Will Langley, Web Developer
Bio
Will’s passion is incorporating rich media and engaging content into a seamless user experience. His development skills are benefiting many of Capstrat’s Web clients, including Genworth Financial, Wake County Economic Development, Deloitte, the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund, the NC Department of Justice and the Duke University Office of Information Technology.Articles
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Drawing in Flash is Suddenly Fun
For nearly as long as I have been a Flash guy, I have longed for a better relationship between myself and the drawing tools available to me in the Flash authoring environment. That's not exactly true. I really just wanted Flash to be more like my beloved Illustrator. Now that Adobe and Macromedia have embarked down their road to application Nirvana, I am suddenly a changed man. I get it now. It's intuitive. Drawing in Flash has come a very long way, and I'm finding myself using Illustrator less and less.
This past weekend a friend asked me to clean up an image he found, so that he could have some vinyl wall art printed up for his kid's bedroom renovation. I agreed to help sight unseen, but experience made me reasonably certain of two things immediately:
1) He found a crappy web graphic online of what he wanted, which would never, ever work
2) I would need to re-draw this art from scratch
I was not disappointed. Here's the original image he provided:
As a reflex, I fired up Illustrator and placed the image, then broke out my bezier and went to work. After setting about 10 anchor points, and staring at all the repeated simple shapes, I was possessed by an overwhelming urge to run to Flash. I knocked out the drawing in no time at all, but found myself oddly melancholy after. At some point, after struggling for so long against the but-it's-not-Illustrator effect of learning to draw in Flash, I think I got good at it. And now I enjoy the heck out of it.
Both Illustrator and Flash are powerful, effective and robust tools of our trade, and both have their place in my heart. I officially withdraw my longstanding request to have their toolsets merged. Flash has grown up on its own, and the unique drawing tools it offers have grown on me. Here's the final product. Kid's got good taste in music for a 12-year-old...
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The Most Unique Coastline in the World
As the N&O reported Sunday, our beautiful barrier islands are in danger.
I have not yet absorbed enough information to be able to formulate a definite, unflappable position on the hotbed debate over offshore drilling. I consider myself an environmentalist, but my head is not in the clouds. I understand that we must take dramatic steps to free ourselves from the bear trap of dependence on foreign oil; I am pragmatic enough to understand and agree that this will not happen overnight, and that, at least in the interim, we must find a way to safely pull some of our eggs out of that basket. Now - having hopefully established my willingness to be a rational person, based in reality - I choose my next words very carefully:
WE MUST NOT OPEN NORTH CAROLINA'S COAST TO OFFSHORE DRILLING.
North Carolina's Outer Banks offer the world over 100 miles of truly unique barrier island coastline, visited by over 5 million people every year. These islands are the crown jewel of our state. Mostly untamed and uninhabited, these barrier islands are in constant flux, molding and remolding themselves while protecting thousands of square miles of sensitive marsh and wetlands against the onslaught of a turbulent south Atlantic Ocean. These islands are home and habitat to dozens of rare and endangered species of animal and plant.
Some of our state elected officials are clamoring to voice their support for and get in line behind those who would fling open the gates to a new, unchecked land rush for exploration of our continental shelf. I am confident that for some of these folks, the impetus for taking these positions runs no deeper than to provide a means to distance themselves from any public blowback from our current energy woes. Essentially, to say to their constituents, "See, it's not my fault." This is shameful. Sens. Richard Burr and Libby Dole, I'm pointing my finger at you.
Take a look at this aerial photo. Now, tell me where exactly among these shifting sands you would like to see pipelines run. Tell me where you would like to see refineries built, for oil that may or may not be there, but which certainly would not be pumped for at least the next 8-10 years. Tell me which of these islands you are willing to sacrifice.
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A Low-Fi Solution to Transparent PNG Color Issues in Flash
First discovered during our early forays into transparent Flash video, it's safe to say that the fading and washing out of transparent PNG images has plagued our creatives for years.
