Flash
Make Your Own Planet
by Tom Green - 19-Nov-09
Reader Level: 
Just because a planet doesn't have your name doesn't mean you can't make one. Mix together Fireworks, After Effects and Flash and you are able to build your own solar system.
Loading SWFs Randomly - Part 1: JavaScript
by David Stiller - 12-Nov-09
Reader Level: 
With Flash, interactivity isn't always about the content itself. Sometimes it's understated. Sometimes, for example, it's merely about picking a SWF at random when the user decides to reload the HTML page — regardless if the Flash content is programmed or not. You might use an approach like this to randomly display a set of Flash banner ads or cartoons, just to keep the page "fresh."
Whatever your intent, if you've ever wanted to try something like this but didn't know where to begin, this article is for you. The free SWFObject embedding solution, and a few lines of custom JavaScript, are all you need.
Using JSON with ActionScript 3.0
by David Stiller - 27-Oct-09
Reader Level: 
Flash developers have been using XML for data exchange for years now. XML is a great choice: it's extendable, easy to format, and in common use practically everywhere. ActionScript 3.0, with its E4X syntax, makes XML even easier to use than ever before. But there's a new kid in town — a lightweight alternative called JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) — that you're likely to run into nowadays when shuttling data between your SWF and server side code. Sadly, Flash Player doesn't feature a native JSON parser, but thanks to a free Adobe class library at Google Code, this omission won't get slow you down. In fact, the ActionScript 3.0 JSON parser is so easy to use, it can easily be covered in a single article.
Pick Videos at the Drive-In
by Tom Green - 23-Oct-09
Reader Level:
How do you get three 1950's commercials to play on your web site? Did I mention they need to be posted within the next 30 minutes? Fireworks CS4 and Flash CS4 to the rescue.
Approximate download size: 31MB
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
by David Stiller - 13-Oct-09
Reader Level: 
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3-D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as click-and-scrub input fields.
In Part 6, we migrated the ActionScript 2.0 version of our custom Scrubber class to ActionScript 3.0. This required a second class file, ScrubberEvent.as, which introduced a key difference in event dispatching between the two versions of the language. Here in Part 7, we'll conclude the series by investigating another AS3 point of interest (again related to events) — and finally, we'll use the Scrubber class for a bit of audio/visual fun.
The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
Get Smart, Speed up Work in Flash with Project Panel
by Rafiq Elmansy - 02-Oct-09
Reader Level:
In a general review of Flash features and tools, you will notice that there are some features that can help you speed up your work, that allow you to do tasks more easily and more efficiently. One of these features is the Project Panel. I have been asking myself for long time why I do not see many people use this amazing feature in Flash, or even notice it. It is a really helpful feature that allows for a better workflow and easier work process. I wanted to give more focus to this tool in this tutorial and see how it could be used to manage a project.
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
by David Stiller - 28-Sep-09
Reader Level:
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3-D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as click-and-scrub input fields.
In Part 5, of this series, we reorganized our click-and-drag functionality — keyframe code until that point — into a custom Scrubber class in ActionScript 2.0. Here in Part 6, we'll migrate this custom class to ActionScript 3.0, keeping an eye on two things: a) how little the actual principles change (not at all) and b) how the structure of AS3 necessitates certain syntax revisions. As you'll see, though, none of it gets too overwhelming.
The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
by David Stiller - 15-Sep-09
Reader Level:
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3-D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as click-and-scrub input fields.
In Part 4, of this series, we explored "out of the box" implementations of the basic click-and-rotate concept. In that article, "rotating" became "scrubbing"; that is, the action that began as spinning a jet plane evolved into scrolling a list of numbers, which were converted to letters, re-interpreted as different font faces, and could even have been used to adjust the volume of an audio clip. As cool as that was, all of the code for this click-and-scrub routine was located in a keyframe script. Here in Part 5, we'll make that code portable by moving it into a custom class.
The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
Mad About Getting Some Z's
by Tom Green - 04-Sep-09
Reader Level:
Rather than grabbing some "Z's" why not play with them in Flash CS4?
Approximate download size: 42MB
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript Concluded
by David Stiller - 01-Sep-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
In this final installment, we'll investigate an optional feature called "express install," which facilitates upgrading for users who don't meet your minimum required version of Flash Player. We'll also cover optional parameters for the dynamic approach to SWFObject embedding, introduced in Part 7, and then wrap up the series with a quick look at a free tool that helps you use SWFObject without manually typing any code.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Quickshot: Let Flash Move Your Files
by David Stiller - 21-Aug-09
Reader Level:
Do you ever find yourself tediously moving SWF files from your Flash work folder to your website folder — again and again and again? As it turns out, there's a simple way to avoid this scenario, right in the preferences settings for each FLA file. Let's take a look, and let Flash do the work!
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript Continued
by David Stiller - 05-Aug-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
In the last article, we delved into embedding with JavaScript, using the popular (and free) SWFObject — specifically, the dynamic approach for that solution. Here in Part 8, we'll take a second look, this time at the static approach, which requires a bit more typing to code up. Why learn both? First, because it's always good to know your options. Second, because the SWFObject static approach is very close to the solution used by Dreamweaver CS4. If you prefer letting Dreamweaver do the work, this article may at least help you understand better what's going on.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
by David Stiller - 21-Jul-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
In this installment, we'll take a radical detour from what you've seen to this point. Here in Part 7, you'll be introduced to a JavaScript solution that slings off most of the effort of the traditional HTML approach. This software is called SWFObject. As of this writing, it's already in its second generation and is among the most widely used embedding scripts in the world. It works great, it's free, and it's easy to use. What more could you ask for, right? Let's jump in!
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
by David Stiller - 10-Jul-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
Here in Part 6, we'll examine a number of potential points of failure in regard to embedding SWF files. Fortunately, they're easy enough to avoid (or fix) when you understand them, so keep your chin up! As with almost everything in life, "knowing is half the battle"; only in this case, knowing is typically 98% of the battle.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
by David Stiller - 25-Jun-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
Here in Part 5, we'll investigate a final round of optional embed parameters. These are the ones not displayed as choices in the Flash authoring tool's Publish Settings dialog box, but available if you know them.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
by David Stiller - 10-Jun-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest.
In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
Here in Part 4, we'll explore the remainder of the optional parameters displayed in the HTML tab of the Flash authoring tool's Publish Settings dialog box.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
The Joy of Easing
by Tom Green - 09-Jun-09
Reader Level:
Feeling like a "Lazy Animator"? How about creating animations without animating anything and letting Flash CS4 do the heavy lifting for you.
Approximate download size: 13.2 MB
Motion in Flash CS4 with No Keyframes
by Tom Green - 02-Jun-09
Reader Level:
How would you like to create a Flash CS4 animation that "dippsy-doodles" all over the screen? Sound like fun? How would you like to do the animation with zero keyframes? If that caught your attention, then this video tutorial is for you.
Approximate download size: 9 MB
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
by David Stiller - 29-May-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a website, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document. If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
Here in Part 3, we'll continue our investigation into the original two-tag ( and ) approach to embedding SWF files. In this article, you'll learn how to control certain aspects of your embedded Flash content with optional HTML parameters, a topic that will span several articles.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 4: Automation Strategies
by Joseph Balderson - 27-May-09
Reader Level:
Were you ever confused, frustrated or dismayed by a project you had to convert from ActionScript 1 or 2 and migrate it up to ActionScript 3.0? Maybe you've checked out the AS2 Migration reference, and have found it lacking specific examples, or searched on the net and been flabbergasted by the multitude of conversations. Finding the right information, the right tips and the right approach can be challenging when you're under the gun and need a solution, fast.
This series will guide you through some simple formulas and techniques to convert and migrate legacy Flash ActionScript 1 and 2 code and techniques to ActionScript 3.0.
When you start on nearly any ActionScript 1-to-3 conversion project, you will necessarily need to convert all of those text fields in the FLA. It is such a necessary step in the conversion process that it could be considered as basic as removing all the underscores in MovieClip property references.
Continuing from the last tutorial where you learned to convert AS1 textfields to AS3, in this article you'll learn a neat trick: no more hunting down and converting each and every AS1 text field in an FLA with hundreds or even thousands of assets. In this tutorial we'll show you how to automate the conversion of AS1 textfields with a simple JSFL script. Along the way we'll also look at how to fix the Flash CS3 ObjectFindAndSelect.jsfl bug, and a few high level strategies when confronted with any conversion problem.
The ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles Series:
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 2: Button Events
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 3: TextFields
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 4: Automation Strategies
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 5: Source Navigation Coming soon
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 6: Button Scripts Coming soon
Playing with 3D in Flash CS4
by Tom Green - 18-May-09
Reader Level:
There were some interesting tools introduced in Flash CS4. Among them was a 3D feature. Let's do a fly through to get a handle on how some of this stuff works.
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
by David Stiller - 14-May-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a web site, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document.
If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
In this installment, we'll begin an investigation into the original two-tag (
Lazy Man Method of Using Actionscript to Create Motion in Flash CS4
by Tom Green - 14-May-09
Reader Level:
ActionScript makes my teeth hurt. Imagine my joy at discovering that I can script motion in Flash CS4 with only one line of ActionScript.
Approximate download size: 10.8MB
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 3: TextFields
by Joseph Balderson - 11-May-09
Reader Level:
Were you ever confused, frustrated or dismayed by a project you had to convert from ActionScript 1 or 2 and migrate it up to ActionScript 3.0? Maybe you've checked out the AS2 Migration reference, and have found it lacking specific examples, or searched on the net and been flabbergasted by the multitude of conversations. Finding the right information, the right tips and the right approach can be challenging when you're under the gun and need a solution, fast.
This series will guide you through some simple formulas and techniques to convert and migrate legacy Flash ActionScript 1 and 2 code and techniques to ActionScript 3.0.
When you start on nearly any ActionScript 1-to-3 conversion project, you may need to convert all of those text fields in the FLA. It is such a necessary step in the conversion process that it could be considered as basic as removing all the underscores in MovieClip property references. In this article, you'll learn to convert AS 1 text fields to AS 3. You'll also learn about some of the challenges and choices you'll be faced with in this process, and how to overcome them.
The ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles Series:
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 2: Button Events
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 3: TextFields
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 4: Automation Strategies
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 5: Source Navigation Coming soon
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 6: Button Scripts Coming soon
Introducing Adobe Media Encoder CS4
by Rafiq Elmansy - 06-May-09
Reader Level:
Rafiq Elmansy has been a multimedia graphic designer, graphic and web designer since 1999. His background is in fine art and sculpture. He uses Adobe Products to create graphics and animations for desktop applications, cartoons, games, web sites, e-learning courses, and mobile and Pocket PC applications. He is the founder of Bee Design Studio. He is an Adobe Flash CS3 Certified, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Certified, and the founder of the first Adobe User Group in Egypt. Rafiq also creates computer artwork and writes articles and reviews about graphics, animation, and Flash topics at his site, Graphic Mania. Rafiq is an Adobe Community Expert, contributor writer at Adobe Design and Developer center and uCertify.com co-author.
Like Adobe Bridge CS4, Adobe Creative Suite 4 comes with another helpful application that allows you to bridge the gap between applications by encoding media to different formats.
In older versions of Adobe Media Encoder (Adobe Flash Video Encoder), it was only possible to encode media to the FLV format. But the new version has been enhanced with more encoding formats to provide various compressions to audio and video such as:
- Adobe FLV and F4V, to be used with Adobe Flash Player
- H.264, to be used with devices such as iPod, mobile phones ...etc.
- MPEG-1 for CDs
- MPEG-2 for DVD and high quality video
- Apple Quick Time
- Windows Media
The new version of Adobe Media Encoder is an extension for the previous version in Adobe Creative Suite 3. The new version has extended capabilities, starting with accepting more formats, different exported formats and accepting other types of content, such as Adobe After Effects Compositions and Adobe Premier Pro sequences.
Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
by David Stiller - 29-Apr-09
Reader Level:
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a web site, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document.
If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.
The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)
Flash CS4: Encoding Video Content
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 15-Apr-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at a number of these new features in this series, along with a some features that have been around for quite some time (though relatively underused). Now it's time to round out this excerpt series with a look at the new Adobe Media Encoder, the application Flash CS4 now uses exclusively to encode video content.
Adobe Media Encoder used to be known as the Adobe Flash Video Encoder. The name change is deliberate. Adobe came to the conclusion that the Flash brand name was being attached to a lot of stuff, and there was understandable concern that the brand was becoming diluted. The release of Creative Suite 4 starts the process of Adobe's refocusing of the Flash brand. If you have used Flash to encode video in previous iterations of the application, you will find that things have really changed. Let's take a look.
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 2
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 30-Mar-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at some of these new features already in this series — and there's more to come — but no matter what version of Flash you're using, if your content is distributed via the Internet, the time it takes to download and display is totally dependent on two things: a) the assets included in that content, which are under your control, and b) the flow of network traffic, which is not necessarily under your control. This is your chance to fall in love with the user and not the technology.
When we last touched base, we made the acquaintance of a longtime feature of Flash, the Bandwidth Profiler. In that previous article, you learned that the Bandwidth Profiler allows you to simulate various modem speeds in order to test your content as many of your users will experience it. As we continue in this installation — the second last of our Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers excerpt series — you'll learn how to actually use the information provided by the profiler to structure your content for optimized delivery.
Approximate download size: 2.5MB
The Using The Bandwidth Profiler Series:
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 1
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 2
3D Animation in Flash CS4
by Rafiq Elmansy - 18-Mar-09
Reader Level: 
I have no doubt that many Flash designers have used the classic work-around approaches for adding 3D to Flash, for working with 3D in Flash, or even for displaying 3D on the web with Flash as the medium, simply because Flash is the most efficient way to go. In previous years, we've seen a lot of 3rd party applications, engines and open-source projects to help work with 3D inside of Flash, such as Swift 3D, Papervision 3D, and Away 3D, etc.
Flash CS4 is the first version in Flash history to include a native 3D tool set to help designers transform and rotate objects in the 3D space. While this is exciting news, be aware that Flash CS4 does not create a full-fledged 3D object with the full meaning of 3D, such as having objects with volume, like 3D Studio Max or Swift 3D. While far more basic than that, Flash's new 3D tools do give the stage a 3rd dimension by adding the Z dimension to the stage in Flash Player 10 and higher.
Rafiq Elmansy has been a multimedia graphic designer since 2001 and a graphic and web designer since 1999. His background is in fine art and sculpture. He uses Flash to create graphics and animations for desktop applications, cartoons, games, web sites, e-learning courses, and mobile and Pocket PC applications. He is the founder of Bee Design Studio. He is an Adobe Flash CS3 Certified, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Certified, and the founder of the first Adobe User Group in Egypt. Rafiq also creates computer artworks and writes articles and reviews about graphic, animation, and Flash topics at his articles site, Graphic Mania. Rafiq is an Adobe Community Expert and Contributor writer at Adobe Design and Developer center.
Approximate download size: 6.8MB
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 1
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 16-Mar-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at some of these new features already in this series — and there's more to come — but no matter what version of Flash you're using, if your content is distributed via the Internet, the time it takes to download and display is totally dependent on two things: a) the assets included in that content, which are under your control, and b) the flow of network traffic, which is not necessarily under your control.
This means you need to not only concentrate on what is in your movie, but also on who wants to access it. This is your chance to fall in love with the user and not the technology. Sure, the "bells and whistles" are usually exciting, but you need to regard the data transmission of your Flash content in much the same manner you regard your local highway. It may have six lanes for traffic and a posted speed limit of 60 mph or 100 kph, but all of that becomes irrelevant during rush hour. Traffic moves at the pace of the slowest car. It is no different with the Internet. Servers can become overloaded. In this excerpt, you'll learn how to take a few precautions.
Approximate download size: 1MB
The Using The Bandwidth Profiler Series:
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 1
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 2
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 2: Button Events
by Joseph Balderson - 04-Mar-09
Reader Level:
Were you ever confused, frustrated or dismayed by a project you had to convert from ActionScript 1 or 2 and migrate it up to ActionScript 3.0? Maybe you've checked out the AS2 Migration reference, and have found it lacking specific examples, or searched on the net and been flabbergasted by the multitude of conversations. Finding the right information, the right tips and the right approach can be challenging when you're under the gun and need a solution, fast.
This series will guide you through some simple formulas and techniques to convert and migrate legacy Flash ActionScript 1 and 2 code and techniques to ActionScript 3.0.
In this article, we'll cover one of the most common ActionScript conversions: button events. You'll learn to convert a simple application with a button, from AS1 and AS2, into AS3. Along the way we'll explain some of the theory and practice of building buttons and events in ActionScript 3.0.
The ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles Series:
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 2: Button Events
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 3: TextFields
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 4: Automation Strategies
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 5: Source Navigation Coming soon
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 6: Button Scripts Coming soon
Decorative Drawing in Flash CS4 Using the Deco Tool and Spray Brush
by Rafiq Elmansy - 25-Feb-09
Reader Level:
Flash designers around the world have been using Flash for years to create decorative drawings and symmetrical shapes manually. Flash CS4 comes with two new decorative tools that are built on the algorithmic calculation, called procedural drawing, engine that uses the Flash JavaScript API.
Both the Deco tool and the Spray Brush tools are based on the same concept. It lets you, with a simple mouse click or mouse drag, create a pattern that is based on a default shape or symbol in the library.
In this article we will dig deeper to understand more about the decorative tools in Flash CS4.
Rafiq Elmansy has been a multimedia graphic designer since 2001 and a graphic and web designer since 1999. His background is in fine art and sculpture. He uses Flash to create graphics and animations for desktop applications, cartoons, games, web sites, e-learning courses, and mobile and Pocket PC applications. He is the founder of Bee Design Studio. He is an Adobe Flash CS3 Certified, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Certified, and the founder of the first Adobe User Group in Egypt. Rafiq also creates computer artworks and writes articles and reviews about graphic, animation, and Flash topics at his articles site, Graphic Mania. Rafiq is an Adobe Community Expert and Contributor writer at Adobe Design and Developer center.
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
by Joseph Balderson - 17-Feb-09
Reader Level:
Were you ever confused, frustrated or dismayed by a project where you had to convert from ActionScript 1 or 2 and migrate it up to ActionScript 3.0? Finding the right information, the right tips and the right approach can be challenging when you're under the gun and need a solution, fast. This series will guide you through some simple formulas and techniques to convert and migrate legacy Flash ActionScript 1 and 2 code and techniques to ActionScript 3.0.
In this introductory article, before getting into specific strategies and techniques, we'll take a look at some of the issues you may be facing when tasked with converting a project from AS1 or AS2 to AS3.
The ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles Series:
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 2: Button Events
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 3: TextFields
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 4: Automation Strategies
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 5: Source Navigation Coming soon
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 6: Button Scripts Coming soon
Extracting Images from Flash Files
by Estelle Weyl - 17-Feb-09
Reader Level:
As web developers, we sometimes receive FLA, or Flash files, to include in our web sites. Unfortunately, those Flash developers sometimes forget to include the original files used in creating the Flash Movie: files that would be really helpful in creating images used throughout the rest of the web site.
If you have the original FLA file, it is possible to export library items to create .png, .jpg and other useful files. While most tutorials here teach how to include images in your Flash file, in this tutorial we do the inverse.
In this tutorial I'll show you a simple method of exporting buttons, movie clips and graphics.
Character Animation with Bones in Flash CS4
by Rafiq Elmansy - 11-Feb-09
Reader Level:
Rafiq Elmansy has been a multimedia graphic designer since 2001 and a graphic and web designer since 1999. His background is in fine art and sculpture. He uses Flash to create graphics and animations for desktop applications, cartoons, games, web sites, e-learning courses, and mobile and Pocket PC applications. He is the founder of Bee Design Studio. He is an Adobe Flash CS3 Certified, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Certified, and the founder of the first Adobe User Group in Egypt. Rafiq also creates computer artworks and writes articles and reviews about graphic, animation, and Flash topics at his articles site, Graphic Mania. Rafiq is an Adobe Community Expert and Contributor writer at Adobe Design and Developer center.
Nowadays, Flash is known as a tool that enables us to create different type of content and applications for many types of devices and platforms. But, behind these amazing capabilities that Flash gives to us is a simple definition that we used to hear about Flash: Flash as an animation program to create small size animation files.
The magic behind Flash tools is that it is simple and can be used to create different types of animation tricks, either directly or with a work-around. However, the needs are always there for new tools and new capabilities.
Animators and cartoonists were depending on Flash to create animation, especially for web, taking advantage of the small file size and working with the rest of the team, such as designers and developers, using the same tool. They can get their work out for different types of media such as web, Video and even mobile devices. There was still a lack in cartooning animation tools in Flash. However, animators were always trying to find a work-around and looking for tricks and tips to create the work output they dreamed of.
In this article, we will dig into a tool that will make animators happier than ever, the Bones tool. The Bones tool allows you to create a skeleton for your character, object and even water bubbles to gives it more realistic animation more easily and with less effort.
Using Audio in Flash CS4
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 06-Feb-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at some of these new features already in this series — and there's more to come — but it may encourage you in the meanwhile to hear that certain workflows haven't really changed much in Flash CS4, even though the user interface was overhauled completely.
One of these workflows pertains to timeline-based audio. In this excerpt, we'll take a look at the two basic types of sound in Flash: event and streaming. In a sense, it doesn't matter what version of Flash you're working with, these principles apply across the board — and amazingly, they haven't been covered before in a Community MX article, so let's jump in!
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Using Audio in Flash CS4
Motion Editor in Adobe Flash CS4 - Let's Move It!!
by Rafiq Elmansy - 03-Feb-09
Reader Level:
Rafiq Elmansy has been a multimedia graphic designer since 2001 and a graphic and web designer since 1999. His background is in fine art and sculpture. He uses Flash to create graphics and animations for desktop applications, cartoons, games, web sites, e-learning courses, and mobile and Pocket PC applications. He is the founder of Bee Design Studio. He is an Adobe Flash CS3 Certified, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Certified, and the founder of the first Adobe User Group in Egypt. Rafiq also creates computer artworks and writes articles and reviews about graphic, animation, and Flash topics at his articles site, Graphic Mania. Rafiq is an Adobe Community Expert and Contributor writer at Adobe Design and Developer center.
We have been using the classic motion tweening in Flash on a daily basis for years and years. We asked many times if the timeline could be enhanced to give us more capabilities, such as other animation programs like After Effects have.
Your comments were heard, the new Adobe Flash CS4 comes with two essential changes in the timeline. The first change is the new motion tweening, which we discussed in a previous article, Motion Tweening in Flash CS4 - Think Again!.
The second change, and the one that we will cover in this article, is the Motion Editor panel. This panel extends your capabilities by giving individual graphs for each changed property in the animation. Further more, it gives very deep control to your animation easing, which helps in creating realistic animation using both custom and built-in easing presets.
