CartoonSmart Tutorials

SceneKit, ARKit and Swift 4 – Basics Tutorial – Part 2 – Hit Testing In this second video in our SceneKit and ARKit basics series, we’ll look at a few SCNActions used to delay adding content to the scene, and most importantly, we’ll talk about hit testing. By the end of the video, you’ll be able to tap the screen, […]

SceneKit and ARKik – Basics Tutorial – Part 1 In this first video tutorial using the ARKit and SceneKit template, we’ll remove the starting assets and build a simple box and ball scene. We will use Swift 4 to program the ball to have a physics body affected by gravity so it then drops onto the box, which has a […]

Adobe Animate CC 2018 – Basic Tutorials – Part 1 In this Adobe Animate basics video tutorial, we’ll discuss the selection and sub-selection tools, which are essential for manipulation vector points in the program (as well as selecting things). We’ll also cover some helpful preferences (like contact-sensitive selection) and some other beginner concepts.  

How to Ink then Shade a Clothing Heavy Comic Book Character – Part 2 In this second video we’ll ink and shade the clothing of the character we sketched in part 1. Subscribers can continue watching Part 3 in this series here.

How to Ink then Shade a Clothing Heavy Comic Book Character – Part 1 The initial sketch of a comic book character illustration we’ll color and shade in future video tutorials. Recorded in real time.

How to Draw, Shade and Color a Male Comic Book Character’s Face using Procreate A fun off-the-cuff video tutorial on how to draw using Procreate and (optionally) an iPad Pro. This lesson I’ll draw a comic book style male character in a typical “stare down” pose.  Recorded in real time (not a speed drawing).

Build an iMessage App Part 14 – Adding a Resend Button Finally we’ll polish off the tutorial series by adding a resend button to the app. This way once a user has completed their masterpieces and saved them, all they’ll need to do on the intro screen is scroll to their previously saved image and hit resend. Hosts: Justin Dike […]

Build an iMessage App Part 13 – Refining the Picker Wheels In this Swift 3 video tutorial, we’ll make the picker columns / components respond more intuitively. Hosts: Justin Dike  

Build an iMessage App Part 12 – Adding the “Sayings” Images In this video we’ll add the secondary image to the image container. Hosts: Justin Dike  

Build an iMessage App Part 11 – Saving the Image to Send as an MSMessage and as Data to Retrieve In this Swift 3 tutorial we’ll save everything in our image container as data (which can be saved to the User Defaults), then insert the image into the conversation as an MSMessage. Hosts: Justin Dike  

Build an iMessage App Part 10 – Rotating with a UISlider and Going Back to Intro Screen In this video tutorial, we’ll rotate the main emoji image using a UISlider, then write the Swift 3 code to go back to the initial starting screen of the app Hosts: Justin Dike  

Introduction to Sprite Kit – Part 8 – Changing zPositions at Runtime and Making a Custom Class In this final video, we’ll use the update method to check where the player is and then change the zPosition (layering) of buildings based on that value. This will make it look like the player is visually in front of or in back […]

Build an iMessage App Part 9 – Scaling with a UISlider and Saving the Scale to User Defaults In this video tutorial, we’ll scale the main emoji image using a UISlider, then save the scale value as a preference in the user defaults (formerly the NSUserDefaults) Hosts: Justin Dike  

Introduction to Sprite Kit with Swift 3 – Part 7 – Detecting Physics Contacts Between Bodies In this video tutorial, we’ll add an SKPhysicsContactDelegate to the class, then add a didBegin contact statement to listen out for physics notifications from bodies. This requires setting the categoryBitMask and contactTestBitMask on the player and a hypothetical building object that we add this […]

Build an iMessage App Part 8 – Re-positioning the Emoji from the Last Location Saved in the User Defaults In this Swift 3 video tutorial we’ll discuss how to reposition the emoji in the image container based on the last location the user had moved it to. This is done by saving the x and y location in the User defaults Hosts: […]

