-
-
Posted
24th January 2015 by
Bulb
-
Firstly I should introduce you one library we will need today. It's called phpgd and it brings some useful functions. We wouldn't get far without them so it's important to have this lib installed. In Linux you can simply install it using your add/remove application. Once you have it installed you can check if it's enabled using phpinfo(); 
Ok, let's say the phpgd is ready, what are the new possibilities you can do with that now? We will start with something simple for beginning. Keep in your mind that every line/polygon/whatever in the final image needs to be scripted first, so, first think than write. We will script a square on a blank screen now. There are 2 ways how to do it /I believe you are able to figure out any third/forth way but let's say there are only 2/. You can command four lines and position them so they make a square. Yeah, that's possible of course but fortunatelly there is a native function for rendering a square. My point is that if you aren't sure what you can/can't do, go through this list of all phpgd functions in the official php documentation http://php.net/manual/en/ref.image.php and find the best which fits your idea. Let's get back to what we started, firstly we need to define the blank image.<?php/**
* Blank image 400x400 using phpgd...
*/
// set the HTTP header type to PNG
header("Content-type: image/png");
// set a new image 400x400px
$im = imagecreatetruecolor(400, 400);
// set the white color
$white = imagecolorallocate($im, 255, 255, 255);
// fill the image with white (defined in previous step) starting at position [0,0]
imagefill($im, 0, 0, $white);
// send the new PNG image to the browser
ImagePNG($im);
// destroy the reference pointer to the image in memory to free up resources
ImageDestroy($im);
This code doesn't need much explanation, the important things are mentioned in the comments. Maybe you are looking for the php ending tag ?>. Well, it's not important to write it there, it's not a mistake. Both versions with/without this tag are acceptable. If you don't see the output in your browser, press ctrl+a so you select the image, it should went blue. Or fill the image with any other color than white. E.g. black: $black = imagecolorallocate($im, 0, 0, 0);Let's move on now and script the square. We will use the function imagerectangle() imagerectangle ( resource $image , int $x1 , int $y1 , int $x2 , int $y2 , int $color ) The usage is pretty simple. The first parameter is the "image" (variable $im in our case). Next four pamaremeter are the coordinates. I should also mention that the [0;0] coordinate is the top left corner of the image. [400;400] is the bottom right corner of the image (in our case). So we can make a border around the image for instance...
<?php/**
* Blank image 400x400 with a black sqare on it using phpgd...
*/
// set the HTTP header type to PNG
header("Content-type: image/png");
// set a new image 400x400px
$im = imagecreatetruecolor(400, 400);
// set the colors
$white = imagecolorallocate($im, 255, 255, 255);
$black = imagecolorallocate($im, 0, 0, 0);
// fill the image with white (defined in previous step) starting at position [0,0]
imagefill($im, 0, 0, $white);
// make a border around the image
imagerectangle($im, 0, 0, 399, 399, $black);
// send the new PNG image to the browser
ImagePNG($im);
// destroy the reference pointer to the image in memory to free up resources
ImageDestroy($im);
This brings a nice black square. I think I should say a few words about setting the colors in phpgd. The function imagecolorallocate() has four parameters. imagecolorallocate ( resource $image , int $red , int $green , int $blue ) This function returns a color identifier representing the color composed of the given RGB components. The first parameter defines the "image", next three define the color. These parameters are integers between 0 and 255 or hexadecimals between 0x00 and 0xFF. So how would you define for example a blue color? Simply... $blue = imagecolorallocate($im, 0, 0, 255);
$darkblue = imagecolorallocate($im, 0, 0, 100);
$lightblue = imagecolorallocate($im, 100, 100, 255);I added a light blue and dark blue color, I hope it helps you to understand how it works. I think that's enough for today. Next time we will script a cube and make it all a little more "universal". So see you
Posted
6th July 2009 by
Bulb
-
BrainTuner is a free app for iPhone which tests how fast you are in counting. The interface is really easy to navigate. Firstly you select the mode. It depends on how many problems you want to solve, but you have to choose among 20/50/100 problems. Every mode has its own "best time". After you start the game, you have to decide whether the equations are right or wrong. It's quite addictive after a while.My personal best time for the 20 problems is 9.36 seconds, I don't know if it's good or bad, you can let me know in the comments.