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 23-Jan-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED).
In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.
Part 2 of an investigation of the Motion Editor panel, this installment delves into easing and how this feature has changed for new-style motion tweens. The difference comes by way of a series of graphs, rather than the single hot text slider in the Property inspector's version of easing. Let's "ease" on in, shall we?
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 19-Jan-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.
Flash animators will notice a significant change with the sort of tweening that used to be called a motion tween. In Flash CS4, motion tweens are now called classic tweens, and the new motion tween is largely managed by something called the Motion Editor panel. The authors suspect there will be a surge of interest in the new-style motion tweens — and there's good reason for that, as you'll see. People will begin to ask, "Which approach is better?" We'll be compelled to reply with the only legitimate answer there is: the best approach depends entirely on whatever works best for the project at hand.
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Motion Tweening in Flash CS4 - Think Again!
by Rafiq Elmansy - 14-Jan-09
Reader Level:
The changes in Flash's motion tweening are the effect of two changes in Adobe Flash CS4. The first change is in the new interface. There is a new location for the panels and a different arrangement for the properties related to motion tweening.
The second change is the new concept of animation in Flash CS4. This concept is imported from other Adobe video products, such as Adobe After Effects. The new animation concept is built on two facts:
- The symbol follows an animation path. This path starts with the first keyframe in the animation (the start of the animation) and ends with the last keyframe in the animation (the end of the animation). This path can be manipulated as if it were a stroke or a symbol.
- The keyframe concept has changed slightly from the previous version of Flash. The old keyframe concept requires you to add keyframes manually when indicating a change in the symbol. Old-style motion tweening is now called classic tweening. The keyframe used in the new motion tweening concept is created automatically when you create a change in the symbol. This happens after you apply motion tweening to the symbol.
In this article, we will show examples of how to create and work with the new tweening concept in Flash CS4.
Rafiq Elmansy has been a multimedia graphic designer since 2001 and a graphic and web designer since 1999. His background is in fine art and sculpture. He uses Flash to create graphics and animations for desktop applications, cartoons, games, web sites, e-learning courses, and mobile and Pocket PC applications. He is the founder of Bee Design Studio. He is Adobe Flash CS3 Certified, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Certified, and the founder of the first Adobe User Group in Egypt. Rafiq also creates computer artwork and writes articles and reviews about graphic, animation, and Flash topics at his articles site Graphic Mania. Rafiq is an Adobe Community Expert and Contributing writer at Adobe Design and Developer center.
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 14-Jan-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED).
In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.
Picking up from where we left off, let's continue with the 3D tools. In this article, we'll briefly cover the 3D Translation tool and demonstrate its usefulness. But first, let's take a quick detour to understand something called a "vanishing point."
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 07-Jan-09
Reader Level:
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED).
In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.
Let's start with the 3D tools. In terms of visual cool factor, the 3D Rotation tool is sure to please. This tool allows you to quickly and intuitively rotate a movieclip in 3D space. In previous versions of Flash, this was possible only with shapes, and even that technique required a bit of careful nudging with the Free Transform tool. You simply couldn't do this with a symbol. Now you can, and that means you can perform perspective transforms on complex artwork, imported photos, and yes, even video. Kind of makes the corners of the mouth go up, doesn't it?
The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 4
by David Stiller - 19-Dec-08
Reader Level:
When it comes to Flash, one of my programming mentors has helped me significantly with troubleshooting — with making things work when, against all expectation, they simply don't work. In this series, I'd like to explore a single theme — troubleshooting — from a variety of angles, sharing with you what my mentor has shared with me. Along the way, we'll turn up a few quirks involved in working with Flash, but more importantly, we'll review how to approach arriving at useful workarounds, regardless what the issue is.
Here in Part 4, we'll take second look the divide-and-conquer approach we used last time, but performed in a very different way. In this excursion, the cause of the problem arguably isn't code at all, and the pertinent troubleshooting doesn't involve ActionScript. Yes, sometimes the solution to a programming hiccup is like stepping off a cliff: away from the familiar (if treacherous) coding landscape and into ... whatever awaits.
The Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles Series:
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 1
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 2
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 3
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 4
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 3
by David Stiller - 05-Dec-08
Reader Level:
When it comes to Flash, one of my programming mentors has helped me significantly with troubleshooting — with making things work when, against all expectation, they simply don't work. In this series, I'd like to explore a single theme — troubleshooting — from a variety of angles, sharing with you what my mentor has shared with me. Along the way, we'll turn up a few quirks involved in working with Flash, but more importantly, we'll review how to approach arriving at useful workarounds, regardless what the issue is.
Here in Part 3, we'll learn about an important troubleshooting concept called divide and conquer, which often becomes useful when clues are are harder to discover than in the previous two installments.
The Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles Series:
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 1
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 2
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 3
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 4
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 2
by David Stiller - 20-Nov-08
Reader Level:
When it comes to Flash, one of my programming mentors has helped me significantly with troubleshooting — with making things work when, against all expectation, they simply don't work. In this series, I'd like to explore a single theme — troubleshooting — from a variety of angles, sharing with you what my mentor has shared with me. Along the way, we'll turn up a few quirks involved in working with Flash, but more importantly, we'll review how to approach arriving at useful workarounds, regardless what the issue is.
Here in Part 2, we'll scratch our heads collectively over a common issue involving ActionScript 2.0 and audio.
The Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles Series:
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 1
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 2
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 3
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 4
Developing a Flex-free AS3 Project for Flash Player 10 in Flex Builder 3
by Joseph Balderson - 12-Nov-08
Reader Level:
So you're developing an ActionScript 3.0 project, without using Flash components or the Flex framework, aimed at Flash Player 10. You could do it in Flash authoring, or you could do it in a third party code editor. But did you know you can also do this in Flex Builder?
This tutorial aims to show you that Flex Builder is not just for Flex projects: it can be used for pure ActionScript 3.0 projects, without accidentally using any classes or features of the Flex framework, compiled and deployed for Flash Player 10.
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 1
by David Stiller - 11-Nov-08
Reader Level:
Most of us have at least one mentor, even if it's someone we haven't met in person. In fact, if you're anything like me, you have a different mentor for each field that interests you: someone who inspires you to keep practicing the piano, to get creatively crazy in the kitchen, to learn yet another unicycle trick, and to keep strengthening your grasp on Flash (or Photoshop, or Dreamweaver ... you get the idea).
When it comes to Flash, one of my mentors has helped me significantly with troubleshooting — with making things work when, against all expectation, they simply don't work. In this series, I'd like to explore a single theme — troubleshooting — from a variety of angles, sharing with you what my mentor has shared with me. Along the way, we'll turn up a few quirks involved in working with Flash, but more importantly, we'll review how to approach arriving at useful workarounds, regardless what the issue is.
Here in Part 1, we'll start with a lowly movie clip symbol.
The Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles Series:
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 1
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 2
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 3
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 4
Developing for Flash Player 10 in Flex Builder 3
by Joseph Balderson - 05-Nov-08
Reader Level:
As a Flex developer, keeping up with new advances in Flash Player 10 is essential. Thus, it's nice to be able to build to the latest Flash Player, without waiting for the next major release of Flex Builder. This article will show you how to get Flex Builder 3's code assist to recognize Flash Player 10 classes, and to compile for and check for the presence of the Flash 10 Player, without a lot of mucking about with configuration files.
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 2
by David Stiller - 28-Oct-08
Reader Level:
Generally speaking, Flash designers have become more considerate. In the late 1990s, it was common to encounter dozens of Flash websites a day with bloated, pointless intro animations. Ultimately, sure, content was king, users would eventually get to the meat of a website, but all too often, were subjected to unnecessary bells and whistles, simply because Flash was the shiny new kid on the block. Fortunately, bloated intros are largely a thing of the past. Even better, designers have begun offering "Skip Intro" buttons that remember a user's preferences. And now you can, too.
In the last installment, you learned how to use the SharedObject class to create a banner ad that plays through once, but skips its animation on subsequent viewings. You also learned how to temporarily reverse this behavior for testing purposes. Finally, you associated the feature with an "Always Skip Intro" button. In this tutorial, you'll make the shared object a bit smarter, by having the animation play three times before skipping, and then resetting itself after a period of time.
The Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash Series:
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 1
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 2
What's New In Flash Player 10?
by Joseph Balderson - 23-Oct-08
Reader Level:
On October 15th, 2008, Adobe Systems unveiled the much anticipated Flash Player 10 to the world, to the great delight of Flash designers and developers everywhere. This new version of the Flash Player is so jam-packed with cool new stuff that you'd have to check out a dozen websites and blogs just to get the full story on all the amazingness bundled into this release.
Or you can read this summary right here, where we'll cover the nitty gritty of all the new features enabled in Flash Player 10 and what it means for both Flash designers and developers.
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 1
by David Stiller - 15-Oct-08
Reader Level:
Generally speaking, Flash designers have become more considerate. In the late 1990s, it was common to encounter dozens of Flash web sites a day with bloated, pointless intro animations. Ultimately, sure, content was king: users would eventually get to the meat of a web site, but all too often, were subjected to unnecessary bells and whistles, simply because Flash was the shiny new kid on the block. Nowadays, bloated intros are largely a thing of the past, but back then, designers were proud of these intros and assumed users were thrilled to see them. Frankly, it just wasn't so.
Fortunately, designers began to change their ways. Best practices took hold, and the "Skip Intro" button became a fashionable device (in fact, it appeared so often it became an industry joke). If users were really lucky, they'd even see a "Skip Intro Always" button, which remembered their preference for the next visit.
In this two-part series, you'll learn how to create such a button, and we'll examine other uses for the same mechanism. It's easier than you might think!
The Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash Series:
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 1
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 2
Adobe Media Encoder CS4
by Tom Green - 06-Oct-08
Reader Level:
Adobe deep-sixes the Flash Video Encoder and replaces it with a snazzy Media Encoder.
Evaluating Script Assist's Usefulness
by David Stiller - 30-Sep-08
Reader Level:
The concept of Script Assist has existed in many versions of the Flash authoring tool and has evolved over the years. Prior to Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia, Flash MX developers encountered a similar feature in an Actions panel preference setting for "Normal Mode" versus "Expert Mode." Nowadays, that feature is called Script Assist, which you can think of as a built-in form of on-the-job training that can potentially expand your overall understanding of the ActionScript 3.0 API. Just be advised, Script Assist can also be a very tedious tool, so its usefulness will largely depend on your personal learning preferences. This feature temporarily sets the Actions panel's script pane as read-only and provides an alternative approach to adding, removing, and editing code.
This article takes you on a brief trip that shows Script Assist in action. The journey should help you evaluate if this feature can actually help you in your daily work, or if you'd rather skip it and try your hand at writing ActionScript without assistance. While aimed at a Flash beginner, this article does move at a fairly brisk pace. Remember, this isn't an ActionScript tutorial, but rather a demonstration of how Script Assist works.
A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface
by Tom Green - 24-Sep-08
Reader Level:
Flash CS4 sports a rather sleek new look, a few new tools and a somewhat familiar-looking Motion Editor.
Flash CS3: What Happened to the WebServiceConnector Component?
by David Stiller - 11-Sep-08
Reader Level:
Based on the title of this article, you might get the impression that the WebServiceConnection component has disappeared in Flash CS3 — that you can't consume Web services at all after Flash 8 — and that isn't actually true. If you're programming in ActionScript 2.0, you can go right on using any of the data components listed in the Components panel, including the one for web services. The issue described in this article hinges on the way Flash CS3 responds to the version of ActionScript you're using. As soon as you configure a FLA file's publish settings for ActionScript 3.0, the Components panel actually changes the items it displays, causing the data components to vanish. So it's ultimately ActionScript 3.0 that makes a challenge out of using Web services in conjunction with Flash.
The overall number of components in Flash has been reduced for ActionScript 3.0 FLA files. The data components, as mentioned, have been removed completely and now belong to the Flex framework. A handful of user interface (UI) components, such as Accordion, Tree, and Window, are also absent. Again, these components are still available for ActionScript 2.0 documents, but if you want to program in ActionScript 3.0 — which is only possible as of Flash CS3 — you'll need a workaround.
This article, adapted from an excerpt of The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide, gives you exactly that, thanks to a free third-party component. This reference book is slated for October, 2008, published by O'Reilly, and written by Community MX partner David Stiller, as well as Rich Shupe, Jen deHaan, and Darren Richardson.
How AS3 Helps You Program with Purpose
by David Stiller - 03-Sep-08
Reader Level:
ActionScript has historically been a very forgiving language. In some ways, you can draw a comparison between older versions of ActionScript and older versions of HTML. In the early days of web development, HTML was deceptively unfussy. Styling was handled with straightforward <font> tags, which all too often became a redundant jumble. Closing </p> tags were optional, nested tags could be closed out of sequence from how they were opened, and dozens of other lenient practices led — or had the tendency to lead — to overtime headaches.
Popular websites like The Web Standards Project and CSS Zen Garden have since sparked a surge of interest in a practice called semantic markup, in which great care is taken to cleanly separate styling and formatting from content. This separation usually relies on XHTML specifications, which are considerably stricter than HTML, and coupled with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Ironic as it may seem, adherence to a stricter standard has gradually made things easier for Web developers. It's a bit like the idea that picking up after yourself throughout the day saves you from facing an overwhelming mess at the end of the week. ActionScript 3.0 is more disciplined than its predecessors in a similarly helpful way.
This article, adapted from an excerpt of The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide (ISBN: 0596517351), discusses how the complexities of ActionScript 3.0 can actually be a good thing, because they encourage developers to think about code organzation as they program. This quick answer guide is slated for October, 2008, published by O'Reilly, and is written by Community MX partner David Stiller, as well as Rich Shupe, Jen deHaan, and Darren Richardson.
Playing with Lightning
by Tom Green - 26-Aug-08
Reader Level:
If you have ever wondered how one experiences one really upset cartoonist? One who is so upset he has lightning shooting out of his body. If you have After Effects Cs3 and Flash professional CS3, it isn't difficult.
Approximate download size: 15MB
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
by Joseph Balderson - 25-Aug-08
Reader Level:
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
Flex comes with its own video player component, the VideoDisplay class, which serves as a simple video player, but it does not possess the capability of the Flash CS3 FLVPlayback component. In this tutorial we will build upon techniques in previous articles, such as editing Flash class files in Flex and using the Flex Component Kit. Using this as a starting point, you will learn how to use the Flash CS3 FLVPlayback component in a Flex application, including some best practices and crucial gotchas to avoid in this conversion and a detailed authoring & compilation diagram to make it all clear.
The Final Flex Application with FLVPlayback Component, Authoring & Compilation Diagram
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
Working with Library and Linkage Changes in ActionScript 3.0
by David Stiller - 15-Aug-08
Reader Level:
Like its forerunner, ActionScript 3.0 supports the attachment of Library assets at runtime, but the mechanics have changed. While ActionScript 2.0 had the familiar MovieClip.attachMovie() and Sound.attachSound() methods, the only class methods that now contain the word "attach" relate to connecting the SWF file to an external device, such as NetStream.attachCamera(), which lets the user transmit webcam input. Not the same thing at all! So, how can you access the Library at runtime in an AS3 document? The answer is gratifyingly elegant, and even in its simple approach, ActionScript 3.0 gives you more elaborate options than before.
This article, adapted from an excerpt of The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide (ISBN: 0596517351), discusses how Library linkage has changed in ActionScript 3.0. This quick answer guide is slated for October, 2008, published by O'Reilly, and is written by Community MX partner David Stiller, as well as Rich Shupe, Jen deHaan, and Darren Richardson.
Ditching the Chipmunks: Choosing the Right Sample Rate for Flash Audio
by David Stiller - 04-Aug-08
Reader Level:
Flash is a terrific Web audio medium for a number of reasons. Most importantly, Flash Player is one of the most popular browser plug-ins in the world. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and even other operating systems, and it works fairly consistently across the board. In addition to that, Flash is capable of loading audio files dynamically. This makes it a popular choice for podcasters, who like to speak their mind, upload an MP3 file, and go. In fact, there are a number of Flash-based MP3 players specifically made for podcasters, such as the PodPress plugin for WordPress.
But an interesting bug happens for certain listeners, and it isn't always easy to pin down. Some listeners hear — are you ready for this? — chipmunks. Not the chirping of actual animals, but a too-speedy distortion of the actual recording. Think Alvin and the Chipmunks. Thanks to a change in the way Flash Player 9 handles external audio files, this issue doesn't come up as often as it used to on the forums, but if it happens to you ... now you'll know how to fix it.
Flash CS3: A Poor Man's Animation Tool
by Tom Green - 01-Aug-08
Reader Level:
Did you know that Flash can actually be used as a "poor man's animation tool" ? You didn't? Let's add to your knowledege,then, shall we?
Approximate download size: 32MB
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
by Joseph Balderson - 01-Aug-08
Reader Level:
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
In this tutorial we will examine creating a custom Flex component in Flash CS3 using the Flex Component Kit for Flash CS3. You will learn how to design a Flex button having custom states and timeline animation. A flash-flex component takes advantage of the best of both worlds: Flex state-based events and component-based API, combined with Flash timeline animation.
We will also be taking a look at a few best practices for using both Flash CS3- and Flex-compiled files in the same project workflow. And as a bonus, we'll end up with an advanced look at incorporating Flex states with the StateChangeEvent class and the undocumented MovieClip.addFrameScript method.
Introducing The Flex MonkeyButton
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project in Flash
by Tom Green - 30-Jul-08
Reader Level:
Ok, so we have an image that oozes. Let's start the ooze with a button click in Flash.
Approximate download size: 20MB
The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7b: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project In Flash
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
by David Stiller - 22-Jul-08
Reader Level:
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3-D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as click-and-scrub input fields.
In Part 3, of this series, we loaded the rotation image sequence from external JPG files. Here in Part 4, we're going to step out of the box and give a stretch to the clicking-and-rotating (or clicking-and-scrubbing) concept. In doing so, we'll re-shuffle the code a bit, and refine it in preparation for building this concept into a custom class that can be used for a wide variety of applications.
The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
by Tom Green - 18-Jul-08
Reader Level:
Click a Flash button and an image appears. Yawn. Booorring. Click a button and the image oozes out from behind the button. Now you have my attention. In this first part of the tutorial we prepare the assets in Fireworks CS3 so they can be converted to ooze in After Effects CS3.
The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7b: Creating an Oozing Image Coming Soon
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project In Flash Coming Soon
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
by David Stiller - 09-Jul-08
Reader Level:
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3-D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as click-and-scrub input fields.
In Part 2, of this series, we continued our exploration of the Flash version of a QTVR Object Movie that rotates an F-15A aircraft, adding a "grabber" icon and reversing the rotation direction. Here in Part 3, we'll load the image sequence from external files. In future articles, we'll consider alternate uses for the same programmatic concept and eventually build a custom class to wrap the functionality into a neatly portable bundle.
The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
by Joseph Balderson - 09-Jul-08
Reader Level:
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
In the last article, we looked at how to use Flex Builder as the ActionScript 3 editor for a Flash-compiled project. But as some of you may have discovered, there is something missing from that workflow: if you are using any Flash CS3 components, Flex Builder is unable to recognize those component classes, which negates one of the principle advantages of using Flex Builder, which is its code assist. In this article, we will take a look at how to get Flex Builder to recognize the Flash CS3 Component classes for editing ActionScript 3 files in Flash CS3 projects.
How do we get Flex Builder's code assist to recognize Flash CS3 Component classes?
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
ActionScript Basics - Part 4: Building a Custom Button Class For the Dynamic Menu
by Derrick Ypenburg - 03-Jul-08
Reader Level:
Part 3, ActionScript Basics - Part 3: Building Dynamic Menus and Associative Arrays, of this series left off with a dynamically generated menu using data coming from an associative array. The menu was built using a MovieClip from the library that was coded to work like a button.
This tutorial will continue with the basics of creating a custom class. We will create a custom Button class using the MovieClip symbol and an external ,as class file. This will be a light overview of creating your own custom class just so you can get your hands a little bit dirty with custom class development.
The ActionScript Basics Series:
ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 2: Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 3: Building Dynamic Menus and Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 4: Building a Custom Button Class For the Dynamic Menu
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
by David Stiller - 01-Jul-08
Reader Level:
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3-D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as click-and-scrub input fields.
In Part 1, of this series, we explored the Flash version of a QTVR Object Movie that rotates an F-15A aircraft. Here in Part 2, we'll look at how to compensate for the rotational direction of the image sequence and add a custom "grabber" cursor. In future articles, we'll work through loading the image sequence from external files and will consider alternate uses for the same programmatic concept.
The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
by Tom Green - 30-Jun-08
Reader Level:
You only need one click to optimize images in the Flash Library? What's with that? Let's start with a hidden gem and move on from there.
The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7b: Creating an Oozing Image Coming Soon
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project In Flash Coming Soon
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
by Joseph Balderson - 25-Jun-08
Reader Level:
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
In this article, we will delve into Flash-Flex integration on a more intimate level, using both Flash and Flex in a completely integrated development workflow. Using David Stiller's Click-and-Paint tutorial as a basis for our enhanced application, we will convert a timeline-based Flash project into a class-based project, but using Flex Builder as the code editor. Essentially using the Flash IDE as the assets editor and SWF compiler, and Flex Builder as the ActionScript 3 editor (without using the Flex compiler).
In this article, you will learn how to set up a Flex project workspace to enable the editing of Flash IDE-compiled ActionScript 3 class files. In doing so, you will no doubt discover why Flex Builder is a much more powerful tool for ActionScript class editing than the Flash Actions panel. As one of my Flash colleagues is fond of saying, "Once you go Flex, you never go back." :) But this isn't about making converts to either Flash or Flex development. Whatever your specialty, this series is here to show you that with a little ingenuity, you can have your cake and eat it too.
Flash Actions panel or Flex Builder: for code editing, there is no contest.
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
by David Stiller - 24-Jun-08
Reader Level:
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as the click-and-scrub input fields of numerous Adobe dialog boxes
Adobe often uses click-and-drag input to update text fields
If you're a Flash developer and interested in click-and-drag functionality, you've come to the right tutorial series! Here in Part 1, we'll start by exploring the Flash version of a QTVR Object Movie that rotates an F-15A aircraft. In future articles, we'll work through a common "gotcha" in regard to direction reversal. We'll also load images from external files and explore alternate uses for the same programmatic concept.
The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7
ActionScript Basics - Part 3: Building Dynamic Menus and Associative Arrays
by Derrick Ypenburg - 23-Jun-08
Reader Level:
Dynamic menu and content creation that is generated by external or internal data is the next step in harnessing the power Associative Arrays. Part 2 of this series, ActionScript Basics - Part 2: Associative Arrays, looked at creating associative arrays to store multiple properties of information within elements of an array. This tutorial will covering using the data from an associative array to build a dynamic menu.
