If the globe doesn’t show (and you have Flash), try refreshing the page.

Nothing really new here but thought this was nice to play with. You can make your own at Revolver Maps. It’s a flash widget but you can also use the plain HTML version below.

It works by counting and tracking the session data of any visitor that loads the widget. So it’s not true site data, it’s just ‘who’s looking at this page’ data really. Still, if you see another dot that isn’t you, you know you’ve got company! Not sure if you really want to share this kind of information, as it may show how little traffic you have coming to a post, but interesting all the same.

I’ve done a few projects with Carlos Ulloa and am under no illusion that he is in fact, a genius. His latest collaboration has produced this spectacular WebGL and HTML5 experience for Ellie Goulding’s latest release, Lights.

Definitely check it out or click the image below.

My last post reminded me of the dark days of Macromedia Director. In 1999 (yes, they had the internet then), a new version of Director introduced ‘quads’, which were like deformed squares. I figured I could use them to make polygons… and therefore a basic 3D engine. Here’s what I made…

Note: It requires Shockwave, which you probably don’t have. And even if you do, there will probably be a yellow bar at the top of your browser you didn’t notice. Good luck

[LAUNCH IT]

Try clicking the little circles and moving the sliders to change the basic lens and scale. You can even grad it! Wow!

Annoyingly, the next version of Director had 3D built in, so my smile was short lived. Not exactly the latest webGL masterpiece but hey, it doffs a cap to the pioneering spirit we’re seeing once again.

There’s all sorts of things wrong with the control and physics (the car wheelies like a mad thing and rolls over at the merest whiff of steering angle) but I’m very impressed how easy it is to put something like this together from scratch! Like, 1.5 hours thanks to a few hints here. Very cool.

More to come!

Click the image to launch the demo. You’ll need to install the Unity player, but it’s pretty seamless.

Just trawling through a few old Flash folders on my mac and found this little fella’ sitting there all unloved. Came up with the 3D engine in 1998 using Director and made a quick hack to get it into Flash. It’s not particularly neat, hence why there’s no source posted, but suffice to say the heart of he 3D bit is that old ‘fake-doodle-dandy’ equation…

var x = (worldLens*pointX)/(pointZ+worldScale)+xOffset;
var y = (worldLens*pointY)/(pointZ+worldScale)+yOffset;

Like so…

Launch it to fill the browser

If you really want the code, let me know, but I’m secretly ashamed of it… :)

If you manage to get your hands on the November edition of Revolution Magazine you may recognise the name on page 76! Well, you would if they spelt it right (it’s Dino Burbidge, not Dino Burbridge… story of my life).

I had the honour of writing the ‘Creative Review’ feature, where industry big-wigs pick campaigns and content that has caught their eye, or that caused a stir. I chose the ubiquitous iPint for the iPhone by Beattie McGuinness Bungay as my feature and also chose four others that I thought warranted some heat, both good and bad.

If you’re interested, click the page layout image below to get a bigger, almost readable sized version… or go and buy the magazine! :)