shield generator flash application

[agentsteel53]

oh dear, that sign is not showing up well at night.  I hope they don't change to black, but rather to the standard interstate blue, when they notice the problem.

thanks for the photos! 

[rickmastfan67]

Well, that just could have been because I still didn't know all of the functions of my new camera yet.  I only had it for a little over 2 months (February '08) at the time of that night shot.

The Day shot was taken in October of this year.

[Bickendan]

Yeah, it looks like the flash overwhelmed the shield's reflectivity on the night shot.

[agentsteel53]

Well, that just could have been because I still didn't know all of the functions of my new camera yet.  I only had it for a little over 2 months (February '08) at the time of that night shot.

the thing is, the 21 and 77 have good contrast, so I am thinking that the state route shield's colors are indeed sub-optimal.  I'll be in SC in a few weeks so I can hopefully see for myself!

it's a very nice color; it just appears to not work well with retroreflective materials. 

[yanksfan6129]

Jake, do you have any timetable on putting up a regular ol' circle?

[agentsteel53]

Jake, do you have any timetable on putting up a regular ol' circle?

low priority right now  I'm taking a break from the generator today to restore some signs and maybe add some photos to the AARoads blog ... I think I've worked for 16 hours straight every day since Saturday the 20th, and nearly all of that has been work on website infrastructure and shield gallery (excepting Christmas, when I worked for 10 hours only... if anyone ever tells you being self-employed is like being on vacation; well, lemme tell ya folks, it's only half true!   )

[vdeane]

That would explain how updates were coming so fast.

[agentsteel53]

That would explain how updates were coming so fast.

yeah, had to get the generator off the ground.  Now it has a lot of fonts and a few major state designs and I can relax a bit.  Nothing like learning by doing ... the next project will be to make the shield gallery all in SQL.  Do I know anything about SQL?  No, no I do not, but I didn't know anything about flash before I started the generator project!

[rickmastfan67]

Is coding your own flash stuff that hard Jake?

[agentsteel53]

Is coding your own flash stuff that hard Jake?

the coding itself isn't particularly difficult (Actionscript is pretty similar to Javascript so if you know that, you're about 80% there), but there's lots of fonts to be designed, shield graphics to be made, etc... plus sometimes I'm working on vector graphics for customers who want to order a sign, or doing some PHP stuff for the shield gallery in general.  I can definitely bury myself in this!

[Bickendan]

I'll hold off on requesting my custom-shaped shields for now then :smartarse:

[agentsteel53]

I'll hold off on requesting my custom-shaped shields for now then :smartarse:

depends on what you want!  Someone requested the "wide 1960 spec black square US shield", which does not actually exist!  wasn't until 1970 that they introduced those in the federal specifications. 

[Bickendan]

lol I'll give them a C for half-assing their homework...

What I'd like is the bubble-3di Interstate shield (who besides me likes these, anyway?), the Blue Highway font (with lowercase support), and the Interstate series with green on the bottom, blue on top, like in the 'Zarahemla' I-110 shield I posted on page one. ...

Also, these three shields (stickers I swiped from the fast food joint I worked at five years ago) would make good, well, shields...

[agentsteel53]

that Blue Highway font is a very close match for Nevada's state font - I'd have to tweak it to make it an exact match for Nevada and then up it will go.

I'm not putting up any non-standard aberration shields    so no bubble, no California extra pointy triangle, no Indiana/Pennsylvania acorn-shaped US shield, etc.

[agentsteel53]

just added two new US shield designs: the 1948 standard white square at intersections, and Missouri's 1955 style cutout for freeways and expressways.

the 1948 white square and 1960 black square are now available in various colors too, as used in states like Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Kansas.  (yes, we finally get a green square US-56   )

[agentsteel53]

and we've got Floridachrome shields!

[US71]

Man, this is like Crack for roadfans

[Truvelo]

A lot states use the shape of their state as the shield so why do the same with US routes.

What do you think?

[froggie]

Considering the existing U.S. route shield is pretty synonymous with U.S. routes, keeping that would be preferable.  Though some changes could be implemented...

       

[SSOWorld]

A lot states use the shape of their state as the shield so why do the same with US routes.

What do you think?

I think in that case a 24x24 looks ugly, which goes against Agentsteel's philosophy

[shoptb1]

A lot states use the shape of their state as the shield so why do the same with US routes.

What do you think?

Hawaii and Alaska always get the shaft!  

[agentsteel53]

oh sweet heavens above ... no!   

[agentsteel53]

I added this style of US shield, used starting in the 1950s primarily in Alabama.  It's also shown up in Louisiana, Georgia, and ... a later version of it (black square background, not white with outline) in Wisconsin!

[US71]

That's a subtle difference from the 1948 US Shield.

[agentsteel53]

got one more font...