Introduction to Sprite Kit with Swift 3 – Part 6 – Gesture Recognizers In this video tutorial we’ll add Swipe, Tap and Rotation gestures recognizers to the scene. We’ll discuss properties and related functions for each, as well as converting radians to degrees and removing all gestures from the scene. Hosts: Justin Dike    

Build an iMessage App Part 7 – Customizing the Emoji Picker and Adding an Image Container In this Swift 3 and iMessage video tutorial, we’ll add an image container which will house the main emoji image and secondary “saying” image, which ultimately get saved and sent in the MSMessage.   Hosts: Justin Dike  

Introduction to Sprite Kit – Part 5 – Short Interlude to look at a Cross Platform Project We’ll take a short break from the previous project and explore the Cross Platform Sprite Kit template included with Xcode. This is a project that has an iOS, tvOS, WatchOS and MacOS Target. The neat thing about this template is all four device […]

Introduction to Sprite Kit with Swift 3 – Part 4 – Action Groups / Sequences and Run Blocks In this video, we’ll continue working with SKActions, by changing the previous lesson’s walk actions into a sequence of actions. This will allow you to run code at the end of a sequence. In this example, when the player begins walking we’ll […]

Build an iMessage App Part 6 – Customizing the Emoji Picker and Adding an Image Container In this Swift 3 and iMessage tutorial, we’ll add an image container which will house the main emoji image and secondary “saying” image, which ultimately get saved and sent in the MSMessage.   Hosts: Justin Dike    

Introduction to Sprite Kit with Swift 3 – Part 3 – Introducing SKActions and Detecting Touches In this video tutorial, we’ll continue where we left off in the last video and run SKActions on our player. We’ll work both with programmatically setup SKActions as well as Actions created using the Timeline in the Scene Editor. Then we’ll work with detecting […]

Introduction to Sprite Kit with Swift 3 – Part 2 – Adding a Player with Physics Properties In this video tutorial we’ll jump right in by adding player art assets to the game, then use them in our Sprite Kit Scene file by setting physics properties on an SKSpriteNode. We’ll tinker with some of the physics, then look at how […]

Build an iMessage App Part 5 – Adding the Second UIPickerView In this part of our Swift 3 / iMessage app video tutorial, we’ll progress from the intro screen to an expanded mode where the user will customize the image they want to create. We’ll remove our first UIPickerView and replace it with a two component (column) wheel which will […]

Build an iMessage App Part 4 – Styling UIButtons and UIView Animations In this video we’ll add a UIButton to eventually move away from the intro picker, but primarily we’ll focus on styling the button, adding custom fonts to Xcode, repositioning (and animating) views when we switch between expanded and compact mode.   Hosts: Justin Dike    

Introduction to Sprite Kit with Swift 3 – Part 1 – The Starting Template A quick video tutorial for FIRST time users of Xcode 8, Sprite Kit, and (later on) Swift 3. This video is a quick tour of the general settings in Xcode 8, and the GameScene.sks file. We’ll tinker a bit with some physics properties and run the Simulator […]

Build an iMessage App Part 3 -Using Images in the Picker and Selecting Rows (Video Tutorial Podcast 39) In this video tutorial we will replace the UILabels in our UIPickerView and instead use UIImageViews. We’ll also look at the code to detect what row has been selected.   Hosts: Justin Dike    

In this Xcode 8 video tutorial, we'll take a quick look at Sticker Packs for iOS 10, how to set them up, how stickers are sent, and then we'll discuss how to create animated PNGs (APNG files) as an alternative resource asset that can be imported to Xcode. In other words instead of using Sticker Sequence, you can import APNG which can have some advantages.

In this Xcode 8 video tutorial, we'll take a quick look at Sticker Packs for iOS 10, how to set them up, how stickers are sent, and then we'll discuss how to create animated PNGs (APNG files) as an alternative resource asset that can be imported to Xcode. In other words instead of using Sticker Sequence, you can import APNG which can have some advantages.