The ActionScript Basics Series:
ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 2: Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 3: Building Dynamic Menus and Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 4: Building a Custom Button Class For the Dynamic Menu
Code Free Flash Video ... Sort Of
by Tom Green - 18-Jun-08
Reader Level:
Can you really stream an HD video through the Flash Media Server and have no code? You read that correctly: Code Free. Intrigued? Read on ...
Approximate download size: 114MB
Wiggle that Text! - Part 4: AS3 Custom Class
by David Stiller - 17-Jun-08
Reader Level:
As the well-known adage dictates, "a picture's worth a thousand words." Often enough, that sentiment is true — but even so, words are powerful in their own right. Especially when they wiggle! In this series, you'll learn how to accomplish an animated text effect with ActionScript ... but there's more to it than that. We're going to take a journey on this exercise, one that begins with timeline code and marches toward the destination of a custom class. Along the way, we'll discover some of the benefits that classes have to offer, focusing specifically on the convenience of re-usability.
Here in Part 4, you'll convert the custom WiggleText class from the last article into an ActionScript 3.0 class.
The Wiggle that Text! Series:
Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
Wiggle that Text! - Part 2: AS2 Timeline Code Animation
Wiggle that Text! - Part 3: AS2 Custom Class
Wiggle that Text! - Part 4: AS3 Custom Class
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
by Joseph Balderson - 13-Jun-08
Reader Level:
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
Flex presents developers with a suite of tools which makes coding applications for the Flash Player a real treat. However, there are times you want to create a skin in Flash, and port it into a Flex application. Not merely embedding image assets via CSS, but utilizing flexible, complex skin assets.
In the previous article, we skinned our Flex component, tested its button states and the scale-9 properties of the background skin. In this final article in the scale-9 skinning trilogy (parts 3-5), we will finish coding the full functionality of our drag-and-resize component. You will learn how to:
- Output realtime event results to a textfield in the component;
- Code a drag control which allows a Flex component to be moved on stage constrained to a defined boundary;
- Calculate the minimum dimensions of a component using a scale-9 skin;
- Apply complex boundary calculations for a component resize handler;
- Update the dimensions of a resizable component at runtime;
- Build a custom DragPanel component with a skinned scale-9 background and functional drag and resize handles.
The final skinned and functional DragPanel component with calculation diagram.
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
Wiggle that Text! - Part 3: AS2 Custom Class
by David Stiller - 10-Jun-08
Reader Level:
As the well-known adage dictates, "a picture's worth a thousand words." Often enough, that sentiment is true — but even so, words are powerful in their own right. Especially when they wiggle! In this series, you'll learn how to accomplish an animated text effect with ActionScript ... but there's more to it than that. We're going to take a journey on this exercise, one that begins with timeline code and marches toward the destination of a custom class. Along the way, we'll discover some of the benefits that classes have to offer, focusing specifically on the convenience of re-usability.
Here in Part 3, we'll build a custom WiggleText class out of the animateText() and tweenIn() functions from last time. In addition, we'll continue to flesh out the benefits of classes in general by defining properties for most of the parameters previously passed to the animateText() function. This allows these parameters to be changed even after the WiggleText object is instantiated, which means our wiggle text functionality becomes even easier to use.
The Wiggle that Text! Series:
Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
Wiggle that Text! - Part 2: AS2 Timeline Code Animation
Wiggle that Text! - Part 3: AS2 Custom Class
Wiggle that Text! - Part 4: AS3 Custom Class
Wiggle that Text! - Part 2: AS2 Timeline Code Animation
by David Stiller - 03-Jun-08
Reader Level:
As the well-known adage dictates, "a picture's worth a thousand words." Often enough, that sentiment is true — but even so, words are powerful in their own right. Especially when they wiggle! In this series, you'll learn how to accomplish an animated text effect with ActionScript ... but there's more to it than that. We're going to take a journey on this exercise, one that begins with timeline code and marches toward the destination of a custom class. Along the way, we'll discover some of the benefits that classes have to offer, focusing specifically on the convenience of re-usability.
Here in Part 2, we pick up with 39 text fields generated by an ActionScript 2.0 keyframe. This is where the animation happens.
The Wiggle that Text! Series:
Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
Wiggle that Text! - Part 2: AS2 Timeline Code Animation
Wiggle that Text! - Part 3: AS2 Custom Class
Wiggle that Text! - Part 4: AS3 Custom Class
ActionScript Basics - Part 2: Associative Arrays
by Derrick Ypenburg - 22-May-08
Reader Level:
If you are creating any kind of logic or data storage/retrieval with ActionScript, you most likely will achieve that in part using arrays. Arrays are the most common and basic data structure besides variables in any programming language. Arrays allow storage of a series of one or more values in a single data structure. Ordinary arrays however pose logical limitations. Arrays in their most basic form ideally work with lists of like values such as a list of names and numbers. Arrays really aren't powerful tools when storing multiple details of items in a list.
This article will cover using associative arrays. Associative arrays can be used to store a list of like values with each value storing its own details about itself as properties.
Many of the basics and methods of working with arrays in this article are the same as Part 1 of this series. This article will not go into detail of the repetitive techniques and methods so refer to Part 1, ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays, if you need more information.
The ActionScript Basics Series:
ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 2: Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 3: Building Dynamic Menus and Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 4: Building a Custom Button Class For the Dynamic Menu
Playing Videos Sequentially
by Tom Green - 19-May-08
Reader Level:
In this, the last of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, answer that age-old question: How do I play a sequence of videos?
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age
Playing videos sequentially
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
by Joseph Balderson - 15-May-08
Reader Level:
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
Flex presents developers with a suite of tools which makes coding applications for the Flash Player a real treat. However, there are times you want to create a skin in Flash, and port it into a Flex application. Not merely embedding static images into your Flex application, but utilizing flexible, responsive skin assets.
In this first article, we will design a skin in Flash CS3 for a Flex component, which is able stretch intelligently using a concept known as scale-9. We will look at several techniques for designing assets in Flash using scale-9 effectively, avoiding certain important gotchas along the way. We will also demonstrate how one Flash skin file may be applicable to multiple Flex components. In the following article we will implement this skin for a Flex custom panel component with drag and resize handles.
The completed Flash-Flex component skin.
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
Letting Video Show Its Age
by Tom Green - 13-May-08
Reader Level:
In this, the fifth of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, explore how to age a video playing through the Flash Player.
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
by David Stiller - 13-May-08
Reader Level:
As the well-known adage dictates, "a picture's worth a thousand words." Often enough, that sentiment is true — but even so, words are powerful in their own right.
The Wiggle that Text! Series:
Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
Wiggle that Text! - Part 2: AS2 Timeline Code Animation
Wiggle that Text! - Part 3: AS2 Custom Class
Wiggle that Text! - Part 4: AS3 Custom Class
Issues with Dynamically Creating and Calling Display Objects
by Derrick Ypenburg - 09-May-08
Reader Level:
Something completely new to ActionScript 3.0 is ActionScript's trust in object references. In AS2.0 you were able to dynamically add an object and call it after-the-fact by its instance name. In AS3.0, when an object is created dynamically you need to specifically tell the compiler how to treat an object when calling it in some cases. You cannot just simply call its instance name anymore as display objects that are dynamically added in many cases need to be referenced by a name property and do not have an instance name. ActionScript no longer "trusts" your judgment when calling dynamically created objects. This results in frustrating errors.
This new concept really made me feel like a newbie at first. Researching documentation on this topic to make sure I'm explaining this properly was also frustrating to find. So here it is! This article will show you when you need to tell Flash how an object should be treated.
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
by Tom Green - 05-May-08
Reader Level:
In this, the fourth of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to load an Illustrator CS3 file that can be used as a video mask ... at runtime.
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Flex-Flash Integration, Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
by Joseph Balderson - 01-May-08
Reader Level:
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
This article offers a clearly understandable tutorial on skinning Flex 2.01 components with Flash CS3. Later in this series we will move on to more advanced component skinning available in Flex 3.
The completed application with custom-skinned buttons.
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
Going Big — Enter H.264
by Tom Green - 30-Apr-08
Reader Level:
In this second excerpt from Foundation Flash CS3 Video, CommunityMX partner and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to add HD video to your web sites.
Approximate download size: 223MB
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Reflections on an Alpha Video Theme
by Tom Green - 30-Apr-08
Reader Level:
In this third excerpt from Foundation Flash CS3 Video by friendsofED, Cmax partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to reflect alpha channel video using ActionScript 3.0.
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 2: AS3
by David Stiller - 29-Apr-08
Reader Level:
Ah, coloring books! In my neighborhood, a family restaurant keeps a stack handy for kids to use while they wait for their food to arrive. Coloring books were certainly a fun pastime for me growing up, both on rainy and sunny afternoons. There's nothing like the smell of a fresh box of Crayolas, and nothing beats the satisfaction of tearing off paper as the colored wax slowly wears down. Even so, online coloring books are plenty fun in their own way, and Flash provides the easiest tool for creating a click-and-paint version of this childhood favorite.
This two-part series began last time with a tutorial for an implementation in ActionScript 2.0. In this article, we'll update the programming for ActionScript 3.0, and use the opportunity to grapple with a few migration issues.
The Click-and-Paint Flash Content Series:
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 1: AS2
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 2: AS3
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
by Tom Green - 25-Apr-08
Reader Level:
In this, the first of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, explore how to play an FLV file through a cell phone.
Approximate download size: 11MB
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 2: Creating, Storing and Displaying Map Data
by Derrick Ypenburg - 21-Apr-08
Reader Level:
In Part 2 of creating interactive Flash mapping applications, you will be introduced to KML (the mark-up language for storing mapping data) and UMapper, an online service which we will use to build your maps and export the KML map data to use in your own custom mapping applications using the UMap component.
This article assumes you are familiar with adding the UMap component to a Flash application and have read Part 1 of this series, Interactive Flash Maps Part 1.
Approximate download size: 4.4MB
The Interactive Flash Maps Series:
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 1
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 2: Creating, Storing and Displaying Map Data
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 1: AS2
by David Stiller - 18-Apr-08
Reader Level:
Ah, coloring books! In my neighborhood, a family restaurant keeps a stack handy for kids to use while they wait for their food to arrive. Coloring books were certainly a fun pastime for me growing up, both on rainy and sunny afternoons. There's nothing like the smell of a fresh box of Crayolas, and nothing beats the satisfaction of tearing off paper as the colored wax slowly wears down. Even so, online coloring books are plenty fun in their own way, and Flash provides the easiest tool for creating a click-and-paint version of this childhood favorite.
In this two-part series, we'll begin by stepping through an approach in ActionScript 2.0. In the follow-up article, we'll update the programming for ActionScript 3.0, taking the opportunity to note and work through a number of challenges presented by the code migration.
The Click-and-Paint Flash Content Series:
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 1: AS2
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 2: AS3
Using Sound in ActionScript 3: Part I
by Steve Wilkison - 16-Apr-08
Reader Level:
One of the most common reasons for incorporating Flash into a web site is to provide sound. It might be something as simple as a "sound effect" on a button or as complicated as a full blown MP3 jukebox. You might decide to build your entire web site with Flash, or you may only need to use some Flash elements on your (X)HTML page. Either way, to use sound effectively in Flash you'll need to have at least a basic understanding of ActionScript, Flash's programming language and the Sound Classes provided by Flash.
Much of the ActionScript related to Sound has changed in ActionScript 3. Whether you are completely new to ActionScript or migrating from ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3, this series of articles will show you how to use ActionScript 3 to work dynamically with external sounds. You'll need to make sure you have Flash CS3 to work through these tutorials.
Steve Wilkison has been working in the graphic design field for over fifteen years. He has been involved with over forty CD releases as art director and/or graphic designer, including packages for such artists as Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Wayne Hancock and Kate Campbell. He
made the move from print design to web design in 2001 and never looked back. Since then he has designed and created numerous e-cards and web sites utilizing many of today's cutting edge technologies. Today he concentrates almost exclusively on web site design and development utilizing XHTML, CSS, Flash, PHP, JavaScript and Ajax through his company Digital Vision Media. He currently teaches web design at Watkins College of Art & Design in Nashville, TN.
Understanding Bitmap Fills in ActionScript
by David Stiller - 15-Apr-08
Reader Level:
As Tom Green demonstrates in his video tutorial "Bitmap Fills in Flash," Bitmap fills are easy to achieve with the drawing tools — but what about ActionScript? Is it even possible to script bitmap fills? If so, is it insanely burdensome? The answers are: yes, it's possible (yay!); and no, it's not burdensome at all (double yay!). So what's the scoop? How does it work? You've come to the right tutorial.
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 1
by Derrick Ypenburg - 08-Apr-08
Reader Level:
When a client approached me to develop an application that maps out the waterways of Ontario for boating, services, towns, attractions, accomodations, etc, I was "on board" for the task. As we got deeper into the project and ran into limitations of the custom mapping application I was drawing and programming vs. the costs to overcome them with the custom mapping utility we were creating, it was time to look for other possible solutions. That's when I found UMap, a universal mapping component developed by the folks at Advanced Flash Components (AFC).
The Interactive Flash Maps Series:
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 1
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 2: Creating, Storing and Displaying Map Data
Controlling a New Browser Window's Characteristics with Flash: Part 2 - AS2
by David Stiller - 01-Apr-08
Reader Level:
It's easy enough, in Flash, to open a hyperlink into a new browser window. As a matter of fact, Flash uses the same syntax as HTML: specify "_blank" as the optional target parameter of the navigateToURL() function in AS3 or the getURL() function prior to AS3, just like specifying "_blank" for the target attribute of HTML's <a href="sample.html" target="_blank">. This results in a new window in most browsers — but if you want to control the characteristics of that new window, such as its dimensions, or whether or not to include certain attributes (navigation toolbar, menu bar, status bar, etc.), you'll have to use JavaScript.
If your hyperlink originates from Flash content, it means you'll have to instruct Flash to convey your intentions to JavaScript on your behalf. This two-part series gives you the how-to on doing just that. Here in Part 2, we'll pick up from last time, reviewing what code needs to change in order to produce the same results in ActionScript 2.0.
The Controlling a New Browser Window's Characteristics with Flash Series:
Controlling a New Browser Window's Characteristics with Flash - Part 1: AS3
Controlling a New Browser Window's Characteristics with Flash - Part 2: AS2
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
by Joseph Balderson - 26-Mar-08
Reader Level:
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.
In this first article, we will introduce the topic by looking at where certain Flash and Flex development scenarios might need to converge into an integrated Flash-Flex workflow. We'll also look some typical strategies to meet the needs of certain Flash Platform development methodologies.
A bird's eye view of the Flash-Flex Workflow.
The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex
Controlling a New Browser Window's Characteristics with Flash: Part 1 - AS3
by David Stiller - 14-Mar-08
Reader Level:
It's easy enough, in Flash, to open a hyperlink into a new browser window. As a matter of fact, Flash uses the same syntax as HTML: specify "_blank" as the optional target parameter of the navigateToURL() function in AS3 or the getURL() function prior to AS3, just like specifying "_blank" for the target attribute of HTML's <a href="sample.html" target="_blank">. This results in a new window in most browsers, true enough — but if you want to control the characteristics of that new window, such as its dimensions, or whether or not to include certain attributes (navigation toolbar, menu bar, status bar, etc.), you'll have to use JavaScript.
If your hyperlink originates from Flash content, it means you'll have to instruct Flash to convey your intentions to JavaScript on your behalf. This two-part series gives you the how-to on doing just that. Here in Part 1, we'll cover an ActionScript 3.0 approach; next time, we'll break it down for ActionScript 2.0.
The Controlling a New Browser Window's Characteristics with Flash Series:
Controlling a New Browser Window's Characteristics with Flash - Part 1: AS3
Controlling a New Browser Window's Characteristics with Flash - Part 2: AS2
A Streaming Video
by Tom Green - 12-Mar-08
Reader Level:
"Flash Media Server" and "No Brainer" are two terms you would never see in the same sentence. Not any more. Really!!!
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
by Tom Green - 05-Mar-08
Reader Level:
Using Photoshop CS3 to add a pattern or texture to an image destined for Flash is about as useful as lighting your BBQ with an atom bomb. Discover how Flash CS3 and Fireworks CS3 is an unbeatable combination.
Approximate download size: 13.6MB
The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7b: Creating an Oozing Image Coming Soon
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project In Flash Coming Soon
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash CS3: Part 4- Scaling on the Fly
by Tom Green - 28-Feb-08
Reader Level:
Have you ever wondered how they do those really cool image scaling effects on the photography sites? It isn't as hard as it looks.
Approximate download size: 17.2MB
The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7b: Creating an Oozing Image Coming Soon
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project In Flash Coming Soon
ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
by Derrick Ypenburg - 28-Feb-08
Reader Level:
If you are are creating any kind of logic or data storage/retrieval with ActionScript, you most likely will achieve that in part using arrays. Arrays are the most common and basic data structure, besides variables, in any programming language. Arrays allow storage of a series of one or more values in a single data structure.
In Part 1, we will cover the basics of creating arrays, adding, removing and returning values, and using methods of the array class. In Part 2, we will get more advanced with arrays and put arrays to use in a real world scenario.
The ActionScript Basics Series:
ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 2: Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 3: Building Dynamic Menus and Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 4: Building a Custom Button Class For the Dynamic Menu
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 3: AS3
by David Stiller - 21-Feb-08
Reader Level:
For many developers, progressive enhancement is a good idea that often gets set aside. After all, doesn't it require duplicated effort? Not necessarily. In this series, you're going to build a simple Flash slideshow that takes its cues entirely from the HTML document that contains it. Update the HTML and the Flash updates too — automatically. If Flash Player is not installed, the user sees the images anyway, only without the Flash pizzazz.
Here in Part 3, you'll learn how to migrate the ActionScript you wrote last time from 2.0 to 3.0 — code that retrieved images and captions from the XHTML file you loaded in Part 1.
The Progressive Enhancement with Flash Series:
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 1
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 2: AS2
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 3: AS3
Interactive Blurs
by Tom Green - 21-Feb-08
Reader Level:
We've all seen those Flash sites where, if you roll over an image, it either blurs or comes into focus. You may be wondering, "How do they do that?". It uses magic. ActionScript magic. In fact the ActionScript is dead simple. Intrigued? Read on.
Approximate download size: 12MB
The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7b: Creating an Oozing Image Coming Soon
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project In Flash Coming Soon
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 2: AS2
by David Stiller - 19-Feb-08
Reader Level:
For many developers, progressive enhancement is a good idea that often gets set aside. After all, doesn't it require duplicated effort? Not necessarily. In this series, you're going to build a simple Flash slideshow that takes its cues entirely from the HTML document that contains it. Update the HTML and the Flash updates too — automatically. If Flash Player is not installed, the user sees the images anyway, only without the Flash pizzazz.
The Progressive Enhancement with Flash Series:
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 1
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 2: AS2
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 3: AS3
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
by Tom Green - 14-Feb-08
Reader Level:
One of the fundamental maxims of this crazy business is:Let the software do the work. Let's go one even better. Let's let the software create a grid of objects on the stage and use them as a sort of transition effect. Did I mention it was code-free? Intrigued? Read on...
Approximate download size: 11.7MB
The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7b: Creating an Oozing Image Coming Soon
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project In Flash Coming Soon
From Photo to Art and Back Again
by Tom Green - 07-Feb-08
Reader Level:
How would you like to have an image transform into line art and back to an image? It's a snap in Flash CS3.
Approximate download size: 14.8MB
The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 6: Batch Processing
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7a: Creating an Oozing Image
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7b: Creating an Oozing Image Coming Soon
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 7c: Completing the Project In Flash Coming Soon
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 1
by David Stiller - 04-Feb-08
Reader Level:
One of the main tenets of good Web design involves the principle of progressive enhancement. In general, the idea goes like this: make sure the user can access a web site's essential content regardless of browser. It shouldn't matter whether the user visits your site with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, or pick your favorite flavor. In fact, the site's content should be accessible even without JavaScript or peripheral plugins like Flash Player. Once the basics are covered, use CSS to enhance the visual design. Then, and only then, introduce the whizz-bang stuff — nifty rollovers, AJAX interactivity, Flash — and do it in a way that doesn't penalize users who don't have (or choose to disable) the needed machinery.
For many developers, progressive enhancement is a good idea that often gets set aside. After all, doesn't it require duplicated effort? Not necessarily. In this series, you're going to build a simple Flash slideshow that takes its cues entirely from the HTML document that contains it. Update the HTML and the Flash updates too — automatically. If Flash Player is not installed, the user sees the images anyway, only without the Flash pizzazz.
Here in Part 1, you'll learn how to get the HTML data into Flash. In future articles, you'll learn how to pull out the relevant image references and captions and display them with ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0.
The Progressive Enhancement with Flash Series:
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 1
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 2: AS2
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 3: AS3
Google Analytics - Tracking Flash/Flex Online
by Derrick Ypenburg - 30-Jan-08
Reader Level:
Tracking user statistics in a SWF file is a problem as old as Flash itself. Being that a SWF is a self-enclosed file, traffic tracking utilities and services cannot 'peek' inside of an embedded SWF and see what's going on. Even if they could, the events and happening's of the SWF would make no sense to a tracker and it could not really effectively track what's going on. Sure you can track server stats of requested files such as loaded SWF's, images and videos but its hard to match them up with specific user sessions.
Not being able to track statistics effectively from a Flash website is a deal breaker when it comes to selling your Flash services. You need worry no longer though. This is where the Google Analytics comes in!
Adding Flash Cue Points in Soundbooth CS3
by Tom Green - 23-Jan-08
Reader Level:
An audio editing app that adds cue points to an FLV file? What's with that? Actually, it makes a lot of sense.
Approximate download size: 24MB
HD Video and the FLVPlayback Component
by Tom Green - 17-Jan-08
Reader Level:
Let me guess, you have seen some of the HD stuff in Flash and thought: "Whoa! Too complex for me." What if I were to tell you that it can be done ... code-free ... using nothing more than a few mouse clicks. Let's go one better... let me show you...
Loading and Controlling External SWFs in AS3
by Derrick Ypenburg - 17-Jan-08
Reader Level:
Loading external files into Flash with ActionScript 3.0 has changed quite a bit from ActionScript 1 and 2.The Flash API contains a new Loader class with which to load JPEGs, GIFs, and PNGs, a URLRequest class for making URL requests and a new event model. SWFs are loaded using the same technique, but finding the right way to call methods and properties of a loaded SWF can be challenging. I have been hand-coding ActionScript for years and this task made me feel like a newbie trying to figure it out.
If you are struggling with the same problem, then please read on and stop the pain.
