Links to other sites
Start Your Own Reality: write or modify a game

Flash -- animation in a web browser

Adobe Flash Builder 4 (2009) renames and extends the former Flex Builder. This is based upon Flash Player 10 and incorporates open source SWFObject project. The .mxml file spec has been revised and apparently more concise, particularly for state matchines.

Older:

Commercial Software

flash.com
30 day trial
ToonBoom Studio from the makers of USAnimation
Exports to QuickTime and Flash. Use this for artistry, then import into FlashMX for programming behaviors. Try before you buy.
SketchUp
3D with the easy of sketching on a pice of scrap paper and offers a plug-in to Google Earth

Open-Source Software

Emacs mode for ActionScript:
actionscript-mode.el; Emacs v22+ may need this hack regarding "c-identifier-re is not known"
as3corelib
ActionScript 3.0 library for several basic utilities
OSFlash - open source Flash
a community-run resource site for open source Flash projects and tools
haXe -- this is one tool to watch!
  • create Flash SWF files using Flash APIs for Players 6,7,8 and soon 8.5
  • generate Javascript code using Browser DHTML API, so you can create AJAX web applications
  • generate Bytecode that can be used on the Server side (using an Apache plugin) or packed into standalone executable
MTASC
free ActionScript 1.x and 2.0 compiler; see also haXe
swfmill
xml2swf and swf2xml processor with import functionality
article on .SWF decompilers
SWF Tools

Communities, Forums And Sites With Tutorials

Flash Kit
Flash DB
ActionScript.org
ActionScript.com
Preloaders
Flash Magazine
Electric Rain
3D Flash vector solutions for Flash 3D, Swift 3D, 3ds Max, Lightwave
The Flash Movement
shockwave
Xara Xone vector graphics and drawing software
loonyverse - shockwave
virtual FX
flash jester

Flash for Games

Book: Foundation ActionScript Animation: Making Things Move!
Introduction to Interactive Media and Video Game Design with Macromedia Flash MX
From Kaleidoscope; many potentially interesting sections are marked, "Not Yet Written," unfortunately.
Standard ECMA-363, Universal 3D File Format, 2nd edition (August 2005)
press release
Creating real-time 3D objects...
Uses "non-destructive" transforms via matrix math in AS2
Scripting 3D in Flash from kirupa
Uses compositing tricks such as layers; combine with "real" 3D for faster apps
AsUnit -- ActionScript unit testing
if you're gonna write games, please write testcases to make it solid!

Synchronized content

cuing still images with audio

Flash Remoting

import flash.net.NetConnection;
XML RPC for Flash
i.e., AJAX for Flash (but mind the changes for ActionScript 3 & Flash 8.5)
AMF::Perl - Flash Remoting in Perl and Python
Flash Remoting is a way for Flash movies running in a web browser to request structured data from the web server.
Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide
Companion site for the book, Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide, by Tom Muck

Education, Training & Conferences

FlashForward
sfmmuf -- San Francisco Macromedia Users Forum
Lynda

Animation

Learn animation from the best: Desktop Academy from winner of British Oscar for Animation, Tony White.

Content on this page last updated 2009-07-05; URLs verified 2009-07-05

Site maintained by Daniel Pezely every now and then