A successful transparent video project requires developers, designers and dynamic media guys to work in concert. Even more so, it requires the tools of our trade to work together seamlessly. AfterEffects, Flash and Photoshop are born of the same Adobe gene pool, which is great - but 24-bit PNGs with alpha information are an especially stubborn lot. After exhaustive searching online for an orthodox, documented solution for this color shift, I decided to simply make myself a corrective Photoshop action.There are a million ways to do everything in Photoshop - this is the method I used. It is by no means an end-all, be-all solution for every transparent PNG you'll ever create - skin tones are especially fickle - but it is a solid benchmark from which to tweak to your needs. Apply the action and you'll be left with adjustment layers, making it incredibly easy to tweak, without compromising you're original pixel data. I'm going to use the talented Lindsey Bennett, Capstrat Vice President and Associate Creative Director, as my reference. There are four steps to my action, each adding a different adjustment layer to your file:
1) Hue/Saturation - Under master only, set hue to -1 and saturation to +24. No change to lightness
2) Color Balance - For both Shadows and Midtones, set red +6 and blue -6. No change to green
3) Brightness/Contrast - Set brightness +9, contrast +2
4) Selective Color - This is the step with the most malleability. I've found that I can adjust only these values for most any situation. It involves only the black slider. Under the Colors drop-down, start with Red and drag the black slider to +20. Then go through and slide black to +40 for the Yellow, Green and finally Black groups. This is my benchmark; for Lindsey's particular skin tones, I adjusted these values ever so slightly.
The final image, in Photoshop and when viewed in a browser, will look blown out. Here's a before and after shot, outside of Flash. Optimized for this article, the effect is diminished, but still very apparent:
When brought into and subsequently published from Flash, your blown out image will calm down. The end product is a true-to-life approximation that will make your project pop:
Download the action. Simply drag to:
Applications Folder -> Photoshop -> Presets -> Actions -
Firefox 3 Release Set For Tuesday
Woohoo! This is fantastic news.
Over in interactiveLand here at Capstrat, we've been anxiously awaiting a much-needed shower and shave by our favorite web browser. Tuesday (June 17) is the day - Firefox 3 will be released for public consumption.
For the casual and power web crawler, here are some of the anticipated features to expect:
Interface, management features
A yummy Del.icio.us bookmarking add-on
For the web ninja, here's a little more info on some things under the hood guaranteed to improve that angry Internet Extorter hump in your back:
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What did Brown do for Brown?
No news is good news.
Or so they say. But in the world of sponsorship advertising, any news can often
be good.
After Big Brown destroyed the field at the Kentucky Derby on May 3rd, UPS decided to invest in a no-brainer of a marketing opportunity. No coincidence, owner Paul Pompa Jr. actually named his champion thoroughbred after the shipping giant. After Big Brown again blew past all competition at the Preakness on May 17th, UPS marketing execs must have been euphoric from their opportunistic foresight. The impressive nature of his victories fed a torrent of Triple Crown buzz around Big Brown, translating into big time free advertising for his corporate namesake.
But when heavily-favored Big Brown ran out of gas in the final turn of yesterday's Belmont Stakes and trudged across the finish line in last place, you might think UPS' free ride had come to an end. Much to the contrary, and thanks to savvy media placement and a little good (er...bad?) luck, UPS and its catchy tagline perfectly framed and captioned an historic moment in sports history. An image may be worth a thousand words, but this particular shot proved an AP photograper's dream, and six little words dug themselves a little deeper into our consumer lexicon.
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Gas Price Temperature Map Mashup
I just stumbled upon this smart little mashup. You can drag and zoom the map itself, or use the search function to peep current gas prices around the country.
Poor California!
Gasbuddy Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com Click here to add this map to your website. -
Economic Stimulus: When a Dollar is More than Just a Dollar
An economic stimulus only stimulates if injected directly back into the stream of free market capitalism. If you've not yet received your stimulus check from Uncle Sam - or if you have received but have not yet paid down your credit card balance with your stimulus check - hold the phone! Kroger wants to cut you a deal.
