Psyked*

it’s easy once you know how.

Flash Player 10 (Astro) Prereleased!

Posted by James - 15/05/08 at 09:05:21 am

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/

Flash Player 10 is out on prerelease. Why not go and give it a whirl?

Edit: Serge Jespers says it better than I.

FIVe3D - A different approach to 3D Flash

Posted by James - 15/05/08 at 08:05:20 am

FIVe3D is unlike other 3D engines ( such as Papervision or Alternitva3D ) in it’s approach.  We’re not talking shape primatives here, we’re talking extending the basic flash elements ( Sprites, Text, MovieClips ) to include Z-properties.  Looking at the demos, it’s not what you’d expect from ‘Flash 3D’, because we’re expecting another Papervision clone.  But no, the approach that Mathieu has taken when developing this is much different - and actually makes much more sense for a lot of situations.

Plus, it’s fun.  I’m a sucker for fun demos.

Continue reading FIVe3D - A different approach to 3D Flash…

Alternativa3D - More 3D goodness from the Flash Player

Posted by James - 03/05/08 at 09:05:42 am

3D Flash engines seem to be popping up everywhere at the moment.  [Although I wouldn't call that a bad thing] - Each one tends to take a different approach, do a different demo to distinguish themselves.  Take this for example, a very impressive looking offering from Alternativa3D;

Continue reading Alternativa3D - More 3D goodness from the Flash Player…

Open Screen madness?

Posted by James - 02/05/08 at 12:05:57 am

Madness in a good way, of course. Like all those people who queue outside stores before the sales? That’s the good kind of madness. That’s the madness I mean. (And I couldn’t think of a more interesting Post title, and apparently, provocative Post titles are good for readership)

Adobe are at it again, it seems. You may remember that the flex sdk went open-source just over a year ago, and now the swf and flv formats themselves are going open source. Here is the press-release, and here’s the official site for the “Open Screen Project”.

So, what is the Open Screen Project, and why do we care?

Continue reading Open Screen madness?…

Automated removal of non-static elements with Photoshop

Posted by James - 26/04/08 at 03:04:09 pm

This is a short little video that demonstrates a quick and easy way of removing unwanted elements from your photos. To do it yourself, you’ll need several shots of your target - enough so that any area covered in one photo is uncovered in another. Once you’ve got that, Photoshop can automate the alignment and image compositing, to remove all those pesky people from your shot.

I found this through Stumbleupon, so I don’t know the full backstory / accompanying materials, if anyone would care to inform me!

http://www.jnack.com/adobe/photoshop/fountain/

Flash on the Beach ‘08

Posted by James - 21/04/08 at 02:04:54 pm

Tickets for Flash on the Beach ‘08 are now on sale.  I’ve got mine (thanks, James!)  Go get yours?

Adobe AIR is…

Posted by James - 13/04/08 at 12:04:08 pm

Just what Adobe AIR is, is an unusual concept. But I think I’m getting the hang of it.

Adobe AIR is not…

Adobe AIR is not a direct replacement for Adobe Director, and in that respect not a competitor to products like MDM Zinc. Macromedia / Adobe has been pretty unenthusiastic about keeping Director on par with its other products in the last 4 years and oh, how we wish it weren’t so. Nevertheless, AIR is not aimed at replacing Director.

Adobe AIR is…

the best parallel is probably the .net framework that Microsoft creates and distributes. An AIR file can’t function without the AIR runtime, and neither can it be installed. The same is true of applications and services that leverage the .net framework. Luckily, for end users, the .net framework often comes with your application (or if you’re even luckier, via Automatic Updates) Lucky for AIR then, that you can do the same thing.
Continue reading Adobe AIR is……