Cross Fading Audio in ActionScript - Part 2: ActionScript 3.0
by David Stiller - 16-Jan-08
Reader Level:
It's easy enough to cross fade audio in a Flash timeline. Just create a layer for each sound and use the Edit button in the Property inspector to create two custom fades. You'll have to select the keyframe that introduces each sound. Make the one sound fade out and the other in — and position the fades so they overlap. The result is a smooth transition between two audio clips, but it ends up being inflexible in the published SWF. The cross fade happens when it happens, and that's that.
If you want to accomplish the same effect in response to user input, you'll have to use ActionScript. But how? The approach is markedly different between ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0. Last time in Part 1, we took a look at the older AS2 approach. Here in Part 2, we'll update the same principles to work in AS3.
Approximate download size: 4.6MB
The Cross Fading Audio in ActionScript Series:
Cross Fading Audio in ActionScript - Part 1: ActionScript 2.0
Cross Fading Audio in ActionScript - Part 2: ActionScript 3.0
Using XML and the ComboBox to Choose Multiple Videos in Flash CS3
by Tom Green - 15-Jan-08
Reader Level:
You are about to discover that Flash and XML are an unbeatable combination when it comes to playing a list of videos.
So You Want To Hire a SWF Developer?
by Joseph Balderson - 10-Jan-08
Reader Level:
In the ever-evolving world of Flash development, designers, developers, hr people and managers need up to date information on skills categories in the current marketplace. With all the aspects which comprise the Adobe ecosystem of design and development technologies, all of which may be located on a developer's resumé — such as Flash, Flex, ActionScript, FLV Video, Flash Media Server, Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), LiveCycle Data Services, and Cairngorm, to name a few — what do we call "the person who builds SWF files" for a living?
This is the question which can confuse an HR person enough to inadvertently misrepresent a candidate, may cause a manager to incorrectly assess a potential hire, and precipitate an identity crisis in the web developer wondering how the heck to correctly market themselves. This article is here to help.
GIF Animations in Flash
by Tom Green - 10-Jan-08
Reader Level:
Of course Flash is an animation tool. The thing is, web animations prior to Flash were animated GIF files. The odd thing is, Flash still works with animated GIF files.
Cross Fading Audio in ActionScript - Part 1: ActionScript 2.0
by David Stiller - 08-Jan-08
Reader Level:
It's easy enough to cross fade audio in a Flash timeline. Just create a layer for each sound and use the Edit button in the Property inspector to create two custom fades. You'll have to select the keyframe that introduces each sound. Make the one sound fade out and the other in — and position the fades so they overlap. The result is a smooth transition between two audio clips, but it ends up being inflexible in the published SWF. The cross fade happens when it happens, and that's that.
If you want to accomplish the same effect in response to user input, you'll have to use ActionScript. But how? The approach is markedly different between ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0. Here in Part 1, we'll start with AS2. Next time, we'll update the same principles to work in AS3.
Approximate download size: 2MB
The Cross Fading Audio in ActionScript Series:
Cross Fading Audio in ActionScript - Part 1: ActionScript 2.0
Cross Fading Audio in ActionScript - Part 2: ActionScript 3.0
Bitmap Fills in Flash
by Tom Green - 04-Jan-08
Reader Level:
Why use solid colors and gradients to fill objects on the Flash stage. How about a bitmap instead?
Approximate download size: 2.2MB
Making Your Own Utility Classes - Part 2: Custom Loader Utility
by Derrick Ypenburg - 03-Jan-08
Reader Level:
If you've read some of my past articles about ActionScript, you may have heard me say that I am a designer who knows how to program. In other words, I'm in denial about being a programmer. I cannot be in denial any longer though because I have a confession to make... I love making my own utility classes. I can program these things all day long.
Utility classes are classes that perform re-usable, common tasks in Flash. Say you have an application that has status and message panels that pop-up in multiple locations within the application. Rather than re-program the panels for every situation, construct an object from a utility class that takes care of the panel functionality. For me personally, I also love creating separate utility classes as I like to separate tasks and functionality in my code as much as I can. ActionScript is easier to de-bug, read and program when functionality is in a focused and easy-to-digest manner.
Part 2 of this series looks at building a custom loader class to re-use for loading image and swf assets throughout an application. After creating the basics of this custom class, you should feel comfortable in taking the class to the next step and tweaking it out and adding to it for your own dev purposes. As with other utiltiy classes I create in my dev environment, a custom utility class like the one we will build in this article keeps redundant and verbose coding to a minimum and can add some unique functionality to my loading sequences.
The Making Your Own Utility Classes Series:
Making Your Own Utility Classes - Part 1
Making Your Own Utility Classes - Part 2: Custom Loader Utility
Turning Bitmaps into Flash Vector Art
by Tom Green - 21-Dec-07
Reader Level:
The conversion of bitmap artwork into vectors, within Flash CS3, is a bit of "Black Art". In this tutorial I show you how it is done and leave you to make the decisions.
Approximate download size: 11.3MB
Flash Video and Dreamweaver CS3
by Tom Green - 21-Dec-07
Reader Level:
A lot of confusion has arisen around inserting Flash Video into Dreamweaver CS3. Here are the straight goods.
Bitmaps and Flash
by Tom Green - 20-Dec-07
Reader Level:
Why is it that working with bitmaps in Flash is often regarded as a "Black Art". Not quite. In this one I show you how editing of a bitmap can be done in both Flash CS3 and Fireworks CS3.
Approximate download size: 12MB
Making Your Own Utility Classes - Part 1
by Derrick Ypenburg - 20-Dec-07
Reader Level:
If you've read some of my past articles about ActionScript, you may have heard me say that I am a designer who knows how to program. In other words, I'm in denial about being a programmer. I cannot be in denial any longer though because I have a confession to make... I love making my own utility classes. I can program these things all day long.
Utility classes are classes that perform re-usable, common tasks in Flash. Say you have an application that has status and message panels that pop-up in multiple locations within the application. Rather than re-program the panels for every situation, construct an object from a utility class that takes care of the panel functionality. For me personally, I also love creating separate utility classes as I like to separate tasks and functionality in my code as much as I can. ActionScript is easier to de-bug, read and program when functionality is in a focused and easy-to-digest manner.
The Making Your Own Utility Classes Series:
Making Your Own Utility Classes - Part 1
Making Your Own Utility Classes - Part 2: Custom Loader Utility Coming Soon
Faking a Document Class in ActionScript 2.0
by David Stiller - 13-Dec-07
Reader Level:
Flash CS3 offers a remarkably convenient way to separate code from FLA assets completely. This feature is called the document class, and it's only available for FLA files configured for ActionScript 3.0. In AS3 documents, the Property inspector displays a Document class field when the Stage is selected, which facilitates the new feature; in AS2 and AS1 documents, this field is disabled. In a nutshell, the document class concept allows you control the main timeline by way of a custom class definition that extends Sprite or MovieClip. This class becomes your main timeline at runtime — and you can accomplish this without a shred of code in the FLA itself (see Steve Schelter's "Flash CS3 - The Document Class" series for details).
In team situations, especially, this allows designers to steer clear of programming altogether and opens the way for programmers do their thing away from drawing tools and timelines, which keeps everyone happy. But what if you haven't yet upgraded to Flash CS3? Or what if you have, but your project requirements dictate ActionScript 2.0? While the full benefit of a true document class cannot be realized before AS3, the feature can be faked as early as Flash MX 2004 by way of a single movie clip's Linkage properties. Let's take a look.
Understanding Gradient Fills in ActionScript - Part 1
by David Stiller - 10-Dec-07
Reader Level:
For the most part, the drawing API in ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0 is a straightforward business. Sure, complex shapes are a pain to draw programmatically, but the syntax is easy enough. You have your imaginary pen and tell it where to go, using the moveTo(), lineTo(), and curveTo() methods of their respective classes (MovieClip class in AS2, Graphics class in AS3). Fills are easy, too. The beginFill() method accepts two parameters: color and opacity. But gradients ... whoa, gradients are another matter! The beginGradientFill() method accepts at least five parameters, one of which involves matrix math. If you've ever had to build gradients with ActionScript and found yourself lost right out the gate, this is the tutorial for you.
In Part 1 of this two-part series, we'll break down all the parameters of the beginGradientFill() method, including the matrix, which — bafflingly — can be supplied in three different ways in AS2.
In Part 2, we'll write a JavaScript Flash (JSFL) script to create the tedious ActionScript for you.
The Understanding Gradient Fills in ActionScript Series:
Understanding Gradient Fills in ActionScript - Part 1
Understanding Gradient Fills in ActionScript - Part 2 Coming Soon
Looping a Video Object
by Tom Green - 28-Nov-07
Reader Level:
You are playing an FLV through a video object and you need to loop the video. Here's how...
Approximate download size: 7MB
Looping Video in the FLVPlayback Component
by Tom Green - 21-Nov-07
Reader Level:
One of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to the playback of a video file is: "How can I loop the video?" Here's how it is done using the Flash CS3 FLVPlayback component.
Approximate download size: 9.8MB
Native PSD Import into Flash CS3
by Derrick Ypenburg - 19-Nov-07
Reader Level:
Importing Photoshop files directly into Flash is now a reality with Flash CS3. Flash's new ability to import a PSD file by its layers and be able to import them as their own bitmap image as well as editable text layers, and into their own MovieClips, is extremely convenient for anyone who develops their interfaces and designs in Photoshop.
This article is quite similar to my previous article about importing Illustrator files into Flash. There are differences when importing Photoshop files however.
Importing Native AI Files into Flash CS3
by Derrick Ypenburg - 16-Nov-07
Reader Level:
Importing Illustrator files is easier than ever with Flash CS3. Flash's new ability to import an AI file by its layers, sub layers and un-used objects and be able to import them on their own layers, in their own MovieClips and as flattened bitmaps, is extremely convenient for anyone who develops their interfaces in Illustrator. I always start my Flash interface development in Illustrator. Even with the new and improved drawing tools in Flash CS3, nothing beats the drawing capabilities of Illustrator.
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
by Joseph Balderson - 16-Nov-07
Reader Level:
Finding ways to make it easy for Flash designers to create a simple FLV video player has been a much sought-after goal for many who work with the Adobe suite of technologies. Nowadays, designers and developers have an array of options available to them, from the new and improved v3 (or 'CS3') FLVPlayback component, to a flurry of third party video player components, all designed to make a Flash designer's job easier and more productive.
One such third party player is the video.Maru component. In all my years developing with Flash, I have yet to encounter a component which makes it simpler and easier to create a custom FLV video player. We'll show that it's so easy to create a custom player with video.Maru, you'll be looking for the guide wires!
In this tutorial, we'll be playing videos sequentially from a simple XML playlist.
The Using Video Maru Series:
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
Using Video Maru - Part 7: Exploring the Code API Coming Soon
Finding onDragOver: An AS2 to AS3 Migration Case Study
by David Stiller - 13-Nov-07
Reader Level:
For many designer/developers, ActionScript 3.0 is still very much new territory. You may have dipped into the latest language a bit — you may have even purchased a book or two on the subject — but unless you're required to use it every day, AS3 may very well present you with baffling new workflow changes, seemingly at every turn. This can especially be true when you undertake the endeavor to migrate an existing AS2-based project.
AS3's new event handling structure certainly threw me for a loop at first. It didn't take long before I realized that certain things seemed to be missing, such as the onReleaseOutside event of AS2's MovieClip and Button classes (Derrick Ypenburg discusses a workaround for this in his article "That Annoying stopDrag() Quirk in AS3.0"). In addition to that, it was recently brought to my attention that two other events, again shared by movie clips and buttons, had gone the way of the dodo: onDragOver and onDragOut.
Here's a brief case study on how I re-discovered the underlying basis for those events within their new trappings in ActionScript 3.0. By sharing the journey with me, I hope you find encouragement in your own friendly grapples with AS3.
Exploring Regular Expressions in ActionScript 3.0
by David Stiller - 09-Nov-07
Reader Level:
I have a geek confession to make. I love regular expressions (aka regex, regexp, and other abbreviations). In a nutshell, regular expressions comprise a mechanism for searching and replacing text. I'm not just talking about finding the word "cat" inside the longer word "catastrophe," though regex can certainly do that. I'm talking about complex searches like spotting all the US ZIP codes in a particular paragraph. Think of the possibilities! ZIP codes can be any combination of five digits, with or without the ZIP+4 (a hyphen followed by another four digits). Or looking for accidentally doubled words — "The dog jumped over the the fence," regardless which two words those might be — or formatting North American telephone numbers consistently, such as rendering 123.456.7890, 123-456-7890, or even (123)456.7890 as (123) 456-7890, no matter what the numbers are.
To me, solving these challenges is a bit like solving Sudoku puzzles. They're flat out fun! Many programming languages support regular expressions, often in their own slightly varied flavors, and ActionScript 3.0 finally brings this technology natively into Flash. Let's take an introductory look at how to make use of it.
Creating Smoke in Flash CS3: Part 1
by Tom Green - 08-Nov-07
Reader Level:
Ever wanted to add steam hissing out of a vent or smoke rising from a smoldering log in Flash? Read on...
Approximate download size: 1.2MB
Fireworks CS3 Symbols to Flash CS3
by Tom Green - 07-Nov-07
Reader Level:
Why don't the Flash guys get that Fireworks CS3 symbols can easily move into Flash as symbols? While we are at it, why is it the Fireworks guys aren't doing this as often as they should as well?
Approximate download size: 7.6MB
That Annoying stopDrag() Quirk in AS3.0
by Derrick Ypenburg - 02-Nov-07
Reader Level:
I was surprised to see that in AS3.0, the onReleaseOutside mouse event was left out of the MouseEvent class. This was a very important mouse event when it came to drag-and-drop functionality. To find this out, and think of a work-around in AS3.0 has been annoying for many people to find / figure out. Fortunately, the solution is simple.
This article will cover the quick work-around to solve the missing onReleaseOutside functionality.
Exploring the Flash Brush Tool
by David Stiller - 25-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Flash offers quite a few drawing tools, even if you don't count the time-tested Oval, Rectangle, and Polystar tools, or even Flash CS3's new Oval Primitive and Rectangle Primitive tools. Those provide a great starting point from which to manipulate given shapes, but if your goal is to create strokes and fills of your own design, completely from scratch, you'll want to pick up the Pencil, Pen, or Brush tools. Each has its unique characteristics, and the Brush tool is the most configurable. This article provides an overview of the Brush tool and its options.
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
by Joseph Balderson - 24-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Finding ways to make it easy for Flash designers to create a simple FLV video player has been a much sought-after goal for many who work with the Adobe suite of technologies. Nowadays, designers and developers have an array of options available to them, from the new and improved v3 (or 'CS3') FLVPlayback component, to a flurry of third party video player components, all designed to make a Flash designer's job easier and more productive.
One such third party player is the video.Maru component. In all my years developing with Flash, I have yet to encounter a component which makes it simpler and easier to create a custom FLV video player. We'll show that it's so easy to create a custom player with video.Maru, you'll be looking for the guide wires!
In this tutorial, we're going to revisit the basics, for those who missed the first article in this series, and see how video.Maru can also be configured to play a video straight from YouTube. And without using a single line of code.
The video.Maru component playing a YouTube video.
The Using Video Maru Series:
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
Using Video Maru - Part 7: Exploring the Code API Coming Soon
The Object Oriented Designer Part 6: Creating Buttons out of the Reflective Thumbs
by Derrick Ypenburg - 22-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Well we're almost done the Reflective Thumbnail Menu portion of the Object Oriented Designer series. In this second last tutorial, we will make the thumbnail images respond to mouse events and link to a URL when they are clicked. The URL info will be added to the XML document that feeds the menu its info and the rest will be animating with ActionScript and some tweaks and changes to the AS files.
The Object Oriented Designer Series
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 1: Animated Buttons
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 2: Making the Button Class
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 3: Creating Reflective Images with AS 3
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 4: Building a Reflective Image Menu with AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 5: Building a Reflective Image Menu with XML and AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 6: Creating Buttons out of the Reflective Thumbs
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
by Joseph Balderson - 18-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Finding ways to make it easy for Flash designers to create a simple FLV video player has been a much sought-after goal for many who work with the Adobe suite of technologies. Nowadays, designers and developers have an array of options available to them, from the new and improved v3 (or 'CS3') FLVPlayback component, to a flurry of third-party video player components, all designed to make a Flash designer's job easier and more productive.
One such third party player is the video.Maru component. In all my years developing with Flash, I have yet to encounter a component which makes it simpler and easier to create a custom FLV video player. We'll show that it's so easy to create a custom player with video.Maru, you'll be looking for the guide wires!
In this tutorial, we'll be adding effects to our video.Maru player, all of which are built right into the component. We will show you how to add a reflection effect and place your controls in a fadeTray, which fade and appear when needed. Still with no code required. :)
A video.Maru player with fadeTray & reflection effects.
The Using Video Maru Series:
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
Using Video Maru - Part 7: Exploring the Code API Coming Soon
Exploring Flash CS3 Primitives - Part 2: Oval Primitive and Animation
by David Stiller - 15-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Flash CS3 introduces two new drawing tools: Rectangle Primitive and Oval Primitive. At first glance, they don't appear much different from the familiar Rectangle and Oval tools. After all, the new ones allow you to draw (you guessed it!) rectangles and ovals. So what makes these mysterious new tools so special? Doesn't "primitive" mean "simple" or "unsophisticated"? Isn't this a step backward? Hardly!
The Rectangle Primitive and Oval Primitive tools
In this two-part series, we'll take a look at what these newcomers do, how they work, and discover their uses and quirks. Last time, in Part 1, we focused on the Rectangle Primitive. Here in Part 2, we'll pick up with the Oval Primitive and examine a few interesting points on the animation of shapes drawn by these tools.
What if Andy Warhol Used the BitmapData Class in Flash CS3
by Derrick Ypenburg - 12-Oct-07
Reader Level:
What if Flash was around in the days of Andy Warhol? What if it was Flash CS3 with all the new and improved Bitmap, BitmapDataChannel and bitmapData classes? Well I can't put myself in the mind of Andy Warhol, but his artwork may help make sense and inspire uses for these classes.
In this tutorial, I will cover the basic use of the Bitmap, BitmapData and BitmapDataChannel classes to strip a color image down to three displays of its red, green and blue channels as separate images.
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
by Joseph Balderson - 10-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Finding ways to make it easy for Flash designers to create a simple FLV video player has been a much sought-after goal for many who work with the Adobe suite of technologies. Nowadays, designers and developers have an array of options available to them, from the new and improved v3 (or 'CS3') FLVPlayback component, to a flurry of third party video player components, all designed to make a Flash designer's job easier and more productive.
One such third party player is the video.Maru component. In all my years developing with Flash, I have yet to encounter a component which makes it simpler or easier to create a custom FLV video player. We'll show that it's so easy to create a custom player with video.Maru, you'll be looking for the guide wires!
In this tutorial, we'll be adding timeline and sound controls to the Video Maru component, for what are more commonly known as the seek bar, progress bar, volume slider and mute controls. Still with no code required. :)
A video.Maru player with timeline & sound controls.
The Using Video Maru Series:
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
Using Video Maru - Part 7: Exploring the Code API Coming Soon
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
by Joseph Balderson - 04-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Finding ways to make it easy for Flash designers to create a simple FLV video player has been a much sought-after goal for many who work with the Adobe suite of technologies. Nowadays, designers and developers have an array of options available to them, from the new and improved v3 (or 'CS3') FLVPlayback component, to a flurry of third party video player components, all designed to make a Flash designer's job easier and more productive.
One such third-party player is the video.Maru component. In all my years developing with Flash, I have yet to encounter a component which makes it simpler and easier to create a custom FLV video player. We'll show that it's so easy to create a custom player with video.Maru, you'll be looking for the guide wires!
In this tutorial, we'll be adding playback controls to the Video Maru component. Still without using a single line of code! :)
A video.Maru player with playback controls
The Using Video Maru Series:
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
Using Video Maru - Part 7: Exploring the Code API Coming Soon
From Fireworks to a Flash Animation in a Flash
by Tom Green - 03-Oct-07
Reader Level:
So you have a layer in Fireworks that would make for a cool Flash animation. This issue is: How? Read on..
Exploring Flash CS3 Primitives - Part 1: Rectangle Primitive
by David Stiller - 01-Oct-07
Reader Level:
Flash CS3 introduces two new drawing tools: Rectangle Primitive and Oval Primitive. At first glance, they don't appear much different from the familiar Rectangle and Oval tools. After all, the new ones allow you to draw (you guessed it!) rectangles and ovals. So what makes these mysterious new tools so special? Doesn't "primitive" mean "simple" or "unsophisticated"? Isn't this a step backward? Hardly!
The Rectangle Primitive and Oval Primitive tools
In this two-part series, we'll take a look at what these newcomers do, how they work, and discover their uses and quirks. Here in Part 1, we'll focus on the Rectangle Primitive. Next time, we'll pick up with the Oval Primitive and examine a few interesting points on the animation of shapes drawn by these tools.
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
by Joseph Balderson - 27-Sep-07
Reader Level:
Finding ways to make it easy for Flash designers to create a simple FLV video player has been a much sought-after goal for many who work with the Adobe suite of technologies. Nowadays, designers and developers have an array of options available to them, from the new and improved v3 (or 'CS3') FLVPlayback component, to a flurry of third-party video player components, all designed to make a Flash designer's job easier and more productive.
One such third-party player is the video.Maru component. In all my years developing with Flash, I have yet to encounter a component which makes it simpler and easier to create a custom FLV video player. We'll show that it's so easy to create a custom player with video.Maru, you'll be looking for the guide wires!
In this first tutorial, we'll take a basic look at the Video Maru component, getting a video to play without any controls. And without using a single line of code.
A simple player built with the video.Maru component.
The Using Video Maru Series:
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
Using Video Maru - Part 7: Exploring the Code API Coming Soon
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 5: Building a Reflective Image Menu with XML and AS3.0
by Derrick Ypenburg - 26-Sep-07
Reader Level:
In this segment of the Object Oriented Designer series, we will build on the previous tutorial and focus on populating our menu with numerous external images that are defined in an external XML file. This will allow our menu to be dynamic and updateable from outside of the FLA file.
The final installment in this series will make thumbnails clickable for events or links and make the menu scrollable.
If you are not familiar with the previous installments in this series, please read them before you continue with this tutorial starting here.
The Object Oriented Designer Series
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 1: Animated Buttons
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 2: Making the Button Class
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 3: Creating Reflective Images with AS 3
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 4: Building a Reflective Image Menu with AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 5: Building a Reflective Image Menu with XML and AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 6: Creating Buttons out of the Reflective Thumbs
Extending the AS3 FLVPlayback Component in Flash CS3: Part 1 - Adding a Background Color
by Robert Reinhardt - 24-Sep-07
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In this FLVPlayback component series, you'll learn how to enhance the capabilities of the AS3 FLVPlayback component that ships with Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. Over the next several tutorials, you'll learn how to create an arbitrary class called FLVPlaybackPro and add custom methods and properties to accomplish common Flash Video tasks. The FLVPlaybackPro class extends the FLVPlayback class. In this tutorial, you learn how to create the FLVPlaybackPro class and build a background and backgroundColor property.
