Pixelfumes Flash Blog

Flashpitt 2009 is Next Month!

2009-09-16T15:59:00.000-04:00

Quite some time ago I posted that Flashpitt was running again this year. Time has really flown because now Flashpitt 2009 is only a month away. It's coming up on October 15th and 16th.

It's looking like it's going to be a great event again this year. They'll have a full day of sessions again this year and they've added a full day of workshops right before the conference as well. So there's a chance to get some more indepth knowledge before jumping in to the full day of session. The speakers list is pretty impressive, too!

This year I'll be an attendee instead of a speaker which means I'll get to check out a lot more sessions than last year. I'm especially looking forward to checking out Jer Thorp's and Seb Lee-Delisle's sessions. Both of them do does some amazing, yet totally different, work. On the more technical side Scott Janousek's mobile session is also one I want to catch.

Check out Flashpitt.com for all the sessions and speakers.

ThemeSong AIR App: Adobe AIR and Bluetooth

2009-01-05T16:34:00.001-05:00

Recently, a co-worker of mine, Val from thisisportable.com, showed me a great use of a free Bluetooth server and Flash. Some of you may have seen the server in action at FITC Amsterdam. The server is called Roomware. It is a free Bluetooth server that will run on your Mac or PC. After brainstorming a bit we came up with the idea of a ThemeSong server. Basically, we thought it would be awesome to walk into a room and have our own theme song be played.

After some work, I have an initial release of ThemeSong available fo those interested in using it for themselves. ThemeSong is written in Adobe AIR and leverages the Roomware Server in order to detect Bluetooth devices in proximity. ThemeSong provides the ability for you to remember devices (mostly phones) and to assign entrance and exit theme songs that you would like to have played when that device is present (discoverable) or absent (undiscoverable). My distribution of the Roomware Server uses a modified config file to make the server poll the list of devices more often than it does by default. You will however, be at the mercy of your computer's hardware limitations for the number of queries it can do in a given amount of time.

Enough Talk - How Do I Install this Thing?

What You Need:

A computer with Bluetooth capabilities (most Macs have this built-in these days - you can try a Bluetooth dongle though they seem spotty with the Roomware Server)

Bluetooth devices to detect (your cell phone with the Bluetooth on and set to discoverable)

Some MP3s to assign to devices

Some speakers on your computer

If on a PC you may need to install a JRE

The Adobe AIR Runtime

Download ThemeSong with the bundled Roomware Server

How to get the Roomware Server Running:

The download consists of a zip file containing both an .air and .zip file. Please unzip the roomware-server.zip to a folder on your desktop or somewhere you will remember the location. This should give you a folder on your desktop called roomware-server. Inside of the roomware-server folder there is a README that will let you get the Bluetooth server up and running using the Terminal or the Command Line. Once the server is running you should see it processing any Bluetooth devices in the area. Below are screenshots of what you would need to type to get the server running on your Mac and PC:

Installing and Using ThemeSong:

Next, install the AIR application and press connect. It should query the devices in the area and eventually assign the Friendly name to them in the list. You can click a device in the list and pick and entrance and exit mp3 sound that will play when that device is seen (someone walks within 30 feet of your computer with their phone) or goes away (someone leaves the area with their phone).

The mp3 is copied and stored by ThemeSong. ThemeSong does what the name implies. It plays the ThemeSong assigned to a device. Make sure to hit Remember This Device's Settings to store the info and to remember the device for when you run the server later.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoy ThemeSong. It has been a lot of fun in the office to hear the Imperial March play whenever I walk into the room. This was a proof of concept we wanted to do so please don't take it too seriously.

Just like the Roomware Server, this software is released as follows:

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

FlashPitt Reminder: Tucker the FlashPitt Puppy!

2008-09-24T11:32:00.001-04:00

FlashPitt Reminder: Tucker the FlashPitt Puppy!

FlashPitt is right around the corner boys and girls! Have you got your tickets yet? I am really excited to give my session on AS2 to AS3 Migration! Especially with the recent announcement of Flash CS4. AS3 is more pertinent than ever!

I hope to see all you loyal blog followers in Pittsburgh on October 10th!
As you can see above, the badges have been ordered and Tucker, the official FlashPitt dog, is really enjoying them!

If you want more details and want to buy a ticket, hurry on over to FlashPitt.com!

In the meantime, if you are in the Pittsburgh area this Thursday, be sure to stop at the PittMFUG meeting for our CS4 Prerelease meeting!

FlashPitt Coming Up Really Soon! (Oct. 10th) - Get Your Tickets!

2008-09-09T10:52:00.001-04:00

As you might have gathered from the banners on my blog, I'm speaking at Flashpitt in about a month.

I'll be doing a session with Wayne called AS2 to AS3 Migration. This will be a great session for anyone still making the move, or not sure about making the move, to AS3. Don't worry, this presentation isn't going to be like reading a textbook; we're planning to have some fun with it!

We're on pretty early on in the day which means I'll actually get to go to a lot of other people's sessions. There's a lot of great sessions on the schedule, but here's the ones I'm looking to catch:
Papervision3D - 3D on the web is definitely an up and coming trend that's going to be around for a while. What better way to find out more about papervision3D than from one of their team members?

For Position Only - While I haven't been doing a lot of design work lately, I'm not going to pass up the chance to see a place like Big Spaceship show off what some of their "in-progress" work looks like. They do some amazing work and I'm hoping to pick up some tips about their processes that I can use myself.

Physical Computing - Controlling actual physical things with Flash? Need I say more?

Experience First Approach - Thanks to all the devices out there -- like my awesome iPod Touch --web apps and web sites aren't just for browsers anymore. That makes this topic is relevant to everything I do. I've heard lots of great things about Stacey's presentation style, so I'm willing to bet this one will be entertaining too.

The Medium of Interaction - I hadn't heard of Golan until Wayne introduced me to his work, which is absolutely amazing. Golan makes interactive installation pieces that are shown all over the world and take the idea of interaction and programming to a whole different level. He even built a robot as one of his installations. I think this is going to be a great inspirational talk to end the day with. Nothing like a good reminder that there's more to "interactive" than corporate web sites and the like, right?

If you're going to be at Flashpitt, too track me down and say hi. Grab your tickets on the Flashpitt site if you haven't already, this event isn't one you want to miss.

FlashPitt Flash Conference - Speaker List Update

2008-07-21T15:17:00.004-04:00

A few months ago I let all of you loyal Flashers in on the news about Pittsburgh's first Flash Conference. FlashPitt 08 will be Friday, October 10, 2008. Things are approaching quickly! I just wanted to post an update concerning speakers who will be at the event.

We have a lot of the speakers scheduled already including:

Julian Dolce of Fuel Industries and deleteaso

John Lindquist of Papervision 3D

Stacey Mulcahy of bitchwhocodes.com

Jose R. Rodriguez of JRVisuals

Craig Swann of Crash Media

Wayne Lincoln of the PittMFUG

Ben Pritchard (Me) of Pixelfumes

Also, folks from Adobe and Big Spaceship will be on hand! You can learn more about the speakers here.

Be sure to visit the site: www.flashpitt.com for all of the details and online registration! Hope to see you there!

Clicking Through MovieClips to Underlying Objects in ActionScript 3

2008-01-31T08:42:00.000-05:00

One new thing about ActionScript 3 documents that you may have noticed is a new behavior related to MovieClips. Prior to ActionScript 3, you could create a button on the stage, lay a MovieClip over it and click through the MovieClip to the button below. Now, at times this was cool - but at other times, like when you want to make an area go modal, it was a pain because you had to add a mouse event to the MovieClip that was the overlay or change that MovieClip to a button in order to prevent clicking through to the items behind/underneath it.

ActionScript 3, by default prohibits you from clicking through a display object to items underneath. So, how do you get around that? I stumbled upon a quick explaination over at Reyco1’s Flash Blog. Check out the demo below... You will see that in order to click through the MovieClip to the button behind we need to set two properties: mouseEnabled and mouseChildren. The mouseEnabled property sets whether or not the mouse registers on the given clip while the mouseChildren sets whether children within the given clip register the mouse. Setting both of these properties to false ensures that we can click through the MovieClip to the elements below.

Swinger Class with Source

2008-01-23T16:40:00.000-05:00

I am trying to get back into experimenting with different things since I have been so lazy about updates on the blog. Today I finished up a proof of concept that swings a MovieClip on an axis point. In the demo below you can play with the result. If you are interested in downloading the code you can do so here. I got the original code math formula from Blog About Flash. They provided a really nice and efficient way to handle the pendulum motion by simply using the Math.cos() method. My Swinger class basically takes that formula and allows you to work with some interaction and friction settings. As always - should you wish to add to the code let me know and I will post your updates. Hope you enjoy it.

Apple is Punishing me for Buying an iPod Touch When it Came Out

2008-01-16T08:52:00.000-05:00

Back in September of 2007 I posted about getting my iPod Touch. I have been in love with it since and use it constantly. Actually, that post has been one of the more visited and commented posts on my blog for some reason. Fast forward to yesterday, the MacWorld Keynote in SF. Apple released the 1.1.3 firmware for the Touch - yea! Then they let everyone know that the apps that I have been craving, Mail, Notes, Maps and Stocks are available for the Touch. But wait - you have to pay $20 for them. Okay, so that wouldn't be a huge deal (though I could argue with the price point) if the following were not true... Apparently if you purchase the Touch today you will fall into one of two categories: 1)If you go to an Apple Store and buy a Touch without the new apps you will get a $20 discount on the price. 2)You will get the apps on the Touch and pay exactly what I paid for the Touch as an early adopter back in September.

I think that is bogus and since this is my blog I took the time this morning to complain about it. So, those of you who waited - congratulations - you get more for free. To boot, I am typing this on the brand new 8-core Mac Pro that just came out... Wonder if I will get punished for getting it so early.

Happy 2008! Free PixelStyles Pro for Eight of You!

