1. Re: xplode.ex
C & K L wrote:
>Hey, this is pretty cool. However, one thing I noticed is that the
>"explosion" seems to remain in a rectangular region, as opposed to
>some chaotic or even circular/oval pattern. Anybody else notice this?
>I'm sure this isn't appropriate for an explosion.
You are right, it's not, but I did not want to mangle the original
even more than I did. The starting pattern, the string, is essentially
a one-dimensional form, a line. Even if you give each bit of debris a
randomly different initial velocity, the *average* velocity of all
particles emanating from different parts of the string would be
roughly the same. And the boundary (envelope) of the pattern would be
given, of course, by the upper speed limit. An aesthetically more
acceptable circular pattern can simply be achieved by starting the
explosion from a single point.
>Do you actually peek the screen to see where the text is, then move
>each pixel in the explosion event?
Yes and no. At the start the text is written in invisible color (black
on back) in the top left hand corner of the screen. The whole space of
the string is scanned and only the coordinates of pixels forming the
letters are stored in 'x' and 'y' sequences. The string can now be
reconstituted anywhere on the screen. As indicated above, each pixel
is given an initial, random velocity in both principal directions. (In
my variant, the vertical velocity is not constant after the
'explosion', it changes continually by a fixed amount to simulate
gravitational acceleration.) Subsequently, for each step, in fact a
time interval, the currently shown pixels are erased (simply
overwritten by black pixels), and again re-displayed in newly
calculated locations.
I hope I have not bored you all too much. jiri
