javascript image gallery
I'm working on combining sever scripts out there to improve on the cover-flow-like image thumbnails for a picture gallery. The basis is ImageFlow 0.9 by Finn Rudolph. Here are some improvements over the original:
- added left and right 'perspective' thumbnails to create the illusion of depth
- added transparency, or a 'fading' effect to the fringe images to deepen the illusion of depth
- re-wrote server-side scripts for the 'reflection' effect for each thumbnail--in fact for several effects.
- cache all thumbnails for fast loading
- slider moves smoothly, rather than discretely
- a lot of code refactoring and fixing of redundancy
screenshot of image gallery (taken from Safari 3.1.1)
gd / imagemagick scripts
a collection of some useful higher level functions for server-side image manipulation using the gd library and imagemagick, both available for free. The catch with gd, as I've noticed, is that some useful functions (imagelayereffect() ; imagerotate()) are not available with certain releases that are not bundled with official distributions of php despite the gd release being up-to-date. in short, this is the library i used to generate thumbnails for the javascript above.
| raw2disp() | crops/resize a large image (such as from a digital camera) |
| createThumbNail() | uses the following subroutines to create neat thumbnails |
| imageDistortPerspective() | takes an image and uses an imagemagick routine to 'skew' them to look like they are angled away from you (like in Apple's coverflow) |
| imageResizeCropMask() | a fairly specific module for taking as much of an image as possible and resizing that portion down to a specified size - the result is a cropped image that contains as much of the image as the dimensions of the crop allowed |
| imageCreateReflection() | generates a reflection of the image, using alpha (transparency) for the png format |
| imageCreateBorder() | kind of a no-brainer |
| autorotate() | rotates an image based on exif data--it's verbose and written in low-level gd, because the imagerotate() function wasn't available with my gd. |
fan subbing
Recently, I have joined forces with a teacher in Sapporo, Japan to translate and subtitle tv shows that air in Japan (doramas). We only provide text files, and do not have anything to do with the actual video/audio files pertaining to the doramas. So far, I have worked on the following doramas:
- Watashitachi no Kyokasho
- Joshi Deka
- Gokusen 3 (current)
We have a wiki page on d-addicts that links to the subtitle files and describes our work in more detail.
scientific visualizationflying through zeolites
Zeolites are crystals, like quartz. Quartz, though, is a very dense structure. Zeolites are like a less dense quartz, still made of the same basic stuff: silicon and oxygen. Zeolites can additionally contain metals like aluminum or titanium. Zeolites are less dense than quartz in the sense that the crystal structure allows for gaping holes, which form channels when the unit cells are connected up together. In other words, the atomic structure of a zeolite can look like it has tunnels running through it, like swiss cheese.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a movie that shows you this concept? Well, that's what I'm currently working on. Updates to come soon, I hope!