2007-12-31T20:14:00.000-05:00

***Update***
Hey, thanks to all of you who commented to the blog post! Many of you thought you were first because I have "must approve" comments on. I finally got on the Mac today to see many comments waiting for approval. I have gone through the list and sent those few of you your New Years present. The promotion is now over.

Hey everyone - I know that at the time of this post it is not yet 2008 but I thought I would get a jump on things! I have been slacking on the posting lately and feel kind of bad about it so... I will be giving away eight copies of PixelStyles Pro to the first eight commenters on this blog post. Simply post your email address and I will send it along when I am able. PixelStyles Pro will be discontinued in 2008 and will no longer be updated.

PixelStyles Pro works only for Flash 8 and only on a PC. Thanks to all of you who purchased the product and supported Pixelfumes. Happy 2008 and a late Merry Christmas! It should be a great year to be a Flasher!

Flickr API and Flashloaded's New gridNavigation Component

2007-12-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

My pals over at Flashloaded hooked me up with their new gridNavigation component to check out. I immediately thought that this would be a great fit for something like a Flickr image viewer. I took the time to write a class that interfaces the Flickr API for AS3 and Flashloaded's new gridNavigation component. The new component allows you to easily set thumbnails, large versions of the images (used when clicking) and the style of the grid (pyramid or grid). I used the same image for the thumbnails and the large version in my test though. You can even pick the different types of easing that are being used. If you need to kick out a tight little interface quickly then I suggest giving this bad boy a shot.

My attempt to use the component involved pulling images from Flickr tagged with "pittmfug" (The Pittsburgh Adobe Flash Users Group). The demo below will let you view the first nine images I pull back:

The component works with a flat xml file on the server or can be used dynamically (in my case). I use the component API to add items to the grid on the fly. This consists of loading the image data from Flickr and assembling the urls and in turn passing them into the grid.

The demo above, including all source, is available (minus the component of course - you need to buy that) for download here.

The Mac vs. PC War is Still Raging - CNET Ad

2007-11-21T08:49:00.000-05:00

If you visit the Windows Vista page on CNET today you will notice some excellent ad placement. Click the "play again" or "play with sound" button on the Apple ad on the right side of the screen. You will see a great example of creative and ad placement. Also, the Flash geek in me appreciates the use of Local Connect (I assume) to make the ad on the right communicate with the ad above. Very nicely done Apple. If the ad is not there at any point you can view a screen record I did of the ad in action here:
View My Screen Record of the Ad (22 MB)

New Adobe AIR Logo

2007-11-15T14:12:00.000-05:00

Mike Chambers has the scoop on the new Adobe AIR Logo on his blog. Check out his post about the new logo.

Mike Says:

I am not going to go into a detailed analysis of what the logo represents, but I do want to point out one of the core concepts behind the logo. Adobe AIR is built on top of three core web technologies (HTML, Flash and PDF), and we wanted the logo to represent this. Thus, each corner of the logo represents one of these core technologies.

I for one love it. I made a quick wallpaper in case anyone is interested. You can download it here (click to get the full-sized version):

Mike offers vector versions of the logo as well here.

Pixelfumes Snow Class Used in a TV Commercial

2007-11-09T10:07:00.001-05:00

I am pretty stoked about this. My Snow Class (AS2/AS3) that I wrote a year or two ago was used for a small animation on the web for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. They liked the look of the animation and wanted to create a 30 second TV spot based on it. Since Flash CS3 has excellent support for exporting Quicktime movies this was an easy task. I love the fact that a large number of items in the commercial use the Tween Class and all of the snow is dynamically created using my Snow Class (AS2/AS3). I just wanted to share as this was the first time that I have used 100% Flash to create a commercial and the first time that any of my programming has been displayed to a TV audience.

If you have used the Snow Class for anything cool let me know. I know that American Eagle had been using it last year for a small piece on their website.

AFComponents Using the Pixelfumes Reflect Framework

2007-10-30T22:44:00.000-04:00

Andrei over at Advanced Flash Components shot me an email to this post on their blog. They took the framework from the Reflect class I wrote and created a nice method of creating reflections within their framework. Check out the post and play with the video demo. Thanks for sharing Andrei!

AIR Version of the Stacks Class

2007-10-23T13:03:00.000-04:00

Following along the lines of my earlier post, AS3 OSX Leopard-like "Stacks" Class with Source, I decided to see what I could do with the Stacks class and AIR. You can see a really rough demo in the video below - press the fullscreen button to see what is really going on. I wish AIR 1 supported launching files in the default application! I will not be releasing the AIR version but thought it might be neat to show you how the icon data is being pulled in (thanks Kevin Hoyte):

//within a Drag and Drop operation
var fa:Object = e.clipboard.getData(ClipboardFormats.FILE_LIST_FORMAT);
var iconBMP:Bitmap = new Bitmap(fa[0].icon.bitmaps[0]);
iconBMP.smoothing = true;
var m:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
m.addChild(iconBMP);

AS3 OSX Leopard-like "Stacks" Class with Source

2007-10-23T09:32:00.000-04:00

Its no secret that I have become quite the Apple fan. Given that, I have been eagerly awaiting the release of OS X Leopard. Leopard has a neat new feature called "Stacks" related to the dock. If you want to learn more about the new dock and stacks you can do so here.

I thought it would be neat to pay homage to Apple and give a go at creating "Stacks" in AS3. In the demo below you can view my attempt. It took me awhile to dig through sites for a good actionscript-based equation that would give me a curve that I liked.

As3 is awesome - you can really pass any type of Display Object into the stack using the stackInstance.addItem() method. It expects a MovieClip - the demo below just uses one that I made in the library. The stack items can really look and be whatever you like.

This is open source so feel free to improve and mod the class. Please share any improvements you have. As always, any link-backs or references are appreciated when using my classes.

If you want to play with the class you can download the class and FLA for the example above.

AS3 Problem Targeting MovieClips Containing Nested Clips

2007-10-09T13:59:00.001-04:00

**UPDATE:
Thanks to Robert Penner, Xtian, Jeremy, Val and Wayne for the testing. Jeremy got the answer: var smallMc:MovieClip = large_mc.getChildByName("small_mc") as MovieClip
trace("works " + smallMc); I know I have done that in the past but for some reason today it was killing me! View the comments thread for some good detail.

[Original Post Follows]

Today I ran upon the strangest thing I have seen in awhile - actually, I am surprised that I have not run upon it before. I had my friend Xtian try to replicate this as well and he was able. Therefore, I thought I would run it bast the awesome members of the Flash blogosphere.

The Scenario
Flash CS3, Exporting as Flash 9, AS3
I have a MovieClip on the stage with an instance name of large_mc. large_mc contains a clip with an instance name of small_mc. small_mc contains a clip with an instance name of verySmall_mc.

The Problem
I want to target small_mc and have it return as a MovieClip. Now, we all know that in AS3 in general, objects return to us as DisplayObjects. In this scenario I assumed that I could do the following:
MovieClip(large_mc.small_mc);
//or
large_mc.small_mc as MovieClip;

These methods return the following:
[object small_mc_2]

Now, granted AS3 is newer and I haven't seen it all - but where the heck is that basic object coming from and why is it adding _2 to my instance name? So I thought I would exhaust all of my methods and try the following trace actions:
//traces object
trace(large_mc);
//traces object
trace(large_mc.small_mc);
//traces MovieClip (last level of nesting)
trace(large_mc.small_mc.verySmall_mc);

trace("---------------");

//traces object
trace(MovieClip(large_mc));
//traces object
trace(MovieClip(large_mc.small_mc));
//traces MovieClip (last level of nesting)
trace(MovieClip(large_mc.small_mc.verySmall_mc));

trace("---------------");

//traces object
trace(large_mc as MovieClip);
//traces object
trace(large_mc.small_mc as MovieClip);
//traces MovieClip (last level of nesting)
trace(large_mc.small_mc.verySmall_mc as MovieClip);

Apparently if you crawl all the way through the nest to the final nested clip, verySmall_mc, you finally get a MovieClip.

The Question
Besides, "What the heck is going on here" I want to know how you would target the small_mc clip nested within large_mc. Basically the AS3 equivalent to the AS2 version of the code: large_mc.small_mc.

Another Kicker and Strange Point
Go into your library and assign the MovieClips to export for ActionScript. Watch the erros fly as the compiler has no idea what small_mc_2 is.

Xtian found that this code will return a reference to small_mc:
trace(large_mc.getChildAt(1));

Now THAT is messed up - childAt(0) returns Shape and childAt(1) returns MC - is this pulling the children from the layer/level stack it is on the physical timeline? Now this is all fine and good but what if there are multiple nested clips within large_mc - how do I know which is Child(0).

Any help appreciated - thanks to Xtian for finding the export issue as well.

Download the Example
You can download my example FLA here.

AMP (Adobe Media Player) Beta Available on Labs

2007-10-01T08:22:00.000-04:00

Many of you may have heard about it... You may have even seen it at the onAIR Bus Tour... Now Adobe has the AMP (Adobe Media Player) available on Adobe Labs for you all to play with. Jump over to the media player page on labs to get the install.

Adobe says:

The Adobe® Media Player™ enables end users to enjoy their shows whenever and wherever they want, while enabling new ways for content businesses to create, deliver, and monetize high-quality content and advertising through a customizable cross-platform player that supports both downloaded and streamed media.

Adobe is driving the next generation of internet video delivery with the Adobe Media Player (AMP), the Flash® Media Server, content protection technologies, and a broad and powerful ecosystem of partners providing key solutions from content creation through delivery and monetization. AMP brings the best of both the broadcast television and web video worlds to your desktop—providing high-quality content both online and offline, with a wide range of business model possibilities

I think this is an interesting move for Adobe. I have had the opportunity to play around with AMP a bit and find it a different experience than I have had with other media players. Things could really be looking up with the recent news of Flash Player 9 Update 3 (Moviestar) supporting H264 and other Quicktime formats.

