Flashmech

Right, so yesterday I did a presentation at the local Flex Usergroup about Gaia, titled “What’s Gaia?” It’s kinda a last-minute-decision title, but I guess since the majority of the attendees are Flex programmers, they may not know the existence of the powerful Gaia Framework for Adobe Flash.

What was really cool was that Steven Sacks, the creator of the framework, joined us in the presentation via our channel in ustream.tv as well. He even helped to answer some questions from the floor that stumped me. Thanks Steven! *w00t~*

As promised, you can take a look at the slides, and download them to view or play with them. Remember I mentioned that site.xml is _the XML that rules them all_? Have fun!

The session was also recorded (embedded below), but you have to forward to approximately the 24th minute to skip the announcements.

Biggest turnout at FUG yet!

Ma look! Me presenting!

I should have really blogged about this earlier but work have to always come first. Better late than never I always say.

Come August 13th, I have the pleasure to be sharing with the Flex UG about Gaia! *w00t~!*

Are you thinking that it’s strange that I’m sharing something non-Flex in a Flex UG? *loL~* Well, the great part about our UG is that we get speakers to touch on a diversity of topics on the Flash Platform, though usually with more focus on Flex. This allows us to not just learn about Flex, but also what’s happening platform wide, which I think is really a great style to run the UG.

I’m really excited to be speaking about Gaia, as it is really a time saver framework. At the moment I’ve already drafted the outline (which hopefully will _wow_ the crowd), and planning to create some real world examples where Gaia is able to step in and save your ass in a tight deadline. After the session I’ll be releasing the slides and examples over here and annouce over at FUG Forum, so stay peeled!

What’s making me excited is that Steven Sacks, the creator of Gaia, will also be attending the session via our live broadcast. So for all those who are interested to attend but yet are not residing in Singapore or temporary out of the country, do remember you can catch us live too.

This is the part where I feel I should have blogged earlier. If you’re keen to come down to the Flex UG session this month, please RSVP as seats are very limited (only 3 more seats as at this writing). This coming month’s turnout might be the biggest yet!

For more information, you can check out the official blog post.
See you on August 13th!

Introduction

Last Wednesday during the first Singapore Flex User Group meet, I spoke about the framework that Tink (a.k.a. Stephen Downs) has created, which integrates Papervision3D with Flex to create 3D effects.

Effects in Flex are simple to apply and if used correctly enhance the UI. This session will show you how to apply and build 3D effects for Flex using Papervision3D. - Tink

Examples

• Cube
• Flip
• Rotate
• Zoom

Getting Started

• Tink’s framework
  1. View any of the above examples.
  2. Right click -> View Source
  3. Download the source zip file.
  4. After extracting, the folder “ws” in the folder “[source path] as3″ is what you need.
• Papervision3D’s framework
  1. Download here or get it from the homepage.
  2. After extracting, the folders in the folder “src” are what you need.

Place the two frameworks in your project’s “src” folder (or whatever that you name it), and you can tap on the power of PV3D in your Flex app!

More links

• Presentation PDF.
• Tink’s presentation at London Flash Platform User Group (LFPUG).

Finally able to settle down today to write up on my presentation after FSUG last Saturday!

For details, fellow colleague Arul has already written a very long post on it. Am not gonna reiterate them, so do check it out here.

Even though it was my first presentation, I sure hope you guys had enjoyed it. As promised, here’s the full write up (hopefully I did not miss anything out).

Cool Flash Tips & Tricks

(Download the presentation .swf here.)

Introduction

Extending Flash through 3rd Party Tools, using the Extension Manager, makes your life easier. Since other people have already devoted their time to create such tools, it brings about the following advantages when you use them.

• Save development time
• Improves work flow
• Do better things than you used to be able to do

Types of Extensions

• Components
  Window -> Components
• Libraries
  Window -> Common Libraries
• Panels
  Window -> Other Panels
• Tools
  Edit -> Customize Tools Panel…
• Commands
  Commands
  Edit -> Keyboard Shortcuts…

Links

• Custom Easing Tool (download)
• kuler
  • PixelFumes’ Extension (download)
• Adobe Exchange
  • JK Drawing Tools (download)
  • 3rd Party Extensions
• Guy Watson aka FlashGuru
  • Auto Save (download)
  • Extensibility Posts
• Papervision3D
  • Official blog
  • Components and Demo Files (download)
• Grant Skinner
  • gAlign (download)
  • AIR Project Panel in Flash CS3 (download)
  • Other cool stuff
• FlashExtensibility.com
  • Commands
  • Panels
  • Tools
• Test Separate MCs easily (download)
• Flash Partigen, particle system for Flash

Resources to learn more!

• Flash IDE’s Help -> Extending Flash
• Book: Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004

Where are all these files stored after installation?

First, navigate to the configuration folder:

Windows 2000/XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Flash CS3\<language>\Configuration\

Mac OS X:

Hard Drive/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash CS3/<language>/Configuration/

From here it is easy to locate where the new files were installed.

• Components are installed in Components folder (.swc/.fla).
• Libraries are installed in Libraries folder (.fla).
• Commands are installed in Commands folder (.jsfl).
• Tools are installed in Tools folder (.jsfl + .png + .xml[optional]).
• Panels are installed in WindowSWF folder (.swf + .jsfl[optional]).

During the session, Ryan asked how did I placed my presentation slide in Flash IDE as a side panel. Simply copy and paste the desired .swf file into the WindowSWF folder and restart Flash IDE. After which, from the menu bar, navigate to Window -> Other Panels. You should find your panel there.