, I thought it would be nice to create a video showcase. I also wanted to explore the workflow for capturing and editing these flash projects in action. Music is by Danger.

The STC Logo re-created using only AS3

This project is (so far) the most complex implementation using Away3D I had to develop. It is used to display the visual portfolio of STC Associates on the new site.

The application includes an extensive configuration and all the data for galleries via external XML files.

It includes re-creating the logo in code at run-time. Using AS3DMod, I was able to dynamically deform the cube to match STC’s logo. Adding a Perlin noise over time creates a nice wave animation that brings the whole thing to life. The logo becomes the gateway to the various projects and the central interactive element.

I made extensive use of Away3D’s Object3DContainer to create a smooth animated carousel to display the projects. Including a flip to show galleries.

The latest revision can be viewed here.

I am not too happy with the way the final integration was done, you can view the live version on the STC site here. Some of the sections are empty while others have too many items. I think I also gave too much control in the configuration XML!

Results of the Quiz

As part of a global brand awareness campaign, I was tasked with developing a flash quiz for TATA Communications. To spice things up we agreed to use Away3D to render the questions and results and make this a richer and more entertaining experience. I also added Javascript interfaces to integrate with Google Analytics and back-end answers collection.

Visit the New World Ready site or Take the  quiz!

Frame from the 3D animation

Originally part of an interactive flash piece for the Managed Hosting Service micro-site, I was asked to create 4 animations to illustrate various concepts around the service. I extended a 2D mock-up, created by Dave Huffman at STC, using server racks of various sizes to show scale. From there I created the 3 other visual renderings.

You can view both original mock-ups and final renderings in the video below.

Tokyo Starfish likes Chad...

Happy Birthday Chadster!

Chad and I have been trying to create his site for a looooooong time. I know we will eventually get it done… In the mean time I wanted to post some of the beta tests:

Old Beta: AS2. Neat little slide mechanism for the sections.

Latest Beta: AS3, Away3D…

Homepage 3D Flash

I have been working with Dave, Art Director at STC, for over 9 years. So by now we more or less share one brain. For the knappogue homepage he showed me a sketch via webcam and I knew what where we were heading. 3D Baby! And what is even better then 3D modeling/rendering? Real time interactive 3D. Now that’s magic. Ever since Flash 5 human beings have been doing 3D flash content, although at times more 3Dish. But with Flash 9 & AS3, faster CPUs and open source APIs like PV3D or Away3D it has become a new avenue for designer/developers like me. For this particular case I used Away3D. Main reasons: clean API, easy to extend and straight forward mouse interactions. The concept is simple: a fold out postcard set. Its all custom built. I had to dig deep inside the API to get it where I needed.

Check out the 3D postcards (after the age verification)

Project details:

• AS3
• Uses Away3D, Tweener and Bulkloader APIs
• external XML data and assets
• Click hot zones (to flip postcards, close them or for more info link) are set in the XM data
• Dynamic reflections
• OOP: extended several classes (like Plane to create a new Postcard3D class). Custom events and event dispatchers.

Special thanks to Rob and the Away3D team.

PS: Can someone (Jorge or Andrew) implement the latest version of the flash… It has a way cooler intro animation, proper preload display and many tweaks…

3D Stacks created in Illustrator...

Aside being the resident Flash & Map guy at STC, one of my main task was business illustrations… Cleaning up Powerpoint Illustrations to make them shiny and pretty. I actually started doing all the re-makes in Illustrator and gradually extracted icons and elements to use directly in Powerpoint. I tried as much as possible to add depth to otherwise pretty borring stuff. Illustrator’s 3D capability was a huge time saver.

I helped develop an icon library that is still used to quickly create illustrations. Using vector art allowed us to use illustrations for print, web, PDF and Powerpoint distribution. It also allowed me to quickly port items or entire illustrations to flash for animation.

Below are samples of some of VSNL International’s illustrations (now TATA Communications) I created.

2007 Holiday card

Every year, like clockwork, someone at STC realizes its December and we need a holiday card. For the past 3 years we actually had time (meaning 3 to 5 days) to produce some nice interactive versions.

In 2005 we created a little match game.

In 2006 I applied the concept developed for print of making new faces from cutouts of the STC employees headshots.

For 2007 I just developed an interactive 3D version of the printed card. The card was a cube with the top and bottom open. Inside were everyone’s at STC signature. Outside were the employees making the letters of the card’s words… Hard to explain, just check out the actual flash

This last one was my first serious project using PV3D (Papervision). It also uses some of the new AS3 APIs like sound spectrum. Aside a few annoyances of Flash 9, a fun project.

Closup of the 3D render...

It was nice to walk into the Singapore office of then VSNL International and seeing the wallpaper I had designed on everyone’s desktop…

I actually don’t like to have a background (other then a solid grey or black on my desktop(s)) but clients love them. They help remind people who they work for and/or that they are on the wrong floor or wrong office. Just kidding. When rolling out a new brand it’s a good way to surprise people. IT can update everyone’s desktop overnight.

Introducing the iCock, iCock Mini, etc...

Just a little bit of fun around the introduction of the iPod. I followed the apple product releases of that time (2004/2005). These creations were modeled and rendered in Lightwave.

Detail of the 3D illustration

This render was used to illustrate the 2003-2004 holiday card for Great Spirits. Modeled and rendered in Lightwave. The reflections and “fast” Fresnel took for ever to render on my work computer, at the time an AMD equivalent to a Pentium 2.

Holiday Card Illustration

Flying cow render

Originally created for Great Spirits (now Castle Brands). This exploration was to be used to support the launch of a new Irish Cream drink. Can’t remember how we (STC’s brains) arrived at the flying cow idea, but I executed on it and did a quick model and renders in Lightwave. Although the idea didn’t “fly” with the client, I kept the flying cow as a visual element of wemakedotcoms. The original cow had green patches.

Original Cow