I Bought an iPod Touch

2007-09-25T12:25:00.000-04:00

It was my birthday recently and I somehow managed to talk my wife into going with me to the Apple store to pick up an iPod Touch. I have to say that I was tentative because of all of the screen problems that I had been reading about. Well, I have had my Touch for less than a week and I am already in love with it. I don't have a ton of music or anything so I opted for the 8gig version. I don't even have it half full. This is my first iPod and I really like it. I need to get a FM transmitter though...

Anyway, as a web developer this thing intrigues me. Yea, Steve Jobs said that you get the real Internet, and you do... But, I am really starting to like "iPhone" websites. Since my Touch is virtually an iPhone I have been trying to find good sites that properly handle the UI interaction. You might think this is a no brainer but consider this. There really is no "drag" event that I know of on the mobile version of Safari. So if you plan on writing something involving dragging (e.g. Google Maps) you will be out of luck as that event scrolls the page. There are definitely people doing things correctly though. The best two examples I have found are Meebo (IM on the web, GTALK, AIM, MSN, etc) available here and the iPhone version of digg available here.

Those of you interested in developing for the iPhone and Touch can hit the Developer's Center on Apple.com You might want to check out Aptana also - you can download an iPhone SDK plugin to help you get started writing iPhone websites.

I think these little mini-sites, RIAs or web gadgets are really going to catch on. It is a pain to do "pinches" to zoom in and out on a web page on the iPod. It is much easier to be provided a style sheet that pushes the content in a mobile friendly manner. The plus is that Safari supports a large fraction of web standards, thus developers aren't working with old school legacy code when developing their apps.

The only complaint I have is that the Mail and Maps apps which are available on the iPhone are not on the iPod. They also pulled the plug on adding calendar events from the iPod (they can only be added when syncing). So, an iPhone it isn't - a great iPod it is. Apple really needs to release some apps to add on to this thing or release an SDK.

I have one final thought on why Flash isn't on the iPhone or iPod Touch. My guess is that has to do with the whole "drag" or general event interaction. As I mentioned, dragging your finger across the screen scrolls the page. Actually having flash focused to trap the events might be a difficult task to tackle. I think it is only a matter of time... Once we have Flash we will have a plethora of mini-sites and RIAs for the iPhone and Touch.

If you are thinking about the Touch, I would recommend it. Just bear in mind that it isn't quite the iPhone minus the phone. You lose some other things as well. Google some reviews or take a walk to your local Apple Store and you will get a good idea what you are in for. Also, Feel free to send me iTunes cards, etc. :).

The Photoshop Family and logos

2007-09-18T09:04:00.000-04:00

I ran upon a pretty interesting piece on John Knack's blog today. It seems that Adobe has released a new logo for what they are calling the Photoshop family of products. This seemes to encompass Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Photoshop Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Album Starter Edition, and soon Photoshop Express. I dig the new logo. John's post has a ton of information on it all - check it out.

iFreelance: My Adobe AIR Derby Submission

2007-09-05T11:00:00.000-04:00

Well, today is the deadline for the Adobe AIR Derby contest. As a Flash developer I thought it would be cool to go back to my roots and develop an application using HTML and CSS. My app is iFreelance. It is a tool for me to keep track of clients, contacts and invoices. It allows you to save and export invoices, etc. I have put together a short video of iFreelance in action. I wanted to add a ton of other features but ran out of time :(. Learning my way around AIR and some of the bugs (I know it is beta) in AIR was very valuable. I may release the .air file at a later time. In the meantime - check it out below. I would love to see anyone else's entry!

Adobe onAir Bus Tour Pittsburgh Video

2007-08-21T14:49:00.000-04:00

My good friend Joe Kromer served as our camera man when the Adobe onAIR Bus Tour came to Pittsburgh. Joe put together a nice video for the members of the PittMFUG (Pittsburgh Flash Users Group) and was nice enough to share it. You can check out the video below:

1080p Movs, MP4, Non-FLV playback in Flash Player 9 Update 3

2007-08-21T08:15:00.000-04:00

I am not sure how I missed this - the Flash industry is going nuts with this news... Ryan Stuart, some of you may know him from the onAIR Bus tour, has posted some info on what to expect from the updated Flash Player:

Does the addition of H.264 mean Flash Player will support HD?
Yes, Flash Player supports 480p, 720p and 1080p content encoded with either On2 or H.264. Performance will vary depending on the capabilities and configuration of your machine. In general a 2.0 GHz Mac or a 3GHz PC, with one or more processors, will deliver an optimum experience.

Will Flash Player 9 Update 3 support non-FLV files?
Yes, with this update, Flash Player will also support MPEG-4 standard container files that contain video and audio data encoded using H.264/HE-AAC, including MP4, M4V, M4A, MOV, Mp4v, 3gp, 3g2.

So basically you can play full, hardware accelerated 1080p Quicktime videos inside of the updated Flash Player. Welcome to the next generation of web video.

This is huge for Flash! If you want some additional information check out Ryan's blog and ZDNET.

ZDNET
Ryan Stuart's Blog

Adobe Fireworks CS3 Kuler Panel Released

2007-08-20T15:59:00.000-04:00

Alan from the Fireworks team at Adobe asked if I had plans to port the kuler panel for Flash CS3 to Fireworks CS3. I started crawling through the API today and thought it would be a pretty easy task. Fireworks supports Flash panels so I really only needed to rewrite some of the JSF code calls. So, for all of you Fireworks people out there, I ported the panel. I myself am not a huge Fireworks user so please download the panel and test it out. I haven't had any people test it on a Mac yet either. Please consider this beta until I start hearing about how well it works on your machines.

If you want to see a short and small video on the panel in action you can view a .mov here.
Download the panel MXP here.

Adobe onAIR Pittsburgh

2007-08-20T09:04:00.000-04:00

Mike Chambers, Myself and Mike Downey

Adobe onAIR Pittsburgh was one of the best events I have ever been to. The AIR Tour is such a valuable tool for any of you guys interested in developing with AIR. The night here in Pittsburgh was insane. Adobe really pulled out all of the stops with the food, games and presentations. All of the guys on the tour did a great job of explaining what AIR is capable of and even demoed some sweet apps. I just wanted to let those of you left on the tour that you have much to look forward to!

The members of the PittMFUG even had the opportunity to hit up a local Pittsburgh joint known as Primanti Brothers with some of the Adobe folks after the show. For those of you interested you can check out photos from the Pittsburgh stop here.

My New Adobe Dev Center Article: Creating the Kuler Panel for Flash CS3

2007-08-13T07:31:00.000-04:00

I have a new article out on Adobe.com's Dev Center. The article steps you through the process and code used in my creation of the Kuler panel for Flash CS3. Many of you have requested the source to the panel and I have released it on Adobe.com along with the article. The version of the Kuler panel for Flash CS3 has been updated as well to leverage Adobe's recent release of the Kuler API. So, now that you guys have the source, feel free to modify and improve! Hope you enjoy the article. Thanks to everyone that has emailed me in reference to the panel as well.

You can view the article here.

Official Adobe Kuler API Released

2007-08-12T14:56:00.000-04:00

Adobe has released an official API for Kuler on the Adobe Labs. The new API provides similar functionality as the older (and now deprecated) RSS feeds that many of you used to use. Along with the release of the API is a brand new "colored by Kuler" logo for use in all of you Kuler branded applications and sites. If you develop a site using a Kuler theme you can even submit it to Adobe and they will list the link of the site! Here is a sample of the new API functionality:

Get highest-rated feeds
http://kuler.adobe.com/kuler/API/rss/get.cfm?listtype=rating

Get most popular feeds
http://kuler.adobe.com/kuler/API/rss/get.cfm?listtype=popular

Get most recent feeds
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"Mac-Style Cocoa Sheets" AS3 Class

2007-08-10T14:59:00.000-04:00

Campbell Anderson had a sweet post on his blog entitled: Mac style popups - its the new LightBox. You can view a nice Flex version that he mocked-up here. I thought I would attempt something similar in Flash CS3 using an AS3 class. My version uses the graphics class to handle all of the UI. I haven't taken the time to implement modal modes, etc. I thought I would provide the source for those of you interested in playing with and extending it.

Using the class is fairly simple. Here is a quick example:
import CocoaSheet;

var cs:CocoaSheet = new CocoaSheet(this);
//pass the width, height, display speed, and reference to a movie clip in your
//library with an associated class, in this case sheetContents
cs.createSheet(350,200,1,new sheetContents());
//set the x and y position
cs.position(75,20);
//show the sheet
cs.show();

Download the source FLA and Class file here.

Helpful Tips for Using the Pixelfumes Reflect Class

2007-07-31T13:53:00.000-04:00

Sometimes working with a new class can be confusing. I thought I would start a post to help solve some of the problems that people have been running into using the Reflect class. My hope is to keep this updated for those of you having trouble. Keep in mind though... The class is open source - modify it to fit your needs! Share with us all! :) So here goes:

MovieClips that you are going to apply the class to should have a registration point of 0x and 0y.

MovieClips that you are going to apply the class to should not be scaled. If you need to scale the items in the clip do so within the clip vs. scaling the parent clip being reflected.

Don't try to reflect cross domain images or video without a cross-domain policy file. This isn't a limitation in the class but part of the security sandbox in the Flash player. This has accounted for errors that more than one of you has had.

ActionScript Bridge and SWFBridge - AS2 to AS3 Communication

2007-07-31T08:55:00.000-04:00

ActionScriptBridge
The guys over at jumpeye contacted me this morning and gave me the scoop on an amazing piece of work they just released. They call it the ActionScriptBridge (ASB). This is for the "drag-and-drop" developer who wants to enable AS2->AS3 function communication in AS3 files.

Here is how jumpeye describes the ASB:

With the launch of the new Flash CS3 and ActionScript 3.0, Adobe created a gap, in terms of compatibility, between applications created using ActionScript 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0. This means that a Flash clip created using ActionScript 3.0 can load and play a clip created using ActionScript 2.0, but it will not have access to anything (variables, functions, objects) inside the AS2 clip.

