Small example of the new engine (needs a webGL browser, like Firefox or Chromium)

The 3d-visualizing-project at the Advance Hackathon was successful. The LuaCrumbs-scripts now compile into a Processing file. The moving path can be previewed 3D with panning, rotation and autorotation. In parallel a html-file is generated. The contents of the processing-file can be watched in any modern webbrowser, that supports WebGL. I used the processingjs-libary for that purpose.

This hack enhances the fun of work with LuaCrumbs by nearly 100 percent – you can conveniently work on your lua-script while generating a 3D-preview at anytime, resulting in a much better “know-what-you-are-doing“-feel. As usual FabLab-machine-ready HPGL, .svg or G-Code (and other formats in the future) are generated as well. So “work home, fab later” is the new command!

The source is already available at github. In the next weeks I will prepare some more documentation, examples and a forum site for reaching BETA-stadium.

PS: You can run the 3d-files (.pde-format) also in the Processing IDE. In case, the IDE can’t find the OpenGL-Libary, just change den rendering mode from OPENGL to P3D in the .pde-file.

The kickoff of the Advance Hackathon 2012 was pretty amazing. Great people and high motivation to work on stuff. After various discussions with other participants I made the roadmap for this weekend. The focus will go to enhancing the LuaCrumbs-framework.

1. Work on the core-architecture and getting deeper into Lua
The Lua-language is very easy to learn, but not that easy to master. A take the opportunity to dig deeper into more advanced Lua-techniques. The blog at www.corsix.org got some very interesting writings about Lua.

2. Enhance the visualization-(preview)-module
Talking about enhancements of the core-architecture is not that thrilling to show-off to the other participants. That’s why I want to work on the html-(preview)-module of LuaCrumbs. Make it 3D and maybe animated. Processing.js or three.js could be my weapon of choice to archive the desired results.

PS: Feel free, to visit the Dingfabrik – it is located right next to the Advanced Hackathon.
PPS: Pastebin.com is still extremely useful for porting working code from one machine to the other.
PPPS: If there are some people interested in a “Lua user group” in Cologne and surroundings, feel free to contact me! UPDATE: I started a quick user group on Facebook – let’s see what the Lua User Group Cologne will develop into.

HiScore Pixeleditor is on SALE until Sunday – price is 0.99$/0.79€. Take the opportunity!

PS: You can also meet me this weekend at the Advance Hackathon in Cologne.

Pixeleditor Hiscore got a small, but essential update. The version 1.0.2 introduces transparent color. With that, you really can draw (for example) tile-maps that are ready to go with any level-designer or programmer. HiScore works well with the Tiled map editor.

Other parts of the update, include some UI-details. If you wait for 5 seconds while not drawing, the cursor-control is hovering out of the screen – for you to enjoy your artwork in a full screen style. New is also a “latest news from Nodepond” feature and a “directly mail feedback”.

The Lua-framework for Fablabs, called “Particles” was renamed to “LuaCrumbs” – or short “Crumbs“. It was mostly pragmatic reasons that led to the rename. “Particles” could be too easily confused with particle-systems. Not only Google had problems finding the framework under this name. And there are also particle-system modules for Lua. “Crumbs” will make all this things much easier. So happy fabbing! There is not much work left for the first beta-release. Expect the release in some weeks.

The framework has a new URL: http://www.nodepond.com/luacrumbs.

PS: There is a good chance that I will lead a team at the Advanced Hackathon about LuaCrumbs. If you are interested, feel free to subscribe at this site.

Tonight I made a 64-bit compile of the TUIO-Client Plugin for Quartz Composer. I messed around with the Kinect-Plugin for Quartz Composer and discovered the TUIO-multitouch and gesture protocol, which looks really promising. The protocol support really a lot of common creative coding software.

The binary of the TUIO-Client Plugin for Quartz Composer I downloaded from the TUIO-site did not launch in my Quartz Composer on OS-X Lion. The problem actually seems, that it was compiled for an older version of Mac OSX and Quartz had problems in actually loading and/or finding the path.

Now I freshly compiled the source for 64-bit Mac OS-X machines and put it into the “right” plugin directory for Quartz Composer on Lion. This is the path where you will put the “TuioClient.plugin“-file.

/Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Plug-Ins.

And here is the binary:

Download TuioClient-Lion-64bit

Current work is on “Particles” – a “framework for FabLabs” that should enable quick scripting of FabLab-equipment, like laser cutters, CNC-machines or plotters. The framework is written in Lua, because Lua is extremely flexible and easy to install on almost any machine – even on an Arduino for example. The current state is “early alpha”. Feel free to linger around on the Particles-site but consider, that things are far from being completed right at the moment.

Due to the lack of great resources on Quartz Composer I opened a resource at Nodepond to provide a good starting point of learning. It is meant as reference and a how-to section – somehow the missing Quartz Composer manual. It’s located at quartzcomposer.tumblr.com with Tumblr running under the hood. This means, that every Tumblr-user can contribute own patches and how-to’s, that only need to be moderated. Feel free to add you own things, that took you ages to figure out in Quartz Composer!

The site should remain clean and minimal, that only looking at it will result in a learning experience. It’s a little bit inspired by the great UI-tumble-blog littlebigdetails.com.

I just uploaded a short video-introdiction of how to work with the HiScore Pixeleditor. This should give primers a good starting point about the unique quality of HiScore. Feel free to embed the video on your webseite! Video on YouTube and Vimeo. HiScore is available in the AppStore.

Smoove is now the “HiScore Pixeleditor“. At was a little bit of work, to find a new name, but at least it was worth the work. There is also new sub-page, that is dedicated the the editor: hiscore.nodepond.com

Current status: