This hint comes from Elliot McAllister. Thanks!
What we need to do is simply make a dual set of graphics and name the larger ones with -hd.png
example.png / example-hd.png
Then the trick is to go into the delegate.m and on line 73 and 74 uncomment. See the attachment…
click to enlarge
Lawrence Turton, our expert instructor in all things HTML5-related, guides us step by step through creating a complete website using the latest web technologies. And for those of you dragging your feet on learning the latest features of Dreamweaver CS5 and 5.5, Lawrence shows us how DW integrates in with all this emerging coolness taking over the web. Here’s some of the highlights of what you’ll learn….
- HTML5
- Javascript
- Jquery
- CSS3
- Interactive video with Popcorn.js (a free library for integrating the web and video)
- Trigger events or content on the page based on what point your video is playing (see the example site linked up on the sales page)
- Compressing and optimizing files
- Integrating Twitter, Flicker and Google Maps
- 3D Page transitions
- HTML5 Galleries that use the Canvas API to add effects to images dynamically (for example, make an image black and white without having to actually save a separate colored copy)
- How to safely support all types of devices, be it table, smart phone or just older browsers that don’t understand CSS3 or javascript
- Progressively enhancing your site with all this new stuff
- And again, all THIS using the latest Dreamweaver
More details at the sales page here
Read this from this Wall Street Journal article….
“I’m not sure it’s useful,” he said of the app.
Thats a guy talking about his own app he had commissioned. Oops.
So I’ve gotten into a few email discussions with students about what to make, what to do, etc. And a while back I posted up Apple’s own submission guidelines for apps they review, and the thing I really took from that was to make something of lasting entertainment value. So even if you get a restaurant on the hook to pay you to build an app, consider (between you and the client obviously) what could be done beyond just a fancy business card in app form. Worst case, you might have Apple’s reviewers just say there’s so little substance, the app shouldn’t be in the store, for example if you tried to just submit a two tab app for a restaurant with a menu and location. Thats a mobi website, not an app. But best case, ANYTHING is possible. And pitching “ANYTHING” can be more lucrative for you from a freelance perspective. If it was a restaurant app, maybe create a slot machine that pays out coupons (that might skirt the gambling issue, but I think a free coupon game is probably ok). Or interactive menu with sound fx, so kids can order their food and play a funny sound for the waiter. You have the potential to build something that can actually bring customers back to an establishment IF your app supplements their enjoyment at that business. And thats an easy sell to the business you are pitching to. Walk into a dentist’s office, tell him you make iPad apps, and have some ideas for a custom app for kids waiting to go in. Aren’t braces like 5 grand? I think any dentist can afford to at least hear out your crazy ideas.
FYI, session 3 part 2 is definitely coming in a few days. Had to pause recording for a bit, but I’m back at it!
Check out these ad campaign photos from an airport in Germany. Pretty brilliant use of the floor’s natural reflection. It makes me think some modern-day Mad Man got a free trip to, well the airport, to “take in” the space for inspiration and just happened to notice they kept the floors all nice and polished.
Okay, thats my loose tie-in to a mini Flash rant. Just yesterday I was thinking how awesome it would be to have a mirror effect filter in Flash. Right now you can easily achieve that effect by copying the symbol, blurring it a tad, flipping it upside down and arranging it behind the primary object. But what would REALLY be easy would be to hit a Filter button, and not have to worry about keeping a separate symbol. And the Filter properties could be sliders for how blurry the mirror effect is, the clipping, the angle, etc. So anyway, I was thinking about this, and then realized, wait…. we haven’t seen ANY new Filters since Flash 8. So, we’ve got Flash CS3, CS4, CS5, CS5.5 (ahem, more like CS5.05). So Adobe, throw us designers a bone. I know its hard to believe, but you actually have people like me that almost only use Flash to illustrate/design with. And I don’t want to hear that a mirror effect can be done with Actionscript, because in my best Eric Cartman voice, my reply is “I care!”. Doing it with code, doesn’t gel with me as a designer, nor can I export out a PNG with code.
