Fireworks Panel "3D Primitives" needs testing

[senocular]

if you dont mind.

Aside from documentation, Im thinking Im done, but you know theres bound to be something wrong, and testing will help find out just what.

heres a picture of the panel

http://www.umbc.edu/interactive/fireworks/3dprimitivespanel.jpg

If you cant tell from the picture or the name, this panel is a fireworks panel thats kind of like Swift3D in shot glass form.

attached is the mxp to install it. Its free for 30 days, but after that you'll need to pay me $45 to purchase it and $10 for each project you use it in. Heh, just kidding, its free. But it might be buggy so check it out.

I wont tell you HOW it works, the documentation will do that (which I havent finished yet) and not knowing means you're more prone to break it which is a good thing at this point in time.

oh yeah, one thing I will mention (because I might forget) that there is no positioning tools within the interface so by default it just kind of throws the export in the upper left of the screen offset by about 100 or so in each direction. HOWEVER, you can select anything prior to exporitng the 3d shape and the export will be centered over the selection

thanks :)

[ahmed]

Originally posted by senocular
Its free for 30 days, but after that you'll need to pay me $45 to purchase it and $10 for each project you use it in. Heh, just kidding, its free lol! :P

I'll try it shortly, will let you know how it goes :)

[nobody]

That's crazy man.. I'll give it a shot in the next couple days.

[DDD]

trying it now......man this could be the greatest thing since sliced bread. And Lord knows I love FW

[senocular]

known issues:
- progress bar on export can go beyond bounds [fixed]
- if fill color in fireworks isnt set on solid on export, the colors will retain those settings and not as they appear in the panel [fixed]
- line thickness isnt working [fixed]
- retracting layers after export isnt working [fixed]

updated d/l ;)

- error in applying fill with wireframe [fixed - I think]

[.soulty]

Nice job Sen, great little tool, i found a problem though, i got this when i was rendering a animation (range)

line 3, error: myThickBrush has no properties

[senocular]

You must have just missed the fix for that ;)

[.soulty]

what verison is the updated one?, because i just downloaded it and ran it.

[senocular]

0.8.9 I think
... Im pretty sure you dont have it because the link in the fist post still says 0 downloads

[DDD]

hey sen this is a pretty sick extension.....Cant think of a practical use yet but I am fishing for a reason to use it. So far no bugs other than what was mentioned

[.soulty]

yep , all working fine now, i was a second too quick. nice job sen ! :thumb:

[Yeldarb]

haven't tried it yet, but would it be possible to make something like this for flash? or is this strictly using features in Fireworks?
sry if this is a stupid question....

[.soulty]

animated gifs generally. (can export to swf , which would be imported into a flash movie to be used)

[.soulty]

my bad you can export firework to swf, so yeah , here is a example i just quickly made up.

www.members.optusnet.com.au/paulsoultis/3d.swf

[Yeldarb]

sweet, but i mean make the panel thing for people who don't have fireworks... (not suggesting that you do it, just wondering if it is a possiblility in the future)

[senocular]

mx 2004 will support this kind of panel. Flash MX now does not.

You can make your own panels in Flash, but interacting with the ide like making such 3D images dynamically is not currently possible

Here are some simple examples:
http://www.umbc.edu/interactive/fireworks/images/ice.jpg
http://www.umbc.edu/interactive/fireworks/images/tree.jpg
http://www.umbc.edu/interactive/fireworks/images/balloon.jpg
http://www.umbc.edu/interactive/fireworks/images/diamond_anim.gif
http://www.umbc.edu/interactive/fireworks/images/spiral_anim.gif

[morse]

good times. How did you make this?

[senocular]

with Flash :beam:

[mdipi]

what?! wow you can do anything in flash! this is amazing, i am going to install it now!

[senocular]

Flash just provides the interface - it was used to provide what you see and in this case provides the rendering engine for making the 3D. Flash then interacts with Fireworks Javascript API to tell fireworks to create new layers and draw points where necessary - all according to what is seen on the screen in Flash.

You can find a reference of all the Fireworks Javasctipt commands in a PDF on your install CD. The path should be:

CD:/Fireworks MX/Extending Fireworks MX/Extending Fireworks MX.pdf
You can execute that code from Flash using the FWJavascript() function whiuch is available to the movie when its played as a command window or command panel in Fireworks.

For example, a swf played as a panel in Fireworks (a swf is available as a panel when its in the Macromedia\Fireworks MX\Configuration\Command Panels folder and available as a command window when in the Macromedia\Fireworks MX\Configuration\Commands folder) can execute an alert in Fireworks using:

FWJavascript("alert('Alert from Flash!');");

That combination of Flash and Fireworks makes for a mighty powerfull combination.

