Take a look at this code:

As you see, I have created a static variable global_index, which is always the same to all MyObject classes. I also created a public constant ‘INDEX’, which would be unique in every instance. When the MyObject instance is created the index will be set to the global_index, and the global_index will increase by one. So that’s basically the trick to create the auto-increment index for your AS3 class.

Here we go. Add these variable to your class. This is a Dictionary, which allows you to associate a value with an object key.

Then, in your constructor or wherever you assign eventListeners, add these (well-known) listeners, with the callback functions:

Inside your enterframe-event or timer (were you want to detect which keys are pressed), you could these kind of detection.

I found that if you use some 3 or 4+ combinations of keys at the same time, the keyboard events are not triggered anymore, which is a bit of annoying bug in the FlashPlayer. I mean pressing forward and left and shooting at the same time could be a problem? Well; Hope this helps, I think its very easy and a great usage of the Dictionary.

See it in action
» FindClosest

The trick in this little application is to store each mouse position, locate the mouse position and find the closest points around it (from the stored data) and draw some lines between those points. Well that code isn’t very exiting, because most people know how to find the distance between 2 points, and basically there are 2 ways find this:

The results are amazing and I love the fact that even if you can’t draw, it looks really cool

Store lines as small as you can

I was already trying to find a way to store lines in a format I can reuse for my artworks. Most artworks are random but I am looking for a way to have more control. The first step would be the ability to control the (what I call) movements. So in this little experiment I’ve tried to find a way to store the lines into a compact file, which can be redrawed by the app. I’m really exited about this. So I’ve started to save as a plain-text file writing something like this:

{x:100,y:300},{x:110,y:340},{x:125,y:350},{x:125,y:350}

It’s readable code, and easy to These are 56 chars for 4 points. So I tried to make it more smaller using this:

{100,300},{110,340},{125,350},{125,350}

I’ve removed the x and y from the file, because I know that it’s always a pair of x and y values. Alright.. now I have 40 chars which represents 4 points, so that saves me 16 chars. Can this be done more smaller?

100,300,110,340,125,350,125,350

Yes, sometimes basic is the best. I removed the brackets. I know the odds are the x values, and the evens are the y values. It’s always x,y,x,y,x,y,x,y etc. So now I have 32 chars to store 4 points.

The application doesn’t know where I start pressing and releasing the mousebuttons. I have to know this, otherwise all my lines are just 1 big line instead of multiple lines. When pressing the mouse, I want to start with an graphics.moveTo function.

So what I did is this:

100,300,110,340,125,350,125,350&m=0,2

&m=0,2 means I have released the mouse on point 0 and point 2. A point referrers to the x and y position.

I think this is almost the smallest I can get. It’s easily to revert these values back to usable values using String.split().

But.. In real life there aren’t ints, but Numbers. The values mostly looks like 452.12070158. I stripped the value, and only use decimals. You don’t actually see the difference when redrawing between 10.04 and 10.042. This saves me a lot of chars too.

Compress it!
When saving the file, I push the data into a ByteArray using the bytes.writeUTFBytes() function. I realized ByteArrays can be compressed, so I also use the bytes.compress(); to make the file smaller again. This saves me about 50%! When importing the lines, I used bytes.uncompress(); to make it a normal string again.

This flower is 14kb Import this file in the app to see how I haved drawed it. You can also load it from an url: http://projects.stroep.nl/findClosest/flower2.stroep

flower on Flickr

Well this is a next step and I hope to create one day an editor for simple lines and merge this into my artwork process. I think it needs to be more complex but for now this will work. I hope you like it.

It automatically does the copy/new/paste+’save for the web’ for you.

Download photoshop-action

ps. You can install the action by dragging the .atm file to the actions-panel

» More photo’s here

For all guys who use IE6, I have added a nice message for you. You cannot see my site anymore. It’s not a personal thing, but I really think this year we should all ban old crappy browsers. It would not take long till I show this message for IE7 too and some other out-dated browsers too. Let us update and enjoy fast modern browsing with new possibilities.

I have removed more Google ads from the blog. There were some ads between the posts and on the post-page. Now I have only 1 banner at the bottom of the sidebar. Yes; I have 2000 unique visitors in a month and no; I don’t earn a lot money with it, so basically the ads are useless. I dislike banners too, but still I hope to have a big hit one day and my ad is ready to be clicked (kidding) For real; one day I had the illusion I could be rich by placing these ads on my blog. But I’ve realized most people on my blog are looking for products, but looking for sources and inspiration. This site doesn’t target banner-clicking-people. I hope you are happy with it.

More info here

Check: http://projects.stroep.nl/particles/