Classy, yet complicated

Well, I got Flash and Processing talking from within AS files (make a separate Actionscript Class file with all the code in it, and name it the name of your class; your main Flash file will have no “actions” but instead be of the same document type as the AS file; it’s much neater).  It took a while (I ran into tons of errors and eventually winnowed my code down to one file to avoid static type errors), and I still need to get the masking property to work, but all in all I’m pleased with myself for figuring out all of the errors!

Animation again, schedule blues

I finished animating the remainder of line six of the poem, and will soon be starting on the chorus (most likely after dinner tonight).  Animation progress so far can be seen here, with tinny audio (the nice audio is here, and I hope to stream it in the final).  I’m looking forward to having parts of the upcoming poem already animated (particularly the rotoscoped rotating self among planets and the white-on-black rotoscoped silhouette).

In other news, I registered for classes this morning.  So far I’m taking 5 credits, but I need to find 7 more in order to keep various scholarships and financial aid (contingent on me being enrolled in 12 credit hours worth of classes).  Urgh.  I may have to find out if I should take some credits of HC Thesis or something, so that I have work time for it (similar to what I’m doing this term).  I’m trying to decide whether to take a 10am class, on the grounds that it will force me to get up and be productive, or a 2pm class on the grounds that I’ll never risk missing a class due to not sleeping well and the ensuing migraine.  It’s “chance and determinism in the physical world” versus “global climate change,” and on a purely topical basis, the former wins hands down.

UPDATE: Went back and fixed/fiddled with some things that had been bothering me, mainly the second line’s head-turn roto and the fourth line’s eye.  Finalized a few transitions, sorted all the library items in flash into folders (yay! I can find things without looking through the whole list now!), and made way for the chorus.  Animation progress is here.  And now to bed!

Timing is key…

I realized that I’d been putting off working on the animation because I wanted to address the issue of timing my classmates brought up last friday: namely, I restored the master tempo to its original 120 bpm, and fixed minor timings in word animations (see the current version with crappy built-in audio here, but turn your volume down—it’s loud).  The music, up until tonight, wasn’t finished.  So, I sat myself down in GarageBand and finished recording everything.  I re-recorded the melody and baseline, determined the bridge and intro, and modified and finished the descant.  All told, it’s three tracks of piano some spliced together, and it plays very loudly instead of very quietly, which I consider a moderate improvement.  I wish I could make it sound like it does in my thoughts—I hear amazing sounds in my head but can’t get them out into daylight.  I’m satisfied with it but not enchanted.  I’m not sure I have the skill with keyboard-driven software instruments to enchant myself.  Volunteers?  No, seriously, I would love a cover of this.  I’d also love a new sewing machine, digital slr camera, and a sexy red foreign sports car, for the record.  And a kitten.

Code-wise, I’m looking at ways to combine all the circles into one MovieClip object, which I can then use as a mask.  I’m also trying to make things work with classes and packages, as it’s much cleaner.  I’m not sure where I want to put the socket (in its own class, with methods to talk to other classes; or in the main class).  I’ve discovered that, no matter the screen size or the number of circles, the flash implementation of the processing app starts to slow way down.  Ugh.  Distressing, particularly as I’m not sure if I can find an alternative.  I need to find out how to make Processing and Flash talk over the web, not just over my computer’s local ports.  That could be difficult.

I’m reading “Postmodern media culture” by Jonathan Bignell, which is turning out to be an interesting and informative read.  I’m also beginning to panic about getting everything done by the end of this term, but I’ll just keep working, staying up later and forcing myself to get up earlier as the term progresses.  I keep thinking, “I can do this, I can do this, I will not melt into a puddle of ectoplasm and stain the peculiar blue tiled carpet in my room…”  I went to Fencing, but my right ankle (specifically, the muscle/tendon that runs along the outside of the shinbone and serves to lifts your foot up/flex it toward your leg) burns when I try to step forward.  Having decided that I should not keep stressing it when it hurts so much, I skipped out after footwork, showered, ate dinner, and got to work.  Whee.  People were playing video games in the lounge as I went by, and later they watched a movie (The Devil Wears Prada).  If I’m not careful, I’ll pick up another fun book, and then where will I be?