I'd like to create a virtual space where I want to mix 3D elements and html content. I have seem some demos with WebVR but didn't work for me. WebAR is also an interesting option.
Thanks
Unfortunately, this isn't possible at the moment, because
there is no proper way to get your hands on the rastered output of the HTML in order to use it as a texture in WebGL and
there is no way to get any html-element shown in a WebVR-context
There is certainly work being done in both directions, but your best bets would probably be a-frame (https://aframe.io/) or reactVR (https://developer.oculus.com/blog/introducing-the-react-vr-pre-release/) which both at least have a bit of that html-feeling to it and can handle text pretty well (nothing compared to the power of html+css, but they will get there at some point).
Another option is to use a library like html2canvas (https://html2canvas.hertzen.com/) to get some rendered output from a piece of html which you can then use as a texture. Also has it's limits but might be worth a try...
Have fun!
I'm kicking around an idea for a side project and am looking for advice on which direction to go in terms of technology. I've done some research already, but am still fairly confused as to what the realistic options are.
I'd like to make an interactive map based on a fictional world (think Middle Earth), including a timeline filter and a details section for additional information on an event or location.
Desired Features:
map on the left
details pane on the right
timeline slider/filter at bottom
Territories
color for political affiliation
displays details in details pane
labels
labels for cities
Hurdles:
Get a clean map image to work with
Map image into intermediate format (svg, geojson, topojson?)
Display map on webpage, style map, add animations, etc
Technologies
SVG
I'm pretty sure I could code all of this in SVG using events and boundaries. I've already been able to create SVG Paths from the image using GIMP, so converting the map into an SVG file seems plausible.
The issue with doing it this way is I would end up doing all the work the hard way when there seems to be lots of frameworks for this kind of thing already.
Kartograph
La Bella Italia is a very nice example and would serve as a good starting point. I love the trade route animations and the border styling with the glow filters.
The bonus here is that I know I can make an svg map, which is all this would need to get up and running.
My issue here is it doesn't seem like Kartograph is as rich of a platform as D3.js. I'm not sure if I can double dip and link some D3 stuff with the kartograph events. If I could, that might be the solution.
D3.js
The sliders, animations(hover and selection), and topojson seem like they would be perfect. But the main issue I have here is getting my image converted into a GeoJson format. From what I can tell these formats are strictly for Real World maps, using longitude/latitude.
So there you have it! I'm hoping there is some good news on how I might convert my map image into topojson so I can enjoy the benefits of D3.js. If not, I suppose I could just try kartograph and wire the events up with D3 controls.
Thoughts?
I'm currently writing my master thesis and I have the same topic like you had these days. I called my project Arda Maps. Feel free to ask me anything if have techonology questions.
I'm using the following frameworks/tools in my project:
QGIS
JQuery
D3.js
GeoJSON/TopoJSON
TimeGlider
is it possible to create a stroke with a dynamic width with SVG? I want to achieve a Calligraphy look like here, here or here.
Is this even possible? It seems customization of strokes in SVG is fairly limited. Even gradients in strokes seem to be non-trivial (see here).
There is a proposal to add into SVG standard a mechanism, that does exactly what you want:
http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/WG/wiki/Proposals/Variable_width_stroke
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-svg/2013May/0041.html
There's even an example implementation available here:
https://rawgit.com/birtles/curvy/master/index.html
It is, however, by no means official and we cannot be even sure it'll ever be.
Until then you'll need to stick to Bezier curves and object filling:
You can also use calligraphic fonts, for example - Tangerine available on Google CDN:
This approach requires less work since you don't need to draw everything from scratch, but then again, using third party fonts leaves you with little control over the final result.
You can't dynamically adjust the stroke of a path element. However you could draw a path, use a fill color on it instead of stroke, then double back upon the letters at a slight distance away from the original line.
Also, if you are using the SVG on the web then you can use css fonts on text elements. There are some pretty good cursive fonts that you can use for free... just check google web fonts.
I am trying to make a tool for my website which traces over Japanese characters, showing the stroke order etc.. something like this: http://www.chinesehideout.com/tools/strokeorder.php?c=5pel
I have made a bunch of SVG files in inkscape, which are made up of just curves, one for each stroke of the character. I have then imported these into Raphael using the raphael-svg-import: https://github.com/wout/raphael-svg-import
The SVGs are displaying perfectly, however I want to animate them.
My question is: Is there a way to take each path from the SVG in turn in Raphael, and then animate/stroke them? If so..how??
If you need any more info please say!
Thanks
EDIT: Perhaps I should clarify, when I say stroke I mean progressively draw the line, starting from the first point and ending at the last. At the moment it draws all paths simultaneously and draws the whole of each path at once.