ActionScriptBridge is a project that aims to fill the gap between AS2 and AS3. It gives the possibility for two Flash movies, one created using AS2 and the other using AS3, to communicate with one another (at least regarding function calls). This means that the AS3 clip will be able to call functions found in the AS2 clip loaded in it, and the AS2 clip will be able to call functions found in its’ parent, the AS3 clip. All this, by using two components: ASBContainer, for Flash CS3 and AS3, and ASBTerminal, for Flash MX 2004 or later and AS2.

Below is a demo of the ActionScriptBridge in action:

SWFBridge
Some of you may have also seen GSkinner's recent release of SWFBridge allowing those of you a bit more into development to really get into AS2->AS3 communication!

I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to play much with either but I knew that news like this would be very interesting to all of you developers out there. If you get a chance to try SWFBridge or the ActionScriptBridge out let me know what you think.

My First Article for Adobe: Creating movie clips with reflections in ActionScript 3.0

2007-07-23T15:51:00.000-04:00

My first article for the Adobe Flash Developer Center is now live. The article will step you through the creation of reflections using ActionScript 3. The article is based off of the ActionScript 2 version of the Reflect class that I posted awhile back. If you get a chance, go check out the new AS3 Reflect Class.

Creating movie clips with reflections in ActionScript 3.0
(http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/reflect_class_as3.html)

The following graphic may be helpful for those of you confused about the package library path:

Having trouble using the class? Check out the helpful tips.

IE6 AS3 Preloader Events Failing Part II

2007-07-16T21:52:00.000-04:00

Previously in my post, IE6 AS3 Preloader Events Failing I talked about the fact that the loaderInfo ProgressEvent.PROGRESS and loaderInfo Event.COMPLETE events were not working for me or others in Internet Explorer. My research has not provided much in the way of explainations. I thought I would post a work-around that is cheap and much like the old AS2 version that I used (Non-Event based). Below is the non-working in IE AS3 code for preloading on the main timeline. In the examples below I also have a progressBar component on the stage with an instance name of progressbar.

IE Problematic Code
stop();
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.ProgressEvent;

root.loaderInfo.addEventListener( ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, onProgress );
root.loaderInfo.addEventListener( Event.COMPLETE, onComplete );

function onProgress(event:ProgressEvent):void{
progressbar.setProgress((event.bytesLoaded/event.bytesTotal)*100,100);
}

function onComplete(e:Event):void{
gotoAndStop(2);
}

Work Around Code Not Using Events
stop();
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.Event;

this.addEventListener("enterFrame",onEnterFrame);
function onEnterFrame(e:Event){
progressbar.setProgress((this.loaderInfo.bytesLoaded/this.loaderInfo.bytesTotal)*100,100);
if(this.loaderInfo.bytesLoaded == this.loaderInfo.bytesTotal){
gotoAndStop(2);
this.removeEventListener("enterFrame",onEnterFrame);
}
}

IE6 AS3 Preloader Events Failing

2007-07-13T23:06:00.000-04:00

I recently ran upon an interesting problem with the Flash 9 player/AS3. It seems that when attempting to preload the main timeline of an swf that the ProgressEvent.PROGRESS and loaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE... events do not fire in IE6. I have not been able to duplicate this issue in IE7 or Firefox. I have attempted this using a Document Class and straight code on the timeline with the same results.

My research has lead me to several people experiencing similar problems here: http://www.actionscript.org/forums/showthread.php....
This can provide you with the basic idea of the issues being experienced.

Again, this is preloading a swf's main timeline and not loading an external swf into a loader swf file. Any light that anyone can shed on this issue would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Adobe Kuler Swatch Cards

2007-07-04T23:20:00.000-04:00

A secret source at Adobe helped me get a hold of some sweet Kuler Swatch Cards. The cards are from moo.com and display the swatch colors, author, numeric values of each color, the scheme rating and accompanying quote. I took some snap shots of the cards to share with you all. I have a sealed set - I'm still thinking of a good way to decide on whom to gift them to.

Jumpeye V3 Components Review

2007-06-28T11:24:00.000-04:00

Recently, I had the opportunity to take some new Flash components for a spin. I am generally a user of the default Adobe UI components whenever I am working on an advanced UI in Flash and otherwise shy away from components as I prefer to work with something I have built from the ground up. Prior to testing the Jumpeye V3 components I had not heard of Jumpeye; once I took a look at the work the team is doing at Jumpeye I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t. I initially anticipated the components to be like most 3rd party components that you might use once and forget about; that was far from the case.

I thought it would be helpful to share my findings for those of you looking into great, easily customizable and dynamically driven components. I have been raving to my co-workers recently about the level of detail and documentation provided with each of the components.

If you guys want to see a sweet little video on the components in action you can check it out on Jumpeye’s main component page: http://www.Jumpeyecomponents.com/. If you want to learn more about the V3 components on your own you can also read more here: http://www.Jumpeyecomponents.com/about_v3_components.htm.

I thought I would take the time to show you some of the features of the components that I found really impressive and why I plan to use them when the opportunity arises in the future.

Dynamic Population
One of the nice features of the V3 components is that they are driven by external XML files for the data population. For example, to populate an Accordion Tree component you would use XML something like this:

This makes things pretty easy to follow as the other V3 components use a similar XML structure. This makes data entry and skinning much easier to carry across different UI components.

Another nice feature is the attention to detail taken to make the components as user-friendly as possible. In the image below you can see that I tried to use an Accordion Tree component without setting an XML path. I get a nice custom error telling me what I have done incorrectly.

Skinning
Skinning components and the ability to give them your own personal touch has always been a must for most Flash developers. When I went into the skins of the components I was really impressed at the level of detail that you were able to give to the components. The pre-made skins are laid out in manner much like the new UI components in Flash CS3. It is very easy to find what you want to change.

Skins are applied in the same XML file that loads the data for the component and are handled via movie clips with linkage IDs applied to them within your library. Once the component loads it can look at the style in the XML and use the proper movie clip for each portion of the UI.

Component assets are easily accessible within the library of the included files as well.

Interactivity and Parameter Controls
The components can be modified via the Parameters panel in the Flash IDE just like the default UI components. What impressed me was the ActionScript API used to interface the components into your projects. Those of you used to using event listeners and ActionScript 2 Class-based development are likely to appreciate the time put into the numerous different properties, methods and events that are broadcast and available to code against.
The Actual Components
Instead of me blabbing on about the components I thought it would be better to just show you some of the different components included in the V3 components family. Jumpeye has some great demos of each component already produced so I thought I would just send you to each of the demo pages. Click on the images below to go to the demos on the Jumpeye site.

The Accordion Panel
The Accordion Panel component work much like the default Adobe Accordion but adds a nice flair using easing, easy skinning and XML data integration:

Drop Down Tree Menu
The Drop Down Tree Menu has to be one of the best in my opinion. I have created menus like this from scratch before and it took longer than I would have liked to have spent. This is where the skinning capabilities really shine.

The Color Picker Pro
The Color Picker Pro is by far my favorite component in the family. This component is very dynamic and can change for use in many different forms and functions.

The V3 family also contains an XML Slideshow component and a Loader Pro component as well.

Free Upgrades to AS3 ComponentsCurrently the Jumpeye V3 components are written in and for AS2. Those of us purchasing the components now will get a free upgrade to the AS3 versions which are currently in production. That’s what I’m talking about!

Jumpeye also has a bunch of other components on their site as well that look like they would be pretty sweet. If you get the chance or are in the need of a component to help you out I would advise you to check them out first.

ActionScript 3 Files Using FLVPlayback Take Over the Screen

2007-06-20T16:18:00.000-04:00

As my friend and I continue to learn the finer details of AS3 development we have come upon some interesting things. Today I learned about the fullScreenTakeOver property of the FLVPlayback Component.

Regardless of the settings and scale properties we set for the FLVPlayback component in our file, the FLVPlayback would take over the sceen when we ran our projector file. I stumbled upon the fullScreenTakeOver property of the FLVPlayback Component and noticed that the default value is true.

Here is the description from the help file:
When the stage enters full-screen mode, the FLVPlayback component is on top of all content and takes over the entire screen. When the stage exits full-screen mode, the screen returns to how it was before.

In our case the fix was easy enough:
import flash.system.fscommand;
fscommand("fullscreen", "true");
fscommand("allowscale", "false");
flvPlybk.fullScreenTakeOver = false;

Everything works as desired now. This example obviously deals with Projectors but this might rear its head in fullScreen browser mode as well so be on the lookout.

Flash-based Homestar Runner Rejects TV to Stay True to Web

2007-06-18T15:23:00.000-04:00

A story of staying true to your roots, a good read. As much as I would love to see Homestar on my TV... I mean, I know I can buy the DVDs... Since it is my fav Flash cartoon I thought I'd share:
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/...

Flash CS3 Kuler Panel Video Demo

2007-06-11T10:00:00.001-04:00

John Knack at Adobe did a sweet video demo of my Kuler Panel in action. You can check it out here. Thanks for the shout out John!

Flash CS3 Kuler Panel Updates

2007-06-08T08:26:00.001-04:00

Updates to the Flash CS3 Kuler Panel are now complete. Thanks to those of you who beta tested for me. Updates include:

Improved swatch handling for schemes with differing numbers of swatches
Improved UI
Scheme name bug fixes
Performance improvements

You can download the MXP here.

If you find anything that gives you trouble just let me know. Hope you enjoy.
Some additional imagery of the panel in action is below:

Flash CS3 Kuler Panel Updates Coming

2007-06-06T13:30:00.000-04:00

Someone pointed out that I am only bringing 4 of 5 swatch colors into the panel! Wow, sorry I overlooked that! I also was turned on to what was causing the elusive JSFL error. Thanks to everyone who has tested the panel. I hope to make the updates soon and release a new build.

