Flash Interface: Star Map and Planet Info

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-09 11:48pm

Well, I've got an assignment at school to make an interface that highlights stuff on a map or something similar. This is what I've got so far:

http://66.176.46.28/flash/menu_prototype_01.swf

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-12-10 12:18am

*Raises eyebrow*

Facinating. </Spock>

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-10 12:50am

pfft. :p

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-12-10 02:03am

OOh... Nice.

Err, actually, I just suck with flash. But I like the smooth feeling of it.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-12-10 02:06am

Okay so does it do anything other than swiching between the two screens?

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-10 02:15am

Not yet, spanky love, but wait until i finish. this is a WIP.

Update. I added the main nebula thingy that will be used. Made it in photoshop. Was a bitch. Pretty tho.

http://66.176.46.28/flash/nebulousmatter.swf

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-12-10 02:17am

Ooh, pretty!

Still don't do shit, though.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-10 02:20am

thats because i only work at a fixed speed. tomorrow i plan to get the prototype line trace and info sheets done

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-12-10 02:28am

Why not a galaxy?

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-10 02:33am

Dalton wrote:Why not a galaxy?

Making the nebula was hard enough, Dalton.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-12-10 02:37am

Yeah, you only do as much work as you have to.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-10 02:43am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Yeah, you only do as much work as you have to.

Darn tootin! Actually, I really need to be getting to sleep, so you know.. night. :p

salm · Post by **salm** » 2003-12-10 10:14am

kojikun wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Yeah, you only do as much work as you have to.
Darn tootin! Actually, I really need to be getting to sleep, so you know.. night. :p

make the picture as wide as the menue below it. i´d also recomend, that you combine the pic and the menue somehow in order to give them a common visual context.
maybe you could get rid of that thin line around the picture and give it a more "monitor" like frame. then put the main topics (a-sector, b-sector, c-sector...) on buttons which are on the "monitor". when you press a button the relevant menue slides down and the picture in the monitor morphs into another picture that has something to do with the clicked sector.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2003-12-10 11:48am

maybe something like this:

(it´s geocities, so copy and paste)

http://www.geocities.com/bettlerfront/i ... ojikun.jpg

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-10 05:29pm

salm wrote:maybe something like this:

(it´s geocities, so copy and paste)

http://www.geocities.com/bettlerfront/i ... ojikun.jpg

To be entirely honest, thats garbage and destroys the elegant simplicity of the interface.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-12-10 07:40pm

I agree, but a little more politely.

That one looks too designed with a merchandise mindset, as if it was a commercial product, while Koji's is elegant in its simplicity, looking like an educational tool.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-10 10:48pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I agree, but a little more politely.

Politeness is for PC pussies.

That one looks too designed with a merchandise mindset, as if it was a commercial product, while Koji's is elegant in its simplicity, looking like an educational tool.

Indeed.

Update! You can check out the method I'm using for the locating and display. Check it ooouuut!

http://66.176.46.28/flash/nebulousmatter2.swf

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-12-11 04:26am

Looking very good so far.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2003-12-11 07:51am

kojikun wrote: To be entirely honest, thats garbage and destroys the elegant simplicity of the interface.

meh, agreed.
i still think that you need to do something about that thin frame around the picture. either mak a real frame or none at all but this one looks as if it wants to be a frame but is too thin to actually hold anything.

i´d also try how the site looks if you make these subscreens which appear after clicking a menue point the same width as the space between the two outer sparating lines in the menue. i mean since you´ve got something like a very rough grid i´d stick to it.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-11 07:27pm

salm wrote:meh, agreed.
i still think that you need to do something about that thin frame around the picture. either mak a real frame or none at all but this one looks as if it wants to be a frame but is too thin to actually hold anything.

Um? It's not a "frame" its an outline. It's purpose is to seperate the image from the background in an orderly fashion rather then just having the image END.

i´d also try how the site looks if you make these subscreens which appear after clicking a menue point the same width as the space between the two outer sparating lines in the menue. i mean since you´ve got something like a very rough grid i´d stick to it.

Translate that into english, please.

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2003-12-18 05:51am

Interesting ... erm, are the system names from anything or did you just make them up?

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2003-12-18 06:02am

Okay that looks amazing, where does one learn how to program in flash ... and how did you make the nebula? Was it photoshop or did you use something else?

Oh did I say that I really liked it?

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-12-20 04:58pm

Beautiful job, very smooth.

You should make the old chart close when you select a new one. And maybe make the tracer lines a bit faster?

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-12-20 05:02pm

McDob: I used some from Andromeda, but they're also names from elsewhere.

Crown: Books, experimentation. The nebula was lots of fudge work in PS.

Storm: I wanted to make the old info close when new info is opened, but I cannot figure out how.

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2003-12-20 11:32pm

Looks pretty good. One thing I'd recommend changing is that if you just click on one of the names without allowing the little animation point out where it is, you have no idea where it is.
So maybe have it do the pointing animation when you hover the mouse, because that's cool, but then when you click on the name, the star gets highlighted. That way, if you just click quickly, you still know what's being referred to.