Author: ARSpaulding

Gradient Dropper = LOVE

Posted on by ARSpaulding

I tweeted about this earlier this week, but I felt it warranted an actual blog.

This tool – I’ve completely overlooked for all of this time.  Usually, I can recreate a gradient fairly accurately if not dead-on the original.  But uhm… I don’t have to!  But I didn’t know that.  I was recreating a real flower’s color variations and on occasion I’d click the eyedropper to obtain a color from the original but it wouldn’t actually apply the color!  Well I finally got a bit frustrated with this and sat back for a moment and then I noticed it.  There were 2 droppers.

2?!

Hover mouse over each.  The first was what I expected.  A normal eye dropper.  The second… a what?  A “Gradient Dropper?!  Wait – does that mean what I think it means?!”

So I gave it a guess as to how to use it.  I clicked on one spot, held the mouse down, dragged my mouse over to another desgination and… OMG!  An automaticallyish gradient created!

This is awesome.  So for those of you who are trying to figure out what the heck I’m talking about – where oh where would this thing be located – look to the lovely screenshot to the side with all of the spiffy arrows.

Someone linked me to a description of me…

Posted on by ARSpaulding

What the heck. 

So uhm – if you don’t get who I am in the design world – read this:

http://designerslove.net/?p=221

Way too freakin weird.  Seriously.  Yes – that’s about how it is.  A graphics designer who tinkers w/ more than just the graphics to make it “work” and interact and buddies up with the developers while still doing the same with the designers (though I think I’d have to speak for myself and other designers, we’re sometimes a judgemental bunch of skeptics when someone else says that they’re a graphics designer).

Anyway, I thought that others should also read the article who find themselves in the same boat.  I think the real heart of it is that we like to get to the heart of everything – every part of the “thing” and know the innerds from the techonology side, the development side, apply the pretty shiny, and to understand and see (sometimes foresee) how a user will interact and be able to personally feel the frustrations of the end user when there are malfunctions in a given application to the point of personally – temporarily – being frustrated at the state of the UI and want to take control to fix it ourselves.  And then when things are done very well, transitions are incredible and the intuitiveness of a “thing” is so well done that its almost invisible, we have internal ovations over how well its done.

Look ma'! I made Simon in Silverlight 2!

Posted on by ARSpaulding

If you’re so inclined, you should join me in doing a happy dance!

Its finally ready! 

Presenting:

Simon, in Silverlight 2!

I’ve had this sitting on the front and back burners for the last… few months (has it really been that long?).  Got the design to my buddy David at HackingSilverlight.net about 3 or 4 weeks ago, he gave it brains and sent it back to me a week later… but in silverlight 3.  What the heck?!

I want the world to actually get to PLAY WITH THIS!!  So I rolled it back to silverlight 2… but there was a problem or 2.  The sounds wouldn’t play, we didn’t have all of the sounds anyway, and the font wasn’t playing nice!

Ugh – and then work.  Why the heck does that thing which makes my life actually operate smoothly have to come into the foreground just when I need some time to do my little projects?!  Geez.  What are these people thinking – do they think they pay me or something to do their stuff?  Oh yeah, right.  They do.

Long story short, its DONE! 

Go!  Click on the picture – it’ll take you there.  Have fun!

…

Oh, and tell me what you think in a happy comment, if you please 😀

Tutorials?

Posted on by ARSpaulding

Seems more and more often, my site is being hit with people looking for Expression Blend Tutorials.

Before I delve into the potential of providing a few, I was wondering if it was possible to elicit feedback on what areas would be of interest?

If you have interest in tutorials, please comment or send me an email at – ariel.leroux at gmail.com

Update to FacingBlend – a tiny portfolio gallery

Posted on by ARSpaulding

I’ve been asked quite a few times in the last few months for a display of some of my design work, and though a lot of it, I cannot show, some items are already publicly viewable and/or never made it to being live but can be viewed in a printscreen type of display.

Not only that, but I’d like to have an image gallery set up for… whatever I decide to post up in the future.  Who knows?

Anyhow, you may view items within the portfolio galleries by either clicking on one of the 2 links along the top or right toolbar of this site, or by clicking here.

Font embedding?

Posted on by ARSpaulding

Silverlight 2 stuffs – my “thing” which is “done” has a specialized font and the page.xaml is calling the user control which was created – the User control is the part which is using and referencing the font.

When pulling the joyful information directly from the user control – it displays the font, however, when calling the user control in page.xaml… *erk*(as in the sound a car makes when someone puts on their brakes)!  No font.  It resorts to the User Input darn default.

Ugh.  I’ve watched the Tim Huerert video (probably mispelled that name) and that method works only on the native document or so it seems.  I’ve heard reference of embedding the resource into the DLL but as to how the heck to do that is beyond me…

I’ll keep searching.  I WILL find it!