Ill attach a Command Panel I made which will let you easily test FW Javascripts within Fireworks. There are two text areas, the top and bottom. The top represents the code to be run, and the bottom represents the return result (FWJavascript returns to Flash the results of the operation). Just type some code in the top text area and use the 4th button from the left to run it (the one with the check mark). You can also use ctrl+enter, like testing a movie in Flash, to exectute script. If you're looking for script to run, play around in fireworks a little then open the History panel and select some actions to copy and paste in the command window

;)

[DDD]

Sen are you sure you do not work for macromedia? ::giving the eye:: You are the bomb!

[senocular]

They havent hired me yet :a:

;)

[senocular]

thought Id throw a screen grab of the command prompt panel (since no one seems to want it :P) ... would work well with the history panel if you use it much - or really, any kind of duplication of actions.

http://www.umbc.edu/interactive/fireworks/commandpropmptpanel.png

[DDD]

I want it but it is just above my comprehension. for some reason the only program language I hav mastered is ASP. Outside of 3d and graphics I not well versed

[senocular]

ok, I decided to move 3D Primitives up to 1.0 Heres the file for anyone interested

http://www.umbc.edu/interactive/fireworks/files/3d%20primitives.zip

[ahmed]

In Flash MX 2004, you can select portions from the history panel, copy them, open the AS editor, paste them, and they'll be pasted in form of code (like what you just posted).. can you do that with FW as well, or do you have to manually write them? :)

[senocular]

you can do that with FW too. Flash was just behind in that aspect.

[ahmed]

and now it's caught up :beam:

[mdipi]

hhe i installed it but cant find where it is!

[senocular]

installed what?

[DDD]

mine was under windows>>3d primtives. I do not think it works fully in mx 04. But in mx it is the bomb.

[mdipi]

on my mac it doesnt seemto show up...trip how good is fwmx04? i am so in love with fwmx so i must know

[senocular]

FWMX04 is superb... the speed along makes it worthy. Drawing is like rubbing your hiney on silk. Its wonderful!

[nobody]

That has got to be the most random yet delightfully odd analogy I have ever heard sen.

I love you.

[mdipi]

ok so i might not upgrade to studio just fwmx04. i like fw more than ps...

[senocular]

you will hate going back to fwmx after 04. MX was dreadful to begin with but tolerable. Having used 04 though... and having speed in the authoring environment like that, shweeew, cant go back.

Thats the big plus. Other features are so so I guess... Dotted lines are good, the rediculously missing scale from center has been added, built in ftp (a perk), saving natively to gif and jpeg as opposed to having to export (something that can be nagging in mx for small things though its usually a good idea to keep a png source anyway), the replace color tool (convenient) etc

[DDD]

all together now

We have a dotted line tool now

No more work arounds. Now PS has to get with the program.. I agree with Sen. So far out of 04 stuff FMX seems to be the only worth while upgrade. I have uninstalled my old FW for this one.

[DDD]

actually I am not feeling the way the new rounded rectangle tool works

[senocular]

oh yeah?? howso? I dont think I used it much before my trial ran out. I got the box next to me but Im going to wait until we update this workstation (which should be soon) before installing it.

[mdipi]

hmmm *rummages $790 for programs he wants*

lol this is gonna be a while before i upgrade i need:
lightwave
an ipod
and fwmx04

shesh lol.

[DDD]

ipod = wastes

Sen= To control the roundness numerically of a rounded rectangle you have to select the regular rectangle tool. ANd you can hold the 1 key or the 2 key to control roundness while drawing it or draw it then numerically inut vales in the property inspector.

It seems weird that when you select the rounded rectangle tool you are not presented with the roundness numerically options in the property inspector. It took me a while to figure that out. Actually had to go to the help files to figure this one out. After about a week of trying it on my own......Just plain weird to me.

[senocular]

wow I didnt know 1 and 2 did it... I always used the arrow keys :P

I just installed MX04 over on a text maching we have and Im playing with the rounded boxes now. It was nice having the roundness as a properties option, but the new features in scaling and corners are nice to have. Its a little easier to quickly change the roundness... but a numeric option would be nice. You still get that with normal rectangles though. So if you need that, just make a regular rectangle and use that. Autoshapes suffer from not having numeric fields to adjust their properties.

[DDD]

but doesn't it seem weird that when you select a rounded rectangle tool that you dont det the propertied numerically when you are using that tool? You have to use a regular rectangle to get the numeric options.......go figure.