IDAT106 Workbook: Introductory Greenscreen Project

As we had to complete a practical piece for this section of the workshops, we were asked to build a small application using either video streaming or the use of ArchOS and the greenscreen. For my project I decided to use the greenscreen as it had the higher interest for me. I looked into different types of applications and decided using a combination of Flash and the Arch-OS system was the best way to go. We were already provided with a basic XML parser for Actionscript 2.0 with use in Flash but we have recently been taught how to use Actionscript 3.0 which uses a whole new language system, so the old code would not run and contained tons of errors when compiled in the new language.

In the IDAT102 module we have been taught the basics of AS3.0 but didn't really get told anything relevant to using the Arch-OS XML parser. After hours of slaving over helpbooks and browsing various Internet pages I managed to code my own XML parser in Actionscript 3.0 which utilized the Arch-OS system and output values which I could use to manipulate objects in Flash. I then studied the values output from the system and noticed that the most commonly updated values involved using the wind speed and direction from the wind vane on top of the Roland Levinsky building.

After experimenting with different ways of outputting this data onto the screen and for other users to make any sense of this, I managed to conjure up a nifty application called the "Wind Clock". The Wind Clock operated by drawing a line depending on the wind direction, and its thickness determined by the strength of the current wind. Each second a line would be drawn in progression to the previous, slowly making its way down the screen until the next minute arrived. After a couple of minutes the display would build up a sort of linear spirograph showing the history of the winds direction and strength.