In this part of the tutorial we'll have a look at how to load the some book information in the JSON format into Unity. For good comparison between JSON and XML, this file will describe the same books and uses roughly the same structure. Take a look at how that looks:
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As being a Flash Developer for many years, I'm very used to just quickly loading and parsing an external XML file. Although this is possible with Unity, I found out there's very limited information about this subject available in a Unity context. While investigating this subject a while ago, I also decided to look into the JSON format as a data container, to see which works best for me. Naturally I'd prefer to use XML over JSON, but it turns out that both comes with their cons and pros, which makes it hard to say which works best.
In this two part tutorial I'll show how you could load an XML or JSON file into Unity and parse it's information. Both the XML file and JSON file are containers for the same information, which makes it easier to compare the differences between the two.
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On the 3rd of December, I'll be doing a workshop on getting started with Unity at the upcoming Adobe Usergroup XL meeting in Amsterdam. During this 2 hour workshop, a short introduction on Unity will be given. What is the tool and where could you use it for. Which elements do we find in the interface, where does this overlap with Flash, how to program and how to create a first game. Right from the start when we have a look at the interface, you can actively work on the examples by using your own laptop. By playing around with Unity, you'll get familiar with it. This workshop is a good start to continue learning Unity on your own, after the workshop.
Depending on the sign-ups this could be an English spoken workshop.
Besides my workshop, there will be lots of other interesting presentations and workshops during the day. You should keep an eye on the website of the usergroup for updates about all sessions and speakers. So far the other confirmed speakers are: Pascal Leroy, Dave August, Zender, Tobias Mannewitz, De Monsters, Rufus Deuchler, Champagne Valentine, Serge Jespers, Hanazuki, Jason Levine, Ralph Hauwert, Dirk Groten, Paul Burnett.
Last Tuestday I presented at the pre-conference Unity for Flash developers day, at invitation of Unity. It was a very interesting day for every Flash developer who wants to get into Unity (which by the way is very easy to get started with, as Unity Indy has been made a free product!). Other speakers that day were Mauricio Longoni, John Grden and Tom Higgins.
I think the day provided the visitors with a lot of essential information in order to get started with Unity. The feedback I received on my talk was very good, so hopefully I contributed to new Unity users getting started with Unity.
As promised in my presentation, I've posted my presentation online, which you'll find at the end of this post. In the next weeks when I've returned and recoverd from this conference, I'll start posting some of the examples as mentioned in my presentation. So you can expect the JSON, Google Analytics, XML loading and Parsing, image loading and posting variables examples on this page.
I already twittered this while being on vacation, however I thought it would be nice to give this some extra attention, since I think the conference is going to rock. After investing a lot of time since last years Unite conference in Copenhagen, it would be very interesting to see where other developers have been into and join the very promising sessions that are scheduled (http://unity3d.com/unite/agenda).
If you don't have a ticket yet, you should really rush, as the conference already starts in a little more than 2 weeks on the 27th of October.
In my point of view, Unity made a very wise decision this year by organizing a special day for Flash developers. This day will give the conference a kick-start for Flash developers who want to get into Unity, as they will be introduced to everything they need to know to get along with the rest of the conference (and start themselves with some Unity development afterwards). I would have been so grateful when such conference day was available at the time I got into Unity.
I feel very honored that 'm invited by the people of Unity to come over and do a session for Flash developers. My talk will be about using best of both worlds and how to interact between the two. Unity for 3D content and Flash elements for 2D content. I have some very interesting cases in mind, which I'll work out in the next two weeks and present at my session.
John Grden from the Papervision3D team will host another session, as well as Mauricio Longoni who created u3dobject.
So to conclude this and be honest; if this is within your field of interest you just need to be there! So get your tickets today and see you in San Fransisco!
I'm very delighted to finally announce that I have been working on the first Papervision3D book that will be released ever. The book is in cooperation with my good friend and co-author Jeff Winder and will be published by Packt Publishing. Since the beginning of this year we have been working extremely hard on the writing of this book. We are ready with the writing of all chapters and are preparing all final drafts right now. So you can expect this book to be published really soon.