In this Xcode 8 video tutorial, we'll take a quick look at Sticker Packs for iOS 10, how to set them up, how stickers are sent, and then we'll discuss how to create animated PNGs (APNG files) as an alternative resource asset that can be imported to Xcode. In other words instead of using Sticker Sequence, you can import APNG which can have some advantages.

In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to setup Tile Maps in Xcode 8. We'll look at the new Tile Map Node, the tools to paint tiles in the node, and even some tips on how to create your adjacent tiles to bring into Xcode. Plenty more to come at CartoonSmart.com for iOS 10 and Xcode 8.

Learn how to start programming a game using Sprite Kit on Apple Watch. This tutorial using Xcode 8, Swift 3 and targets Watch OS3 on the simulator. You'll learn how to add a Watch target to an existing Sprite Kit based object, add a WKSwipeGestureRecognizer to the InterfaceController than ultimately detect those swipes in the GameScene.swift.

Switching from Swift 2.2 to 3 in Xcode 8 (CartoonSmart Video Tutorial Podcast Episode 34) In this video tutorial podcast we’ll take a look at a typical Universal Swift based project and up convert it to Swift 3. We’ll be using an early version of Xcode 8, so things may change later on, but this will give you Swift 3 […]

In this Adobe Animate / Flash video tutorial, we'll teach how to draw vector art to look like retro pixel art. Ironic huh. And as the title says, in particular we'll mockup a Donkey Kong style board. We'll also teach how to animate a rolling barrel.

How to Change Entire Image Sequences in Adobe Animate (Video Tutorial Podcast Episode 32) Today we’ll look at how to take a series of already-exported images, import them into either Adobe Flash or Animate, make mass changes to them using the Edit Multiple Frames option, then re-export them. Hosts: Justin Dike, Clevon O’Doul    

This Swift video tutorial we'll talk about creating Set collection variables. Sets are similar to arrays, but are unordered collections. You can check if a set contains an element using the .contains property. You can add or remove to a Set using .insert and .remove . You iterate through a set collection using a for loop. You can also compare collections using .isSubsetOf , .isSupersetOf , .isDisjointWith .

This Swift video tutorial we'll talk about logical AND (&&) and OR ( || ) operators. Okay, not the most exciting Swift tutorial, but an essential for anyone programing an iOS or tvOS app with Xcode.

In this Swift video tutorial, we'll talk about nil coalescing operators. This operator, defined by two question marks ( ?? ), allows you to quickly set a variable equal to a default value if another variable is nil. For example, let someVar = varThatMightBeNil ?? defaultAmount

Ternary Conditional Operators in Swift 2.2 (CartoonSmart Video Tutorial Podcast 28) This video tutorial we’ll talk about how to shorthand some if…else statements with the ternary conditional operators. With a bool variable you can quickly make a value equal something based on two conditions. For example… let someVar = question ? answer1 : answer2 , where question is a bool […]

In this Swift video tutorial, we'll discuss the how's and why's of programming optional variables in any of your iOS or tvOS apps or games. Optionals allow you to test if a variable is nil or not. We'll go over testing for nil values, then safely forcing a value from an optional variable.

In the first couple minutes we'll give viewers a little background on why they might want to pause, then repeat the last action in an SKAction sequence (specifically, we'll take a quick look at our current Card and Board Games tutorial series). Sprite Kit allows developers to create sequences of code, for example, you might move a star up on the Y axis, then left on the X axis, then scale it down, and so on. But you can also create an SKAction (SKAction.runBlock) which simply runs a block of code, which provides for some really advanced functionality. In our example, we'll create a sequence that waits for a duration (SKAction.waitForDuration) then runs a block of code, then waits again, then runs more code and so on. So what happens if we want to re-run one of those actions. For example, if the code prompted users to "Draw another card", in a card game. We would need to track backward in the original SKAction sequence, and run it again from there. This obviously makes for an interesting example!

