Avatar Core 0.5.5 Released

Avatar Core 0.5.5 Released is now available from the Avatar Core project page. As mentioned in the previous post, this update includes some bug fixes and some minor changes to the API. More information on what was changed can be seen in the release notes.

Also included in this update is a small JSFL command for users of Adobe Flash Professional. This command can read the contents of the current timeline and the selection in the Library in Flash and generate XML based on their contents. When I get a chance, I'll try to write up some more information on how it works including providing a sample FLA.

I do feel this release is starting to shape up, and I feel more comfortable with how things are coming together. There are still a few more additions I would like to make before hitting 1.0, though. These additions should not affect any work being done with Avatar Core now, so I think it should be pretty safe to work with it now without having to worry about breakages.

Despite the past few months being slow, I hope to spend some more time working on the framework this spring.

New Avatar Core minor release coming soon

I've made some changes and improvements to the Avatar Core framework. There are some bug fixes, some API changes, and most notably, the ability to easily create copies of most objects via clone methods. Before, you could do this by writing and reading XML, but this way is a little easier. I'll have to update all the documentation, demos and samples to make sure they'll still work with the changes, then I'll post the update to the project page.

Avatar Core 0.5.0 + My Avatar Editor Lite

Avatar Core 0.5.0 has now been released on the project page (both SVN and ZIP download). The release notes have more information about the changes made.

It should be noted that the SVN repository has been redesigned to also include documentation, examples, and a library SWC for the framework. The location of the source files have moved a couple of directories deeper as a result, so you may need to make some changes with respect to classpaths/source path references. The ZIP download also reflects this restructuring, though it only includes the source code and the same selection example as before.

"My Avatar Editor Lite" is now a new demo example. The source is currently only available through SVN, though you can browse the demo source files through the project page. A live version of My Avatar Editor Lite is also viewable online. It's a great example in that it uses a lot of the features of the framework.


I've also combined the two new demos from before (with Fred) into one demo now listed in the SVN examples. It modifies position, scaling, and rotation using mouse interaction. However it doesn't go so far as to incorporate Constrain behaviors. The original demos will probably remain on the wiki for now unless they end up becoming incompatible with new releases.

So what's next? For one, the documentation will need updating. I don't think it covers a lot of the new changes very well and is pretty lacking in other areas too. With that, also more attention given to the documentation on the wiki. Then, its just a matter of tying up and loose ends preparing for a 1.0 release for production use.

Avatar Core 0.2.1 (SVN Only)

The svn repository for Avatar Core has been updated with the 0.2.1 changes. There shouldn't be anything broken, per se, in the current 0.2.0 download, so you can continue to use it for testing purposes. That download will get updated for the next release.

• Release notes

The next release will probably be a 1.0 release candidate. I'm going to sprucen up the documentation a bit more and try to make a 'lite' version of My Avatar Editor with the framework to see 1) if its possible, and 2) if it's easy, to moderately easy to use. Any problems found in that attempt will be fixed for that build.

If anyone has any bugs to report or feature requests, now's the time to do it. (And doing so through the blog is fine for now.)

Avatar Core 0.2.0

Avatar Core version 0.2.0 (beta) is now available on through svn on the project page. The API documentation has also been updated. The release notes for 0.2.0:

=== 0.2.0 (August 28, 2009) ===

There have been a number of new API changes, as well as a reworking
of how parenting is handled. The new approach allows Constrain behaviors
to work better with parenting. In addition some rendering changes have
been made that change the effects of parent transforms on their children.

