Yeah I understand that. Just so we're clear; my suggestion was to use BitmapData.draw() to draw the markers onto the material bitmap, not to draw them in using Photoshop or anything like that. :)
Cheers /R On Feb 15, 10:29 pm, Shaun <[email protected]> wrote: > I appreciate the response. > > The markers don't need to be interactive, but they need to be added > from a > realtime JSON feed... basically I need to create a timer to reload the > JSON > feed I guess... > > On Feb 14, 5:18 am, richardolsson <[email protected]> wrote: > > > If the points don't need to be interactive, it is just as easy and > > definitely more optimal performance-wise to just draw your dots onto > > the bitmap data that you use for the material. That way you won't need > > to add any extra geometry OR any extra display objects for each dot > > marker, essentially making 0 dots and 1 gazillion dots using the same > > (tiny) amount of resources. > > > If you decide to go with this approach, you won't even have to do any > > 3D math, since the dots are only drawn onto a 2D map. You do need to > > convert your geographic coordinates to a point in the map though. For > > the X axis, just start at the zero-meridian (Greenwich, London) and > > calculate the x position from the longitude, using a scale factor that > > you will need to calculate from the size of your map (remember, the > > entire map is 360 degrees wide, so if it's 2000px, each degree is > > ~5.56px.) > > > For the Y axis, you'll need to read up on Mercator Projection (http:// > > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection) which is the projection > > that I'm assuming that you're using. Use the function described there > > to calculate a point on a map from a given latitude, and this time > > start at the equator. > > > So basically it's a linear function for the longitudes (really simple > > math) and a non-linear one for the latitudes (just copy off of the > > wikipedia article.) > > > Cheers > > > On Feb 13, 4:53 pm, Shaun <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I've read over all of the posts on here and I'm having problems > > > getting this to work. > > > > I'm using Away3D in Flash CS4 > > > > What I have: > > > 1. A sphere that is textured via a BitmapMaterial > > > 2. A JSON feed that has latitude/longitude > > > > What I'd like to do is take the lat/long and use it to plot points on > > > the sphere. I figure I can do it one of two ways - either use Away3D > > > to add points to the sphere, or I can change my BitmapMaterial to a > > > MovieMaterial and plot points on it (add children MovieClips to the > > > MovieMaterial). > > > > So - my question is two fold: > > > > 1. Which is the better approach (better = better performance for lots > > > of points) > > > 2. How do I go about implementing the better approach? > > > > Thanks