In this video tutorial, we'll discuss some of the fun you can have with String type variables with Swift 2 in an iOS or tvOS based app. Marvel at how we can create a string using an array of Character types, then do things like count the number of characters in a string, append text to a string variable, convert a String to all lower case or upper case with Swift, check if a String contains a pattern of characters or contains a prefix / suffix. If your mind hasn't already been blown by that point, watch as we check in with some live viewers watching our podcast in realtime.

In the continuing saga of setting up Clevon’s wordpress-ed based website, we’ll actually install a theme worth a damn (Cardinal by Swift Ideas) and begin to show off some of the nice features of it. Cardinal, like many of the other themes by Swift Ideas, is an amazing framework that makes advanced website functionality possible by simply clicking the feature you want and moving it / sizing it within a module based system. So you could create an animated slider, animated text, multi-layered parallax image, all within a few steps, without any kind of coding or shortcodes.

Swift Defer Statements and Programming with Emojis (CartoonSmart Video Tutorial Podcast Episode 23) Time to learn about defer statements! This chunk of code runs in functions marked with the throws option, regardless of whether or not an error occurs. Hrm doesn’t sound right. What the heck , here’s what the official Swift Programming Guide has to to say… “Use defer […]

In this video tutorial we'll look at how to use Generics in a Swift function. A generic function or method works on collections of different types. Or to put it another way, a function could accept different parameter types when called. In this lesson we'll use two simple types, String and Int.

This tutorial we will discuss Error types in Swift, include do and catch statements. This can be a tad confusing to new iOS / tvOS developers but hopefully this video lesson will make some sense of it. Like all our podcasts, we're here to have fun! If you want to get serious, head over to CartoonSmart.com for a full boat of project based tutorials on Swift, Sprite Kit, Xcode and plenty more.

Discussion on the new Top Level Domains (Bonus Show 5) Join us in this serious talk (eye roll) on the new top level domains you can register. What are top level domains, or TLD’s for short. You’re probably already familiar with .com, .net , and the rest of the “normal” ones. Right? You’ve been on the internet once or twice, eh? Well […]

In this lesson we'll look at enum type variables with Swift. These are constant variables which could be used for getting back a raw value, but in most cases, enums are simply used as identifiers, like Rank.Ace or just .Ace . Where the value isn't important, but testing whether or not a particular thing is an Ace type is important. Yes, yes, it can seem a little strange at first, but watch this iOS (or tvOS) video tutorial for Swift and you'll see how useful these can be.

How to Setup a WordPress Site Part 4  (Video Tutorial Podcast Episode 19) We’ll continue building Clevon’s WordPress based website, this time discussing some essential plugins. Okay, the ones we feel are essential. These include Jetpack. VaultPress (a paid plugin which is part of the Jetpack suite), Facebook Pixel Convertor, Duplicate Post, and Google Analytics. By no means, a comprehensive […]

We make good on our promise to let Clevon announce the 2nd annual ClevCon, July 4 outside the River Falls post office, assuming the Post Office is actually closed on July 4. If not, the event will probably be cancelled and tickets will not be refunded.

How to Draw a Logo Part 2 ( Video Tutorial Podcast Episode 18) Continuing from yesterday we’ll finish off making the Uhmerican Made logo, so this is yet another free digital illustration tutorial brought to you by CartoonSmart.com . We’ll work in Adobe Animate (or Adobe Flash is fine too), and look at masking, more with gradients, using the polystar tool. And as […]

This digital illustration tutorial will teach you how to use Adobe Animate or Adobe Flash to create a vector based logo from scratch. We'll discuss some initial resources and inspiration for a potential logo, then use the Text tool in Adobe Animate to lay down our initial font. After that we'll break it apart (so the editable text is no longer editable) and now a fill shape, which we can then color and manipulate. We'll add a gradient, outline the text and most importantly, have fun in yet another don't-take-it-too-seriously CartoonSmart.com video tutorial podcast.