Blog

3D Ball Adventure (JigLibFlash, SpringCamera3D, Papervision3D) Mashup Part 2

February 9, 2009 by Devin Reimer

I have been busy over the past week improving the ‘3D Ball Adventure’ game. While the use of the SpringCamera3D in the last version was usable, it did have a problem, it was locked onto to two planes of motion and had no rotation. So I under took the challenge of creating an easy to use 3rd person camera view using SpringCamera3D. I greatly under estimated the challenge of creating a camera system that competently followed the motion of the ball but also gave the user the freedom to make camera corrections. While this version isn’t perfect, it is still pretty cool.

I also have updated the xml level generator with new features like object groups, player start position, standardized objects. Also instead of x,y,z being the center of a box, it is now the top, close, left corner (which is way easier to design for).

To play the demo click here.

To get the source click here.

Note: As before you must have Papervision3D and JibLibFlash to run the source.

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3D Ball Adventure (JigLibFlash, SpringCamera3D, Papervision3D) Mashup Part 1

February 2, 2009 by Devin Reimer

3D Ball Adventure Version 1 Screenshot

A couple of weeks ago a new 3D physics engine for AS3 called JigLibFlash was released into early alpha. I’ve been playing around with different 3D physics engine for Papervision3D for a little while now. The problem was I could not get the ease of use and performance I wanted out of anything that was currently available. This finally changed when I came across JigLibFlash. This library is relatively easy to use and the performance is quite good. Check out the code base at http://code.google.com/p/jiglibflash/ or jump over to their blog at http://www.jiglibflash.com/blog/. Important Note: This library is currently undocumented, has no tutorials and is in early alpha so it is not for the faint of heart, but if that does not bother you go check it out, you will be impressed.

I have been working on a new camera type for a while that would realistically follow around a 3D buggy. I thougth this class was starting to get pretty good, that was until Benoit Beauséjour release his SpringCamera3D class, which blew the version I’ve been working on out of the water. This class is easy to use and will make your 3D apps look a lot more profession. For a good example on how to use the new SpringCamera3D class in Papervision3D check out a demo at http://pv3d.org/2009/01/23/springcamera3d-and-driving-a-car/

So while playing around with both these very cool new developments I thought wouldn’t it be great if I mashed these two together and create a cool game. At that moment 3D Ball Adventure was born.

Continue reading for a working demo and source code.

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Posted in Games, Papervision3D, Physics (JigLibFlash) | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Virtual Spray Paint – Part 2 DIY

December 7, 2008 by Devin Reimer

The Virtual Spray Paint experiment works by mashing many different ideas together. At the heart of it is the use of the Wiimote. In this experiment, two Wiimotes are synced to a computer using a bluetooth adapter. Using WiiFlash and WiiFlashServer, the Flash application reads information sent from the two Wiimotes. One Wiimote is placed into the mock spray paint can, which is used for a remote button press and for motion detection. The other Wiimote is positioned in front of the screen, pointed at the user. Mounted on top of the spray can is an IR emitter which the Wiimote near the screen sees and uses to detect it’s current position.

Continue reading for step-by-step instructions on how to build your own Virtual Spray Paint project, as well as the source code for this project.

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Virtual Spray Paint – Part 1

November 9, 2008 by Devin Reimer

Wii Virtual Spray Paint Live Demo

Virtual Spray Paint is a concept that I have been working on for a while and it uses some techniques that are based on concepts by Johnny Chung Lee.

It enables you to use a “spray can” to virtually apply spray paint onto a projected surface. Pressing the button on the spray can causes digital ink particles to appear on the background. The spray will weaken overtime until the can is shaken.

Continue reading for information on how this works and to see a video demo.

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Papervision3D Image Shatter Effect

October 15, 2008 by Devin Reimer

Image Shatter Demo Screenshot

This Papervision3D demo is of an image shattering effect. It is achieved by using the Caurina Tweener to independently move each plane. They start in random locations and move toward a point of origin, thus assembling the image. Once complete, the planes randomly scatter and the process repeats.

This project was an ideal reason to start using the Tweener library in conjunction with Papervision3D. When creating movements in Papervision, Tweener is superior to other libraries in terms of accuracy, flexibility, and ease of use. This project is a good stress test for rendering numerous planes at the same time – in this case, 192.

Continue reading for a working demo and source code.

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StatsView in Papervision 2.0

September 7, 2008 by Devin Reimer

Hidden in Papervision 2.0 Beta 1 Great White, there are many features that people are unaware or do not know how to use. Since the API is still in progress and examples are few and far between, I’m going to try to shed some light on some of these features.

The first feature that I’m going to go over is StatsView. I have been looking for a good on-screen display of FPS (frames per second) and triangles being rendered, and in searching the Papervision 2.0 framework, I found what I was after.

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