Kuler Panel for Flash CS3

2007-06-05T11:58:00.001-04:00

**UPDATE HERE

I have been a big fan of the Kuler Dashboard Widget and the Kuler Apollo apps. I also thought it was pretty sweet how you can access Kuler from within Illustrator CS3 as well. That lead me to the development of a Kuler panel for Flash CS3. The custom panel is written in AS3 so it should run smoothly. This however, means that it will only run in Flash CS3. I used the common interface from the Dashboard and Widget versions (hope Adobe doesn't mind). You can download the MXP installer here. I have only tested the installer on a PC so far - If anyone has problems with the install on PC or Mac please let me know. Thanks!

Adobe Kuler Apollo Edition Released

2007-05-24T22:38:00.000-04:00

Awhile back I blogged about the sweet OS X Dashboard widget Adobe released for Kuler. Well you can download the Apollo version of the Kuler application now! It uses a beautiful organic UI and seems very functional. Check it out using the links below.

Kuler Apollo Application

Apollo Runtime

12-Line Missile Code and RaidenX

2007-05-23T16:15:00.000-04:00

RaidenX is my new favorite Flash game. Great job by Googley over at Deviantart. He also posted a 12-Line Missile ActionScript sample - I think it's sweet. Thought I would share it with you all. Toss the below in a new FLA, test it and have fun.

12-Line Missle Code

Easy XML Parsing using AS3 (ActionScript 3)

2007-05-08T08:46:00.000-04:00

Moving from ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3 forces us developers to change some of the habits we have been practicing for quite some time. Recently I had the opportunity to work with XML and ActionScript 3. I soon realized that things had changed - I felt like a n00b as I attempted to parse my XML the "old way". Yesterday I heard some yells coming from across the room and soon found that I was not the only one who had this issue.

Actionscript 3 actually contains two XML related classes, XML and XMLDocument. From a high level you can look at it like this: XML is XML that is parsed using E4X (new to Actionscript 3 - and very sweet to boot) and XMLDocument is what you were used to using in Flash 8 to a large extent.

Let's look at how we would parse the following xml in Flash 8:
XML:
<animals>
  <animal type="cat">
  <animal type="dog">
  <animal type="fish">
</animal>

AS2:
xml = new XML();
xml.ignoreWhite = true;
xml.load("animals.xml");
xml.onLoad = function(){
trace(xml.firstChild.childNodes[0]);
}

Now let's take a look at what this would look like in AS3, the example below should trace <animal type="cat" />:
AS3:
var xmlString:URLRequest = new URLRequest("animals.xml");
var xmlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader(xmlString);
xmlLoader.addEventListener("complete", init);

function init(event:Event):void{
  var xDoc:XMLDocument = new XMLDocument();
  xDoc.ignoreWhite = true;
  var animalsXML:XML = XML(xmlLoader.data);
  xDoc.parseXML(animalsXML.toXMLString());
  trace(xDoc.firstChild.childNodes[0]);
}

Now this is a bit different. As you can see we load our XML using the new URLRequest and URLLoader methods. Once the XML is loaded it fires the init function. We create a new XMLDocument and tell it to ignoreWhite. We then create a new XML instance. We pass the data coming from the the URLLoader that loaded the XML into our new XML instance (animalsXML). We can then safely use our XMLDocument to parse the XML using the parseXML method. Notice we pass the animalsXML variable while performing a toXMLString method on it. As in the AS2 version, this should trace <animal type="cat" />.

So that is not all so bad once you know what methods you need to use. Most of you should be able to figure out what exactly is going on there. For those of you who want to simplify things - or complicate them, however you look at it - I have created a simple class that will allow you to do the AS3 version like this:

AS3:
var xmlString:URLRequest = new URLRequest("animals.xml");
var xmlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader(xmlString);
xmlLoader.addEventListener("complete", init);

function init(event:Event):void{
  var animalsXML:XML = XML(xmlLoader.data);
  var parseXML = new pXML(animalsXML);
  trace(parseXML.xmlDocument().firstChild.childNodes[0]);
}

This uses a simple class called pXML. It looks like this:
AS3:
package{
  import flash.xml.XMLDocument;
  import flash.xml.XMLNode;
  import flash.xml.XMLNodeType;

  public class pXML{
    private var xDoc:XMLDocument;

    function pXML(x:XML){
      xDoc = new XMLDocument();
      xDoc.ignoreWhite = true;
      xDoc.parseXML(x.toXMLString());
    }

    public function xmlDocument():XMLDocument{
     return xDoc;
    }
  }
}

Hope this helps someone out. You can download the class here as well.

Adobe CS2 and the Case of the Disappearing Thumbnails! (Windows Explorer Thumbnail View)

2007-04-19T15:48:00.000-04:00

I have had an issue on my windows machine for a long time. The problem goes like this: You have some PSD and/or AI files and want the see a quick preview of what the document looks like when you select "Thumbnail" from the View type in Windows Explorer. Problem is that instead of the document preview it gives you this:

So I did some digging and ran upon this article on Sitepoint.com
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2005/12/13/adobe-cs2...
Now I have this:

I followed the directions and it worked like a charm. Just thought I would share for those of you suffering the same fate. They warn that they take no responsibility for modifying your registry - neither do I. Cheers.

My Silly Apollo App - A Reflective CD Mirror

2007-04-18T14:58:00.000-04:00

I have been messing around with Apollo for awhile trying to come up with some ideas to test the capabilities of the initial release. I thought it might be neat to have a CD on the desktop that would reflect what the user's webcam sees. This works great on my Mac with the iSight.

An interesting note is that you don't get prompted with the "Allow" message that you would on the internet when a swf wants to use your webcam. It just runs. Beauty...

You may not need to do this but on the Mac with the iSight I did have to go modify what "camera" the flash player was using in order to get the video to appear. I did this by visiting a page that uses the webcam within an swf file (gran'ts webcam fire), right clicking and choosing "Settings". Go to the camera tab and pick USB Video Class Video.

This is written in Flash 8 and doesn't actually leverage any Apollo API calls such as the FileSystem or such. This was just a silly little proof of concept that I thought I would share. I needed something to show at the PittMFUG meeting tomorrow :).

Requirements
A Webcam (Duh)
The Apollo Runtime

Downloads
You can download the source here.
You can download the .air here.

Adobe Media Player Video

2007-04-18T08:02:00.000-04:00

Daniel Dura had this video posted on his blog. It shows a little bit of the new Adobe Media player we have been hearing so much about. I had a hard time finding any details let alone video so I thought I would share.

Original post on Daniel's Blog.

Tons of Free Video on the new Adobe CS3 Software Packages

2007-04-17T14:01:00.001-04:00

Adobe is providing a ton of free videos giving detailed information and drill-downs on much of the new software. The videos are nicely laid out and sorted in their Flex-based application. You can view the videos here.

My interview with Colin Moock (podcast)

2007-04-16T14:05:00.000-04:00

Being a manager of the Pittsburgh Adobe Flash Users Group, I was given an awesome opportunity to interview Colin Moock. Myself, Joe Kromer and Val Head were fortunate enough to talk with Colin Moock about his new O'Reilly book, Essential ActionScript 3, how he got started with Flash, Apollo and much more. Colin was nice enough to spending about a half hour chatting with us. We covered a lot of ground and got some great insights from him concerning ActionScript 3 and the Flash Platform.

The PittMFUG is releasing this interview as a special podcast today. You can download the mp3 itself here. Subscribers to the podcast may also access the new podcast on the PittMFUG podcast feed.

Thanks
A big thanks goes to New Perspective for providing the audio recording facilities and expertise and to Mike Rajakovic for his audio engineering know-how.

About Colin Moock

Colin Moock is an independent ActionScript expert with a passion for networked creativity and expression. He is author of the world-renowned guides to Flash programming, "Essential ActionScript 3.0" (O'Reilly & Associates, 2007) and "ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide" (O'Reilly & Associates, 2003, 2001). A web professional since 1995, Moock runs one of the web's oldest Flash developer sites, www.moock.org. When he's not writing books about ActionScript, Colin spends most of his time exploring multiuser application development with Unity, moock.org's complete commercial framework for creating and deploying multiuser applications for Adobe Flash.

Links
www.moock.org
FITC Presentation Info
ActionScript 3.0 and Flash CS3

Active Blur Class V2 - Source Available

2007-04-12T10:37:00.000-04:00

Many of you have expressed interest in the original version of the Active Blur class I released. One of the questions was how to allow the object casting the Active Blur to resize and have the blur update as well. The new version of this class should fix that issue for you. The old class was not very dynamic either. I attempted to make the class easier to use. You can also have non-rectangular shapes (an "x" or "o" shaped item works just fine). Click here or the image below to open the example. Drag the window around and mess with it. Hope you enjoy it.
You can download a sample FLA and the class here.

Reflection Class V3 with Source

2007-03-30T15:15:00.000-04:00

I was prompted today to update my Reflection Class. Many of you have posted updates and revisions of the class and I thank you all for that. I took some of the revisions and officially updated the class. The new class now supports clips that change their position. The old code would not allow an object to change the x position. This is now handled by telling the class how large of an area of a given clip should be monitored and reflected. View the demo below:

You can try the new class out below using the sliders to update the properties assigned. Once you have a look you like you can copy the code below for reference when using the class.

You can download the source and demos here.

Thanks to Mim, Jasper, Jason and anyone else who has been using/modifying the code!

Adobe Kuler Widget Released

2007-03-27T16:08:00.000-04:00

This was announced live on the CS3 Release Event. Adobe released a Widget for Kuler for the OS X Dashboard. They also demoed an Apollo version as well. Pretty handy!

Download the Widget from Adobe

New Adobe CS3 Box Art Revealed

2007-03-26T09:07:00.000-04:00

Wlinkin turned me on to this. Thought I would share for those of you who have not seen it yet. This is supposedly the new box art for the CS3 Family of products:

Via Macnn

Adobe CS3 On Amazon

Underwater Warping Textfields

2007-02-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

Below you will see an example I threw together to demonstrate the use of perlin noise. I then started looking into the use of displacement using perlin noise and ran across a post on Kirupa. I then borrowed some video from Getty and threw together a little example for the members of the Pittsburgh Flash Users Group.