NOTE: This series augments the material discussed in my book, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Video Studio Techniques (Adobe Press). Some of the ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) custom classes I built and included on the book's DVD-ROM are discussed and expanded in this series.
MovieClip Buttons: Understanding a Few ActionScript 3.0 Nuances
by David Stiller - 21-Sep-07
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The first thing that comes to mind when many developers think of buttons in Flash is the common button symbol. It's name, after all, is perfectly apt: this is the symbol — out of the triad Movie Clip, Graphic, and Button — that is primed for making, well, buttons. This symbol has a set of specialized timeline frames that automatically update the visual states of Up, Over, and Down, which correspond to the mouse's movement over the button. No complaints there ... the button symbol is good for the basic widget it describes. The thing is, it's also possible to make buttons from movie clips. Robert Reinhardt describes why and how in the first rate "Building Better Buttons" article from this "Better Practices for Flash Designers" series (in a nutshell, movie clips' timelines can be more powerfully controlled, which allows for smoother transitions between states).
Robert's article was written for Flash 8, which means it covers ActionScript 2.0. Even so, the concept holds just as well for Flash CS3 — specifically ActionScript 3.0 — even though the syntax changes a bit. That said, some of the new functionality in the MovieClip class may stump you if you're keen to experiment on your own with movie clip buttons in Flash CS3. Let's examine two possible pitfalls, so you'll know how to sidestep them if they cross your path.
Taming the FLVPlayback Component's Need to Download
by David Stiller - 12-Sep-07
Reader Level:
Don't get me wrong, the FLVPlayback component that ships with Flash is a good thing. If you want video content on your site and you're not especially into programming, this component makes things very easy. Just drag an instance to the Stage, flip to the Parameters tab of the Property inspector, and enter the path to your FLV (Flash video) file. In the same Parameters area, you can even choose from a number of skins that affect the functionality and appearance of your video player. If you like, go minimal, with no skin and a video that plays automatically. Otherwise, go full bore and give your users a skin that allows pausing, seeking, volume adjustment and muting. The amount of control you give is up to you — all without a shred of ActionScript. So, what's not to like?
Two things, the importance of which only you can determine. First, FLVPlayback adds something of a heavy footprint to your SWF. Whatever it weighed before the component, FLVPlayback adds 35KB in ActionScript 2.0 documents and 49KB in ActionScript 3.0 documents. Assuming you're okay with that, the other issue is this: even if you configure it not to autoplay, FLVPlayback always initiates a download of your FLV file. That's right, even if it starts in pause mode, your video file will still be hogging up bandwidth, especially if you have two or three video players on your page. Given that your visitor may not even choose to watch, why put that strain on your server? Here's a clever way to step around the issue.
Using HD Video in Flash CS3
by Tom Green - 11-Sep-07
Reader Level:
So Adobe gets the Flash community cranked up last week by allowing you to add H.264 encoded video to your Flash movies. Here's a quick "How To"...
Using FLV Cue Points to Direct Hyperlinks
by David Stiller - 05-Sep-07
Reader Level:
Tom Green likes to mix and match multimedia formats. In From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics, he and co-author Tiago Dias bounce happily back and forth between video files and SWF files. And why not? Flash has supported true video by way of the FLV format for several versions now. No longer is Flash the exclusive domain of animators and programmers - videographers, too, can join the fun.
Taking a cue from Tom and Tiago, this tutorial explores an atypical approach to an otherwise run-of-the-mill Flash presentation, one in which various timeline keyframes present hyperlinks to other web pages. The catch is that the Flash file in this tutorial is only comprised of a single frame. The visuals are determined by a video file, and the hyperlinks are determined by cue points.
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 4: Building a Reflective Image Menu with AS 3.0
by Derrick Ypenburg - 31-Aug-07
Reader Level:
In this segment of the Object Oriented Designer - Creating a Reflective Image Menu, we will build on the previous tutorial and turn the reflective image application into a dynamic menu set-up. We will focus on: converting the previous set-up into a class based set-up, the loading of the external images, the XML configuration menu. This will set us up for the last installment, where we will make the menu interactive and scrollable.
The Object Oriented Designer Series
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 1: Animated Buttons
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 2: Making the Button Class
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 3: Creating Reflective Images with AS 3
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 4: Building a Reflective Image Menu with AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 5: Building a Reflective Image Menu with XML and AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 6: Creating Buttons out of the Reflective Thumbs
What AVC/H.264 Means for the Future of Flash Video
by Robert Reinhardt - 27-Aug-07
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During the week of August 20th, Adobe announced its plans to support the AVC/H.264 video standard in the final release of Flash Player 9 update 3. You can currently download beta 2 of Flash Player 9 update 3 on the Adobe Labs site. This beta contains the AVC/H.264 codec, which enables you to test MPEG-4 files using the H.264 codec right now! I won't recap the information already provided by Adobe, but I'll provide a context for this announcement with existing Flash Video codecs and the world of Internet-delivered video.
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 14-Aug-07
Reader Level:
In this, the final excerpt from their new book, Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED), Tom Green and David Stiller walk you through the creation of a slideshow that makes exetensive use of many of the new XML-handling features of Flash CS3.
Approximate download size: 3MB
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 3: Creating Reflective Images with AS 3
by Derrick Ypenburg - 13-Aug-07
Reader Level:
In this segment of the Object Oriented Designer series we will tackle a pretty tricky solution for creating reflective images using AS3.0 and an external image. These reflective image effects and reflective menus are the 'hot' thing to do right now. This tutorial will cover the loading of a single external image, creating a reflection of it by copying the image, flipping it, blurring it, and masking it with a gradient mask so you can get the effect as shown with David Stiller's photo below. No frame and property effects. Just 100% ActionScript!
Further installments will include classing out the ActionScript, dynamically populating a menu list with a number of loaded CMX Partner thumbnails, and mouse interactivity. For now, I will pick on David's image for the tutorial.
The Object Oriented Designer Series
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 1: Animated Buttons
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 2: Making the Button Class
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 3: Creating Reflective Images with AS 3
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 4: Building a Reflective Image Menu with AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 5: Building a Reflective Image Menu with XML and AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 6: Creating Buttons out of the Reflective Thumbs
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 2: Making the Button Class
by Derrick Ypenburg - 08-Aug-07
Reader Level:
The Object Oriented Designer series of articles will focus on the OOP method of writing ActionScript from an Graphical User Interface (GUI) designers point of view. I am personally in denial about being a "coder". I consider myself a designer that learned ActionScript to make my GUI's look and work better in an interactive environment. I have no other interest in programming except for the front-end aspect of things.
GUI Designers in Flash are not only responsible for design and layout, they are also responsible for how a design is interacted with, and what kind of things happen when a design is interfaced by the end-user. This series will also be done in ActionScript 3 so this is a perfect place to move your current AS2 skills into the world of CS3.
Part 1 of this series started out with a fully animated button using Mouse events and the Tween/Easing classes with ActionScript 3. The ActionScript in Part 1 was timeline based. In Part 2, we will move the frame based ActionScript into a custom Button class and make the animated button a true class.
The Object Oriented Designer Series
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 1: Animated Buttons
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 2: Making the Button Class
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 3: Creating Reflective Images with AS 3
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 4: Building a Reflective Image Menu with AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 5: Building a Reflective Image Menu with XML and AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 6: Creating Buttons out of the Reflective Thumbs
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 07-Aug-07
Reader Level:
New to Flash CS3 is Device Central. In this, the seventh of eight excerpts from their new book Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED), Community MX authors Tom Green and David Stiller take you through the mobile pace from content to upload.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 1: Animated Buttons with AS3
by Derrick Ypenburg - 06-Aug-07
Reader Level:
The Object Oriented Designer series of articles will focus on the OOP method of writing ActionScript from a Flash designers point of view. I am personally in denial about being a "coder". I consider myself a designer that learned ActionScript to make my designs look, and work, better in an interactive environment. I have no other interest in programming except for the front-end aspect of things.
Designers in Flash are not only responsible for design, they are also responsible for how a design is interacted with, and what kind of things happen when a design is interfaced by the end user. This series will also be done in ActionScript 3 so this is a prefect place to move your current AS2 skills into the world of CS3.
The first code-driven bit of design/interactivity I will cover is animated buttons.
The Object Oriented Designer Series
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 1: Animated Buttons
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 2: Making the Button Class
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 3: Creating Reflective Images with AS 3
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 4: Building a Reflective Image Menu with AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 5: Building a Reflective Image Menu with XML and AS 3.0
The Object Oriented Designer - Part 6: Creating Buttons out of the Reflective Thumbs
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2
by Joseph Balderson - 03-Aug-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
This 2-part article covers a nifty addition to any designer's arsenal of colour aids: the Adobe Kuler colour theme creator and sharing portal. In Part 1 we took a look at the photo-to-gif Flash palette technique. We then looked at how Kuler is a much better alternative to palette selection. Here in Part 2 we will look at the Kuler Desktop, an AIR-enabled version of the Kuler application, as well as the Kuler Flash CS3 Panel.
The Adobe Kuler application
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
by Joseph Balderson - 02-Aug-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
This 2-part article covers a nifty addition to any designer's arsenal of colour aids: the Adobe Kuler colour theme creator and sharing portal. First we'll take a look at the photo-to-gif Flash palette technique, then we'll look at how Kuler is a much better alternative to palette selection. In Part 2 we will look at the Kuler Desktop, an AIR-enabled version of the Kuler application, as well as the Kuler Flash CS3 Panel.
The Adobe Kuler application
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 2: Displaying a Loaded Font in a TextField Instance
by Robert Reinhardt - 02-Aug-07
Reader Level:
In this tutorial series, you learn how to use the new Font class in ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 9. The Font class enables you to embed one or more fonts in a Flash movie (SWF file), and reuse the font with other SWF files. In this tutorial, you learn how to utilize a font from a loaded font SWF file with a dynamically-created text field.
NOTE: In order to follow along with the tutorials in this series, you need to use Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. The font sharing techniques discussed in this series require ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 9.
The Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 Series:
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 1: Creating a Font SWF
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 2: Displaying a Loaded Font in a TextField Instance
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 2 - Basic Setup
by Steve Schelter - 01-Aug-07
Reader Level:
When working in the Flex 2 environment, there are many times where you might find yourself in need of a component that does not exist. The Flex SDK offers plenty of extensibility for building custom UI components that can plug seamlessly into the existing framework. In the second lesson of this series, we will set up the foundation for a custom component.
The Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2 Series:
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 1 - Overview
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 2 - Basic Setup
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 3 - Dispatching Events
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 4 - Property Exposure
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 5 - Styles
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 6 - Effect Triggers
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 30-Jul-07
Reader Level:
Masks with hard edges are easy to do in Flash. What about masks with feathered edges? That's another story. Learn how in this sixth excerpt written by Community MX partners David Stiller and Tom Green in the new book -Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers- from friendsofED
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Notes From the Photoshop File Importer Front
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 26-Jul-07
Reader Level:
In this, the fifth of eight excerpts from their new friendsofED book- Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers- Community MX partners David Stiller and Tom Green examine a new feature of Flash CS3. The Photoshop File Importer in Flash CS3 is a welcome addition to Flash CS3. Just be aware there are a couple of "gotcha's" you need to know.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
XML Captions for Video
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 20-Jul-07
Reader Level:
Embed an XML document into an FLV and you too can add closed captions to your FLV files. Find out how in this, the fourth of our excerpts, from Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers by friendsofED written by Community MX partners David Stiller and Tom Green.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 19-Jul-07
Reader Level:
In this, the third of eight excerpts from the soon-to-be released Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED) book, Community MX partners Tom Green and David Stiller walk you through the basics of audio in Flash.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 1: Creating a Font SWF
by Robert Reinhardt - 17-Jul-07
Reader Level:
In this tutorial series, you learn how to use the new Font class in ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 9. The Font class enables you to embed one or more fonts in a Flash movie (SWF file), and reuse the font with other SWF files. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a font SWF file and load it into another Flash movie.
The Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 Series:
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 1: Creating a Font SWF
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 2: Displaying a Loaded Font in a TextField Instance
Sound Visualization in Flash CS3
by Tom Green - 13-Jul-07
Reader Level:
Sometimes a little foreknowledge is a good thing. Let's all take a deep breath and explore a sound visualization exercise in Flash Professional CS3.
Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 1 - Converting MPEG Files
by Robert Reinhardt - 13-Jul-07
Reader Level:
In this Flash Video series, you learn how to process source video files before you encode the content to the Flash Video (FLV) format. Source video can be saved in a wide range of formats across Windows and Macintosh platforms, and each format can use specific audio and video codecs. In this tutorial, you learn how to prepare an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file for Flash Video encoding.
NOTE: All of the tutorials in this series require Apple QuickTime Player. I recommended purchasing Apple QuickTime Player Pro directly from Apple. The Pro version enables you to export audio and video files. This series augments the material discussed in my book, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Video Studio Techniques (Adobe Press).
The Preparing Source Video for Flash Video Series:
Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 1 - Converting MPEG Files
Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 2 - Preventing Quality Loss
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 10-Jul-07
Reader Level:
In this, the second of eight excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers by friendsofEd, Community MX partners, Tom Green and David Stiller, show you how to convert a Flash movie into a Quicktime movie. This exercise doesn't just think "outside of the box", it moves to the room where the box is located.
Approximate download size: 31MB
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Flash CS3: The Document Class - Part 2
by Steve Schelter - 09-Jul-07
Reader Level:
The document class is a powerful new feature in Flash CS3 that utilizes the new IDE's integration into ActionScript 3.0. After the previous lesson, we've covered what the document class is and how it works. In this lesson, we will explore just how powerful the document class can be for building complex, modular applications.
The Flash CS3 Document Class Series:
Flash CS3: The Document Class - Part 1
Flash CS3: The Document Class - Part 2
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
by Tom Green,David Stiller - 05-Jul-07
Reader Level:
In a series of excerpts from their new book, Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers, Community MX partners Tom Green and David Stiller show you how to apply the Glow effect to Jay Maynard, better known as Tron Guy.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
TodCon 2007 Session: Hurry Up and Code: Power Shortcuts for Flash and Flex Developers
by Joseph Balderson - 28-Jun-07
Reader Level:
In the high pressure world of RIA development, being efficient at churning out code, over time, can mean the difference between late nights and project overruns or peace of mind. Learning to type 50 WPM is not the only way to code faster. Learn some important secrets to being more efficient in your coding, increasing productivity in both Flash and Flex development environments.
This is presentation made at TodCon 2007 in Las Vegas, June 12, 2007.
TodCon 2007 Session: Introduction to Design Patterns for Flash and Flex
by Joseph Balderson - 26-Jun-07
Reader Level:
Whether you consider yourself to be a Flash developer or a Flex programmer, eventually you will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to rely exclusively on the Flash timeline, or on Flex MXML markup. Taking your project that extra step may require using ActionScript class files and structured Object-Oriented Programming.
However, using OOP principles without a plan, without a way of structuring your classes, can very quickly lead to convoluted and unmanageable code. The solution is to use a tool called Design Patterns.
This session will dispel the myth that design patterns are only for geeks with PHDs, and explain how and why to use them in both Flash and Flex projects. Participants will come away with powerful tools to simplify and organize their coding projects to be better suited for efficiency and team development.
This is a presentation made at TodCon 2007 in Las Vegas, June 12, 2007.
Navigating to Flash Video Cue Points by Name
by David Stiller - 13-Jun-07
Reader Level:
The FLVPlayback component that shipped with Flash 8 ushered in a tidy mechanism for seeking to video cue points. All you have to do is reference the FLVPlayback instance by its instance name and invoke the seekToNavCuePoint() method. This method lets you pass in a specific time, cue point name, or cue point object as the parameter, and boom — you're in. The video jumps to that point in the FLV file. FLVPlayback is a boon, because it makes things easy, but there are times when, for various reasons, you may want to avoid the 33KB penalty for using a component (the ActionScript 2.0 version is 33KB; the ActionScript 3.0 version, available in Flash CS3, weighs 49KB).
The NetConnection and NetStream classes provide an easy way to display video at a svelte 3KB, but neither of them supports a seek-related method that accepts cue point names. If you know the cue point's time value, you're fine — but names sure are convenient! What to do? If this is your predicament, ActionScript 3.0 provides an escape hatch via the onMetaData event.
Approximate download size: 3.7MB
Flash CS3: The Document Class - Part 1
by Steve Schelter - 12-Jun-07
Reader Level:
The document classL is a powerful new feature in Flash CS3 that utilizes the new IDE's integration into ActionScript 3.0. Some of you may have noticed the presence of the so-called document class pop up at various different places just from casually playing around with the new IDE, but what is it? In this lesson, we will discuss the significance of this class and its role in AS 3.0 development.
The Flash CS3 Document Class Series:
Flash CS3: The Document Class - Part 1
Flash CS3: The Document Class - Part 2
Creating Audio Visualizations in AS 3.0
by Steve Schelter - 07-Jun-07
Reader Level:
In the past, the creation of audio visualizations were only made possible using external tools. The new AS 3.0 sound utilities, however, offer greater advantages for handling such view-driven effects. The process becomes even greater simplified through the use of the Spectrum Tools library, which I have built for free use to the Flash community.
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen
by Joseph Balderson - 06-Jun-07
Reader Level: 
Ever wondered how some Flash applications "break free" of the constraints of a fixed stage size, flowing from one size to another depending on browser size or application state? Creating these fluid layouts in Flash is considered by some to be one of those hidden mysteries of Flash coding. By others, it is regarded as a milestone to be achieved on the path of ActionScript mastery. For me, it is both.
We will take you through the steps, from intermediate to advanced, necessary to create application layouts in Flash which can exhibit "fullsize" or "fluid" functionality. In this series we will explore the basic principles of creating fluid layouts in Flash, build a sample application with a class architecture using components, finishing off with an exploration of the new fullscreen feature available in Flash Player 9.
In the last tutorial we extended the Stage class, thereby adding to its functionality. In this article we will explore the new Flash Player 9 fullscreen feature, adding this functionality to our new stage class, and to our application.
The completed application in fullscreen mode.
The Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash Series:
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4:Creating the Movie Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen
Approximate download size: 2MB
Flash CS3: Customizing Components Just Got Easier!
by David Stiller - 01-Jun-07
Reader Level:
Since early in its life, Flash has proven itself the leader in Web animation. In recent years, that dominance has nudged into the realm of online applications as well. For user-facing applications, you need user interface (UI) elements, plain and simple — something to receive input from the person viewing your content or to display information in a specific way, such as in a grid or selection box.
The UI components that ship with Flash CS3 are an improvement over the Flash 8 set in a number of ways: size (much smaller), performance (faster, better) and ease of customization. Let's take a brief overview of this last point, customization, by way of the Button component in Flash CS3 Professional. The following tutorial is slightly modified from an excerpt of the components chapter in Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers, by Tom Green and David Stiller, to be published summer 2007 by friends of ED.
Approximate download size: 674k
Flash CS3: What Happened to the Syntax Checker?
by David Stiller - 30-May-07
Reader Level:
In Flash 8, and even earlier, the Check syntax button of the Actions panel was a little friendlier than it is today. Even in Flash CS3 Professional, if you set the document's publish settings to ActionScript 2.0 (File > Publish Settings, Flash tab), you can get a taste of the "good old days" — but ActionScript 3.0 documents represent a new era, where all is not as it seems; an era that many of you may feel is frustrating.
This issue presented in this article affects Flash documents (FLAs) when their publish settings are configured for ActionScript 3.0 and stand-alone classes (AS text files) when edited in the Script window (a full-screen version of the Actions panel that temporarily locks out access to other panels).
The following tutorial is slightly modified from an excerpt of the "ActionScript Basics" chapter in Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers, by Tom Green and David Stiller, to be published summer 2007 by friends of ED.
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
by Robert Reinhardt - 25-May-07
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to record a live publisher stream directly to a Flash Media Server application.
NOTE: In order to follow along with the tutorials in this series, you should have a webcam and microphone compatible with Flash Player 6 and higher. Just about any webcam and microphone works with the Flash Player.
SPECIAL OFFER: The first twenty readers of this tutorial series to send me an e-mail via the feedback link on this tutorial will receive a free time-limited Flash Media Server account at Influxis. You can use this account to publish live video streams. Please allow one to three days for me to verify your subscriber (or pay per use) status with Community MX. (There are still accounts available as of May 24th, 2007!)
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
by Robert Reinhardt - 21-May-07
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to control the audio quality and bandwidth usage of the Microphone class used with a live publisher stream.
NOTE: In order to follow along with the tutorials in this series, you should have a webcam and microphone compatible with Flash Player 6 and higher. Just about any webcam and microphone works with the Flash Player.
SPECIAL OFFER: The first twenty readers of this tutorial series to send me an e-mail via the feedback link on this tutorial will receive a free time-limited Flash Media Server account at Influxis. You can use this account to publish live video streams. Please allow one to three days for me to verify your subscriber (or pay per use) status with Community MX. (There are still accounts available as of May 20th, 2007!)
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
Animation Magic in Flash CS3 Professional
by Tom Green - 16-May-07
Reader Level:
How's this for a magic trick? Scripted motion without writing a single line of ActionScript code.
Approximate download size: 4.9MB
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
by Joseph Balderson - 15-May-07
Reader Level:
Ever wondered how some Flash applications "break free" of the constraints of a fixed stage size, flowing from one size to another depending on browser size or application state? Creating these fluid layouts in Flash is considered by some to be one of those "hidden mysteries" of Flash coding. By others it is regarded as a milestone to be achieved on the path of ActionScript mastery. For me, it is both.
We will take you through the steps, from intermediate to advanced, necessary to create application layouts in Flash which can exhibit "fullsize" or "fluid" functionality. In this series we will explore the basic principles of creating fluid layouts in Flash, build a sample application with a class architecture using components, finishing off with an exploration of the new "fullscreen" feature available in Flash Player 9.
In the last tutorial we created an encapsulation of certain document properties into a static Movie class. In this tutorial we will continue to lay the groundwork for our AS 2.0 "Fluid stage layout engine" by extending the Stage class, thereby adding to its functionality. And along the way we will take a look at some basic ActionScript 2.0 object-oriented programming techniques and best practices.
The Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash Series:
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4:Creating the Movie Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen
Flash CS3: What Happened to Linkage Identifier?
by David Stiller - 14-May-07
Reader Level:
Intermediate users of ActionScript 2.0 are generally familiar with the concept of attaching Library assets at runtime. The process requires right-clicking (PC) or Ctrl+clicking (Mac) a Library asset and selecting Linkage... from the context menu. This opens the Linkage Properties dialog, which has historically been the place to provide a unique Identifier label. This label allows the asset to be summoned by ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0 in conjunction with methods such as MovieClip.attachMovie() or Sound.attachSound().
