Question of Week: FME April Fools Edition

Etch-A-Sketch transformer. Enables x,y pathing for the Connector.
 

This is a real transformer, the RickRoller is a great Easter Egg! Thanks to ​@virtualcitymatt for creating it! 

A little 3D character that runs around & randomly pops up in visual preview graphic view. It would be even more fun if they interacted with the rendered data.

A version of the Snake game (https://playsnake.org/) appears on the Workbench canvas -- dodging feature types, transformers, connection lines, etc.

Similar to what ​@kailinatsafe suggested I was thinking of a sort of FME Lizard “screen saver”. If you leave a workspace open that is not running, lizard comes out and starts fooling around.

I could also image a random number generator replacement for connections and logging. Switch it on and all connections display random numbers while the log does the matrix waterfall.

• A secret menu allowing users to customize the appearance of FME Desktop with different themes, including whimsical ones like a space theme, underwater theme or FME Lizard theme.
• A playful feature where connection lines between transformers could change shapes or colors based on the type of data being processed. For example, a rainbow-colored line for geospatial data or a zigzag line for complex transformations.

Mixing those two features together could create a psychedelic FME world :)

​@philippeb I would set mine to space theme for sure, I imagine tunnels being styled as worm holes though I do not know what that would look like lol.

Data travelling through the vacuum of space should also be faster, especially with straight connections, just need to watch out for data black holes.

I have a new theory. Tip your monitor towards the right, and data will flow faster!

It’s only logical, right?

Ah ha, it is all coming together now. So theoretically the ideal setup would be to author a workspace horizontally and then tilt your monitor vertically for maximum data flow.

What happens if the screen is fully vertical ? Does gravity gets involve in all this ?

* straps PC and monitor to a centrifuge “for science” *

A boss key so that when your manager walks in you can quickly switch the screen from fun with FME to a boring spreadsheet.

Inspired by ​@philippeb - The FME Form splash screen shows a unique animation/logo depending on what day it is (e.g., Easter) or after a number of workspaces opens and then sets FME based on that theme for the remainder of the session.

Factorio Mode!

https://factorio.com/

Factorio is a game where you gather resources and things like conveyor belts and trains to move them around to factories to transform them and create other resources. Playing it involves a lot of logic and problem solving and it reminds me a lot of the FME transformers and connectors. Your factory can get big and complicated just like an FME workbench can.

I’d love to see a different UI where you can watch your features (like “dirty data”) going on conveyor belts (connectors) to all the factories (transformers). Maybe they’d get “cleaned up” and you would see little soap bubbles, stuff like that. Different data types and icons and colors. 

I thought the same thing. At one point, I was tempted to make videos of Factorio to demonstrate concepts in FME! Seeing the resources move around like that makes it a little easier to visualize what’s going on.