Recently we’ve been inundated with a lot of projects at my workplace that involve flash video, and I expect this trend to only increase as time goes on. This has led to a lot of discussions concerning the differences between streaming video and progressive download and there appears to be a lot of confusion about which is the “best” method.
Figure 1. ABC uses video streaming to deliver full episodes of select programs such as Lost.
Way back when I was in college, I took a 3D modeling and animation class in which we used Alias/Wavefront on SGI boxes. I learned two things in that class that have stuck with me to this day. The first is that saving all of your work onto magnetic tape is not the best long term storage decision if you don’t own a tape drive and never plan on getting one. The second and more important thing I learned in that class was this: 3D modeling is tedious and difficult.
I’ve been evaluating using javascript to dynamically resize a flash movie on demand. This technique can be very useful in instances where you would have a large amount of vertical content you want to layout in flash, such as blogs and e-commerce product lists.
There are downloadable examples of javascript resizing available on the web, such as those provided by Mustard Lab and Eduardo Ramos. You can see javascript resizing on Fantasy Interactive, they use this technique extensively on their site to do long HTML style page layouts.
This technique should not be confused with “full bleed flash”, where the flash movie takes up the entire frame of the browser. With full bleed flash, the flash movie changes size with the size of the browser, but this size is not dictated by the flash itself. This style of resizing can be accomplished by viewing the flash movie directly in the browser or, more commonly, simply setting the width and height of the flash movie and it’s containers to 100%. At the time of this writing, this technique is in use on sites such as Jumpman23 and Puma.
I’ve recently added a page which collects the flash demos I’ve currently placed on this site into one location. You can reach it here and through the main navigation. You’ll need Flash Player 8 to view it.
Adding the various experiments I’ve done to this site has been a much slower process than I had originally hoped. It seems a lot of my older experiments are in less presentable shape than they should be, so they need extensive clean up before getting posted. However, the sandbox now includes a small collection of illustrations I did last year in addition to the previously seen content on this site. I’ve also made a few visual touch ups to the “Gaslights” demo and a functional change so it doesn’t stay lost if you toss it off screen.
The Flash Player has featured an express install option for quite a while now. I assumed that most developers were not taking advantage of it because Flash 7 didn’t offer many compelling reasons to force an end user to upgrade from Flash 6. With the release of Flash 8, I thought the Flash Player Express Install would catch on like wildfire. It hasn’t, and after recently incorporating it into a major site I’ve worked on, I’ve come up with a few reasons as to why it may not be as popular as it should.
I picked up a Nintendo DS yesterday to play Mario Kart against some of my co-workers. I’ve been impressed with the fine list of games coming out for the DS, from those which use the stylus to create a new gaming experience (e.g., Trauma Center: Under the Knife, Kirby Canvas Curse, Pac-Pix), to those which take advantage of the recently unveiled wifi service (e.g., Mario Kart, Animal Crossing).
However, upon opening the box, I was forced to come to grips with the clunky design of the device itself. While I applaud Nintendo for their focus on innovative gameplay, it certainly came at the expense of good industrial design with the DS. Nintendo can look to their own product line for ideas on how to better design a portable device. The main issue with the DS is it’s awkward size. It’s both overly wide and fairly thick. It’s a step backwards compared to the Gameboy SP. The SP not only improved on the Gameboy by including a rechargeable battery and built in light, but it had incredibly clean lines and featured a clam shell design which protected the screen. And most importantly, the SP reduced the overall size of the device as well, making it much more pocket friendly.
The DS is a whole different beast. It’s big. It’s got weird curves, hinges and holes all over the place. The plastic feels thick, cheap and hollow. The screens are nice, but they don’t generate the same awe factor that it’s competitor, the PSP, does. In general, you can’t help but look at the PSP and wonder why the DS doesn’t have half it’s looks. Despite this, the DS has one big thing going for it, a focus on games and innovative game design. The PSP, for it’s great design, and great game visuals, has been kind of a dud as far as giving it’s base a set of games to get excited about.
A list of what I would like Sony and Nintendo to keep in mind for their next outing of game devices: