Articles by Andrew M. Phelps

And My Magic 8-Ball Says...

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 15:00:00 EDT

Director has three things going for it that are unique in both the Macromedia and Adobe product lines: Imaging Lingo (or JavaScript), Shockwave 3D, and DVD support

One From the Vault: How I Rolled My Own Collision Detection

Wed, 18 May 2005 10:00:00 EDT

Recently in a Shockwave3D project, I had some problems with the modelsUnderRay command. More precisely, modelsUnderRay seemed to have some problems of its own. Occasionally it just didn't give the correct result, it would miss a model somehow. In the particular application I was building (a landscape that let the user's drive a car around on the surface), this was dramatic because the when modelsUnderRay failed, the car fell through the world.

Visual Debugging Tools for Shockwave

Fri, 21 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST

Recently, I have been working in Shockwave3D in Lingo and JavaScript syntax. Regardless of what I am writing, I keep running into issues that can be summed up by the following phrase: I don't know exactly what I'm doing. More precisely, I don't know exactly what I am doing when I am doing it. I'm figuring it out.

Greetings, Faith, Reviews, and Seafood

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST

Hello! I wanted to wait and formally greet you from the Macromedia MAX Conference in New Orleans. Some of you might know me from my writing at Director-Online, or from the Macromedia DevNet Center. Others are probably reading this and saying to themselves 'Hey... wait a minute... where's James...'

Using Multiple Cameras

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST

Shockwave3D (S3D), despite a number of advantages such as delivery on the Web and small plug-in size, suffers from a few disadvantages in terms of its architecture. One of the 'classic problems' with regard to the way S3D is built is the inability of the developer to manipulate exactly when objects are drawn to the screen, or more correctly the order in which they are drawn to the screen.

Cover Story: The Division that Puts Director to Work

Wed, 08 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EDT

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and the Information Technology Department where I teach, has long been a user of Macromedia products, from Dreamweaver to Director and most things in between. Recently, there has been some debate as to the future of Director's role, considering the increasing use of Flash in the marketplace for Web graphics and interactive displays.