Cafepress Shop v1.03
I just released Cafepress Shop v1.03 for Xoops. The older version doesn’t work correctly any more due to changes on the Cafepress.com web site. So here is Cafepress Shop v1.03 with the regular features plus an update checker and fail safe mode option. Can also be used by Cafepress Premium Shop owners.
Change Log
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- Fixed several bugs resulting from changes on the Cafepress.com web site
- Added a Fail Safe Mode option, which enables or disables the item page
- Added a check update feature. When a new version is release, you’ll receive a message in the administration menu
The Silly Bee Story
I haven’t really been wasting my time lately. As part of my animation course, I was required to create this short 3D animation which I called “The Silly Bee Story”. It’s my first 3D animation ever; I don’t intend it to be my last, this field of Computer Science is really amazing.
Software used in order to achieve it:
- Modeling and animating (the main thing): LightWave by NewTek, an excellent animation application suitable for beginners as well as professionals.
- Textures and image editing: Adobe PhotoShop; I don’t feel like I have to introduce that one.
- Video editing: Ulead Video Studio, a simple application, better than Windows Movie Maker by Microsoft.
Discovering how to manipulate the 3D application wasn’t a walk in the park. I first tried some tutorials offered on LightWave’s web site. But they didn’t really come in handy, so I had to make things work using the good old trial and error method. And here I am, a couple of days later, creating my first animation which I am very proud of. I might end up at Pixar someday, you never now!
The hardest - I should probably say the longest and tidiest - part was rendering, that is converting the content of the LightWave application to a movie in AVI/MPG/MOV format. It can take up to 10 hours for you to render a scene. Above it all, you sometimes find crucial flaws in your animation when rendering in complete, and there we go for another 10 hours!
The Silly Bee Story is a “silly” story as the title mentions it about a character who kills a bee and finds himself tracked down by the giant Honey Inc. Zeppelin balloon… There’s no deep point in this story, it’s just a funny animation.
Download The Silly Bee Story (also available in Files Dump):
Hi Version – 640 x 480 / WMV Format / 5.25 Mb
Lo Version – 320 x 240 / WMV Format / 2.42 Mb
You can also find some screenshots below
Chinese T-Puzzle
Ever heard of Chinese Tangram? Not tantra… T.A.N.G.R.A.M.
Well until last week, I had never heard of it either. But after I was assigned, as part of my graphics course, to write an OpenGL application about it, I had to discover what it was all about. Tangram is a Chinese game where you can constitute out of different small pieces a certain shape, several shapes actually. It may look easy at first glance but it turns out to be tricky -> head-scratching is recommended. In order to complete the shape, you can move, rotate or mirror the pieces.
Using the application I wrote (which I called “Chinese T-Puzzle”), you can try to form the shape. Features:
- 8 shapes to choose from
- 4 pieces to use
- 5 levels difficulty (time-dependent)
- Doesn’t recognize the shape… - well yes you can’t know until time is up. I’ll try to set up that option A.S.A.P.
Notes:
- It has a nice interface, you can check out the screenshots below.
- You’ll need the GLU and GLUT library for it to run: two files called glut32.dll and glut32.dll that needs to be placed in C:\Windows\System32
- I’m waiting for your comments; I’d really like to improve it!
Download game and dlls from Files Dump
Cafepress Shop v1.02 Released
I have just released a new version of Cafepress Shop for Xoops. This small module allows anyone with a Cafepress.com Basic account to display his store directly on his Xoops web site instead of having to link to the Cafepress.com web site. The release (v1.02) has a new item page, which displays the product description, and is clean of some bugs reported in the earlier version.