The technique people use in svg for doing this is outlined in this answer. It's probably possible to adapt that to Raphaël, though the Raphaël documentation doesn't list stroke-dashoffset.
Raphaël has a method Element.getSubpath(from, to) that can be used to get only part of a path, that should probably also be an option.
Our (beloved) designer keeps creating PNG files with transparent backgrounds for use in our applications. I'd like to make sure that this feature of the PNG works in "older" browsers as well. What's the best solution?
edits below
#mabwi & #syd - Whether or not I agree about the use of a PNG is not the point. This is a problem that I need to solve!
#Tim Sullivan - IE7.js looks pretty cool, but I don't think I want to introduce all of the other changes an application. I'd like a solution that fixes the PNG issue exclusively. Thanks for the link.
IE PNG Fix 2.0 which supports background-position and -repeat!
Also paletted 8-bit PNG with full alpha transparency exist, contrary to what Photoshop and GIMP may make you believe, and they degrade better in IE6 – it just cuts down transparency to 1-bit. Use pngquant to generate such files from 24-bit PNGs.
I've found what looks to be a very good solution here: Unit Interactive -> Labs -> Unit PNG Fix
update Unit PNG is also featured on a list of PNG fix options on NETTUTS
Here are the highlights from their website:
Very compact javascript: Under 1kb!
Fixes some interactivity problems caused by IE’s filter
attribute.
Works on img objects and background-image attributes.
Runs automatically. You don’t have to define classes or call
functions.
Allows for auto width and auto height elements.
Super simple to deploy.
IE7.js will provide support for PNGs (including transparency) in IE6.
I've messed with trying to make a site with .pngs and it just isn't worth it. The site becomes slow, and you use hacks that don't work 100%. Here's a good article on some options, but my advice is to find a way to make gifs work until you don't have to support IE6. Or just give IE6 a degraded experience.
Using PNGs in IE6 is hardly any more difficult than any other browser. You can support all of it in your CSS without Javascript. I've seen this hack shown before...
div.theImage {
background : url(smile.png) top left no-repeat;
height : 100px;
width : 100px;
}
* html div.theImage {
background : none;
progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src="layout/smile.png", sizingMethod="scale");
}
I'm not so sure this is valid CSS, but depending on the site, it may not matter so much.
(it's worth noting that the URL for the first image is based on the directory of the stylesheet, where the second is based on the directory of the page being viewed - thus why they do not match)
#Hboss
that's all fine and dandy if you know exactly all the files (and the dimensions of each) that you're going to be displaying - it'd be a royal pain to maintain that CSS file, but I suppose it'd be possible. When you want to start using transparent PNGs for some very common purposes: a) incidental graphics such as icons (perhaps of differing size) which work on any background, and b) repeating backgrounds; then you're screwed. Every workaround I've tried has hit a stumbling block at some point (can't select text when the background is transparent, sometimes the images are displayed at wacky sizes, etc etc), and I've found that for maximum reliability I'll have to revert to gifs.
My advice is to give the PNG transparency hack a shot, but at the same time realise that it's definitely not perfect - and just remember, you're bending over backwards for users of a browser which is over 7 years old. What I do these days is give IE6 users a popup on their first visit to the site, with a friendly reminder that their browser is outdated and doesn't offer the features required by modern websites, and, though we'll try our best to give you the best, you'll get a better experience from our site and the internet as a whole if you BLOODY WELL UPGRADED.
I believe all browsers support PNG-8. Its not alpha blended, but it does have transparent backgrounds.
I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure IE6 and less just don't do transparency with PNG files.
You sort of are, and you sort of aren't.
IE6 has no support natively for them.
However, IE has support for crazy custom javascript/css and COM objects (which is how they originally implemented XmlHttpRequest)
All of these hacks basically do this:
Find all the png images
Use a directx image filter to load them and produce a transparent image in some kind of format IE understands
Replace the images with the filtered copy.
One thing to think about is Email clients. You often want PNG-24 transparency but in Outlook 2003 with a machine using IE6. Email clients won't allow CSS or JS tricks.
Here is a good way to handle that.
http://commadot.com/png-8-that-acts-like-png-24-without-fireworks/
If you export your images as PNG-8 from Fireworks then they'll act the same as gif images. So they won't look shitty and grey, transparency will be transparency but they won't have the full 24 bit loveliness that other browsers do.
Might not totally solve your problem but at least you can get part way there just be re-exporting them.
I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure IE6 and less just don't do transparency with PNG files.
I have two "solutions" that I use. Either create GIF files with transparency and use those everywhere, or just use them for IE 6 and older with conditional style sheets. The second really only works if you are using them as backgrounds, etc.