Posted
1st July 2009 by
Bulb
-
-
-
Today I'd like to show you how to design iPod Touch in Gimp. First of all I should say that iPod Touch doesn't look exactly the same as the iPhone. There are some differences in the appearance. Let's try to make it!
1) Open up Gimp and create a new document. It depends on the size of the picture because the iPod has some proportions and we don't want to break them. I chose 350x580.You should get a blank white picture.
2) Select all (shortcut: ctrl+a) go to the menu and shrink the selection by 30px. Go to the selection menu and press the Rounded rectangle (30%).
3) Now you have still a blank picture but with a rounded selection in the middle. In this step we will fill it with a gradient. Create a new layer (call it Outer Border) and pick the gradient tool (shorcut: L). Use the default colors (black as the foreground and white as the background) and change the gradient shape to 'Radial'. Start in the middle and drag out of the picture. You should get something like this:
4) I hope you didn't cancel the rounded selection, otherwise you can delete the image and start again. Or you can also right-click the 'Outer Border' layer and select 'Alpha to selection' :)
5) Create a new layer and call it Dark Border. Go to the menu and shrink the selection by 2px. Fill it with black (shortcut: shift+b)
6) Right-click the Dark Border layer and select 'Alpha to selection'. Shrink the selection by 2px and create a new layer called Light Gray. We are going to fill it with a gradient so pick the gradient tool (shortcut: L). Don't change the shape, it will be radial again.
7) Now pick some light gray colors and again as in the 4th step, start in the middle and drag out of the canvas. I used #dcdcdc as the foreground color and #c6c6c6 as the background color. The result should look like this:
8) Right-click the Light Gray layer and select the 'Alpha to selection' option. Shrink it by 1px. That's not all, we will play with the selection a little in this step. Pick the Rectangle select tool (shortcut: r) and click into the selection. Four handles should now appear (one in each corner); that means we can modify the selection. We will adjust the height of the picture (1px on the top and 1px on the bottom). This picture should say more:
9) After the modification go to Select - Rounded Rectangle (30%) and fill it with black. This should you get:
10) At this point we will make the Home button. Pick the Elipse select tool (shortcut: e) and make the selection in the bottom of the image, in the place where the home button should be. While making the selection I advice you to hold Shift 'cos it will make a circle not an elipse.
11) After that create a new layer and call it Home Button. I prefer to fill it with white and than adjust the opacity but you can fill it directly with some gray color, that's up to you.
12) The grey circle is fine but there is also a white square on the iPod. Same procedure as in the 10th step. I made another layer (Home Button #1) which isn't necessary. Pick the Rectangle select tool (shorcut: r), go to select - rounded rectangle (I used 50%) and fill it with white or whatever color you like. Than go to select, shrink it by 1px and click the delete button. Here is what I got:
13) Attentive readers noticed that we forgot one necessary thing, it's the power button. There is nothing difficult about that. Create a new layer called Power button and move down under all layers (but above the Background layer).
14) Make a little rectangle selection (shortcut: r) and fill it with black (shortcut: shift+b). Than move it (shortcut: m) wherever you want.
15) In the final step we will draw the display. Right-click the Inner Background layer and select 'Alpha to selection'. Pick the Rectangle select tool (shortcut: r). Hold ctrl+shift and select the area where the display should be, like on the picture below. Select a bit larger area, we will shrink it in the next step.
16) As I said, we will shrink the area to get some distance between the display and the edge. Go to the menu Select and shrink it by 10px. I think 10px is ok, but again, it's up to you. Even at this point you can adjust the area how you want.
17) After that create a new layer and call it Display. Fill it with white and adjust the opacity.
And that's it. I know it's not 100% real but the first association should be the iPod. Here is my result:
And here is the same result with the background image:
And here is the result with some additional adjustments. That means I added some gradients, shadows, lights and brushes:
Thanks for reading, I hope it was useful.
Posted
9th April 2009 by
Bulb
-
Introduction
The title of this article is Quake Live, let's start with a little background. ID Software, which stands behind the project Quake Live, is a video game development company. It was founded in the prehistoric computer age in 1991. ID Soft firstly shocked the world with the game Doom in 1993. Doom is the younger brother of Wolfenstein 3D with a lot of improvements on graphics, gameplay and effects. There still exists a no small community around Doom nowadays.