You can view it here. - source available here:

Writing Flash for the Nintendo Wii

2007-01-30T14:20:00.000-05:00

The following is an initial attempt to wrangle all of the useful knowledge from blogs and sites throughout the community concerning Flash and the Nintendo Wii. If you have a useful link that you believe is missing from this list - please leave a comment and let me know.

As you may know, the Nintendo Wii currently runs an Opera-based web browser. It can currently display Flash 7 files within the browser as well. As time passes people have been able to write code to recognize gestures with the remote as well as basic tracking of the Wii remote. Below is a compiled list of topics concerning writing Flash for the Wii and the marriage of the two in general:

Opera Browser
Wikipedia Information of the Opera-based Wii Web Browser

Programming (Wiimote)
Flash Wii Gesture Recognization

Wiimote buttons in Flash - Aral Balkan

Wiimote buttons in Flash - wii.teamxlink.co.uk

Wiimote in Flash - Quasimondo

Design
Wii Web Design Guide

Funny Wii Safety: Missing Pages

Videos
Video Showing Apparent Full Support of the Wiimote in Flash at DustyPixels

Interactive Singing Holiday Card

2007-01-24T09:57:00.000-05:00

I know this is really late, but i forgot to share it last month! The company I work for, New Perspective, when not working at Pixelfumes, put out a cool little interactive holiday card this year. Myself and several members of the Pittsburgh Flash Users Group worked on this together (Myself, Wayne Lincoln, Joe Kromer and Val Head).

After you watch the "company card" you can upload your own picture, pic a scene and email it to your friends with a message.
Oh, and by the way, the singing is supposed to be silly - we weren't going for American Idol here ;).

View the Holiday Card Here

DHTML Snowstorm

2007-01-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

Always a lover of DHTML - I ran across this DHTML Snowstorm. I figured since I shared the Flash versions (AS2/AS3) that I have done you might be interested in this as well.

DHTML Snow Storm by Scott Schiller

P.S. Dig the DHTML MP3 Player at the top as well ;).

Apple iPhone - Runs Safari / OS X

2007-01-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

Apple released the iPhone today in case you haven't heard ;). Actually - you can get it in June... It apparently runs OS X and includes Safari. I wonder how this will affect Flash Lite. I wonder if Safari on the iPhone will support a Flash 9 plugin. Take a look at the demos on the apple site - they are very well done and show the awesome capabilities of the iPhone. Oh, and it is an iPod as well...

If you are interested in the tech-specs you can view those here.

If you are having a hard time waiting until June click here.

Adobe CS3 Icons - Interactive Display

2007-01-03T09:02:00.000-05:00

Lee over at The Flash Blog has created a sweet little interactive piece to help you identify and get a fell for the new icons in the CS3 Suite of products.

Check it out here: http://theflashblog.com/?p=240. There are some other nice pieces of work to take a look at while you are over there.

Roxik Pictaps - Draw a Character and Watch It Dance in 3D

2006-12-22T09:26:00.000-05:00

This was out awhile back but then went down so I waited to blog it. My kids love drawing a character and watching it dance. Excellent Flash work and lots of fun. Your Character gets converted into a 2D model in a 3D world.

Roxik Pictaps

Flash 8 Censor Blocks Area Class with Source

2006-12-18T16:34:00.000-05:00

You know those censor areas they sometimes lay over the screen when naked people show up on the news or something? Well, I thought it would be neat to attempt the effect using Flash 8. So here is my quick stab at what I call the "TV Blocks" class. You can change the blur settings on the Flash below.

**Note this blog page may have some other examples running depending on how you are looking at it - to view this example in a page alone click here.

Download the FLA here.

Here is the class:

ILM - Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - A Behind the Scenes Presented in Flash

2006-12-17T23:54:00.000-05:00

ILM has a really well put together Flash site which details some of the technical effects and processes behind the making of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Dead Man's Chest. I especially enjoyed the video clips which used the old circle reveal trick to show the motion capture video behind the final shot. Some nice liberties were taken with the user interface in general as well. Thought I would share the find.

http://www.ilm.com/theshow/

Pittsburgh Flash Users Group (PittMFUG) Podcast on Tivo

2006-12-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

As a PittMFUG manager I always try to push the Pittsburgh Flash Users Group (PittMFUG) any chance I get so... I thought I would roll that into my discovery of the sweet Podcaster application on Tivo.

Recently I got off my butt and got the Tivo Wireless Adapter for my wireless network at home. This opens new options and programs on my Tivo. One that I thought was awesome is Podcaster. You can launch Podcaster on your Tivo, type in the PittMFUG podcast url (http://www.pittmfug.org/podcast/podcast.xml) and Bob's your uncle. Listen to Myself, Wayne and Joe in all the 4:3 glory... Below are a couple of screenies. It even pulls the album art!

Obviously you can listen to any podcast this way - but why listen to anything else?

Actionscript 2 Version of Snow Storm

2006-11-28T14:02:00.000-05:00

**UPDATE**
More than one person seemed to have questions about the usage of this class. I have uploaded the FLA and .as in a zip file. You can unzip, open the FLA and test it. Get the zip file here.

I recently posted the AS3 verion of my snow storm for the year. I thought it would be interesting to port it backwards to AS2 and see how well it performs. I am using 1000 flakes in the example below as well. You can modify that in the FLA. Here is a demo:

Here is the class:

Actionscript 3 Snow Storm Class

2006-11-27T09:33:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. Winter is just about here and it is time for me to create snow. Last year I did a little demo of creating snow that sticks using Flash 8 and the BitmapData object. I thought that I would take a stab at doing an ActionScript 3 version. So with that said, here is an AS3 snow maker. The movie below obviously requires the Flash 9 player. I am using 1000 flakes in the example below. You can modify that in the FLA. I hope to update this and make it more dynamic in the near future but feel free to play with what is here.

Here is the class:

Awesome Interactive Flash Displays 3D Animations of Over 260 Skateboard Tricks

2006-11-14T10:44:00.000-05:00

My buddy Joe (the Kangaroo) Kromer turned me onto this site:

http://www.dxinteractive.com/skatetricks/

What a great use of Flash, 3D and video. I can't even do a good ollie but I love this! Great work.

Portions of the Flash AVM2 Released as Open Source to the Mozilla Foundation

2006-11-07T08:27:00.000-05:00

A lot of different posts are pushing the big news about portions of the Flash AVM2 to the Mozilla Foundation. What does this mean exactly? Well, to quote Mozilla:

"The goal of the "Tamarin" project is to implement a high-performance, open source implementation of the ECMAScript 4th edition (ES4) language specification."

The nice thing about the whole thing is that my fears of "Different Flavors of Flash Player Technology" have been calmed according to Kaourantin.net:

The plan is that Mozilla and the Adobe Flash Player will share the exact same code base now and in the future. There is no plan to fork the virtual machine at any point. Changes which go into the Mozilla source tree will be directly adopted by Adobe and vice versa.

It deals more with ES4 implementation in Firefox than anything else it seems. Take it from a few good sources to learn more:

Adobe Press Release
Mozilla Tamarin Project
Kaourantin.net

Multiple Instances of an AS2 Class Sharing Variable Values

2006-11-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

I recently stumbled upon something that was driving me nuts. Not sure how I never noticed this before. If you have a class something like this:


class MyClass
{
private var myList:Array=new Array();

public function MyClass()
{
}

public function pushItem(item:Object)
{
  myList.push(item);
}

public function popItem():Object
{
  return myList.pop();
}
}

And then create two instances of that class inside your FLA like'a so:


var a:MyClass=new MyClass();
var b:MyClass=new MyClass();

Then, push some items to each instance's array:


a.pushItem("Hello");
b.pushItem("Fred");

In the above example "a" should contain "Hello" and "b" should contain "Fred".
Now trace the array in instance "a":


trace(a.popItem()); //returns Fred

Now... This is the part where I started to go crazy. That makes no sense. Thankfully I ran into some details on this over at OSFlash. Visit http://osflash.org/flashcoders/as2 and look for the portion that headlines with: "Why does my initializer get shared across all instances like it's static?" Turns out that is the way that AS2 compiles down to AS1 code behind the scenes. The fix is pretty simple. You still create the variable reference in the main portion of the class but actually assign it within the constructor of the class like so:


class MyClass
{
private var myList:Array;

public function MyClass()
{
  myList = new Array()
}

public function pushItem(item:Object)
{
  myList.push(item);
}

public function popItem():Object
{
  return myList.pop();
}
}

A big thanks to the fellas over at OSFlash for posting that.

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends - Cheese Pumpkin Stencils

2006-10-27T15:06:00.000-04:00

Ok, as some of you know, I love Cheese. No, not the kind you eat (though that is good), this Cheese:

I linked back to the infamous "I pooted" commercial awhile back too. Anyway... It is October and the month for carving up your pumpkins! I thought I would give a go at creating Cheese Stencils for anyone that wanted to use them. If you use one, please shoot me a picture! I'd love to see your handy work.

UPDATE:
Here is my Cheese pumpkin.

Cheese from Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends Pumpkin Stencils:
Click on the image preview below for the big printable version(PDF).

Pixelfumes.com Redesigned

2006-10-23T14:04:00.000-04:00

I recently redesigned my professional portfolio/business site. There is not a lick of Flash now. Previously it was all Flash. I thought I'd mix things up a bit and go completely XHTML/CSS. I had it posted on CSSMania as well - if you get bored you can go and vote for me here. Just thought I'd share.

Visit Pixelfumes.com

Flash 8 Active Blur - Blur Behind a Transparent Object - Source Available

2006-10-12T10:25:00.000-04:00

**UPDATE: New Version here.

With Windows Vista coming out there is a lot of attention on the new UI and "glass". In the picture above you can see through part of the window. It obviously is semi-transparent. Now that is easy enough to do in Flash - right? But what I noticed is that it also gives a slight blur to what is behind the window as well. That made me wonder - could the same be done easily in Flash?

