Any programmers in here looking for a side project?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have this great idea for a computer program! Any programmers looking to kill some free time (lswote I’m looking in your direction…)?

“Desktop Picasso”

Imagine this: A little flowery guilded frame about two by three inches floating around the desktop. When you move your cursor inside the frame it becomes a little paintbrush, click it and the program creates a unique little Picasso-esque abstract painting!

The idea is to have the program randomly combine pre-made backgrounds, hands, mouths and eyes with those small junk GIF’s and JPEG’s rattling around inside your browser’s cache memory (but clear your cache after visiting “moistbabes.com” for chrissake!).

Okay, you click the frame…

  • First, the program randomly selects a pre-made background image from an archive. It will have the making of a face on it.

  • Then --according to a template that would tell the program where the eyes, nose, ears, mouth would be-- it will look through your browsers cache for images to fill these in. Say its looking for eyes, it will look for a GIF or JPEG between 30x30 and 70x70 pixels, that button from Salon.com will be great! Looking for a mouth? It will automatically search for something more horizontal, that 60x140 pixel banner ad will do nicely! If it can’t find anything the right size or if the cache is empty it will randomly select something from an archive of pre-made items.

I don’t have any programming experience myself. What do you think? Is it practical? I can provide the backgrounds and pre-made items.

Inky

2

Sure, it’s practical. You’ve already provided way more information then I’ve ever gotten for a new programming assignment.

The only thing I’d add is to have a little supply of ready-made .jpgs if you can’t find one in your cache.

If I wasn’t at work I’d code it up for you. Maybe tonight, unless somebody else is more eager.

3

sounds like you’ve given me something to do this at work Inky. thanx. Usually i just spend all my time at work on the SDMB. :slight_smile:

4

I can absolutly do the pre-made elements, just give me the word (I had no idea there were so many programmers in here).

5

LOL - Isn’t THAT the truth!

6

Can I assume from this your instructions tend to be on the “vague” side?

7

“Vague”? Vague, you say?

Clueless Boss: OK, we need a database to increase productivity, streamline connectivity, and eschew obscurity.

Me: OK. Who is the project for?

CB: Confidential.

Me: All right, but what’s the platform?

CB: That’s under consideration.

Me: What about specifications?

CB: …Hrm. Why don’t you go ahead and start on it, and we’ll meet in a week to form a committee to start drafting a Vision statement.

Me: [staring blankly, muttering foul imprecations] Yuh. Why don’t I do that…

CB: [walks away angrily] Engineers…always worried about unimportant details.

I would love to get vague instructions. They would be an improvement.

8

I did a related program, now an image on techchick68’s photo album.
**
tshirts (kiosk test screen) **

It’s from a touchscreen kiosk I built for the San Jose Museum of Art children’s art program. You sit in front of the camera and it shows you as though you’d sat for a famous artist.

Less fun than your idea, but it had to be “playable” in under a minute to let every kid in the group get a chance to pose and print out a souvenir.

I’m booked right now, but if you do get more specific, I’d like to help you enthuse. I’m not critical, though. Most programming projects are fragile enough that they can’t take much kibitzing and stay coherent.