Phoenix

Awesome stuff from Aviary

Alessandro Crugnola aviary , , , , , , ,

It has been a lot of time since we started working on Aviary.

During the last months, a lot of guys have helped us with beta testing some of the tools we are working on, and they have been able to produce really awesome stuff!

I collected a bunch of images from the Aviary website to show you the power of the tools. Those images does not rappresent the best, but they are just a collection of good compositions made with Peacock, Phoenix and Raven (respectively a Computer algorithm-based pattern generator, an Image editor and a Vector editor ).

Here is the list of images I collected, grouped by tool. You can click on each image to go the to Aviary page and (if you have an account) start playing with it.

Phoenix

Phoenix is the Image Editor. It is quite similar to Photoshop, and has some advanced features for image editing.

Peacock

Peacock is a Computer algorithm-based pattern generator. Basically you generate an image assembling nodes that accept an input and produce an output. Combining this nodes may produce awesome stuff, and Peacock can be used for many purposes like advanced retouching effects or the creation of complex reusable filters (like the one used to transform a fish into bricks).

Raven

Raven is the Vector Editor. Actually it is in alpha stage but we are going to release a major update that adds really powerful tools.

From each image you can gather many useful information: the list of revision, the list of derivates, the list of sources, and other useful stuff. Each composition made with Aviary can be edited by any user to create a new revision, or can be used as a source for a brand new image. That makes some tools really useful an powerful: for instance you can build reusable filters in Peacock and use them on your Phoenix images.

There is much more on the Aviary website, and more images are added day by day.

I really suggest you to give Aviary a try; we are working hard to be able to go public soon, and outstanding new features will come in the near future. Post here if u want an invitation!

Have a good day 😉

cacheAsBitmap hell

Alessandro Crugnola actionscript , , , , ,

Last week I spent a whole day trying to solve an issue in Phoenix due to a strange problem which comes up suddenly after some code changes.
The problem was that now using the transformation tool the bounds of the selected bitmap were not detected correctly and the tool itself didn’t work.
So I spent a lot of time in checking out all the recent code changes ( and they were a lot! ) to find out the possible cause…
Anyway, I was lucky to figure out the problem by accident and the problem was cacheAsBitmap!

The problem with the tool is because in order to find the correct bounds of any element on the stage it use the .concatenatedMatrix property of the element itself ( which represents the combined transformation matrixes of the display object and all of its parent objects, back to the root level ).
BUT if any of its parent display object ( not the root itself ) has the cacheAsBitmap property set to true then the concatenatedMatrix returns a wrong value!

I put a real simple flash example of what I mean. Just click on any of the 2 colored objects to activate the transform tool, then click on the “cache” button and click again on those objects to see the difference.

[kml_flashembed publishmethod=”static” fversion=”10.0.22″ movie=”http://blog.sephiroth.it/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/cacheasbitmap_hell.swf” width=”450″ height=”450″ targetclass=”flashmovie” bgColor=”#ffffcc”]

Get Adobe Flash player

[/kml_flashembed]

P.S. I’ve reported the bug in the flash player bugbase, if anyone is interested in watch or vote for it.

Get your Aviary invitation!

Alessandro Crugnola aviary , ,

One of the most ambitious projects I’ve ever worked on is finally coming out. It’s really gratifying when looking at what people is able to do using our software, for example meowza, one of my favourite artists.. Damn, I wrote the software but I just can draw a couple of circles and place a text on the canvas, nothing else 🙂 I would never have imagined that someone could do so awesome images.

Now Aviary finally opens to beta user using invitations. So, if you want to participate to the beta and try out Phoenix or Peacock ( the tool created by Mario ) just send me an email, I can give out some invitations.
We’re also planning to add some new cool features to Phoenix in the next days!
Recently Mario has also posted on his site a nice video on both Peacock and Phoenix in action, watch it here.

P.S. We’re hiring! If you’re a talented developer write me an email!