Rant over. Here’s those pics…
Alrighty, the first half of session 3 of our new iOs App Development tutorial series is ready to download. Clocking in at around 2 hours, its divided up like this…
Video 1 – Animating Images / Sprites with Cocos2D
Video 2 – Writing a custom class. We create our own Cocos2D class for doing the same animation in video 1, but add some special options like tinting the entire animation, changing the opacity, looping from a random frame, etc.
Video 3 – Sprite Sheet Animations with Cocos2D. We explore the performance benefits of creating a single png file with all of our images (sprites) to animate
Video 4 – Adding effects and background sound with the Simple Sound Engine in Cocos2D.
Video 5 – Using your own fonts to make a score label in Cocos2D
Videos 6 and beyond, covering Your First Cocos2D Game, will be recorded and uploaded soon.
Tim just shared his latest entry into the Android Market with me. Gridiron Geezers He made some modifications to that Actionscript 3 slingshot tutorial I taught and turned it into this great looking game.
Tim is also available for freelance work, and you can contact him through the link below. 
Artist Raghava KK demos his new children's book for iPad with a fun feature: when you shake it, the story -- and your perspective -- changes. In this charming short talk, he invites all of us to shake up our perspective a little bit.
Ready to learn the difference between an iPad App that has been placed in the category of Books VS. an iBookStore iPad app?… Add interactivity. Just a page turn effect will NOT be enough to get your book app approved as an “app”. And the App Store is the place to be right now. The iBookStore is a whole different entity with I’m sure far fewer people casually looking around.
But the good news is, remember that iOS lesson I just taught, its already setup for adding interactivity on a per page basis. The thing I need to emphasis in the lesson is adding something is a MUST to get it approved as an app. And that pic above, links to a video with some great suggestions on things you can do. You might want…
- Add simple buttons that change the page artwork (think of a light switch clicking on or off)
- Incorporate the accelerometer to float some of the art work around
- Add touch events that move some of the artwork. That could easily be called a “sticker” portion of your book.
There’s TONS you can do. And when you submit your book for review, I would definitely detail in the description of the app, all the things that separate your book app from a boring ol’ book. Or else Apple will just want to shelf it in the iBookStore.
I showed this animated piece titled Happiness to my baby, and he giggled through the whole thing. Many times…
Got a few emails asking “whats next” in this new iOS Development course, and my crystal ball is blurry past a certain point, but what I’m recording for Session 3 is below…
So for those of you looking to add more dynamic stuff to your e-books from Session 2, those first two bullet points will come in handy. I’ll rush that video out to you asap =)
Alrighty the official sales page for this ongoing series of lessons is live! Just added to the saga: 2 hours of instruction on how to create a flip book app for the iPad or iPhone. The session is divided into two main videos. The first one teaches how to build the basic page turn template. So afterwards you could submit either a free book app or paid book app to the store. The second video teaches how to add in-purchasing to the book. So you could release 50 pages for free, and then ask folks to pay for the remainder of the book.
You’ll also learn to create an index for the book, or trigger any action you want on any page. So you could add specific code to a specific page. This opens the door to making a really dynamic kids book with buttons press, things to fiddle with or move around on a per page basis. But at its very simplest, session 2 will give you video instruction for an awesome page flip starter kit. For example, just name your files page0.png to page30.png, drop them in the resources folder and you’re nearly done after tweaking a few variables.
Check out the intro to this session…
Just noticed the frame rate in the video lags a little. This is only due to recording from my web camera. The page turn effect in the app itself is super smooth. If you have an iPad, you’ll able to download this app for free in the App Store as soon as it is approved (in a few days)
Right now the entire series ONLY costs $40, so you’ve got tons more courses to follow, but in my humble opinion Session 2 is worth the $40 alone! More details on the official sales page or click here to purchase the course. When new sessions are added, you’ll get an email with instructions to download the new files.
Enjoy!