- Added Viewport.resetContent()
- Added a padding parameter to Viewport.fitContent()
- Added ThumbnailArtSprite class
- Added SourceLoaderSprite class as a base class for ArtSprite and
ThumbnailArtSprite
- Renamed AvatarArt to AvatarDisplay to prevent confusion with with the
Art/ArtSprite classes
- ArtSprites no longer redraw themselves (i.e. their feature) when their
feature property is set. This was creating many more calls to draw() than
was necessary, though may require additional manual calls for updates
- Scaling a parent feature no longer scales its children; child position,
however, is still affected by scale
- Renamed Transform to Adjust to prevent confusion with flash.geom.Transform
- Instead of mirroring features with a negative scale, flipX and flipY
properties have been added to the Adjust (Transform) class
- Fixed a bug in Adjust.add and Adjust.subtract where x and y were flipped
- Renamed "update"-related API in Feature and Avatar to "redraw"
- Changed parent-related API in Feature (removed getParentFeature, added
parent, [internal]parentCount, [internal]updateParent)
- Features are no longer hidden if their parent cannot be found. They are
instead left visible and treated as though they have no parent
- Added Feature.getConcatenatedParentMatrix()
- Added Avatar.updateParentHierarchy(). This is called frequently through
other APIs but may be necessary to call to make sure the parent
hierarchy of an avatar is accurate
- Added getDefaultPropertiesInXML to IXMLWritable, helping to reduce the
inclusion of default values in generated XML
- Range class now has a steps property
- Separated Constrain.position (Rect) to Constrain.x (Range) and
Constrain.y (Range)
- Removed Rect class (was only used by Constrain before)
- Constrain uses its Ranges' steps, if provided, to apply stepping
to constrained values
- Constrain is now applied to feature adjusts (transforms) rather than
directly to art sprites to allow child adjusts to honor the
constrain
- Added Constrain.name, making it more convenient to access Constrain
behaviors in a feature
- Other minor bug fixes

Complete ReleaseNotes.txt.

The wiki pages, demos, and non-svn downloads still need to be updated. I'll try to get to those in the next couple of days.

Avatar Core 0.0.5 Beta

A new release of Avatar Core is now available. This release is 0.0.5 beta. I figured it's far enough along now to take it out of alpha and bring it into beta, though I'll have to admit that kind of identification is fairly arbitrary (just look at how long Google tools remain in beta...).



For anyone wanting to keep track of project updates, I'd suggest not following this blog but instead keeping an eye on the Avatar Core project feeds of which there are a number to keep an eye on. I'll probably only update this blog moving forward with major releases or otherwise notably important news.

Next on my things to do is work on documentation. The API has already been updated, but I want to include better descriptions and getting started information on the wiki. Currently, a lot of the content there is no longer accurate.

MAE Source is now live!

Its up, and hopefully it will compile ;)
http://code.google.com/p/myavatareditor/

Additional information can be found at
http://www.myavatareditor.com/download.html
and
http://www.myavatareditor.com/developers.html

My Avatar Editor SWF Files Posted

I've pretty much wrapped up the Developers page and have posted the latest My Avatar Editor SWF files in the Download section of the site. These SWF files are what you would need to put My Avatar Editor on your own personal web page should you want to use it there. Included in the developers page are APIs and samples of how you can interact with the SWF files with additional scripting, either via JavaScript or with another wrapper SWF using ActionScript.
JS Example | AS Example.

The full source files have not yet been posted. However, it's mostly a matter of me gathering the files together and writing up a README, etc. That could possibly happen as early as tonight, but more likely sometime tomorrow. I'll create a new blog post when that happens.

MyAvatarEditor.com Live

Last night I pushed a working copy of MyAvatarEditor.com live to the web. There is still a bit of work to do, especially regarding the guide and developers pages. That will be filled with time. Most importantly is that with the site live, and having the editor off the temporary beta page, avatar URLs will work for opening avatars and sharing them with your friends.



Additionally I've added a new page under a directory called "show" which will just show the character, full screen in the browser, without the editor interface. Example:
http://www.myavatareditor.com/show/?avatar=53a200520061006e0064006f006d00000000000000004a7940fb5c27c2428998b0c044a08080023ab867284014007ce502260d042450004d004100450000000000000000000000000000

You may notice that depending on the shape of your browser window, the character will be seen either in full or just as a head. Clicking on the My Avatar Editor logo will open that character in the editor.

