Sound visualizer using SoundMixer

This time you'll get a complete class drawing a visualizer graph for the sound playing(or, actually the bytes in the sound). You can show the graph as a raw sound wave or as grouped by frequency(where a fourier transformation has been applied). This is just a simple demo, but you can separate out different frequencies to get some really cool effects. Play around with it and see what you get. PS: You do need to provide your own sound ;-)

package {
import flash.display.GradientType;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.media.Sound;
import flash.media.SoundMixer;
import flash.net.URLRequest;
import flash.utils.ByteArray;

[SWF(width='512',height='300',backgroundColor='0x000000',frameRate='30')]

public class SpectrumTest extends MovieClip{

private var _eql:Boolean = true;//Show as grouped by frequenzy
private var _completeGraph:Boolean = false;//Complete graph fill
private var _spikeAmp:uint = 100;//Amplifier for graph peaks
private var _graphFill:Array = new Array(0xFF0000, 0xFFDF21);//Colorfill for graph

private var _soundBytes:ByteArray;

public function SpectrumTest(){
var s:Sound = new Sound(new URLRequest("yoursoundfile.mp3"));
s.play(0, 3);
this._soundBytes = new ByteArray();
this.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, drawGraphHandler);
}

private function drawGraphHandler(evt:Event):void{
graphics.clear();
graphics.clear();
graphics.beginGradientFill(GradientType.LINEAR, this._graphFill, [1,1],[0,255]);
graphics.moveTo(-1, 150);

//Get the bytes
SoundMixer.computeSpectrum(this._soundBytes,this._eql);

for(var i:uint=0; i<(stage.stageWidth * .5); i++){ 

var num:Number = -this._soundBytes.readFloat() * this._spikeAmp + stage.stageHeight * .5; 

graphics.lineTo(i*2, num); 

} 

if(this._completeGraph){ 

graphics.lineTo(512, 300); 

graphics.lineTo(0, 300); 

graphics.lineTo(-1, 150); 

} 

} 

} 

}

Briefly: SWF and FLV formats opens up

Adobe has announced the Open Screen Project which will be one big step in the openness direction of the SWF and FLV file formats. In practice this means that you can build your own Flash player, or an FLV flayer. So, iPhone Flash player anyone?

Ryan Stewart has written a more in depth explanation on what this announcement means.

Quicktip: Skewing an image using ActionScript 3

So you want to skew an image, or a MovieClip or perhaps any other DisplayObject. You could do this manually in the Flash editor of course, but what if you need to do it dynamically, or in Flex.. Here is how.

//If you prefer to draw one visually, skip down
/*var target:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
target.graphics.beginFill(0x000000);
target.graphics.lineTo(100,0);
target.graphics.lineTo(100,100);
target.graphics.lineTo(0,100);
target.graphics.lineTo(0,0);
target.graphics.endFill();
//center it on the stage
target.x = stage.stageWidth *.5-50;
target.y = stage.stageHeight *.5-50;
//add the mc to the stage
addChild(target);*/
/*****/
//Set the skewing angle
var degX:Number = 15;
var degY:Number = 15;



//Get the transform matrix for the object to skew
var m:Matrix = target.transform.matrix;
m.b = Math.tan(degY *(Math.PI/180));
m.c = Math.tan(degX +(Math.PI/180));



//Apply the matrix to the transform object
var t:Transform = new Transform(target);
t.matrix = m;



//Apply the skew
target.transform = t;


Looks like a lot of code, but remember that the first 10 lines of code(not counting comments) are just to draw a MovieClip onto the center of the stage. The actual skew is achieved in just 8 lines of code.

When applying this to a movieclip it will look something like the image in the top of the post.

Quicktip: Ducking local security in FlashPlayer

Ever needed to test a swf containing networking residing on your local hard drive? Sure, you can choose to export for only network from the publish menu in Adobe Flash. But what if you need to load some movies locally and then make a connection to your remote server at the same time? Well, out of the box, you can't. But wait, there is a simple solution to allow flash player to do both when playing locally. Only tree easy steps..

1. Open your favorite texteditor(BBEdit, Coda, Textmate..) and create a new textfile. At the first line, type the path of the folder where your project resides, e.g./Users/username/myproject

2. Save the file with a .cfg extension to: /Library/Application Support/Macromedia/FlashPlayerTrust/

3. There is no step 3

Note: You can do this for your entire user account, but I strongly recommend not to do so, cos this will allow not trusted files to run both networking and local command on your computer if you download them. You don't want that.