Moving on, ID Soft released the first Quake in 1996. Thanks to the huge players' community ID Soft came out with Quake 2 in 1997 and two years later with Quake 3 Arena.
Quake Live: Capture the Flag:
Quake Live: You have to hit the F3 button to start the match:
I suppose you all know the Q3A, it's a legendary game. Quake's main innovation is the capability to play a deathmatch (competitive gameplay between living opponents instead of against computer-run characters) over the Internet.
Let's get back to Quake Live. What is it and why do I write about it now? The answer is simple. ID Software again shows its power and introduces a browser-plugin based video game. In fact it's the old Quake 3 Arena running in your web broswer with loads of new features. It's based on the same engine as Doom3.
Since late 2008 there was a invitation-only closed beta. On February 24 2009, the game progressed from closed beta to open beta. Within the first 6 hours after launch over 110,000 player accounts were created.
Prepare to fight
You need to register to start playing. After that you receive an email with a link to continue (standard procedure). The browser-plugin starts the installation, which takes about 10 minutes. After the installation you are invited to the Quake Live by a female bot named Crash. She shows you the basic tricks. She speaks fluent and intelligible. After the speech you have to play a duel with her. It's because of the skill of players. You are automatically divided into a skill group after the match. This kinda guarantees you to have a good game with other players.
I was really surprised by the graphics. Everything is perefectly same as in the Quake 3 Arena. I had a feeling that the graphics is even better. It's a feast for your eyes.
Quake Live: Free for All:
Quake Live: The Quad Damage Bonus:
The are 6 game modes in Quake Live.
- Duel (1on1) - Player versus player (1-on-1) combat. Whoever gets the most frags before the time is up wins.
- Free for All (FFA) - Players engage in a match, where everyone fights for themselves. Whoever hits the frag limit ends the game, and this person wins. The fraglimit is mostly 50. When the time limit expires, the match will also end. All weapons are avalible in this mode (it's the difference between FFA and Instagib).
- Team Deathmatch (TDM) - Same rules as 'Free for All' but in this mode, two teams fight each other.
- Capture the Flag (CTF) - Each team has a base, holding a flag. To earn points and win the game, a team has to take the opposite flag, and return them to their own.
- Clan Arena - Teambased gameplay, everyone starts fully equipped with full armor and weapons. When fragged, the player must wait for the next round to begin. Players can rocket jump with no health penalty.
- Instagib - This is my favourite mode. It's a FFA in fact where players start with only a Railgun, which always delivers one-hit kills. Instagib servers are unranked.
Conclusion
I really like the idea and I cross my fingers and hope ID Software will bring the project to the end. At this time Quake Live only runs on Windows XP/Vista in web browsers Firefox and IE 7/8. There are speculations of a portability to Linux and Mac, I'm looking forward to it.
You can check the Quake Live twitter to be in the picture. Finally you can also add me as a friend and challenge me than ;) My nickname is bulb.
Posted
29th March 2009 by
Bulb
-
-
Today I decided to install the windows fonts on my Fedora 10. The main reason was because of the fonts shown in the web browser (Firefox). Many sites I visit every day use the windows fonts which have their equivalents in Linux but I don't like it. As far as I'm concered I guess that when Firefox gets a definition of some paragraph that it's meant to be in Verdana, it uses some equivalent font, which is not the same and looks weird. It's my personal opinion but I just don't like those equivalents.
So I launched Google and was looking for some tutorial which whould explain me how to install the windows fonts. I found loads of them, but none worked. I knew I did the same search about a year ago but I couldn't remember the site.
Finally I found a nice step-by-step tutorial which worked well so I want to share it with people doing the same thing, and also for me, I might need it in the future.
Advice: Use ctrl+shift+v to copy into your console.
