A piece as simple as Kuler Creator relies on it’s source material for its success… The code behind it is trivial, so it truly is about the small elements that comprise the finished compositions. The strong source material in this case, the themes, are what really makes the compositions interesting. The previous version of Kuler Creator didn’t mention the Kuler theme creators directly in the composition, but that has been changed. The designer who created the original palette is now credited in the title area of the finished work. Enjoy.

Hope everyone had some great family time for the holiday. Here is a Thanksgiving themed KulerCreator theme desktop for you to use while doing your online Black Friday shopping… Enjoy.

So I made a couple improvements to the KulerCreator application. It now randomizes themes from within a search (A search for “Blue” returns a composition based on one theme one time, and a completely different theme the next). It also allows the user to choose the number of circles to draw and lets you choose what color of background to draw the composition on.

I have noticed a little flakiness on repeated composition creation, as I’m still learning the AS3 DisplayObject stuff (AddChild/RemoveChild is certainly a step up from the createEmptyMovieClip I was so used to using, but it’s taking a bit to get my head around it). So if it wonks out after a couple drawings, just refresh, things should go back to normal… I plan on fixing that soon, but I think I may need to implement a Timer to do so, as a simple loop isn’t doing a perfect job on cleanup.

This project has brought me a few cool learning experiences though:

1. My first real Flash based project in AS3.
2. My first chance to use new AS3 specific things like the Shape Drawing, AddChild/RemoveChild, E4X, Timer, etc. in Flash (I had previously only used them in Flex.)
3. A chance to play with yet another API - the Kuler API. - I have a plan to implement the Kuler API with another API to make a really cool mashup soon, more on the way with that.
4. How to use the new Fullscreen mode in Flash.
5. Implemented the AS3 Tweener class in Flash - I was a long time user of McTween by Zeh in AS2 and now had a reason to use his new class. All animation in KulerCreator is made with this library.

So, continue playing with the application, and again, if you make cool stuff… post it on your sie or flickr and drop me a line. So far the response I gotten has been great. It’s cool to see that people are liking it.

Starlit Web has created and posted a large set of images created with my KulerCreator app at Flickr. Very cool! Just some notes… any work created by KulerCreator is actually bound by this Creative Commons copyright:


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

That said, please continue to use and enjoy KulerCreator.

I created a series of generative pieces using some simple AS3 last weekend and kind of liked the look… So, I decided to abstract the functionality just a bit and allow a site visitor to create some similar pieces using Kuler color themes using the Kuler API. It’s pretty easy to use and works fairly well, so I’m putting it out there to play around with. Simply visit the page, type in a tag you want to see a piece based off of and click the the “create” button. It will be generated fullscreen, allowing you to take a screen shot of it. If you want to start over and try again, simply rollover the title area on the screen and click the button that appears.

If you like it, drop me a line. I have a fair amount of error trapping in it, but if you do get some sort of flakiness, let me know what happened (please tell me what you searched for too.) If you use it and make something great, post it or send it to me! ‘ll add it to my Flickr.

I may add a bit more randomness eventually… right now, it just creates based on the first theme in the results returned, so “berry” always brings back the same palette. I’d like to mix that up a bit.

An AIR version of this definitely in order… I’d also like to export high res PNGs straight out of it. Enjoy…

I’m presenting at a Bradley University Small Business Development Center event on marketing tactics and trends, etc. I’ll be covering Web2.0 trends and advances in video, viral issues, etc. Here is my keynote document and a PowerPoint version of it too (in case you aren’t on a Mac of course )…

Keynote File

PPT Version

If you find it useful or have questions on it… drop me a line.

I had a business trip late last week and stayed in town through the weekend at some friends’ house. Many thanks to Scott and Kara for putting me up at their place. We had a great time. Saw some mountains, hiked a good bit, had some fantastic microbrews and went out for a nice night in Denver’s LoDo. I have to get back to work now, so I’ll just leave you with this shot…