Demo of high-res tiled image output: KugelTiled04 res demo

Update: I’ve finally found the time to write a proper class for this tiling technique. Have a look at aTileSaver.pde.

I’ve been able to generate huge raster files for print use from Processing, using the tiling trick first outlined on the Processing forums by user “surelyyoujest”. Using his code as a base, I got it working with OpenGL and proceeded to output some gigantic files. A quick hack using PImage allowed me to stitch the resulting tiles together in one huge image, which was then saved as a Targa file.

See the picture above for a demo. When viewed at its original size, the left half of this image shows the full picture at 10% (original res 10240 x 7680 px). The right half shows the whited-out section of the left image at 100%. The resolution is staggering.

This should clear the way for doing huge prints, without not having to worry about PDFs not showing 3D correctly (see previous post). I will post sample code for tile-based rendering and stitching as a library when I have time.

An official Flickr geotagging solution: Flickr Map

A built-in official Flickr solution for geotagging has been rumored for a while now. With the launch of Flickr Map two days ago it’s a reality. Simply navigate over to flickr.com/map and start surfing.

Geotagging is done through the Organizr, which now has a new tab called “Map”. Pre-existing geotagged images aren’t automatically imported, you have to go into Organizr and request that your images be added. One truly great feature is the addition of a “Map” link on the pages for sets that have geotagged images. See a map of my recent New York photos for an example. This is probably the best way of looking at geotagged images right now, for reasons I’ll explain below.

Having a definitive supported solution should provide a big boost for geotagging, as well as make it a whole lot easier for the non-expert part of the community. But the implementation is still a matter of taste. The Flickr geotagger community is currently figuring out what to think:

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I found a simple tutorial over on Java Practices that demonstrated the use of the system clipboard for transferring text between applications using copy / paste. I’m using it to copy color values from an improved version of SimpleColorPicker.pde.

The CopyPaste class described in the code can be dropped into any Processing sketch to provide access to the clipboard.

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Here is the code for a simple Processing GUI utility for editing color palettes. It generates gradients given a start and end color. It will print palettes as hex strings and RGB triplets, change the “prefix” and “suffix” variables to turn the output into readymade code.

I whipped this up to make it easy to make decent color combos for a current project I'm working on. It could do with a few more features, like a 2D RGB color field to choose from and the ability to save and maybe even load files. It feeds into a color library I use, maybe I’ll make that available at some point to make it a bit more useful.

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This little code piece implements a Timer class which takes a duration and countdown, and returns a value in the range [0..1] depending on how much of the specified time has elapsed. The variable “fract” gives the state of the timer, with a value of 0 representing a state in which the timer has not started (i.e. still in countdown interval). A value of 1 means that the countdown is complete and the time specified as duration has elapsed. A fractional value represents how far into the time interval the program has reached.

This is useful for animation in absolute time, regardless of frame rate. The timer’s update() function must be called before using the value contained in the “fract” variable.

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del.icio.us has just launced a new feature: Network Badges. It allows users to advertise their del.icio.us links, with optional details as to how many “fans” they have. Fans are people who have added you to their network so that they will see the links you post. The badge also features a link to let people add you to their network.

This is a great feature in terms of publicizing del.icio.us activity, but I worry that it’ll make del.icio.us even more like a social network. But I guess that Pandora’s box has already been opened. Tom Carden has commented that he already considers del.icio.us a form of miniblogging, something which becomes evident when you notice he’ll even post rhetorical questions in his link descriptions. (His feed is a great source of code-related goodness, by the way..)

Right now my del.icio.us/garuda account has 24 “fans”. So whenever I post a link on del.icio.us I’m painfully aware that it will be seen by more than 20 people. Hence I have to edit what I post. Some bookmarks are private or not intended for public viewing. And no, I don’t mean porn, serial crack sites or your favorite Bittorrent portals. A while back I bookmarked some Google Maps links to relevant personal addresses, then deleted them when I realized that it would be a bad idea to have those visible to just anyone. And sometimes I want to bookmark a link that I’m going to blog, but I know that if I do so there is a good chance that another blogger will see it and beat me to it.

Of course, all links on del.icio.us have always been public, but previously they were hard to browse through and so you had a certain “security-through-obscurity”. Now every link you post will be seen by everyone who have added you to their network. This is fine by me, I’ve already used my del.icio.us account as a data source for the Generator.x blog. But I would like to avoid having to find a separate bookmarking service for my less public links.

The solution is simple: Private bookmarks. A simple checkbox would allow you to save some bookmarks as being private. Or even better, maybe they could use Flickr-style privacy, so that you could make some links private, some visible to friends-only and everything else public. It should be easy to implement.

And if the aim really is to make del.icio.us more like a social network, it would be great to have a way of commenting on links. I’ve already seen people use the link descriptions as mini-blog entries, and also wanted to respond to things they’ve written there. So comments might be useful, although I’m not sure exactly how they should be implemented.

I also have an account with StumbleUpon, which treats links more as a kind of mini-journal, allowing you to post more complex descriptions including images. It also allows readers to comment on your posts. Just a shame that StumbleUpon’s use of tags is badly broken to the point of being useless, and that some of their ideas are not well resolved. Still, now that del.icio.us is moving more in the direction of an explicit social network, I think they might need more of the features that StumbleUpon has.

PS. You too can be a fan of my del.icio.us links. Don’t be shy.