zero point nine

Video demonstrating my first “experiment” with the Android Market. An answer to a question nobody asked– “What if you made an Android program launcher in 3D?”

Video updated with most recent version running on Honeycomb, 6/2011

It was, to be frank, a gigantic pain in the ass coding the motion for this, since there seems to be no Tweener-like class written in Java (Java, not processing…). Anyone know of one?

Built using min3D.

free version

almost-free version :T

This post announces a 3D framework/library-in-progress I’ve been writing for Android, written in Java with OpenGL ES. Between the names min3d, modest3d, and llama3d, I’ve gone with “min3d” for being the least self-deprecating while still conveying an appropriate level of expectation that I’m comfortable with. :)

I’ve gone legit by putting it up on Google Code (first time for everything, etc.). While just an early build, it should at the very least be useful for educational purposes if like me you’re just starting down the Android path.

My aim while building this was to make a library that required no extra massaging of model data on its way to being used by OpenGL. To that end, data can be created and manipulated directly on the ByteBuffers that are used by OpenGL, without the need for any intermediating (ie, redundant) data structures. And hopefully wrapped in such a way that’s still relatively easy to use.

But this approach also imposes some important restrictions. The maximum number of vertices and faces of an Object3d is fixed after instantiation, and the dynamic addition/removal of vertex or face elements is currently not supported. If/when implemented, these operations will have to be much more costly than, say, with a linked list. But unavoidable, as far as I can tell.

Here’s what’s currently implemented through the API (all conventional stuff…)

(more…)

As the geek sits down to learn a new programming language or new programming platform, the first thing he or she must do is learn to make a program that successfully prints the words “Hello, world!” to the screen.

The main significance of this first minor feat as it relates to the programmer is not epistemological, technical, or temporal, but psychological. Crossing the — shall we call it the “Hello world” threshold? — brings with it the realization of the existence of a universe of infinite possibilities. But also the burden and intolerable vertigo that comes with that sense of unlimited freedom.

For, alas, there is no standard “second program” for the geek aspirant to sit down to write. The programmer is on her own. Of the potentially infinite paths that lie in front of her, which will she choose?

Actually though, the most common second program chosen with pedagogical motives in mind — I would submit — would be that venerated bouncing ball, colored 0xFF0000. If you come from a Flash background, you probably know of it well.

Here’s mine, on the Android platform- (Sure wish I could’ve used Flash 10.1… ;)