In Flash CS3 Professional, the addition of ActionScript 3.0 has knocked this paradigm on its ear. Attaching assets is still possible — in fact, the new mechanism arguably makes more sense — but until you "get it," you might find yourself blinking at the documentation of your shiny new CS3 install, wondering where the "attach" methods went. Sure, you could set your FLA's Publish Settings for ActionScript 2.0, but you want to take advantage of the new language, right? Let's do just that.
Animation: The Fireworks CS3 to Flash CS3 Connection
by Tom Green - 08-May-07
Reader Level:
Who says you can't create Flash CS3 animations using Fireworks CS3?
The AS3 Event System - Part 5: Managing Event Flow
by Steve Schelter - 03-May-07
Reader Level:
In the fifth installment of the AS3 Event System series, we'll be covering advanced techniques of event flow management.
The AS3 Events System Series:
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 2: Timer Class
The AS3 Event System - Part 3: Custom Dispatchers
The AS3 Event System - Part 4: Event Flow Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 5: Managing Event Flow
Using E4X to Retrieve XML Data in Flash CS3
by David Stiller - 02-May-07
Reader Level:
Back in early 2005, Danny Patterson took us on an early examination of something called E4X (see ECMAScript for XML (E4X): Overview). He was looking ahead to a technology that would greatly simplify XML data retrieval when it made its introduction to Flex developers in ActionScript 3.0.
With the recent commercial release of Flash CS3, this enhancement has become available to Flash developers too. You're going to love what E4X means to your XML-in-Flash workflow! The following tutorial is slightly modified from an excerpt of the XML chapter in Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers, by Tom Green and David Stiller, to be published summer 2007 by friends of ED.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 3: Advanced Compression Settings with Sorenson Squeeze
by Derrick Ypenburg - 01-May-07
Reader Level:
In the first two installments of the Art of Encoding Series, I covered the basics of the FLV Format, The Art of Encoding Flash Video: About the FLV Format and introduced everyone to encoding video using Sorenson Squeeze, The Art of Encoding Flash Video: Sorenson Squeeze.
This installment will go further into the compression settings of Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 using its advanced compression settings. Getting familiar with and using these advanced settings will result in higher encoded video quality and better playback performance of Flash video. If you are not familiar with Sorenson Squeeze 4.5, please read the introduction article to Sorenson Squeeze, The Art of Encoding Flash Video: Sorenson Squeeze.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video Series:
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 1: About the FLV Format
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 2: Sorenson Squeeze
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 3: Advanced Compression Settings with Sorenson Squeeze
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4: Creating the Movie Class
by Joseph Balderson - 01-May-07
Reader Level:
Ever wondered how some Flash applications "break free" of the constraints of a fixed stage size, flowing from one size to another depending on browser size or application state? Creating these fluid layouts in Flash is considered by some to be one of those hidden mysteries of Flash coding. By others it is regarded as a milestone to be achieved on the path of ActionScript mastery. For me, it is both.
We will take you through the steps, from intermediate to advanced, necessary to create application layouts in Flash which can exhibit "fullsize" or "fluid" functionality. In this series we will explore the basic principles of creating fluid layouts in Flash, build a sample application with a class architecture using components, finishing off with an exploration of the new "fullscreen" feature available in Flash Player 9.
In the last tutorial we created an application with a fluid proportional layout using v2 components. In this tutorial we will continue evolving our code by encapsulating certain properties of the Flash document SWF into a static class file called the Movie class, which will be used as a foundation for the rest of this series. We will also show you how to get the document size set in the FLA, at runtime, without needing to use a constant or pre-defined variable.
The Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash Series:
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4:Creating the Movie Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
by Robert Reinhardt - 26-Apr-07
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to control the image quality and bandwidth usage of the live publisher stream.
NOTE: In order to follow along with the tutorials in this series, you should have a webcam and microphone compatible with Flash Player 6 and higher. Just about any webcam and microphone works with the Flash Player.
SPECIAL OFFER: The first twenty readers of this tutorial series to send me an e-mail via the feedback link on this tutorial will receive a free time-limited Flash Media Server account at Influxis. You can use this account to publish live video streams. Please allow one to three days for me to verify your subscriber (or pay per use) status with Community MX. (There are still accounts available as of April 21st, 2007!)
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
by Joseph Balderson - 26-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
When coding an object-oriented project involving many external ActionScript files, using the SEPY ActionScript Editor has been quite simply a boon to my life as a Flash developer, whose features have saved me a lot of time and headaches. One of those features is the ability to automate code creation. In this article we will look at how SEPY can make your job as a Flash developer a whole lot easier.
The SEPY Snippets panel
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Customizing the Mouse Cursor in AS2
by David Stiller - 25-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Flash gives you two mouse cursors: the default arrow and the "finger" pointer that appears over hyperlinks and buttons. While useful, those are the only two you get, and that's that — unless you design your own. If you've ever wanted to enhance the user's experience with additional cursors using ActionScript 2.0, or simply replace the default arrow with something fun, this is the tutorial for you.
The AS3 Event System - Part 4: Event Flow Basics
by Steve Schelter - 20-Apr-07
Reader Level:
In the fourth installment of the AS3 Event System series, we'll be covering the basics of event flow and how the various phases differ from each other.
The AS3 Events System Series:
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 2: Timer Class
The AS3 Event System - Part 3: Custom Dispatchers
The AS3 Event System - Part 4: Event Flow Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 5: Managing Event Flow
Using the Flash CS3 FLVPlayback UI Components
by Tom Green - 19-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Living in an ActionScript-free zone when it comes to Flash video has arrived.
Approximate download size: 2.7MB
Using the Flash CS3 FLVPlayback Component
by Tom Green - 16-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Adobe may just have pulled off the "seemingly impossible": They made something that was dead simple to use, even easier to use.
Approximate download size: 12MB
Using the CS3 Studio Flash Video Encoder
by Tom Green - 13-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Sporting a brand new look and a feature that will knock your socks off, the CS3 version of the Flash Video Encoder may just be a the sleeper hit of the Studio.
Approximate download size: 8.4MB
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
by Robert Reinhardt - 09-Apr-07
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to use the Microphone class to add audio from the user's microphone to a live stream.
NOTE: In order to follow along with the tutorials in this series, you should have a webcam and microphone compatible with Flash Player 6 and higher. Just about any webcam and microphone works with the Flash Player.
SPECIAL OFFER: The first twenty readers of this tutorial series to send me an e-mail via the feedback link on this tutorial will receive a free time-limited Flash Media Server account at Influxis. You can use this account to publish live video streams. Please allow one to three days for me to verify your subscriber (or pay per use) status with Community MX. (There are still accounts available as of April 1st, 2007!)
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 3
by David Stiller - 06-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Beginners to Flash programming often find themselves asking a fundamental question: "Dude, where do I put my code?" A quick sweep of the 100s of Community MX Flash tutorials, as well as other code repositories on the Web, reveals quite a few choices. You can put ActionScript into keyframes; attach it directly to objects, such as buttons; put it into external text files; and even write a special kind of external file called a class. So, which approach is best? Are some better than others?
To arrive at an answer, this series takes a stroll among the various techniques mentioned. This is not an article on ActionScript syntax or how to program, but rather, an overview of approaches you might take while getting your feet wet. In Part 1, we looked at code attached to timeline keyframes. In Part 2, we rode a carriage down memory lane to examine code directly attached to objects. Here in Part 3, we conclude with a brief discussion on code in external files.
The Dude Where Do I Put My Code Series:
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 1
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 2
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 3
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
by Joseph Balderson - 06-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
This article covers a utility which I consider to be paramount to any Flash developer's toolkit: the FlashTracer extension for Firefox.
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
by Joseph Balderson - 04-Apr-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
Many times in the past I found myself wanting to preview an FLV video, either for pre-selection during development, or simply to watch a video I had downloaded from the net. Problem is, Flash does not come with a standalone FLV player out of the box. The solution: use a standalone FLV player. This article will cover three popular, free standalone FLV players, by Martijn Devisser, Nothing Media and Blitz Labs (Windows only).
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
The AS3 Event System - Part 3: Custom Dispatchers
by Steve Schelter - 03-Apr-07
Reader Level:
In the third installment of the AS3 Event System series, we'll be taking the custom Stopwatch class we built in part 2 and turn it into a custom event dispatcher.
The AS3 Events System Series:
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 2: Timer Class
The AS3 Event System - Part 3: Custom Dispatchers
The AS3 Event System - Part 4: Event Flow Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 5: Managing Event Flow
Flash Video: Move Over?
by Robert Reinhardt - 27-Mar-07
Reader Level:
In November 2006, I wrote an article title "Flash Video: Why the Other Players Don't Get It", wherein I made a case for Flash Video on the web. Indeed, Flash Video is everywhere on the web, from Google to YouTube to Blip.tv. However, within the last couple of weeks, Flash Video suffered a casualty: ABC.com replaced Flash Video as the video player technology on their showcase Full Episode Streaming site. I initially blogged about the event, chiding Adobe for not moving faster to address widely known concerns about Flash Video streaming on the web, especially by providers who want to protect their content. After my post received over 1000 web views within 12 hours, I got the feeling that I should write more about my thoughts on Flash Video, and how it might suffer more casualties if Adobe doesn't take their customers (especially their big customers, like ABC.com) more seriously. (Or should I be so bold as to say they shouldn't take them for granted?)
NOTE: This article is an editorial reflecting my personal concerns about Flash Video technology, and does not reflect the views and opinions of any other entity.
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 2
by David Stiller - 22-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Beginners to Flash programming often find themselves asking a fundamental question: "Dude, where do I put my code?" A quick sweep of the 100s of Community MX Flash tutorials, as well as other code repositories on the Web, reveals quite a few choices. You can put ActionScript into keyframes; attach it directly to objects, such as buttons; put it into external text files; and even write a special kind of external file called a class. So, which approach is best? Are some better than others?
To arrive at an answer, this series takes a stroll among the various techniques mentioned. This is not an article on ActionScript syntax or how to program, but rather, an overview of approaches you might take while getting your feet wet. In Part 1, we looked at code attached to timeline keyframes. Here in Part 2, we'll see how things differ when code is directly attached to objects. Part 3 will conclude the discussion with a brief look at code in external files.
The Dude Where Do I Put My Code Series:
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 1
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 2
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 3
The AS3 Event System - Part 2: Timer Class
by Steve Schelter - 20-Mar-07
Reader Level:
In the second installment of the AS3 Event System series, we'll be covering the procedure for implementing a commonly-used utility, the Timer class.
The AS3 Events System Series:
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 2: Timer Class
The AS3 Event System - Part 3: Custom Dispatchers
The AS3 Event System - Part 4: Event Flow Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 5: Managing Event Flow
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
by Joseph Balderson - 16-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
Implementing code-generated graphics or animations can be greatly facilitated with the aid of an "explorer," showing a live example of certain effects, and the code required to create the effect at runtime. This can greatly expedite code generation, and provide an essential learning tool. In this article we'll look at a little-known but very useful utility created by Adobe called the Transition and Tween Explorer.
The Adobe Transition and Tween Explorer
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
by Joseph Balderson - 14-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
Implementing code-generated graphics or animations can be greatly facilitated with the aid of an "explorer," showing a live example of certain effects, and the code required to create the effect at runtime. This can greatly expedite code generation, and provide an essential learning tool. In this article we'll look at two very handy utilities for exploring code-generated gradients: Kinglong's "Flash Gradient Fills Explorer" and Andreas Weber's Gradient Tween Editor.
Kinglong's "Flash Gradient Fills Explorer" and Andreas Weber's Gradient Tween Editor
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
by Robert Reinhardt - 12-Mar-07
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to use the NetStream.play() method to receive a live video feed from a Flash Media Server application.
NOTE: In order to follow along with the tutorials in this series, you should have a webcam compatible with Flash Player 6 and higher. Just about any USB or Firewire webcam works with the Flash Player.
SPECIAL OFFER: The first twenty readers of this tutorial series to send me an e-mail via the feedback link on this tutorial will receive a free time-limited Flash Media Server account at Influxis. You can use this account to publish live video streams. Please allow one to three days for me to verify your subscriber (or pay per use) status with Community MX. (There are still accounts available as of March 8th, 2007!)
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
by Steve Schelter - 09-Mar-07
Reader Level:
AS 3 brings a new level of sophistication in scripting for flash with a unified event model system. In the first installment of this series, we'll be covering the basic principles of registerring listeners and handling event objects.
The AS3 Events System Series:
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 2: Timer Class
The AS3 Event System - Part 3: Custom Dispatchers
The AS3 Event System - Part 4: Event Flow Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 5: Managing Event Flow
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 1
by David Stiller - 08-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Beginners to Flash programming often find themselves asking a fundamental question: "Dude, where do I put my code?" A quick sweep of the 100s of Community MX Flash tutorials, as well as other code repositories on the Web, reveals quite a few choices. You can put ActionScript into keyframes; attach it directly to objects, such as buttons; put it into external text files; and even write a special kind of external file called a class. So, which approach is best? Are some better than others?
To arrive at an answer, let's take a stroll among the various techniques mentioned. This is not an article on ActionScript syntax or how to program. If you were an aspiring chef, this might be a tour of various kitchen facilities, to give you a feel for what's available at each venue. After a brief look at the options, you may just find that the best approach is simply the one that makes you the most comfortable, even on a project-by-project basis. We'll start with timeline code, here in Part 1, then address the other procedures in subsequent articles.
The Dude Where Do I Put My Code Series:
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 1
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 2
Dude, Where Do I Put My Code? - Part 3
Flash Power Tools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
by Joseph Balderson - 05-Mar-07
Reader Level:
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
This article covers a utility which I consider to be paramount to any Flash developer's toolkit: the Flash Switcher extension for Firefox. (Windows only)
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
From Flash to After Effects
by Tom Green - 28-Feb-07
Reader Level:
Who says you have to export QuickTime out of Flash to get a video?
Building a Custom Flash Video Player Part 1: The Basic Application
by Derrick Ypenburg - 27-Feb-07
Reader Level:
For online video, delivering it with Flash is your best bet. Flash gives you the ability to create a fully customized and branded streaming experience for the end user. Other streaming formats and platforms stream through players that cannot be customized, or that are extremely difficult to embed and integrate into a customized environment and require expensive development and testing to do so. Further, ad insertion, closed captioning and selective player controls are also quite easy to integrate in Flash video applications. The ubiquity of the Flash player and fast download time of the plug-in allows you to reach a much larger audience.
This series will guide you from creating the basic building blocks for a simple customized Flash video application to developing a full-on television station type of environment complete with error handling and status messaging, playlists, ad insertion and many other bells and whistles.
This tutorial will start with creating the basic building blocks to plan a strong, well-designed custom video application. After completing this tutorial, you will have a functional, custom Flash video player that you can build upon.
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 3 - Curvature
by David Stiller - 23-Feb-07
Reader Level:
Flash Professional 8 introduced a number of exciting new visual filters — such as drop shadow, blur, glow, and bevel — which reproduce many of the corresponding filters of Photoshop and Fireworks. Of these, most are available via the Property inspector's Filters tab. All filters are accessible to ActionScript, but a few actually require programming. One of these is the DisplacementMapFilter class, which distorts images based on the colors or transparency in a special reference map. Here in Part 3 of this series, you will learn how to harness the magnification effect we achieved last time by adding a second layer of "strength factor" to the gradient displacement map. This can produce perspective distortion, only available with shapes until Flash 8, and even curved distortion, like a fisheye lens. In the next and final installment, we'll use ActionScript's built-in Perlin noise generator in conjunction with the DisplacementMapFilter class to add animated ripples to an image.
Particle Trails in Actionscript 2.0
by Steve Schelter - 22-Feb-07
Reader Level:
BitmapData, introduced in Flash 8, opens the door to new capabalities for complex motion effects. This tutorial will cover some of the more common techniques for creating motion trails, and will analyze the process efficiency of each one.
Loaders Demystified: Part 5 - Photorealism
by Joseph Balderson - 21-Feb-07
Reader Level:
Loaders in Flash have become somewhat of a lost art or a no-brainer, depending on whom you speak to. Many mysteries have been solved quite a while ago in the history of Flash, but with new advances, many of these techniques have been forgotten, and some new tricks have come to light. Like anything in Flash, there is more that one way of arriving at the same result, and loaders are no exception. Despite this fact, the Loader remains one of the most mysterious and neglected aspects of Flash development. This series seeks to cover the pitfalls, best practices, tips and tricks to building loaders of all kinds in Flash.
Ever wondered how to incorporate a loader seamlessly into the design of the application itself, or show the load progress using a photorealistic image? In this tutorial we'll build a load indicator that looks exactly like an analog needle dial from a rusted old display panel.
The Loaders Demystified Series
Loaders Demystified: Part 1 - Usability Guidelines
Loaders Demystified: Part 2 - Creating a Simple Loader
Loaders Demystified: Part 3 - Getting Creative with Progress Indicators
Loaders Demystified: Part 4 - Using the CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs
Loaders Demystified: Part 5 - Photorealism
Approximate download size: 1.6MB
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
by Robert Reinhardt - 16-Feb-07
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to use the NetStream.publish() method to send an audio and video feed from your webcam to a Flash Media Server application.
SPECIAL OFFER: The first twenty readers of this tutorial to send me an e-mail either via the feedback form at the end of this tutorial or to robert@communitymx.com will receive a free time-limited Flash Media Server account at Influxis. You can use this account to publish live video streams. Please allow one to three days for me to verify your subscriber (or pay per use) status with Community MX.
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
A Bright Idea from Community MX
by Tom Green - 15-Feb-07
Reader Level:
Instead of looking at After Effects and Flash as being two big applications... ask yourself how they can work together. The results my just be the brightest idea you ever had.
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 4: Coding the Singleton Application
by Joseph Balderson - 14-Feb-07
Reader Level:
In the evolution of many a Flash developer, eventually one will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to be built using the timeline metaphor of classic Flash programming. Taking ActionScript that extra step requires using class files. However, even using class files and object-oriented programming (OOP) principles, without a plan, a way of structuring those classes, things can quickly become very convoluted and lead to unmanageable code.
Whether you know it or not, every time you use the Flash v2 Component Architecture, or a third party Flash component set — in fact, every time you use the ActionScript 2 event model in a class file — you are most likely using design patterns.
So what are design patterns and how can we use them in Flash? In this series we will explore design patterns commonly used in Flash ActionScript applications and their implementation. This series assumes the reader is familiar with creating and using custom classes in Flash along with the basics of object-oriented programming.
The Understanding Design Patterns Series:
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 1: An Introduction
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 2: The Singleton Pattern
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 3: A Singleton Application
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 4: Coding the Singleton Application
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 3: A Singleton Application
by Joseph Balderson - 13-Feb-07
Reader Level:
In the evolution of many a Flash developer, eventually one will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to be built using the timeline metaphor of classic Flash programming. Taking ActionScript that extra step requires using class files. However, even using class files and object-oriented programming (OOP) principles, without a plan, a way of structuring those classes, things can quickly become very convoluted and lead to unmanageable code.
Whether you know it or not, every time you use the Flash v2 Component Architecture, or a third party Flash component set — in fact, every time you use the ActionScript 2 event model in a class file — you are most likely using design patterns.
So what are design patterns and how can we use them in Flash? In this series we will explore design patterns commonly used in Flash ActionScript applications and their implementation. This series assumes the reader is familiar with creating and using custom classes in Flash along with the basics of object-oriented programming.
The Understanding Design Patterns Series:
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 1: An Introduction
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 2: The Singleton Pattern
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 3: A Singleton Application
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 4: Coding the Singleton Application
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 2: Sorenson Squeeze
by Derrick Ypenburg - 13-Feb-07
Reader Level:
If you want to dramatically increase the quality of encoded video, you need to go beyond the free Flash 8 Video Encoder that ships with Flash 8 Professional. Third-party software such as On2 Flix Exporter for Flash and Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 are the best options for encoding video with superior quality. Third-party encoding software also has many options and settings: deinterlacing options, pre-processing filters and greater control of audio/video data rate and compression settings, are all enhanced options that any encoding professional needs to make the best video they can for streaming delivery.
If you want to shake your "money-maker" with top-notch video, then this article is for you. This article will go into detail of all the advanced settings of Sorenson Squeeze and make quality comparisons to video encoded with the Flash 8 Video Encoder.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video Series:
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 1: About the FLV Format
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 2: Sorenson Squeeze
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 3: Advanced Compression Settings with Sorenson Squeeze Coming Soon
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 2 - Skewing and Magnification
by David Stiller - 06-Feb-07
Reader Level:
Flash Professional 8 introduced a number of exciting new visual filters — such as drop shadow, blur, glow, and bevel — which reproduce many of the corresponding filters of Photoshop and Fireworks. Of these, most are available via the Property inspector's Filters tab. All filters are accessible to ActionScript, but a few actually require programming. One of these is the DisplacementMapFilter class, which distorts images based on the colors or transparency in a special reference map.
Here in Part 2 of this series, you will learn how a gradient fill can be used to skew and magnify pixels in an imported graphic file. In future installments, you will learn how to add curvature and even ripples.
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified Series
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 1 - How it Ticks
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 2 - Skewing and Magnification
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
by Robert Reinhardt - 30-Jan-07
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to use the Camera.onActivity event handler to detect motion in the video feed.
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
Peronalized E-cards with Flash
by Derrick Ypenburg - 29-Jan-07
Reader Level:
I know the busy season for sending out greeting cards to your clients and friends has passed, but you can plan ahead for next year as well as using this tutorial for sending out any customized info and greetings throughout the rest of the year.
Nicely designed e-cards using Flash can send an effective, fully animated-greeting and message to your clients/friends. It also saves you a bundle in printing and mailing costs that come with hard-copy cards and mail-outs. If you're like me and you wait to the last minute with things, you can send them out much later and not have to worry about the time mail takes to get to places on-time!
This tutorial covers using PHP, URL encoded strings, FlahVars, and Flash to send out an address to a simple Flash e-card template that is personalized for each recipients name.
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 1 - How It Ticks
by David Stiller - 26-Jan-07
Reader Level:
Flash Professional 8 introduced a number of exciting new visual filters — such as drop shadow, blur, glow, and bevel — which reproduce many of the corresponding filters of Photoshop and Fireworks. Of these, most are available via the Property inspector's Filters tab. All filters are accessible to ActionScript, but a few actually require programming. One of these is the DisplacementMapFilter class, which distorts images based on the colors or transparency in a special reference map.
Here in Part 1 of this series, you will learn how the displacement map filter works and how to use it to reposition pixels in an imported graphic file. In future installments, you will learn how to produce a handful of very cool visual effects that are only possible with ActionScript, including a magnifying class, fisheye lens, and ripples.