What I have below here is a proof of concept of the technique. It uses the BitmapData class and the BlurFilter class. You can drag the little semi-transparent window around and even edit the text behind the window in real time. Adjust the amount of blur the window casts at the bottom. You can download the source here.

This currently isn't in a class structure and could definitely be made a bit more efficient - but then again - this is web 2.0 - consider this beta. I would love to see if anyone makes anything cool with this so let me know. Hope you like it:

10th Anniversary of Flash Animation by Nectarine

2006-10-11T12:17:00.000-04:00

When I first saw this link I skipped over it because I thought it was something I had seen before - I was wrong. So, just in case you all have not had the chance to see this cartoon, here it is. It is extremely well done and gives you a humorous look at the last 10 years of Flash. Take a look at it over at Nectarine.

10th Anniversary of Flash Animation by Nectarine

Fullscreen Webcam with Live Reflection Using New Flash 9 Fullscreen Capability

2006-10-10T14:30:00.000-04:00

I took some time to do my own demo/test of the new Fullscreen Capability that the new beta Flash 9 player has. You can see the effect below if you have the new player installed and a web cam. This was written in Flash 9 and uses a newer version of my AS3 Reflection Class (click here for old AS3 version - new to be released soon) to update the reflection live. For more info on the new feature and how to implement it you can check the links below:

Get the latest Flash 9 Player to see the effect.

Adobe : Flash Player:9:Update:Full-Screen Mode

Adobe: Full-Screen Demos

Flash onSoundLoad Event Bug - Not Firing

2006-10-10T12:37:00.000-04:00

Recently I was developing a CD-ROM using Flash. I was listening for an onSoundLoad event to be dispatched so that I could process some more code. The funny thing was that the event never seemed to fire. I thought that since it was in an AS2 class that maybe I was screwing something up while using the Delegate class. So, I tried a couple different things to check my "scope". Luckily I stumbled upon this post over on Flashcoders:

http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/pipermail/flashcoders/2005-March/133677.html

It seems that the onSoundLoad event does not fire locally - this bug worked its way into my CD-ROM application since it was being run on the end-user's machine and not in a web browser. So you ask yourself, "Self, what's the fix?". Glad you asked. Simply "preload" the sound by checking the getBytesLoaded() vs. getBytesTotal(). When they are the same or fully loaded - fire your own method call. Worked like a champ.

Some of you may already know about this but I thought I would post in case I was not the only one living under the onSoundLoad rock.

Fullscreen Flash 9 - Look Ma, No Chrome!

2006-10-10T11:51:00.000-04:00

A new beta release of the Flash 9 Player has been released. It now supports the ability to go actual fullscreen from the browser. The beautiful thing is that it does so without the "chrome" (menubars, window buttons, etc) just as one might do from a CD-ROM application. Now, many are worried about the abuse of this feature - and granted there is some concern. But to those who wield the new power well a new world has been opened. I took a test drive on my ancient 600 MHZ laptop with 128MB of RAM. The link below played like a champ. Great Flash 9 Player performance - EVEN fullscreen. Take a look at the sample below over at flashguru.com. Hopefully I will have time to do my own soon. Obviously you need the new Flash 9b update - get it in the labs.

http://www.flashcomguru.com/apps/fullscreen_player9/fullscreen.html

Modified Version of My Seamless Background Class

2006-09-29T15:03:00.000-04:00

My pals Joe Kromer and WLinkin took my Seamless Background class and modified it to handle animation. Check it out:

http://joekromer.blogspot.com/2006/09/tiling-movie-clips.html

SnapShot With Class Source

2006-09-27T14:54:00.000-04:00

The BitmapData Class in Flash 8 is the rox0rs. All of my old Reflect classes use it. They also all use the "draw" method. This allows you to take a snapshot of a movie clip, write it to a bitmapData object and do whatever you want with it. Basically this class just takes out the hassle of creating the bmpData object and creating the movieclips. This is a real simple class and not so much a "wow" and more of a fast "save you some time" class. More for those of you that don't like messing with any of that who-ha and just want to take... (drumroll) ... a snapShot ;).

Basically you pick a movieclip on your stage - let's pretend it has an instance name of bob_mc.

ss = new SnapShot(bob_mc);

You have to target a movie clip to display the snapshot in. We have one called target_mc.

ss.showSnapShot(target_mc);

There it is! Now you can remove it too:

ss.removeSnapShot();

Here is the class:

As a note, and after using the class a bit I thought it would be nice to be able to control and overwrite the snapShots. You can modify the class easily by changing the constructor and adding a takeSnapShot method like this:

function SnapShot(m:MovieClip){
mc = m;
bmp = new BitmapData(m._width,m._height,true,0xFFFFFF);
}

public function takeSnapShot(){
bmp.draw(mc);
}

iTunes 7 and the Death of My iTunes Album Art Application

2006-09-12T15:18:00.000-04:00

iTunes 7 was released today. You can download it at www.itunes.com. Loads of UI changes including the addition of CoverFlow. CoverFlow was only available on Mac OS X 10.4 and up until today! CoverFlow was a project created by Steel Skies and located at http://www.steelskies.com/coverflow/ for album art visuals. It now works on a PC too ;). CoverFlow was integrated as a view into iTunes 7 (screenshot above).

Another new feature is free album art. If you have an iTunes account you can download album art for the songs in your library missing art. This kills the need for my iTunes Album Art application. I was working on version 2 but stopped as of today.

Check it out if you get a chance. Very nice update imho.

DHTML Version of Modal Desaturation

2006-09-01T14:52:00.000-04:00

This page will only work correctly in IE5+. Hope you enjoy!

Just for giggles I thought I would attempt to recreate the effect from the Flash version of the Modal Desaturation post I did.

Visit here: http://www.pixelfumes.com/blog/sep06/modalSaturation.html or click the image above.

This page will only work correctly in IE5+. Hope you enjoy!

Flash 8 Version of the Modal Pop-up Desaturation Technique by Alistar McLeod - Source Available

2006-09-01T10:44:00.000-04:00

I saw the sweet Flex2/Flash 9 version of the "Fade to Gray Modal Window Flex Effect" by Alistar McLeod on the Adobe Consulting blog and really enjoyed it. I thought I would give it a whirl in Flash 8 using a desaturation formula I dug up on chattyfig. I used the same sort of interface as Alistar for some continuity - nice effect Alistar. Thanks for the idea.

You can get the source here.

PittMFUG Podcast with Special Call from Denmark

2006-08-31T08:34:00.000-04:00

We at the Adobe Pittsburgh Flash Users Group just released our 10th podcast. I thought I'd post it my blog because of our special guest. Asger, a DFUGer from Denmark and www.flashforum.dk called in all the way from Denmark to give us a perspective of the Flash scene there. Take a listen if you get a chance. Most of it is localized to the Adobe Pittsburgh Flash Users Group (PittMFUG) but it still might be interesting. My Pittsburgh brethren may find it more interesting...

Check out the podcast and listen to Asger from www.flashforum.dk to learn about what the Flash scene is like in Denmark! Thanks for all your kind words about the PittMFUG and for calling in!

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

Adobe Releases Flash's 10th Birthday Interactive/Video Application - Flashback. Flash Future.

2006-08-29T12:12:00.000-04:00

Adobe has just released an awesome interactive/video application to celebrate 10 years of Flash history. Check out the Flash Anniversary Microsite to watch the videos (direct link)!

We had a great time at the PittMFUG Birthday Party for Flash - too bad the video wasn't ready for then! Anyway, better late than never - great work!

I Pooted

2006-08-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

I Pooted

You no doubt you have already seen this but I thought I'd share anyway. Something to make you smile. Genius self-promo from cartoon network imho.

Seamless Background with Source

2006-08-24T09:48:00.000-04:00

If you have ever needed to have a Flash piece fill the browser and center the movie contents without stretching all while having a repeating background pattern that never ends then look no further!

This class takes a pattern and repeats it using one of two methods. The first is repeating movie clips that display as needed in the background. This is great for Flash 7 and older. Small patterns can hurt resizing but I tried to help that out with a method in the class called destroyTiles. This gets called automagically so it should run pretty well. For you Flash 8 people out there I use the Bitmap Data object to handle the repeating background. This is very fast and very light on overhead. You just need to change the way you instantiate the class to jump from one version to the other.

Example:
//Flash 7 - clip in library with Linkage ID of pattern_mc
//args(target mc, linkage ID, useBitmap?)
sb = new SeamlessBackground(bg_mc,"pattern_mc",false);

//Flash 8 - bitmap in library with Linkage ID of wood_bmp
//args(target mc, linkage ID, useBitmap?)
sb = new SeamlessBackground(bg_mc,"wood_bmp",true);

Notice that when using Flash 8 you have an image in the library with a Linkage ID, NOT a movie clip. Just right-click on your jpg or what-have-you in the library and assign a Linkage ID to it.

There is also a method for centering another clip in the center of the window. It is basic but a nice addition to the class imho. You can set the clip like so:

sb.setCenteredClip(logo_mc);

Here is the class:

The direct link to the class is here. A demo of the class is available here. A downloadable zip containing an FLA is available here.

Business Card Flip Effect (Class With Source)

2006-07-10T13:40:00.000-04:00

**UPDATE: Many of you have asked for the source FLA and/or help in getting the class to work. I have posted a demo FLA to help you out a bit. You can get it here: http://www.pixelfumes.com/blog/jul06/cardflip.zip If you are interested in how to target the movie clip on the back of the card you can view another example FLA here.

