Message #4000

From: Joshua Daniels <jldanie5@ncsu.edu>
Subject: Color modifier for MC4D
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2018 17:37:18 -0500

Hello all!

I have been working on and off with solving the 5^4, and discovered that I
found it 10 times easier to work on the center pieces if I hid all of the
other colors. I did this by manually modifying the facecolors.txt file,
saving, and then re-opening the file in MC4D to update the colors. I got
through the one color pieces by changing each color to red and the others
to white, one by one. I quickly realized this wasn’t a workable solution
for 2+ color pieces.

So, in a burst of motivation (and avoiding some schoolwork I should’ve been
doing) wrote myself a java file to edit the text file for me. I have a
feeling python might have been easier, but I don’t know python and I worked
in Java ~3 years ago and knew it could be done. I also managed to make the
GUI entirely without using Swing, which was an absolute blessing. The only
non-intuitive thing about the program is that to permanently change a
color, you click the color and type the hex value you want. This new color
will save to the text file on closing the window, making it permanent,
while all other hiding and highlighting is manual. It will also create a
text file with my default colors if you don’t have one already. Just place
it in the same folder as MC4D. The code is messy and un-commented (I know I
know) but I’m happy with it. I don’t know if I’m just looking to share or
looking for advice, so I guess just let me know what you think! Here is an
accessible Google Drive link since gmail blocks jar files or zip files with
jar files:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nOjXMjtM0mbgmu_bmCtjZPhPJOoNooJE/view?usp=sharing

I am constantly impressed with the crazy intellectual level this group
operates at and I’m super happy to be a part.

Best,
Joshua Daniels
North Carolina State University
​
Color Modifier.jar
<https://drive.google.com/a/ncsu.edu/file/d/1nOjXMjtM0mbgmu_bmCtjZPhPJOoNooJE/view?usp=drive_web>
​