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified Series
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 1 - How it Ticks
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 2 - Skewing and Magnification
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 2: The Singleton Pattern
by Joseph Balderson - 23-Jan-07
Reader Level:
In the evolution of many a Flash developer, eventually one will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to be built using the timeline metaphor of classic Flash programming. Taking ActionScript that extra step requires using class files. However, even using class files and object-oriented programming (OOP) principles, without a plan, a way of structuring those classes, things can quickly become very convoluted and lead to unmanageable code.
Whether you know it or not, every time you use the Flash v2 Component Architecture, or a third party Flash component set — in fact, every time you use the ActionScript 2 event model in a class file — you are most likely using design patterns.
So what are design patterns and how can we use them in Flash? In this series we will explore design patterns commonly used in Flash ActionScript applications and their implementation. This series assumes the reader is familiar with creating and using custom classes in Flash along with the basics of object-oriented programming.
The Understanding Design Patterns Series:
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 1: An Introduction
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 2: The Singleton Pattern
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 3: A Singleton Application
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 4: Coding the Singleton Application
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
by Robert Reinhardt - 22-Jan-07
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to test a webcam connection and watch live output in a Flash movie.
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 1: An Introduction
by Joseph Balderson - 19-Jan-07
Reader Level:
In the evolution of many a Flash developer, eventually one will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to be built using the timeline metaphor of classic Flash programming. Taking ActionScript that extra step requires using class files. However, even using class files and OOP principles, without a plan, a way of structuring those classes, things can quickly become very convoluted and lead to unmanageable code.
Whether you know it or not, every time you use the Flash v2 Component Architecture, or a third party Flash component set — in fact, every time you use the ActionScript 2 event model in a class file — you are most likely using design patterns.
So what are design patterns and how can we use them in Flash? In this series we will explore design patterns commonly used in Flash ActionScript applications and their implementation. This series assumes the reader is familiar with creating and using custom classes in Flash along with the basics of object-oriented programming.
The Understanding Design Patterns Series:
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 1: An Introduction
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 2: The Singleton Pattern
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 3: A Singleton Application
Understanding Design Patterns - Part 4: Coding the Singleton Application
My First MacWorld (with Flashforward!)
by Robert Reinhardt - 12-Jan-07
Reader Level:
Whoah. As in a Joey Lawrence, "whoah." Cheesy, but it's pretty much how I felt as a Macworld newbie this week in San Francisco. Lynda Weinman had asked me back in October if I was interested in presenting a Flash Video session at Macworld. Since I had never been to a Macworld conference, I took the opportunity to go. I arrived Sunday night and prepped my slides and sample files on my brand new black MacBook, packing a sweet Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Little did I know that night just how rewarding the following two days were going to be.
9-Slice Scaling in Flash
by Tom Green - 12-Jan-07
Reader Level:
9-Slice scaling? What's that? Read on...
Mimicking QTVR: Panoramas in Flash
by David Stiller - 11-Jan-07
Reader Level:
The most popular format for immersive panoramic images on the web is probably QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality). QTVR files put the viewer "right in the action" and are viewable with the free QuickTime player, which also displays video. Not a bad way to go! There are alternatives, of course. Another fairly popular format is iPix, which relies on the Java virtual machine. Both solutions are quite impressive, hands down, but it is possible to simulate interactive panoramas with Flash. This tutorial steps you through the ActionScript 2.0 necessary to pull it off.
Approximate download size: 2.4MB
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
by Joseph Balderson - 05-Jan-07
Reader Level:
Ever wondered how some Flash applications "break free" of the constraints of a fixed stage size, flowing from one size to another depending on browser size or application state? Creating these fluid layouts in Flash is considered by some to be one of those "hidden mysteries" of Flash coding. By others it is regarded as a milestone to be achieved on the path of ActionScript mastery. For me, it is both.
We will take you through the steps, from intermediate to advanced, necessary to create application layouts in Flash which can exhibit "fullsize" or "fluid" functionality. In this series we will explore the basic principles of creating fluid layouts in Flash, build a sample application with a class architecture using components, finishing off with an exploration of the new "fullscreen" feature available in Flash Player 9.
In the last tutorial we completed our examination of the basics by creating a fluid layout with proportionally sized content "panels". In this tutorial we will use this technique to create a basic application with v2 components, moving all of our code off the timeline and into a class file.
The completed fluid layout application
Approximate download size: 1.5MB
The Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash Series:
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4:Creating the Movie Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen
Extending Flash Projectors: Review of Zinc 2.5
by David Stiller - 26-Dec-06
Reader Level:
This article provides a brief overview into the feature set of Zinc 2.5, a Flash Projector enhancement tool developed by Multidmedia Limited. Though expensive, Zinc extends the capabilites of normal Flash Projectors in a variety of interesting and useful ways and is compatible with both the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. To my thinking, the extended functionality is well worth the price.
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
by Joseph Balderson - 22-Dec-06
Reader Level:
Ever wondered how some Flash applications break free of the constraints of a fixed stage size, flowing from one size to another depending on browser size or application state? Creating these fluid layouts in Flash is considered by some to be one of those hidden mysteries of Flash coding. By others it is regarded as a milestone to be achieved on the path of ActionScript mastery. For me, it is both.
We will take you through the steps, from intermediate to advanced, necessary to create application layouts in Flash which can exhibit fullsize or fluid functionality. In this series we will explore the basic principles of creating fluid layouts in Flash, build a sample application with a class architecture using components, finishing off with an exploration of the new fullscreen feature available in Flash Player 9.
In the last tutorial we covered the basics of fluid layouts by building a flexible stage container and positioning objects within according to the stage size. In this tutorial we will complete our examination of the basics by creating a fluid layout with proportionally sized content panels.
The Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash Series:
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4:Creating the Movie Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components
by Robert Reinhardt - 21-Dec-06
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project. In the last tutorial of this series, you learned how to use CSS files with shared fonts. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a shared library for Flash UI components. Components can require many kilobytes (KB); if you're using the same component across several Flash movies on the same web site, you should consider using a runtime shared library to store the components.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components
From Final Product to Upload in Flash Professional 8: Part 2
by Tom Green - 20-Dec-06
Reader Level:
In January, 2007, friendsofED will be releasing a ground breaking book: From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics. Written by Community MX Partner, Tom Green and Community MX contributer, Tiago Dias, the book is the first exploration of how After Effects and Flash are about to become a motion graphics power house.
Over the next few weeks, we will be presenting the first two chapters of the book. These two chapters are designed to explore the emerging workflow between After Effects and Flash and they take you from concept to upload. In this second excerpt, from Chapter 2, you convert the project created in the previous chapter into an FLV.
Approximate download size: 3.1MB
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
by Joseph Balderson - 18-Dec-06
Reader Level:
Ever wondered how some Flash applications “break free” of the constraints of a fixed stage size, flowing from one size to another depending on browser size or application state? Creating these fluid layouts in Flash is considered by some to be one of those hidden mysteries of Flash coding. By others it is regarded as a milestone to be achieved on the path of ActionScript mastery. For me, it is both.
We will take you through the steps, from intermediate to advanced, necessary to create application layouts in Flash which can exhibit fullsize or fluid functionality. In this series we will explore the basic principles of creating fluid layouts in Flash, build a sample application with a class architecture using components, finishing off with an exploration of the new fullscreen feature available in Flash Player 9.
This tutorial will explore the basics of creating a flexible stage application.
The Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash Series:
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4:Creating the Movie Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen
The Complete JumpStart Catalog Update
by Sheri German - 15-Dec-06
Reader Level:
We now have 20 JumpStarts and are still counting. For anyone who has ever agonized over which to use for a current project, this article is for you. Updated from an article we released a year ago, the newly expanded and refreshed catalog should help you make the tough decisions about which layout and features will work for your latest client's site.
Rolling Your Own Dial Control
by David Stiller - 12-Dec-06
Reader Level:
In Knobs, Sliders and Flash, Oh My! Sound Controls in Flash MX 2004, Tom Green shows how to use a specialized button — a knob, or dial control — included with Flash under the Window > Common Libraries panel. These built-in assets look great and are indeed good for rapid prototyping, as Tom mentions, even if they aren't as powerful or easily configurable as the more recent v2 User Interface components. Surprisingly, the Components panel does not offer a rotating dial control, so if you're interested in something round, you either have to use the discussed knob button or build one from scratch. In this tutorial, you'll learn learn how to "roll your own" basic dial control with ActionScript 2.0 ... and yours can look exactly how you like.
From Final Product to Upload in Flash Professional 8
by Tom Green - 05-Dec-06
Reader Level:
You have created a video in After Effects. Now it is time to encode it and prepare it for playback through Flash.
Approximate download size: 13.6MB
From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics
by Tom Green - 01-Dec-06
Reader Level:
In this last installment of Chapter One we examine how to prepare an After Effects Video for encoding in Flash.
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 5: HTML Formatting
by Joseph Balderson - 01-Dec-06
Reader Level:
Ever tried formatting a text field in flash using ActionScript, only to get all tangled up in a myriad of class properties and methods? Parts 1 & 2 of this series looks at how to create a text field and format it completely with code. Part 3 examines dynamic font embedding, Parts 4 & 5 cover how to use HTML formatting, and Parts 6 & 7 show you how to use CSS stylesheets in Flash.
In this tutorial we are going to pick up where we left off in Part 4, where we looked at formatting HTML text. We are also going to expand on what we learned about font embedding in Part 3 as it applies to HTML text.
The Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified Series:
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 1: setTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 2: setNewTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 3: Embedding Fonts
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 4: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 5: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 6: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 7: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Avoiding a Common Pitfall with Text-only Buttons
by David Stiller - 30-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Buttons come in all shapes and sizes. Some include text and others don't — and then there are buttons that contain nothing but text. Historically in Flash, text-only buttons have been a bit tricky. Without careful attention to the symbol's Hit frame, such buttons can be very difficult to click, which makes for a frustrating experience to the end user. A change in Flash Player 8 improved matters, but not in all cases. Ultimately, it's up to you, the developer, to ensure that text-only buttons are comfortably usable. This tutorial helps steer you clear of the pitfalls.
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 4: HTML Formatting
by Joseph Balderson - 29-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Ever tried formatting a text field in flash using ActionScript, only to get all tangled up in a myriad of class properties and methods? In Parts 1 & 2 of this series we looked at how to create a text field and format it completely with code. Part 3 will examine dynamic font embedding, Parts 4 & 5 will look at how to use HTML formatting, and Parts 6 & 7 will show you how to use CSS stylesheets in Flash.
The Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified Series:
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 1: setTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 2: setNewTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 3: Embedding Fonts
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 4: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 5: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 6: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 7: Stylesheets Coming Soon
From Concept to Final Product in After Effects 7: Part 2
by Tom Green - 28-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Learn how to add and manipulate a variety of objects and media in an After Effects project destined for Flash playback. This is the second part of Chapter One of From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics
Flash Video: Why the Other Players Don't Get It
by Robert Reinhardt - 27-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Flash Video has taken over the web video industry. There should be little doubt by now that Flash Video is a major player—in any sense of the word—with online distribution of video. I've personally worked on several high-profile Flash Video deployments, and you can see the evidence of Flash Video on just about every major video-enhanced web site.
From Concept to Final Product in After Effects 7
by Tom Green - 17-Nov-06
Reader Level:
In January, 2007, friendsofED will be releasing a ground breaking book: From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics. Written by Community MX Partner, Tom Green and Comunity MX contributer, Tiago Dias, the book is the first exploration of how After Effects and Flash are about to become a motion graphics power house.
Over the next few weeks, we will be presenting the first two chapters of the book. These two chapters are designed to explore the emerging workflow between After Effects and Flash and they take you from concept to upload. In this first excerpt, from Chapter 1, you are introduced to the After Effects work space and how Projects and Compositions are created in After Effects.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 1: About the FLV Format
by Derrick Ypenburg - 16-Nov-06
Reader Level:
The process of encoding quality streaming video for Flash (or for any video streaming playback delivery for that matter) is the most important process in creating video streaming applications. Any slick-looking video player that you build will only be as good as the quality of the video streaming through it.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of FLV encoding by the encoding software. Understanding this article will help you create higher quality FLV files when it comes to applying settings in an encoder and creating video for encoding.
The Art of Encoding Flash Video Series:
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 1: About the FLV Format
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 2: Sorenson Squeeze
The Art of Encoding Flash Video - Part 3: Advanced Compression Settings with Sorenson Squeeze Coming Soon
Simian: A Flash Game of Pattern Recall - Part 2
by David Stiller - 14-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Many of you will remember the Milton Bradley game Simon, immensely popular in the 1980s. This two-part series re-creates the game in Flash.
In the previous article, Part 1, we covered an ActionScript 2.0 class that manages the game's functionality. This class was specifically designed to be realized in a variety of ways. Here in Part 2, we'll prove that by walking through two different implementations — one very much like the Milton Bradley original (lighted buttons and tones), and one that relies on timeline animation, rather than sound.
Approximate download size: 4.7MB
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts
by Robert Reinhardt - 13-Nov-06
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project. In the last tutorial of this series, you learned how to reuse fonts with dynamic text fields created in ActionScript. In this tutorial, you learn how to use a CSS file (cascading stylesheet file) to format ActionScript-generated text fields. Sharing fonts is one of the best ways to trim down SWF file sizes for large projects involving many SWF files.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon
Create Weather in Flash
by Tom Green - 10-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Who says creating rain and snow in Flash has to be difficult? Combine Flash and After Effects and you too can be a rain maker or snow maker.
Adding a Timer to the FLVPLayback Component
by Tom Green - 09-Nov-06
Reader Level:
This component has everything but a timer. Here's how to add one...
Approximate download size: 4.2MB
Creating Neon in a Flash
by Tom Green - 07-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Have you ever wondered how to create a flickering neon sign in Flash? Read on....
The Complete (Almost) Vectorized Webding Catalog
by Kim Cavanaugh - 06-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Way back in December 2003 I wrote a free article here at Community MX called Fun with Webdings and Wingdings which is consistently in the Top Ten of our most viewed tutorials. As of this writing the tutorial has been viewed over 55,000 times. And why not? First of all, the tutorial is free, and secondly, Webdings and Wingdings are lots of fun to play around with. They can also serve some really useful purposes. Depending on the font in that family of "Dings" you can get all sorts of little miniature pictures by just typing in the correct character using the Fireworks Text tool.
Recently I needed some small icons for a design project so I started up Fireworks and created my own reference library for the Webding font family. And while I was at it, I decided to go ahead and convert all of the text objects into vector shapes. What you'll find here is a somewhat later version of the same file that is a tad better organized. You can use this file for your own design purposes or use it as a reference for creating your own library of characters.
What do you get in terms of images? Well, you'll have to open the file up to see all of the little pictures that Webdings create, but here are a few samples.
In addition there are two source files included in this download—both a Flash and a Fireworks source file that make use of the webding vector shapes included in the library for your examination.
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
by Robert Reinhardt - 02-Nov-06
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project. In the last tutorial of this series, you learned how to reuse fonts with dynamic text fields in other Flash movies. However, those text fields were placed in the movie at authortime, not with ActionScript at runtime. In this tutorial, you learn how to reuse shared fonts with dynamic text fields created in ActionScript. Sharing fonts is one of the best ways to trim down SWF file sizes for large projects involving many SWF files.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon
Simian: A Flash Game of Pattern Recall - Part 1
by David Stiller - 01-Nov-06
Reader Level:
Many of you will remember the Milton Bradley game Simon, immensely popular in the 1980s. In this two-part series, we're going to write an ActionScript 2.0 class that emulates this game (Part 1, this tutorial) and then build a couple sample FLAs that use the class (Part 2, next time).
This class is specifically designed to be realized in a variety of ways. For example, you may want your version to be comprised of eight buttons instead of the original four. In fact, you might aspire to a themed approach, where your buttons are represented by, say, blenders in a smoothie shop or arms on a starfish. The presentation is up to you, and the sky's the limit! Our incarnation — a playfully similar spelling, suggestive of the notion "monkey see, monkey do" — is called Simian.
Warping Video in a Flash
by Tom Green - 30-Oct-06
Reader Level:
Sometimes video needs to be such an odd shape that using a simple mask in Flash just won't solve the issue. In this video tutorial, I show you how to use the bezier Warp tool in After efects 7 to create a video that wraps around a shape. Then I show you how to output the video in After Effects and use that video in Flash.
Playing with Radial Gradients in Flash
by Tom Green - 19-Oct-06
Reader Level:
Ever wondered what mayhem you can unleash with a Radial Gradient in Flash? read on...
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 3
by Derrick Ypenburg - 18-Oct-06
Reader Level:
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we created an animated drop-down menu that built and populated itself with buttons based on data provided by an array of objects.
In Part 3, we are going to wrap things up by making the menu truly dynamic. As it stands now, the menu data comes from a hard-coded array of objects from the main timeline. Now we will finish things off by feeding the data dynamically into this array of objects from an external XML file.
The Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu Series:
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 1
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 2
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 3
Drawing Gears in Flash
by David Stiller - 16-Oct-06
Reader Level:
When I was very young, I liked to tinker with gadgets. Anything was fair game, including old watches ... as long as the item in question was no longer needed! What impressed me the most about gears were their complexity and symmetry, rolled into a single sharply elegant wheel. I often tried to draw them on paper, but the endeavor was almost overwhelming — all those tiny teeth had to be distributed evenly! Ah, if only I had known then about Flash.
In this tutorial, we'll examine how to use the Transform panel to make this task surprisingly easy. When you're done, you'll be able to use this technique to draw a great variety of gears. You may, in fact, use a similar approach to draw any image that relies on regular distribution around a circle, such as a flower.
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 2
by Derrick Ypenburg - 10-Oct-06
Reader Level:
We will take our basic animated menu arcchitecture we created in Part 1 and add to it it make our menu fully dynamic.
In Part 2, we are going to create a button class to populate our menu with, a data provider to specify how many buttons the menu will have, the labels for the buttons, and where the buttons will link to when pressed. We will also create some "smart" code that will size the menu mask, and calculate the animated mouse-over and mouse-off positions depending on the height of the menu.
Part 3 will wrap things up with populating our menu data from XML and some dynamic menu backgorund drawing using the drawing API.
The Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu Series:
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 1
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 2
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 3
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 3: Embedding Fonts
by Joseph Balderson - 06-Oct-06
Reader Level:
Ever tried formatting a text field in flash using ActionScript, only to get all tangled up in a myriad of class properties and methods? In Parts 1 & 2 of this series we looked at how to create a text field and format it completely with code. Part 3 will examine dynamic font embedding, Parts 4 & 5 will look at how to use HTML formatting, and Parts 6 & 7 will show you how to use CSS stylesheets in Flash.
The Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified Series:
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 1: setTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 2: setNewTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 3: Embedding Fonts
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 4: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 5: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 6: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 7: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
by Robert Reinhardt - 04-Oct-06
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project.
In the last tutorial of this series, you learned how to create a runtime shared library (RSL) file and share its font assets with static text in other Flash movies. In this tutorial, you learn how to reuse the fonts with dynamic text fields in other Flash movies. Sharing fonts is one of the best ways to trim down SWF file sizes for large projects involving many SWF files.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon
Creating a Soft Mask in Flash - Part 2: Flash Player 8 and Later
by David Stiller - 02-Oct-06
Reader Level:
Masking has been available in Flash for as long as I can remember. This feature can be very useful and is easy to implement, either by hand or with ActionScript. The only regrettable point, in fact, is that soft masking (where the edges are blurry) has always required a tricky and tedious workaround ... until now.
This two-part series examines both the historical workaround — that's the tedious one — and a new (as of Flash 8) approach that is much easier. Knowing both will allow you to apply soft masks in SWFs published to just about any version of the Flash Player. Here in Part 2, we'll learn the approach for SWFs published for Flash Player 8 and later.
The Creating a Soft Mask in Flash Series:
Creating a Soft Mask in Flash - Part 1: Flash Player 7 and Earlier
Creating a Soft Mask in Flash - Part 2: Flash Player 8 and Later
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
by Robert Reinhardt - 27-Sep-06
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project.
In the last tutorial of this series, you learned how to create a runtime shared library (RSL) file and share its graphical assets with other Flash movies. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a runtime shared library containing font symbols, to reuse the fonts with static text fields in other Flash movies. Sharing fonts is one of the best ways to trim down SWF file sizes for large projects involving many SWF files.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 2: setNewTextFormat
by Joseph Balderson - 26-Sep-06
Reader Level:
Ever tried formatting a text field in flash using ActionScript, only to get all tangled up in a myriad of class properties and methods? In Parts 1 & 2 of this series we'll look at how to create a text field and format it completely with code. Part 3 will examine dynamic font embedding, Parts 4 and 5 will look at how to use HTML formatting, and Parts 6 and 7 will show you how to use CSS stylesheets in Flash.
The Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified Series:
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 1: setTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 2: setNewTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 3: Embedding Fonts
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 4: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 5: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 6: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 7: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Building a Flash Video Kaleidoscope - Part 1: Video Reflection
by Tom Green,Joseph Balderson - 22-Sep-06
Reader Level:
The ideas that sparked this series came about in an unexpected manner.
Having just completed an article on the subject of creating reflections in Flash, I started thinking about how it could be done using video instead of images. In typical Community MX fashion, I bounced my question off of our Flash guy Joseph Balderson, and we rapidly solved the problem. (That's happens when a couple of "Tech weenies" get hold of Flash Video.) By that I mean we have a fascination with what we can do with this technology. As such the two of us starting thinking:, "Yeah that is interesting but, really, what more can we do with this basic technique?"
It turns out there is quite a bit more you can do with the video reflection technique. At one point in our discussion Joe said, "Hey, now that we have one reflection working, why not add a few more? Let's show 'em how to build a video kaleidoscope too!!" And so this series was born.
Approximate download size: 4.2MB
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 1
by Derrick Ypenburg - 22-Sep-06
Reader Level:
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me how to make a functional, bug-proof, animated drop-down menu instead of having to resort to using a component, well, you know the old saying.
Creating your own animated drop-down menus can be tricky for a number of reasons: The complexity involved with having numerous buttons to roll-over; The roll-over that triggers the menu to slide down and how it can not interfere with the sub buttons in the drop-down; How does the menu animate back up when the user rolls off?
I'm going to break down the creation of creating an animated, drop-down menu from scratch, into 3 articles. In this article we will build the basic shell for the menu that will include: a button that animates the menu down and up, a container that will be animated and that will hold the buttons for the menu, and the basic code to get the menu responsive and working.
Parts 2 and 3 will cover creating button classes for the menu and configuring and populating the menu using XML.
The Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu Series:
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 1
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 2
Building an Animated Drop-Down Menu: Part 3
Creating a Soft Mask in Flash - Part 1: Flash Player 7 and Earlier
by David Stiller - 21-Sep-06
Reader Level:
Masking has been available in Flash for as long as I can remember. This feature can be very useful and is easy to implement, either by hand or with ActionScript. The only regrettable point, in fact, is that soft masking (where the edges are blurry) has always required a tricky and tedious workaround ... until now.
This two-part series examines both the historical workaround — that's the tedious one — and a new (as of Flash 8) approach that is much easier. Knowing both will allow you to apply soft masks in SWFs published to just about any version of the Flash Player. Here in Part 1, we'll take a quick tour of mask basics, then learn the approach for SWFs published for Flash Player 7 and earlier.
The Creating a Soft Mask in Flash Series:
Creating a Soft Mask in Flash - Part 1: Flash Player 7 and Earlier
Creating a Soft Mask in Flash - Part 2: Flash Player 8 and Later Coming Soon
FLV Data Rate and Bandwidth... Demysitifed.
by Tom Green,Scott Fegette - 20-Sep-06
Reader Level:
The issue really isn't getting an FLV to play on your web page. The issue is properly creating that FLV before it hits the browser.
Working with ActionScript Externally Using the SE|PY ActionScript Editor
by Derrick Ypenburg - 13-Sep-06
Reader Level:
Working with ActionScript externally has many benefits to working with AS directly within a Flash movie itself. This article will discuss some of the benefits to working with ActionScript externally, and the great features that the SE|PY Actionscript editor has to offer to make coding easier and more productive.
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
by Robert Reinhardt - 12-Sep-06
Reader Level:
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project. In the last tutorial of this series, you learned how to create an authortime shared library file and add it to the Common Libraries menu in the Flash 8 authoring environment. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a runtime shared library.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 1: setTextFormat
by Joseph Balderson - 08-Sep-06
Reader Level:
Ever tried formatting a text field in flash using ActionScript, only to get all tangled up in a myriad of class properties and methods? In Parts 1 & 2 of this series we looked at how to create a text field and format it completely with code. Part 3 will examine dynamic font embedding, Parts 4 & 5 will look at how to use HTML formatting, and Parts 6 & 7 will show you how to use CSS stylesheets in Flash.
The Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified Series:
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 1: setTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 2: setNewTextFormat
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 3: Embedding Fonts
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 4: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 5: HTML Formatting
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 6: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Dynamic Text Formatting Demystified - Part 7: Stylesheets Coming Soon
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 2
by David Stiller - 06-Sep-06
Reader Level:
Jigsaw puzzles were a mainstay of my youth on rainy afternoons. The earliest puzzles I remember had merely a dozen pieces, but ah, the sense of accomplishment! Piecing together the artwork was always a rewarding experience. One year, my mother found an ad in a magazine for a company that would convert your personal photo into a puzzle — at the time, the notion struck me as incredible! We ordered one and I treasured it for years.
After reading this two-part series, you'll be able to do the same thing on your own computer! Over the course of these tutorials, you will write an ActionScript 2.0 class to build a re-usable jigsaw puzzle engine. Here in Part 2, we resume our efforts and step through the helper methods called by the sizable method introduced last time, buildPuzzle().
The Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle Series:
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 1
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 2
Informing the End User: Part 2 - Status Messaging and Error Handling for Video Applications
by Derrick Ypenburg - 28-Aug-06
Reader Level:
In Part 1 of this series, we worked on informing the end user by detecting and handling errors in Flash Applications. We will build on that by focusing on informing the user of the status of a video application, as well as errors that can happen duriing video playback. Further, we can use status events of objects used in a video application to manage the playback controls of the player.
In this article, we will take a simple video player application and create "status messaging", informing the user of the state of the video in a player, and errors that happen in a video stream. We will also use these status messages to be the "nerve centre" of the player to toggle and disable player controls depending on the playback state of a video. The status messages we will be using come from the event objects of the NetConnection and NetStream classes.
The Informing the End User Series:
Informing the End User: Part 1 - Handling Errors
Informing the End User: Part 2 - Status Messaging and Error Handling for Video Playback
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
by Robert Reinhardt - 24-Aug-06
Reader Level:
In this new "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project. I just finished a large DVD-ROM project for UCLA's Center for International Emergency Medicine, and the use of shared fonts dramatically decreased troubleshooting font issues between Mac and Windows versions of Flash 8.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon
Create Your Own iPod Ad
by Tom Green - 22-Aug-06
Reader Level:
So Apple creates these really cool ads for the iPod. The ones that have black silhouettes against bright backgrounds. Ever wondered how they do it? They aren't telling but here's one way.
Approximate download size: 15.6MB
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 1
by David Stiller - 21-Aug-06
Reader Level:
Jigsaw puzzles were a mainstay of my youth on rainy afternoons. The earliest puzzles I remember had merely a dozen pieces, but ah, the sense of accomplishment! Piecing together the artwork was always a rewarding experience. One year, my mother found an ad in a magazine for a company that would convert your personal photo into a puzzle — at the time, the notion struck me as incredible! We ordered one and I treasured it for years.
After reading this two-part series, you'll be able to do the same thing on your own computer! Over the course of these tutorials, you will write an ActionScript 2.0 class to build a re-usable jigsaw puzzle engine. Here in Part 1, we will deconstruct our endeavor into a handful of bite-sized methods and write one large method, CMXJigsawPuzzle.buildPuzzle(), to call those as necessary. The complete code is already included with this tutorial, but the full explanation will span into Part 2.
The Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle Series:
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 1
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 2
Informing the End User: Part 1 - Handling Errors
by Derrick Ypenburg - 15-Aug-06
Reader Level:
Error handling is one of the biggest oversights in Flash development. There's nothing worse for a user to have something go wrong, or wait for something, and not have a clue what's going on and what to do.
The Informing the End User Series:
Informing the End User: Part 1 - Handling Errors
Informing the End User: Part 2 - Status Messaging and Error Handling for Video Playback
Creating Reflections in Flash 8
by Tom Green - 11-Aug-06
Reader Level:
Things in Flash aren't always as difficult to achieve when you look at them. Objects containing a reflection on the stage is a good example.
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 3
by David Stiller - 09-Aug-06
Reader Level:
As anyone who uses Windows or Macintosh can attest, the double-click is among the most familiar of user interface actions. Curiously, neither buttons nor movie clips in Flash raise an onDoubleClick event in ActionScript 1.0 or 2.0. Despite the many events they do raise, they cannot be instructed to handle double-clicks without custom programming. In Part 1 of this three-part series, we looked at a basic solution to this strange omission. In Part 2, we expanded on that original work to produce a configurable version of the same solution. Here in Part 3, we will conclude by providing for triple-clicks and more.
The Handling Double-Clicks in Flash Series:
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 1
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 2
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 3
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects
by Robert Reinhardt - 08-Aug-06
Reader Level:
In the last installment of this series, you added alpha and color mode effects to the printable certificate. In this tutorial, you learn how to print filter effects added to the certificate, enabling you to create more enhanced graphics. During the process, you learn how to use the new BitmapData class to create a pixel-by-pixel copy of the CourseCert clip. You can preview the finished version of the Flash movie here.
Approximate download size: 1.4MB
The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
by Robert Reinhardt - 04-Aug-06
Reader Level:
In the last installment of this series, you created a color toggle to the preview window for a printable certificate. In this tutorial, you learn how to correctly print alpha and color mode effects added to graphic elements of the certificate. During the process, you learn how to use the printAsBitmap feature of the PrintJob class to faithfully reproduce your certificate on the printed page. You can preview the finished version of the Flash movie here.
The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects Coming Soon
Understanding The Movie Clip Architecture - Part 3: Scenes
by Joseph Balderson - 01-Aug-06
Reader Level:
Ever get confused by all of the different ways that Flash organizes assets and information within your FLA and your SWF? Frames and timelines and levels and layers and depths, oh my! This series will sort it all out, and give you some great tips. If you ever wanted the skinny on the Flash movie clip architecture, this be da place, mon.
In Part 3 of this series we will look at Scenes: what they are, when to use and not to use them, and what the alternatives are when building your Flash application.
The Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture Series:
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 1: The Almighty Movie Clip
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 2: Levels
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 3: Scenes
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 2
by David Stiller - 25-Jul-06
Reader Level:
As anyone who uses Windows or Macintosh can attest, the double-click is among the most familiar of user interface actions. Curiously, neither buttons nor movie clips in Flash raise an onDoubleClick event in ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0. Despite the many events they do raise, they cannot be instructed to handle double-clicks without custom programming. In Part 1 of this three-part series, we looked at a basic solution to this strange omission. Here in Part 2, we will step through an intermediate solution, which builds on our previous work. In Part 3, we will expand the capability even further to provide for triple-clicks.
The Handling Double-Clicks in Flash Series:
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 1
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 2
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 3
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 2: Levels
by Joseph Balderson - 14-Jul-06
Reader Level:
Ever get confused by all of the different ways that Flash organizes assets and information within your FLA and your SWF? Frames and timelines and levels and layers and depths, oh my! This series will sort it all out, and give you some great tips. If you ever wanted the skinny on the Flash movie clip architecture, this be da place, mon.
In Part 2 of this series we will look at levels: what they are, how to use them and what to watch out for in your Flash projects. We will look at library asset linkages in multilevel SWFs, and examine the difference between authortime and runtime objects. In addition we will look at the _lockroot property. As an advanced topic bonus we will also code an implementation of _lockroot for SWFs exported to Flash 6 using AS 1.0.
The Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture Series:
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 1: The Almighty Movie Clip
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 2: Levels
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 3: Scenes Coming Soon
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 1
by David Stiller - 11-Jul-06
Reader Level:
As anyone who uses Windows or Macintosh can attest, the double-click is among the most familiar of user interface actions. Curiously, neither buttons nor movie clips in Flash raise an onDoubleClick event in ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0. Despite the many events they do raise, they cannot be instructed to handle double-clicks without custom programming.
In this three-part series, we will step through a solution to this strange omission and learn a bit about writing ActionScript 2.0 classes in the process. Part 1 of this series looks at a convenient, basic edition solution that stands on its own. Parts 2 and 3 build on this workaround to accommodate additional functionality. At the end of each tutorial, you will have a functioning class that is progressively more useful.
The Handling Double-Clicks in Flash Series:
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 1
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 2
Handling Double-Clicks in Flash - Part 3
CMX Insert SWFObject 1.4
by Paul Newman - 10-Jul-06
Reader Level:
SWFObject is an external JavaScript file, created by Geoff Stearns, that enables you to embed Flash movies into web pages using XHTML-compliant code. The CMX Insert SWFObject extension automatically inserts SWFObject code into Dreamweaver documents, and copies swfobject.js into the folder you specify. Now supports major, minor, and revision Flash Player detection.
Requirements: Dreamweaver MX or higher, Flash Player
Understanding Classpaths
by David Stiller - 30-Jun-06
Reader Level:
All objects in recent versions of ActionScript are defined by something called classes. Think of classes as blueprints that determine the unique combination of characteristics, actions, and reactions that comprises a particular object of a certain type. By "object," we are talking about the familiar things a Flash developer deals with every day: movie clips (the MovieClip class), text fields (the TextField class), buttons, sounds, math functions, components, you name it. They are all defined by classes.
Out of the box, Flash provides hundreds of built-in ActionScript classes. The great part is, you can even write your own! But there's a catch: the Flash compiler, which converts ActionScript into Flash Player bytecode, must be told where new classes are located, or it won't be able to find them. That's what this article is about.
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 1: The Almighty Movie Clip
by Joseph Balderson - 26-Jun-06
Reader Level:
Ever get confused by all of the different ways that Flash organizes assets and information within your FLA and your SWF? Frames and timelines and levels and layers and depths oh my! This series will sort it all out, and give you some great tips. If you ever wanted the skinny on the Flash movie clip architecture, this be da place, mon.
In Part 1 of this series we will distinguish the fundamentals of the Flash Movie Clip Architecture: movie clips, the timeline, layers and depths. This article will also reveal the secret of "magic frame rates".
The Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture Series:
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 1: The Almighty Movie Clip
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 2: Levels
Understanding the Movie Clip Architecture - Part 3: Scenes Coming Soon
Shape Tweening: Squaring the Circle (and More!)
by David Stiller - 14-Jun-06
Reader Level:
So, you'd like to use a timeline to animate visual elements in Flash? Well, allow me to introduce you to the Tween siblings: Motion and Shape. Motion tweens and shape tweens have been helping designers produce eye-catching animation for years. Their relationship is a little out of balance, though. Sibling rivalry between the two is generally won by Motion Tween, who gets the greater share of lime light in the authoring environment. Let's root for the underdog, then, and take a look at what Shape Tween has to offer.
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
by Robert Reinhardt - 14-Jun-06
Reader Level:
In the last installment of this series, you created a preview window for a printable certificate. In this tutorial, you learn how to add a color toggle to the preview window, enabling the user to preview a black & white (or grayscale) version of the certificate before it is sent to a black & white laser printer. During the process, you learn how to use the new filters property of the MovieClip class in Flash Player. You can preview the finished version of the Flash movie here.
Approximate download size: 887k
The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects Coming Soon
Loaders Demystified - Part 4: Using the CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs
by Joseph Balderson - 12-Jun-06
Reader Level:
In this tutorial we will look at using the popular CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs, which contain animation assets for loaders. Using a sample from the series, you will create a custom animated flash loader using a combination of tried-and-true techniques and some of the latest in flash 8 effects.
By the end of this tutorial your loader will look like the following:
Approximate download size: 1.3MB
The Loaders Demystified Series
Loaders Demystified: Part 1 - Usability Guidelines
Loaders Demystified: Part 2 - Creating a Simple Loader
Loaders Demystified: Part 3 - Getting Creative with Progress Indicators
Loaders Demystified: Part 4 - Using the CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
by Robert Reinhardt - 05-Jun-06
Reader Level:
In the last installment of this series, you built a Flash form that passed information to a dynamically created certificate you could print. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a preview window for the certificate. During the process, you learn how to use the Window component. You can preview the finished version of the Flash movie here.
The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects Coming Soon
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
by Robert Reinhardt - 30-May-06
Reader Level:
Once you have a component that can accept dynamic parameters, you'll want to make a user interface that can easily accept new certificate details and pass the information to the certificate clip. In this tutorial, you learn how to add Label, TextInput, and DateField components to your Flash movie.
Approximate download size: 717k
The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects Coming Soon
A Dreamweaver 8.0.2 Updater
by Tom Green - 26-May-06
Reader Level:
Last week before heading off to TODCON I did my due diligence and installed the Dreamweaver 8.0.2 updater. Later that evening one of the partners for whom I had done a video tutorial asked me where I had put it. Turns out I thought she was finished with it and I had pulled it down. Being the great guy that I am, I opened Dreamweaver and used the Put feature of the Dreamweaver 8 Files panel to upload it. This is where things get interesting.
Tackling the ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference
by David Stiller - 22-May-06
Reader Level:
You've read Jen deHaan's excellent Flash ActionScript 2.0 Learning Guide and are eyeballing an empty Actions panel. Either that, or you've found a code sample online and have pasted it into the same. But you're stuck. You're itching to jump in, and yet ... something tugs at you, holds you back. For some reason, you still don't know where to begin.
Sure, you have a handle on the concepts, but the nitty-gritty still evades you. It's that pesky ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference, isn't it? It's supposed to be your first stop, yet stop is all you've done. In theory, it's got everything you need, but it seems so vast! How is anyone expected to plod through this seemingly endless reference? So you sit... Until now.
Keeping it Small with JPG Compression
by Tom Green - 22-May-06
Reader Level:
Trying to fit a big fat JPG image into a small Flash SWF can be much like trying to stuff five pounds of leaves into a three pound bag. In this article we take a JPG that weighs in at over 100k and, using a few features of Fireworks, slim it dowwn to a "svelte" 10k.
Approximate download size: 481k
Text in Motion With the Wiggler
by Tom Green - 19-May-06
Reader Level:
When you start using After Effects, there will come a time when you look at the presets and think, "Gosh, I am bored with these." That will be the point where you discover Adobe has a wonderful sense of humor and you start using the Wiggler. In the text options, on the timeline, the Wiggly selector can be added to a chunk of text to randomize the values of any of the properties associated with that group. That description may sound rather formal, but when it comes to adding effects, randomness can lead to some happy surprises.
Approximate download size: 541k
Keeping it Small in Flash
by Tom Green - 18-May-06
Reader Level:
If your Flash efforts need to go on some sort of weight loss program, here's a good place to start.
Creating a Blurred Mask
by Tom Green - 18-May-06
Reader Level:
In this exercise you will create a video that blurs the edges of a mask to create the effect of a video that is in focus in a "knock out" area while the remainder of the video, under a black bitmap, is blurred using a Threshold effect. The key to this exercise, is to understand that the shapes you draw are composed of colored pixels. These pixels form a shape and that shape, when the movie is displayed on your screen, is seen by the computer as a bitmap.
Approximate download size: 4.3MB
Masks in Motion
by Tom Green - 17-May-06
Reader Level:
As you know movie clips can be created using ActionScript and they have properties like position and size that can be manipulated. In this exercise we are going have a quite a few masks — up to 30 at any given time — moving across the screen and the color of the video will change based upon the position of the mouse on the screen.
Approximate download size: 2.2MB
Applying Filters and Blends Through ActionScript
by Tom Green - 15-May-06
Reader Level:
Filters and blends can be applied without the use of code. They are all available through the Property Inspector and can be applied singly or in combination with each other. The filters and blends can also be applied through the use of ActionScript.
In the first of two exercises, you will blur a video by dragging your mouse across it. In the second exercise you add a screen blend mode that simulates the effect of a video being projected onto an underlying image… but the image shows through.
Approximate download size: 4.1MB
Looping Flash Video
by Tom Green - 09-May-06
Reader Level:
Of course you can't loop a video in Flash because there is nothing in ActionScript that specifically deals with the issue. Turns out you can indeed do this. All you have to do is to eavesdrop.
Approximate download size: 2.6MB
Loaders Demystified - Part 3: Getting Creative with Progress Indicators
by Joseph Balderson - 09-May-06
Reader Level:
There are many ways to code a loader, and just as many ways to create its look and feel. In this article you will build a style of loader that uses a "shape fill" progress indicator to add that "extra something" to your project.
Approximate download size: 4.5MB
The Loaders Demystified Series
Loaders Demystified: Part 1 - Usability Guidelines
Loaders Demystified: Part 2 - Creating a Simple Loader
Loaders Demystified: Part 3 - Getting Creative with Progress Indicators
Loaders Demystified: Part 4 - Using the CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs
From iPhoto to Flash Video: Creating a Custom Slideshow for the Web
by Kim Cavanaugh - 04-May-06
Reader Level:
Recently the school district where I work conducted our annual technology conference—a huge event that requires months of planning by the team that I work on, culminating in a single-day event attended by over 1,300 teachers.
To capture the whirlwind of activity that it requires to pull this off I wanted to grab as many photos as possible during the set up and then share them with members of my team and with the other volunteers that help us. And to make it more engaging than simply sharing a bunch of pictures, I decided this year to set the photos to music and produce a slideshow that has the proper musical accompaniment.
In this article I'll discuss how I created our little music video using a number of tools on my Macintosh. Yes, this is a decidedly Mac specific project. The video itself was generated using a combination of iTunes, iPhoto, Quicktime Pro, and finally published as a Flash video so that everyone would be able to see and hear my tribute to all of those who worked so hard to make our event a success.
Create Dynamic Charts & Graphs with PHP/SWF Charts
by Thomas Pletcher - 28-Apr-06
Reader Level:
PHP/SWF Charts is a PHP-based tool to generate Flash charts and graphs from dynamic data. With it, you can create charts that update in real time, right on the same page. This tutorial will show you how to use the free version of PHP/SWF charts (along with PHP and MySQL) to create an opinion poll page where poll results are charted in real time.
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
by Robert Reinhardt - 26-Apr-06
Reader Level:
In the last installment of this series, you learned how to print a certificate template that was created in Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Flash 8. In this next installment, you learn how to specify the name, title and date of the certificate using ActionScript.
The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects Coming Soon
Building a Video Scrub Bar
by Tom Green - 24-Apr-06
Reader Level:
The dreaded "video scrubber" isn't as scary as you may think. In fact, when you really think about it, it isn't that hard to create. You just have to think about the process in a slightly different manner.
In this tutorial you will be creating a scrubber bar that allows you to drag the Progress widget and move forwards and backwards in the currently playing video. When you release the mouse, the video will start playing at that point. Like all of the previous tutorials in this series, we aren't going to dive right into the project. The first thing we are going to do is answer that "Age Old" question: How does the dang thing work?
Approximate download size: 14.7MB
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
by Robert Reinhardt - 21-Apr-06
Reader Level:
In the last installment of this series, you learned how to create a certificate template in Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Flash 8. In this next installment, you learn how to add the appropriate ActionScript to your Flash movie to send output to a printer.
The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects Coming Soon
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
by Robert Reinhardt - 18-Apr-06
Reader Level:
More and more Flash content creators are discovering the power of printing from the Flash Player. Since Flash Player 4, you've had the tools to print content from a Flash movie. Starting with Flash Player 7, a powerful ActionScript class named PrintJob has been on the scene to enable exacting control over printed output from a Flash movie. In this multi-part series, you learn how to build a printable certificate from a Flash movie. In this first installment, you learn how to create the certificate template in Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Flash 8.
The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects Coming Soon
Showing the Loading Progress of a Video
by Tom Green - 11-Apr-06
Reader Level:
Loading progress and visual clues that a video is actually playing are the focus of this article.
Approximate download size: 14.8MB
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3: ActionScript Development
by Paul Newman,Michelle Kempner - 03-Apr-06
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In Part 3 of this series, you'll learn how to install the ASDT plugin for Eclipse and set up your environment for ActionScript development. You will also learn how to compile SWFs using MTASC and enable trace statements with Flashout.
The Getting Started with Eclipse Series:
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3
Streaming a Flash Video Through Captivate
by Tom Green - 29-Mar-06
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Not being a huge fan of embedding video into a SWF, when I discovered that was exactly the way it is done in Captivate I thought, "Gosh, there has to be a better way!" There is: embed a SWF into your Captivate movie that calls an FLV into Captivate. Turns out, the bandwidth hit is minimal and Captivate does the preloading duties to boot. Does it get any better than that? You can beat the "video bloat" of an embedded AVI in Captivate simply by using an FLV instead.
Approximate download size: 2.8MB
Teaming up Fireworks and Flash 8 to Create a Custom Video Player
by Tom Green - 27-Mar-06
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When the Flash Video components or pre-rolled buttons don't fit the the project spec, what's a developer to do? How about using Fireworks 8 and Flash 8 to create a custom video player?
In this article I will show you how the drawing tools in both Flash 8 and Fireworks can be used to create a custom video player. We've also included some sweet little buttons created by CMX Partner Gordon Mackay.
In the