Many of you have seen the nice effect of a card flipping over in some Flash sites. A pal pointed me to a site today that had the effect and it got me to thinking that although many of these appear to be 3D/AfterEffects/PNG Sequences - close to the same could be done with just a simple class. This is a stab at doing the effect using a class that I created. The quality of the effect depends a lot on the parameters that you pass to the class. The example below allows you to modify all of the parameters minus the drop shadow. The drop shadow is a argument that you can pass into the class. FLASH 8 Required

The class looks like this:

The class is used like this:
cf = new CardFlip(card_mc,"cardBack_mc",50,ds);

Where the arguments are (MC to flip,Linkage to the "back" of the card movieclip in your library, the X-Axis to flip at, and the optional DropShadow Filter).

ActionScript 3 Reflection Class Source

2006-06-28T12:03:00.000-04:00

**
UPDATE
This class has been updated and is available here:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/reflect_class_as3.html
**

Awhile back I had a lot of good feedback on my Reflect class for ActionScript 2 in Flash 8. Since today I got my hands on the Flash 9 Alpha I thought that it would be fitting to update the Reflect class to ActionScript 3. Obviously lots has changed so it was a very educational process. This class has been renamed Reflection and does not support animation yet - this was a quick test to see what it would take to port the class over. Below is the source and if you have Flash Player 9 installed you will also see an example below as well. In the example you will see two separate clips, one with a jpg in it and one with native Flash text in it. Let me know what you think! Also, how is everyone doing processing comparisons these days? I'd love to be able to test the performance differences between the classes.

For those of you without Flash Player 9 here is a screenie:

Here is the class:

Holy Cow - Flash 9 Alpha Download

2006-06-28T08:49:00.000-04:00

Hey guys - in case you live under a rock and didn't know that Flash 9 Alpha is available on the Adobe labs... Here is your wake up message.

Adobe Flash 9 Alpha Download

Try Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2 ONLINE without installing it!

2006-06-27T07:52:00.000-04:00

You can now check out Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2 online instead of installing it on your system. This is positioned so that you think that there is nothing to install but I was prompted to install the Citrix plugin to try it out. It was going kinda slow... Probably because it has been "dugg".

MS Office 2007 Beta 2 Online

There is a down side... "The test drive requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later, a browser plug-in, and a broadband Internet connection. A minimum 1024 x 768 screen resolution is recommended."

Don't wanna go through the hassle? Check the CNET Video or some Screenies over at thinkleet.

Adobe Apollo and ActionScript 3 Breeze Presentations

2006-06-22T13:12:00.000-04:00

You probably remember me praising the ActionScript 3/Flash Player 9 presentation I watched at the last PittMFUG meeting. I thought I'd post the link here for you all. Also is a link to a presentation with more information on Adobe Apollo. Finally, there is a link to all of the presentations from Developer Week at Adobe.

ActionScript 3 for Flash Developers
Building Killer RIAs? Meet: Adobe's Next-Gen Technology
All Presentations on Adobe Developer Week
- Via http://www.onflex.org/

National Addy Awards and Joe Piscopo

2006-06-22T08:08:00.000-04:00

Awhile back I posted about the site I did for the company where I work (New Perspective) winning a gold Addy in the local Addys competition here in the Pittsburgh area. I was stoked about that. Well we made it all the way to the national level and had the opportunity to fly out to San Francisco for the awards show. Unfortunately we didn't win at Nationals. I thought I would mention that the Nestea Ice site by Juxt Interactive that most of you have probably seen did take home a notational Gold Addy so congrats to them! It was a good trip nonetheless and an honor to even be at the nationals with an initial 58,000 entries into the Addys. I did get to meet Joe Piscopo though! Do any of you yougins know who he is ;).

Me and Joe

Check out the New Perspective Website

Check out the Nestea Ice Website

Visual Task Tips - Vista Style

2006-05-15T08:40:00.000-04:00

I am always a fan of new software and technology. I often get made fun of for anxiously awaiting Windows Vista too. Well, in the spirit of Vista I thought I'd share this link I came upon on digg. This little shell extension for Windows XP will give you tool tips on your task bar sorta like Vista uses. You will get a better idea of what I mean from the image above. Check it out. Pretty neat.

Visual Task Tips

IE Flash OCX Error

2006-05-04T13:29:00.000-04:00

I recently stumbled upon an error on a website that a friend of mine had been working on. It looked like this:

I don't think I have ever seen a "Flash.ocx - Add-on Error" before. Some searching around brought us to this post over at deconcept:
http://blog.deconcept.com/2006/01/11/getvariable...
That didn't seem to help - the error was the same but we have no scripting in the swf other than a stop() action. DesDev said he got the error after installing Flash 8.5b player... There is no way the player on my machine would alter an swf exported from Flash though right... Unless I totally misunderstand the architecture...

The weird thing is - we can't duplicate this error (the client is getting it on multiple machines). EVEN on the default .html file that is pushed out without any bells or whistles causes the problem. Of course this seems to be related to IE in some way. Does anyone have any more light to shed on the subject? Thanks.

Tray-Style Resizer

2006-04-28T16:27:00.000-04:00

I was digging through some of my bookmarks and ran across a great example on a tray-style resizer done in javascript:
http://www.agilepartners.com/blog/2005/12/07/iphoto-image-resizing-using-javascript/

I liked the effect so I thought I'd give an AS2 version of it a shot. If you all have seen anything else like this done in Flash please post a comment on this post. I really like the style. This is not perfect but I think it turned out ok for an initial stab:

Lightbox JS V2.0 - Javascript Slide Show Display

2006-04-26T15:53:00.000-04:00

You may have seen version one of the Lightbox awhile back. Version 2 is an amazing JS script that will display pictures in a very to use manner. I have seen this done many times in Flash but the javascript version is intriguing as it floats over HTML content on the page. Take a look over at huddletogether.com. The animation effect really adds a lot while still having a "light-weight" feel to it.

JSFL: Add/Remove Instance Name Suffix

2006-04-07T11:28:00.000-04:00

Not sure how often you all would use. I wrote this for myself for use on a project I was doing. I had a bunch of squares that needed individual instance names. All of the instances had the same suffix though (mySquare0_1, mySquare1_1, mySquare2_1...). Most of the time you could create the squares dynamically and give them an instance name on the fly. In this case I wanted to visually position them in the IDE so I came up with a quick and easy way to add and remove a suffix from a movieclip's instance name (in this case the "_1").

Windows users can copy them into your:
"boot drive\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Macromedia\ Flash 8\language\Configuration\" folder

Mac users into:
"Macintosh HD/Users/userName/Library/Application Support/Macromedia/Flash 8/language/Configuration/"

The commands will be accessible in Flash under the Commands menu at the top.
DOWNLOAD JSFL FILES

PixelStyles V2 Publicity

2006-04-04T11:32:00.000-04:00

PixelStyles has been getting some feedback on blogs around the world. Problem is I can't read it! :) Anyone have any idea what they are saying? If you haven't tried it out yet please do and let me know what you think!

PixelStyles V2 Pro Links
http://www.devnet.hu/
Rich User Experience
Developing software for Developing Countries
(This one I could read heh...)

Download and FAQ for PixelStyles V2

Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC Released

2006-04-04T10:32:00.000-04:00

My buddy over at wLinkin clued me in that Flash Player 7 for the Pocket PC has now been released. I know some of you have been waiting awhile for this one! Check it out here: Get Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC !

PixelStyles and PixelStyles Pro V2 Now Available! - Easily Save, Share and Apply Filters in Flash 8 Like in Photoshop

2006-03-20T12:59:00.000-05:00

I am proud to say that I am releasing PixelStyles V2 today. Version 2 is a huge upgrade from version 1 that many of you downloaded. I was so impressed with the download count (over 2000) from the Macromedia Exchange alone) that I thought it would be worth the time and effort to create the next best thing. PixelStyles V2 now comes in Basic and Pro versions.

PixelStyles V2 Pro now adds the ability to design your PixelStyles in the Flash IDE on the Stage and then actually export them for dynamic use in your ActionScript 2 projects! You can dynamically apply PixelStyles in an almost 1:1 appearance* from the way you styled it in the IDE!

PixelStyles V2 Basic contains all of the functionality of PixelStyles Pro minus only the ability to export your PixelStyles for use in ActionScript 2 classes.

With that said I am opening a contest for the best PixelStyle creations. Simply visit styles.pixelfumes.com and download the Basic version of PixelStyles. Create your coolest PixelStyle and "Export" the Style. Zip it up and email it to me. My favorite will win a free copy of PixelStyles Pro. By submitting styles you also agree that the styles may be redistributed by Pixelfumes in future builds or by other means.

There are other new things too! Like the Preview Pane, Help Menu and stability/performance improvements!

Head on over and check all of the new features out!

*Because advanced styles can be achieved using the colorAdjustment filter it is necessary to do on-the-fly color conversions when this filter has been added to a PixelStyle. Most of the output style will be very close to what you saw in the IDE. Styles exported for use in classes will create an XML file. This file can be modified by hand if needed. Much care has been taken to get class-based PixelStyles to export as close to what you see in the Flash IDE. When not using colorAdjustment filters in your PixelStyles you will be much closer to the 1:1 ratio. Color conversions are handled by gSkinner.com's ColorMatrix Class.

History of Programming Languages Chart

2006-03-13T22:21:00.000-05:00

Check out this sweet O'Reilly PDF that shows the history of Programming languages. I saw this over at digg and thought I'd pass it on.

http://www.oreilly.com/news/graphics/prog_lang_poster.pdf

PittMFUG Represents at the 2005 Pittsburgh Addy Awards

2006-03-06T12:20:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to all you MFUGers that received recognition at the 2005 Pittsburgh Addys Wards! I had the privilege to go to the Addys again this year and was greeted by an MFUGer right off the bat. We all had a great time and showed that we have a great talent pool of designers and developers. Below is a list of those recognized. If I missed anyone let me know!

Gold Addys

Title: New Perspective Website
MFUGER: ME! and Matt Kroh

Title: The Paradiso Group Website
MFUGER: David Glanz and Ryan Sprake

Silver Addys

Title: Steeler Baby
MFUGER: Scott Krebs