J2ME ARMY KNIFE

Long time, no post.

Anyway, I updated the code so now the library should be even faster, and I also fixed a couple of bugs. Existing apps should not be broken by this update.

Still, if this update breaks things for you, let me know.

Cheers!

… but I’m kind of busy right now, and will continue to be so for a couple of months.

Since I want to focus on my real work, Army Knife updates will have to wait a while. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Have a great day,
Ovidiu

PS: I have received a couple of requests for new features and I do plan on fulfilling some of them when the time comes.

I’ve added a new game-related demo, this time for the always popular “Game Over” screen. This demo showcases one of the many tricks that can be done with the J2ME ARMY KNIFE library: real-time dynamic masks. Check out the live demo (it’s been updated) to see it in action!

Also related to dynamic masks: I’ll be posting a new video tutorial this week, that will show you how SmartImages can be used as dynamic masks. I’ll also show you how to use dynamic masks to create dissolve-in and dissolve-out effects, so it will be a pretty interesting tutorial. Stay tuned!

That’s right, you can now use the J2ME ARMY KNIFE library for free, even in commercial products! However, this free usage right only extends to the compiled form of the library. If you want or need access to the source code, you will have to contact me and obtain a commercial agreement.

I decided to take a friend’s advice and create tutorials for the library. However, I wanted to emphasize how easy to use the library is, so instead of regular tutorials I thought about creating VIDEO tutorials. They’re in the sidebar, check them out!

Well, there’s really only one now, but I plan on adding more soon.

A new effect has been added. It’s called wobble, and I hope you’ll like it.

Also, the demo framework has changed a bit, it should be faster now. It does have a couple of snags, such as stalling a bit when changing scenes, but I’m working on those.

The downloads and on-site demo have been updated. Enjoy!

I’ve done a bit of tinkering with the library today, and one of the end-results is a new demo strucure. The main menu has been upgraded, and the effects are now easier to understand.

Also, the downloads have been updated to reflect the changes.

Hi guys!

The performance and refactoring I had planned is done! Memory usage is now no longer an issue, the API feels a bit more polished, and I’ve added a new effect! That, and I almost completely rewrote the entire image manipulation interface. Say goodbye to the native J2ME Image, and say hello to the more flexible AbstractImage and SmartImage! Also, pretty soon I’ll have a tutorial ready to explain what this all means and how you can put together apps/demos of your own.

But for now, as always, feel free to download the demo, demo sources, library and (new!!!) JAVADOC. Play around, test, try to write your own application, tell me what you think!

BTW, the downloadable demo has a FPS counter and a memory monitor.

Um .. .it’s almost 2 AM here, so I’m going to end this post right about now Thanks for reading this, and thank you for trying out J2ME ARMY KNIFE .

Have a great day,
Ovidiu

Refactoring is going well, and so are the performance improvements. Right now I managed to get the memory usage constant, by reusing resources. I’ve also made this easy to do. For example:

if ( resultImage == null )
{
resultImage = font.render(text);
}
else
{
font.render(text,resultImage);
}

This is great for animations, since you can reuse the same destination object and thus avoid memory issues. This helps A LOT when it comes to keeping the FPS constant and the resource consumption low.

I’m 70% ready with the refactoring&performance updates, a new demo should be out in a couple of days.

Major updates so far:

*Everything is now not based around native Image objects, but around custom AbstractImages. This should make things faster and more flexible in the future.

* AbstractImages are a lot like images, in that you can draw then on other AbstractImages or on native Graphics objects. This is also very easy to do:

AbstractImage.drawOnGraphics( Graphics g, int x, int y, int anchor, boolean keepTransparency);
AbstractImage.drawOnAbstractImage (AbstractImage dest, int x, int y, int anchor);

The anchor even supports stuff like Graphics.HCENTER | Graphics.VCENTER !

* There’s a new object type called SmartImage (it implements the AbstractImage interface) that allows (among other things) you instantaneous READ-WRITE access to the underlying ARGB data. How’s that for opening up possibilities?

* You can now keep memory usage fairly constant by re-using images.

* Renamed a couple of methods, added a couple of methods.

* Oh, I’ve also added a new effect.

Thanks (and stay tuned),
Ovidiu

Hi guys!

I’ve been working on some performance updates. And it shows. Some effects are now TWICE as fast!

Also, I’ve added Javadoc to all classes, and I’ve done a bit of refactoring to make things clearer.

Stay tuned for a new release in the next 2-3 days!