The Stem » Ramblings

Back after 2 years… I have reasons

Brettf — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:54:18 +0000

2 years seems to pass quickly doesn’t it? My life has changed a tremendous amount in that time. Lost a partner to cancer, had 2 kids, got married again, became a step dad to a daughter, ran a design program for a year, turned 30, bought a home, and currently 7 months into a one year sabbatical. Which I guess is the long way of saying I haven’t been doing much programming or tinkering lately but that is all starting to change. I have several projects in the embryonic stages that I hope to share soon. The usual suspects: Flash, Arduino, multi-touch and maybe a bit of mobile dev. Check back soon to see if I can actually follow though.

Motor2 – Fluid On the Brain

Brettf — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:00:57 +0000

While working with Box2D I came across another engine based on it called Motor2. Its creator Michael Baczynski is working on some amazing additions. What I want to see happen more then anything else is the buoyancy simulation. It makes me drool.

Did someone say March?

Brettf — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:47:11 +0000

Jeez, 5 months and not a post. It’s not like I haven’t been doing anything. Let see. First there was Reel Ideas Studio back in April-May. I was project manager, technical lead, client liaison and creative for a bit. I am happy with how the project turned out. We are going to continue development on it over the foreseeable future. It will be cool to get the Flex admin build, and Flash Media Server incorporated. Adobe recently flew me to Siggraph in San Diego to give a short presentation about the site.

Next we have the multi-touch display I have been building at VFS. This started shortly after RIS and continues on. We are really close to getting it buttoned up and working consistently. Once that happens we can start doing all the interface experimentation that I have promised. The multi-touch is just one of hardware projects we are doing at VFS. We have also recently purchased a pan and tilt system that will be controlled through flash. My hope is this leads to new and exciting video projects.

Recently I worked on implementing the Zeros 2 Heroes skin. It was a template for Joomla. Also in that site I built a polling based Chat component over a day or so. These guys are doing great work for the comic community.

I have been working with Alex Beim lately on Tangible Interaction projects. I helped him get the Zygote balls software in shape for the Building Interactive Playgrounds 2007 Festival. I am working on other projects with Tangible which I will post about shortly.

Just yesterday I finished cranking out another skin in XHTML and CSS. This one was a rush job and I finished it in 2 days. When the site goes live I will post about it as the client is work on a very interesting project.

The last and newest thing I am doing is a small project for Rouxbe. This will be completed next week at which time I will link to it.

Renewed Passion

Brettf — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 06:18:42 +0000

These days I find myself frothing at the mouth with excitement for flash. Its not AS3, Flex or any of the usual suspects that has me going, although AS3 is on the radar. Instead, it is a combination of simple things.
First, the courses I have been developing for Digital Design are really taking shape. It has been a lot of work but I think we have some of the best, if not the best, flash courses around. They are hard but those that push are ready for it all and some.
Second, Teleo. Teleo is an amazing little hardware platform that allows you to get data from and control hardware devices in realtime from flash. I have made this the foundation of the advanced flash course and students are really pushing things. Tilt, wind, bend, potentiometer, light, distance, temp, motion sensors are all being used in exciting ways. I promise video as soon I have finished projects.
And the last thing that has be going is all the goodness contained in the book Foundation Actionscript Animation. I would say this is a must have for anyone doing flash. I always shyed away from all the scripted motion but damn was I a fool.

Evil Carrot

Brettf — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 04:54:24 +0000

Evil Carrot

Originally uploaded by Brettf.

The carrots from the garden are a bit weird. This is a photo of two carrots that have grown together. When placed on red paper I saw the evil carrot. Some of the most creative stuff I have shot.

Teleo

Brettf — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 17:28:18 +0000

On Friday I received a package from San Francisco, CA containing 1 Teleo starter kit. The Teleo system was created by the bright folks at Makingthings.com. I have been interest in the Teleo system since I first heard about it a couple years back. Specifically, I have been interested in using it with Adobe Flash. To help make this happen, and to teach really cool stuff, I have worked it into one of my courses at VFS. Students will get a chance to learn about XMLSocket servers while exploring tactile user interfaces. I think it will be a great class. I will post examples of experiments as I go.

Spring in the Garden

Brettf — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 16:18:55 +0000

I promised more photos of the garden a while ago but I have been to… lazy… to post them online. So here they are. The one to the left is our first picking of radishes. They took off in the week of heat we had. Taking the advice of a fellow gardener we picked the bigger ones, which to us seemed early but if left they get woody. I have planted a bunch more and they are starting to come up now. The zucchini planted on top of a large bit of unfinished compost is taking off. A full list and individual shots to come. From now on posts about the garden will lean towards how things are doing and what we have been doing to keep it all going.

Urban Gardening

Brettf — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 05:59:57 +0000

Some time ago Terra, my fiance, and I put our name on the waiting list for a plot in the Lower Lonsdale Community Gardens. Yesterday we received a call to inform us that we had been selected for a plot in the garden. We are really excited! We will have a place to compost our vegitable scraps and grow some food. This has been something we have been missing. I will post some pictures once we get introduced to plot #17.

Another first post

Brettf — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 05:47:53 +0000

Well I have installed a blog once again. Once again I am going to try to write about the things that are going on with me. Flash, photography, teaching, sailing and everything else. And again I will be suprised if anyone gives a shit.