The result of our hard work is that we have a book that will be useful for both experienced as non-experienced Papervision3D users. The first few chapters take no knowledge for granted and guides the reader through all steps for getting started with Papervision3D. It describes how to get Flash CS3, Flash CS4, Flex Builder and Flash Builder correctly configured for running Papervision3D code. This includes downloading Papervision3D (SWC, ZIP and a step-by-step guide for downloading from SVN). Once an example project has been compiled, a short introduction to OOP and classes is given for those who have no experience in this. From there the reader book gradually works through more advanced topics, such as loading external models, shading, z-sorting, viewport layers, particles, filters and effects, vector drawing and performance optimizations.
As the book contains much information on a variety of topics it is also interesting for those who already have experience in Papervision3D, but want to extend their knowledge and understanding. It was not aimed to be a reference guide, however it turns out that many topics are thoroughly described and can be used for this purpose as well. (I personally already did this while working on commercial projects that make use of Papervision3D)
Today the book has been announced on the website of our publisher, Packt Publishing and will soon be announced on other websites, like Amazon for example. For both Jeff and myself this is the first book we have ever written. Seeing our book and names listed is already very exciting.
We can't wait to have our book finished and hold the final copy in our hands. We did our best (and still do) to make this a very good book and we are looking forward to hear responses from our readers. But for now we will continue writing on the last bits. Once there's more news about the exact release date I will post it here on my blog.
[Update 2009-07-29] Papervision3D Essentials - Now listed on Amazon
Last Thursday a new campaign for Volkswagen went live, which makes use of mobile streaming. I did some work for this in cooperation with Achtung!, before looking at what I developed for this campaign let me first give a nutshell introduction.
A new Volkswagen Polo is driving around in the Netherlands. When you see the car passing by, you can wave at the car, so the current driver has to stop and the new driver can continue the ride. Each day winner who drove the longest distance gets a ticket for the finale that takes place after the campaign. The one who wins the finale will win the car.
Visitors of the website www.pakdepolo.nl can see where the car is at this moment through several video streams and live GPS. You can leave your zip code on the website in to vote for your neighborhood, which could result in sending the car in that direction. The car is equipped with an custom written navigation system making use of Google maps and is in connection with the website. New routes can be pushed to the car. It is also possible to leave your mobile phone number or e-mail, in order to get a warning when the car is will cross your neighborhood.
I was asked to equip the car with all the technical stuff, as I have quite some experience with mobile streaming and equipping cars with it.
I had to:
The following images show some parts of my work: (more...)
The video registration of the Adobe Usergroup Meeting #12 about games is made available on the website of the Dutch Adobe Usergroup. This is including my presentation about serious multiplayer 3D games using Unity, Flash and Red5.
I've receive quite some feedback, including some international feedback of people who are disappointed the presentation is in Dutch and they can't understand it. I'd love to get invited and do this presentation for an international audience, so ping me a message when you have an opportunity (hint: I'll probably travel to California in September 
).
Regarding the presentation, also make sure you'll watch the following presentations:
Kudos to the Adobe Usergroup for making these videos available!
Today's meetup of the Dutch Adobe Usergroup has been a very successful day. Not only because I did one of the presentations. The other presentations where very interesting as well. It was very interesting to hear experiences from other people that are involved with game development. The line-up was top of the notch, with speakers like Senne de Jong from Little Chicken Game Company, Tim Hudson and Sander Wichers from Virtual FairGround, Quinten Beek from MediaMonks Games, Daniël van Gils from Kamerblauwlicht and more. Check out the Adobe Usergroup website for more details.
Couldn't make it to this meeting? Don't worry, all sessions will be available on the Adobe Usergroup website soon (I'll dedicate a new post on this once it is available).
I've been asked to do a presentation about what I'm doing with Unity, Flash and Red5. Hopefully it gave some new insights to at least a few of the 250 attendees. I really liked talking about my recent passions and want to thank the Adobe Usergroup for inviting!
I've just posted my presentation slides to SlideShare, while waiting for the session videos that will become available soon:
Unity3D 2.5 has been released today! Now the release is finally out, Windows users can join the Unity3D pleasure as well. Check out their website for the full feature list: http://unity3d.com/unity/whats-new/unity-2.5 It's a strong advice from me to check Unity3D out yourself if you haven't done so already.
In case you have already a Unity license, you'll get a free upgrade from Unity3D. Since it is a dot release, updates are free for you to use.
Congratulations everybody at Unity, I know you've been pushing yourselves to the limits to get the so far most important release out.
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