1
wget http://www.my-guides.net/en/images/stories/fedora10/msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.noarch.rpm
2
su -c 'rpm -ivh msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.noarch.rpm'
3
su -c 'yum install rpmdevtools rpm-build cabextract ttmkfdir'
4
rpmdev-setuptree
5
cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/
6
wget http://www.my-guides.net/en/images/stories/fedora10/msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.spec
7
rpmbuild -bb msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.spec
8
cd ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/noarch/
9
su -c 'rpm -ivh msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.noarch.rpm'
The result:
Source: http://my-guides.net
Posted
20th March 2009 by
Bulb
-
Today I'd like to sum up the pros and cons about the iPod Touch. I've been using Touch for about one year so I would like to write a list of pros and cons based on my own experience. Let's start with the Pros.
Design and construction
Everybody knows that Apple is known for its well designed products. It's also said that the design is the first and also last thing Apple is good in, but I will get to it in the article later. Let's go back to the design of iPod Touch, it doesn't stand out of the others and I can honestly say I really like the sleeky design, who doesn't, right? It's only 8.5mm thick (0.33 inch) and weights 125 grams which appreciates everyone who carries often the iPod in a pocket. At this point I should also mention the 3.5 inch display which is made of some super duper material. After about one year of using the iPod I don't have even 1 scratch on the display which is amazing and I'm glad for that.
Another thing is that the construction seems to be very solid. I have to admit that Touch sometimes falls out of my pocket while changing the clothes, but fortunately it still lives :p
User interface
Next thing I'd like to talk about is the user interface. The system acts really intuitively and it's easy for everyone to control it. Touch doesn't have the hardware keyboard but you can easily make do with the software keyboard. It detects when you put your funger out of the display so you can choose the letter you want even the ground is shaking, for instance in car, bus, train or while walking.
What really rocks is the multi-touch function. You can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flick through photos and enlarge them with a pinch, zoom in and out on a section of a web page, and control game elements precisely.
Of course I can't forget the accelerometer which is perfect specially for gaming. When you rotate from portrait to landscape you for instance rotate your photo, get a larger keyboard or invoke the Cover Flow if you are in Music.
The wifi connectivity
iPod Touch automatically locates nearby wireless networks and connects to them if you allow it. I appreciate this function because I have a wifi network both at school and at home. And sometime it's quite useful to be able to access Internet at school :p
Loads of apps
I suppose I should also mention that App Store offers tons of apps for both iPhone and iPod nowadays. It's not true when someone says that there are no applications for iPod. App Store divides the applications into categories so you can easily pick or search between them. Even directly from the Touch/iPhone thanks to the same named application called 'App Store', which also indicates updates for apps installed on your device.
So those were the Pros, now I should write some Cons, which isn't easy for me, but still, there are some :p
Battery life
I know, iPod is a small device so it's not supposed to go for weeks without recharging. But on the other hand when I have 100% battery in the morning and I use the iPod a lot during the day, it's usually totally discharged at evening. With regular using, which means some web browsing, listening to music, playing games or writing notes, it's able to go for 2 or 3 days without recharging.
Linux
Unfortunatelly iTunes can be only used in Mac or Win. So there is no way to connect the Touch/iPhone to a computer with Linux, because Touch requires iTunes for its connectivity and synchronisation. Another disadvantage which is connected with this issue is that Touch doesn't act as an external disk. The only way how to get 'into' Touch is using iTunes (or via SSH for expert users).
Reproductor
I wasn't sure about moving this into pros or cons, but I guess it's a disadvantage for most of people. You may ask why, but it's simply 'cause I don't need the reproductor. My old mp3 player had a reproductor, but the contact between the headphone jack and the mp3 wasn't as reliable as I thought. Sometimes happened that I inadvertently shared listening to music with other people because the mp3 thought there are no headphones so it started playing to the reproductor laudly. Generally speaking I don't see it as an disadvantage.
The video format
First I should say that watching movies on a 3.5 inch display with 480x320px resolution is possible :p But you have to convert the movie first. As far as I know, Touch can handle only .mpg format and only in the correct resolution. There are programs for the converting, I especially like the MediaCoder. You can download MediaCoder iPhone edition from this link.
That's all for now, I hope this list was useful for you, cya later.
Posted
3rd March 2009 by
Bulb
-
Spacetime is the best calculator for iPod/iPhone I know. It's not only a calculator, Spacetime also includes a 2D/3D plotter, equation solver, mathematical constants, loads of functions, allows you to write your own functions by scripting them; Spacetime is able to work with fractions, complex numbers and so. I would like to show you how to use the basic functions and how to save your time.