When news of the proposed economic stimulus package first broke some months ago, every armchair economist in the country fumbled over themselves in a rush to condemn or commend. There seemed to be very little middle ground. On paper, the idea of injecting cash back into the pockets of consumers seemed promising; central to nearly every point of criticism was the notion that things just do not behave the same in action as on paper. Debt-burdened, cash-strapped consumers, said the naysayers, would hoard this extra cash as an emergency buffer, or use it to pay down high-interest debt. In true capitalist fashion, some retailers are coming to the government's rescue, if only through their own self-service.
Kroger, my local grocery store, is now offering a gift card bonus program. Beginning May 2, significant cash incentives are being rewarded to customers who choose to turn their tax refunds or economic stimulus checks directly into Kroger gift cards. Other necessity-based retailers are tending to follow Kroger's lead, while more discretionary retailers - restaurants, apparel, etc. - are clinging to hopes that a consumer and his money are soon parted.
Why is this great?
Well, it gives the stimulus plan a shot at not being a complete failure. I can practically hear the whooshing sound of my sweet grandmother rushing to Kroger, check in hand, to convert to gift cards for my sister in order to help her feed my niece and nephew.
Is this doomed to fail?
Well, maybe not. But for discretionary retailers holding their breath for better business in the form of extra cash in consumers' pockets, they should prepare their contingencies. The fact is, the price of a gallon of gas has risen by nearly a dollar since the inception of the economic stimulus plan a few short months ago. This has created inflation-busting food and retail prices across the country. Most middle class consumers, by the time they receive their stimulus checks, will have already fed and fueled their financial holes deeper than any stimulus could ever begin to fill back in. The money is spent, and then some. -
An Entire Video, Created With Code
The technique is called Processing. The artist is Radiohead. The code jockey is Robert Hodgin, and he's just attained guest speaker status at my dream dinner party.
Processing is an open-source computer programming language and environment, born out of the Aesthetics and Computation Group inside the MIT Media Lab. Because it is open-source, Processing is free for download and use, and is an ever-evolving platform upon which artists, programmers, teachers, students, researchers and hobbyists can produce and explore images, animation and interaction.
This video is 100% code. Meaning, once everything was set, he hit play. The music dictated the animation COMPLETELY. If you feel brave, read a little about his process here.
Enjoy.
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Experimental Physics Engine Sandbox for Game Development
Last night this little gem trumped both my XBox and my girlfriend. She objected, until I let her try it out. Then I could not get it back from her.
Prometech Software, a Japanese simulation and graphics company, has created a downloadable version of OctaveEngine, its proprietary physics engine for game development. It's extremely easy to download and install, and is wildly entertaining to...well, to just play with. The interface allows you to play as long as you like, with absolutely no thought whatsoever. Or, you can choose to cut through the abstraction and customize variables at your leisure.
Go get it. Or if you don't have the time or inclination, swing by the work bar and I'll give you a quick demonstration.
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43 Miles Per Gallon!
I conducted a little experiment this weekend while driving to Kentucky. Normally, a long holiday weekend in the woods is a great way to have big fun on the cheap. With gas prices breaking hearts and records these days, the prospect of 750 miles round-trip warranted a consultation of the 'ol checking balance before embarking.
I decided to follow a few of the tips I'd recently read, in an effort to squeeze a little more out of a tank of gas. I drove the speed limit. Well...five over, versus my normal 8-10 over. The weather was gorgeous all weekend, so I drove a large portion of the way with windows up, air off, vent on high. I tried to avoid crazy acceleration/deceleration. I don't have cruise control, but I tried my best to maintain an even speed. Now check THIS out:
I filled up twice, and did the math between, so I know that my total fuel for the tank measured was 9.9 gallons. Even with highway mountain driving, and little mountain roads up to the trail head, I managed to squeeze out 430 miles. That's 43.43 mpg on a 10-year-old car! My civic is usually good for 40 on the highway, but more like 35-37 when you factor in the mountains. At $3.94/gallon, this is an experiment I will surely be replicating.
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