I haven't yet decided if this page will be integrated into the editor or not, or even how useful it is, but it's there for anyone who's interested.

My Avatar Editor RC 1 + AIR Deskop Application

Release Candidate 1 for My Avatar Editor is now online (same link as before). Included is an installer for the Desktop version of the editor (built using Adobe AIR). The desktop version supports the associated file types .mae and .mii, drag and drop, and... well, really, that's about it :) Everything else the web version can also do.

Changes include, but are not limited to:

• AIR implementation updated for Flash Player 10/AIR 1.5
• Favorite Color selection now updates when a new character is loaded or randomly generated
  
• Legacy XML parser should now be fixed, allowing loading of older-style XML
• New XML format has been finalized (?)
  
• The assets loaded by the editor (the "character") can be displayed by itself (demo; similar examples were made before but required another wrapper)
  
• Remembered character data has changed to allow multiple Flash SWFs to use the same data (editor and character) so when you load the editor for the first time for RC1 it should show the default boy instead of your last character; this will only happen once and your character will be remembered from this point forward
  
• File menu button now at the end of the tabs at the bottom of the screen rather than being in the "General" tab
• Layout for the image export screen has changed
• You can now zoom in twice as much as you could before in the image export screen
  
• More code refactoring...

Check for issues, report any problems. This will likely be, or be close to, the final released version of the editor as it would appear on the main website... which I have yet to make.

Concerning the XML, I've decided to leave it alone. The idea of mapping the colors to hex codes kind of made sense for making it extensible, but the values can just as easily be checked for length or prefix to determine what they are specifically indicating (id value or actual color). Not confusing the real data any more than is necessary seems preferred.

In terms of releasing the source, I have some documentation I still want to complete before that happens, not to mention making sure there aren't any more issues to contend with. It'll be soon, though.

Beta 2 Posted [Update 2]

The current transitional beta page has been updated with beta 2 of My Avatar Editor. Changes include (but may not necessarily be limited to):

• Fixed lower hair for 8th style (row 3, column 2) on page 6
• Some interface reshuffling (tab reordering)
• Titles over avatar characteristics/options
• Shadow is a semi-transparent solid; this should cause less problems exporting
  
• Option to remove shadow from export
• Transparent backgrounds for exports show as a checkerboard
• Client-based (as opposed to server-based) save/load
• Binary files saved with the extension .mae
  
• New XML format (NOT finalized, see this note)
  
• New randomizer algorithm
• Flash Player 10 required
• and a whole, heck of a lot of code re-writing

Known issues include:

• The avatar link will not work
• Users may experience problems saving using Internet Explorer on Windows Vista
  

Report additional issues as comments to this post. With any luck, I'll be able to clean it up enough this weekend to make it available for download... actually, the "big game" is this weekend, isn't it... make that next weekend :)

Update:
As noted by Tommy, the eyebrow rotations in the latest editor beta were off. This was the result of a copy-and-paste typo where I accidentally had the maximum number of possible rotation values set to the number of possible colors ;). This should now be fixed. The new build version is 1.0.1.31t which you can check for in the top right of the File menu. If your number is lower, clear your cache and reload the page.

Update 2:
As reported by Mapi, I've included a known issue that users using IE and Vista might have troubles saving files.

Down but not out

In case you've been worried, My Avatar Editor has not been forgotten. I have been slowly fixing things, reorganizing code, (removing any references to Mii or Nintendo) and getting it ready for release.

Originally there were a couple of version blockers that stalled me, i.e. waiting for Flash Player 10 to release, then waiting for AIR to support Flash Player 10. Then I just got caught up with work and other things that just kept me from coming back to MAE, but I've finally been able to work on the editor some more bringing it closer to release.

And what does release mean? It means hopefully 1) myavatareditor.com will have the editor up and running, and 2) the SWF and all its source files will be available for download by anyone who wants them. This will allow you to edit, modify, enhance, or customize the editor any way you see fit (legally, unlike my original mistake) for personal or professional use. Currently, I see the licence being MIT.