Writing (only iPod/iPhone)
This feature works only for these two devices, turn your ipod into landscape position; a keyboard appears and you can write difficult equations and commands much easier.
Fractions
Spacetime is able to return a result as a fraction. For example sinus(π/4) returns √2/2 and 0.7071... if you click once more the 'Solve button' or the "N" icon.
Plot two or more graphs into one image
Sometimes it's useful to see more graphs in one image. For instance let's say you want to plot the three-phase current. In fact we will plot three sinus graphs with 2π/3 offset. The trick to plot more graphs together is in separating them with a comma.
Plot(sin(x),sin(x+2π/3),sin(x+4π/3))
And you get the result.
Roots
Maybe there is a better way but I couldn't find an easier way. For example you want to get the fifth root of 32. Here is my solution:
5√32 //doesn't work, returns 5*√32
32^(1/5) //works fine, returns 2
Solving quadratic equations quickly
The most effective and also fastest way I know to solve a quadratic equation actually comes from the tutorial but it's useful to remember the syntax. There are two alternatives how to solve a quadratic equation (e.g. 3x^2+5x-2)
Solve(3x^2+5x-2)
Solve(3,5,-2)
The second one is the tricky way. Logically, you insert three variables (a,b,c) ax^2+bx+c. If for instance b=0, you insert 0 as the second parameter. Very useful shorthand.
Expand() function
Stuff like (a+b)^3 seems to be not working in Spacetime, right? Fortunately we have the expand() function. The usage is very easy, expand() function has only one parameter and it's the expression you want to solve (a+b)^n, n stands for a natural number (or maybe a fraction too? I have no experience).
I'm sure you will take a fancy to Spacetime soon. The best thing is that it is portable to many pocket devices including iPod and iPhone. But you can also use Spacetime on your PC or even Mac with no restrictions. Visit the home page of SpaceTime to get more information.
Posted
8th February 2009 by
Bulb
-
-
Yesterday I decided to download and install Fedora 10, also known as Fedora Cambridge. Fedora is based on Red Hat Linux, which was divided few years ago into two systems: Red Hat (commercial, for money) and Fedora (open-source, free). I was always used to Debian based systems, firstly Debian Sarge, than Ubuntu and Xubuntu. I decided to try Fedora and give it a shot.Download Fedora 10 for freeThe design of Fedora is so precious. Even the installer looks neat. Some people think that installation of Linux is only for experts and geeks, but it's not true anymore. I bet that a hen would handle it if you put some grain around the enter button. Fedora Cambridge also includes functions to encrypt your storage, which were improved.Plymouth is a new graphical boot process which fires up Fedora in about 15 seconds. Unfortunately I'm not lucky and I can't enjoy the graphics, but if you have AMD/ATI graphic card you will see this (youtube link) every time you boot. I have to manage with four colors loader. Moreover what is not typical, plymouth starts the X server on the first virtual server (ctrl+alt+f1). After the system is booted, you are introduced by a friendly melody. The default Solar wallpaper and theme are just fine. I also turned on the desktop effects. If you know Vista Aero, this looks very similar. Generally Fedora 10 is really well designed and friendly.
There is still a problem with playing movies whose codecs aren't free. Those xvid/mp4/wmv video etc. and also audio mp3 formats aren't supported by default. But this can be solved quite easily, you need to download "bad" and "ugly" codecs. Go to the "add/remove application" and look for "gstreamer-plugins" than find those bad and ugly and your videos should work fine.
Moving your mouse to the top right corner causes this organization of windows so you can select which one you want. I like this idea and I find it very useful mainly if you have more windows opened.OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the default office package in Fedora 10. The Writer application seems pretty good.The new GIMP 2.6 is a good alternative of Photoshop. The new feature causes minimizing all gimp's dialogs together.
I absolutely recommend you to try Fedora 10 or even set it as your main OS. Fedora 9 was full of bugs but Fedora 10 tries to by a powerful system for your machine and it tries really well.
Posted
24th January 2009 by
Bulb
Loading
Add a comment