Demo Editor source code (and how CoH got me a job)

Dear everybody,

At the end of last year, I found myself in the unenviable position of having recently completed my graduate program with no real job prospects in my field. So, I decided to switch career paths and try my hand at real software engineering. Right at the top of my resume under "programming experience," I put the following:
<ul type="square">[*]Designed and developed a core Java / Swing animation scripting tool to allow an online film community to easily manipulate a highly numerical proprietary file format without using complex mathematics. Currently continuing to maintain and update the application based on user feedback.[/list]Lo and behold, I got a few responses, and at their requests for code samples, I sent them the story of how I decided to write a demo editor and how all of you have gone on and created wonderful things with it. This was apparently rather memorable, because at my later interviews, everybody kept mentioning how cool the machinima was, even though I've never actually made a movie myself.

To quickly wrap up this story, I ended up getting a few job offers and picked one at a promising start-up in the SF bay area. As a thank you for inspiring the initial forays into hobby programming that have led to my new career, I originally wanted to sit down and do a major update to the editor for you all. Unfortunately and somewhat ironically (if predictably), my new job has severely impacted my free-programming-time. So, instead, I've decided to release the source code to the wild in the event that one of you has an urge to extend the program. The code for the editor and for my (incorrect) ragdoll tool is up on Github at the following URL:

http://github.com/balshor

I *think* I got the whole program up there -- after almost five years of development, two different IDEs, and a few different distribution and packaging systems, there are some definite snarls in my file organization. Feel free to drop me a line either here on the forums or on GitHub if I missed some crucial file or if you have any questions about the code.

Thanks again for all the inspiration, and thanks for using the program enough to keep me hacking away at it for all these years.

-- Balshor

Major congrats and kudos to you, and I sincerely hope your new job and career are everything you want them to be.

Unfortunately, I'm a total klutz when it comes to coding - I just make nifty machinima with the tools you guys build for me.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

This is a lot easier than decompiling the code and trying to modify it for my own personal needs and/or curiosity as to how things work.

I mean, um, gratz on the job!

Multiple job offers? That's impressive in this economy! Congrats Balshor!

(And yeah, I hear you lound and clear on free time! All my best work is done between jobs.)

Very cool!

Congratulations, Balshor!

Awesome!

Congratulations on the new job and thanks for the source code.

Awesome story!

Yet more motivation to develop some useful application for the CoX community and stick with it (unfortunately I have ADD when it comes to this sort of stuff )

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

Congratulations, Balshor! You deserve /e claps all around. I couldn't get by without your editor but like most, I can only use what you have written. Good luck in your new career. I have enjoyed working with animation over the last few years and I think I would love a career in some kind of game/movie animation but sad to say I never had any kind of class and really can't afford it but your hard work (and everyone elses) has given me a tool to use to make me feel like I have. So a thank you for that as well.

So....are you going to pay us $15 a month?

I know...it has nothing to do with anything...but it would be nice...for us...to have and spend on chicken fajitas.

Super congrats sir! You definately deserved it. I hope it all works out well. I could have never done "Infinite Dark" without your tool.

I always say, "Put your best stuff on your resume or in your portfolio, whether you feel it was 'official' or not."

Gratz!
Todd

Congrats!

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