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• 
  Bobi Rakova
  

  13 points

  6 posts
  Jun 16, 2011, 11:29 AM

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  Hi guys,
  
  Do you have any idea how can I create a 3D tag cloud in Silverlight. It sure will be very impressive for the project I am working on.
  My approach was to create a custom control having a property which lists all the tags. I managed to arrange them to look like a 3D tag cloud in XAML but I wonder what is the best way to do it in code... so that I can reuse and style my custom control further? And I also had problems running the animation when the mouse is over one of the tags...
  
  Thanks

  Reply

Answers

• 
  Martin Mihaylov
  

  1092 points

  6 posts
  Jun 16, 2011, 12:25 PM

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  I think the tooltip will make the things even messier. Stick to simple and descriptive tag names. Each tag should be self-descriptive.

  Regarding the rotation I have an idea for you: Do not rotate them too much, as from the side they will be flat and it won't look good at all. Instead make each tag float in the space. The floating can be shared between all the tags, as if the wind is blowing them or each tag can have its independent float animation.

  However placing a bunch of TextBox over one another can prove pretty troublesome. You must order the tags in a way that they won't overlap each other. Or in the worst case they must not overlap each other fully.

  At the end I must say, that it is a good idea to wrap the tag in a custom control, as it gives you a common functionality for all the tags (animation, scaling, translation, specific events). It is a must.

  If I have some spare time, I will try to prototype something similar, just to implement the idea of the overlapping.

  Reply

All Posts

• 
  Martin Mihaylov
  

  1092 points

  6 posts
  Jun 16, 2011, 11:40 AM

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  Do you intend to create a flat 3D-like look, by placing the heavier tags in the front and the lighter tags in the back? Or do you want to have the text in 3D and the possibility to rotate the cloud around?

   I don't think the latter is possible in Silverlight. 

  Reply
• 
  Bobi Rakova
  

  13 points

  6 posts
  Jun 16, 2011, 12:05 PM

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  Well I want the 3D-like look as you said - I know that creating 3D effects gets complicated... and I still want to have the possibility to rotate the cloud around. I thought that I could handle the events when the mouse is over one of the tags and do some custom rotation and scale transformations... but it seems too messy. I also want to have a special tooltip for each tag... well should I create another custom control to describe the tag itself?

  Thanks again

  Reply
• 
  Martin Mihaylov
  

  1092 points

  6 posts
  Jun 16, 2011, 12:25 PM

  Answer              Report Abuse

  I think the tooltip will make the things even messier. Stick to simple and descriptive tag names. Each tag should be self-descriptive.

  Regarding the rotation I have an idea for you: Do not rotate them too much, as from the side they will be flat and it won't look good at all. Instead make each tag float in the space. The floating can be shared between all the tags, as if the wind is blowing them or each tag can have its independent float animation.

  However placing a bunch of TextBox over one another can prove pretty troublesome. You must order the tags in a way that they won't overlap each other. Or in the worst case they must not overlap each other fully.

  At the end I must say, that it is a good idea to wrap the tag in a custom control, as it gives you a common functionality for all the tags (animation, scaling, translation, specific events). It is a must.

  If I have some spare time, I will try to prototype something similar, just to implement the idea of the overlapping.

  Reply
• 
  Bobi Rakova
  

  13 points

  6 posts
  Jun 16, 2011, 01:03 PM

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  Great Marto you sure gave me some ideas to work on, thanks a lot!

  Reply
• 
  Jack Smith
  

  22 points

  11 posts
  Jan 19, 2013, 04:22 AM

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  I want to look like 3D, as you said - I know that the creation of 3D effects is difficult ... and I still want to be able to turn around the clouds. I thought I could deal with events when the mouse is over one of the labels and do some custom rotation and scale transformation ... but it seems too complicated. We also specific advice for each label ... So I create another custom control label to describe themselves?

   

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• 
  Jack Smith
  

  22 points

  11 posts
  Mar 14, 2013, 07:16 AM

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  I think we could make things messy. Stick to simple names and descriptive labels. Each label must be self-descriptive.
  
  In terms of speed, I have an idea for you: do not turn too flat and will not look good at all. Instead of labeling each float spaţiu.Flotor may be common to all the labels, and if the wind blows or tag each variable can have its own independent animation.
  
  But put a lot of TextBox on each side can be quite annoying. You must sort the labels so that they do not overlap. Or, in the worst case, do not overlap completely.
  
  Finally, I must say it is a good idea to wrap a label in a user control, it provides generic functionality for all labels (animations, scaling, translation, special events). This is a must.
  
  If you have free time, I'll try to make a prototype so easy to put into practice the idea of overlap.

  Reply