FlashGuru Blog

Andreas Bednarz has written a tool in Flash, that converts pdf files into swf files and makes them browsable and printable. If people want to see this as a remote webservice, then email Andreas as he would like to know if that is what people want. The convertor currently has the following features; its a native linux application, its available as SOAP or a webdav service, it does full vector translations, and implements “invisible layers” to disable printing. For an online example of some conversions and their original form, checkout this website. I can see this coming in very handy, you now only need the ever popular Flash Player to view pdf files online.

Most people know about the tension thats happening in the world at the moment, with Iraq. Alot of people are against the possibility of military action, likewise alot of people want war. Somebody just posted a link in my comments to this flash movie, Build your own Bush speech. Nice and creative use of Flash, give it a whirl and compose a speech for the president.

Samuel Wan has put up the latest version of his Bevel Panel Components for people to beta test before the final release goes out. Alot of improvements have been added to the second release of this component and now it most definetley deserves a place in your Component Panel. If you find any bug’s, then let Sam know so he can get them fixed a.s.a.p. You can preview some of the new functionality here and download the source and documentation here.

Macromedia recently announced Flash Remoting MX for .NET Framework and Java technology based application servers. Flash Remoting MX now supports rich Internet application development using Macromedia Flash with Java and .NET Framework-based application servers.

Andy Beaumont aka Evil Twin, conducted a presentation at the last London Macromedia User Group gathering, on the subject of Tile Based Games. For those of you who didnt get a chance to see the presentation for whatever reason, the files are online for all to download at their pleasure. [Via Peter Hall]

The designers & developers amongst us that are not familiar with Object Oriented Programming and the teminology that accompanies it, should read through a simple Object Oriented Programming Glossary. This terminology is found everywhere in the Flash Community; tutorials, forums, source files and mailing lists regularly contain such words and this glossary will help you understand what is meant by it.

My best Flash Buddy and Left Hand Man on the Flashkit Boards, Bill Spencer AKA Pope De Flash has set up a 3D Flash Blog using Moveable Type. Bill’s mission statement goes a little something like this: “We hope that this blog will serve as a place for you to share and learn more about Flash and 3D. While the blogs main purpose is to share information to those arenas its also to foster a community of people who have the same goals. To Learn from one another and to Make Art, an Impact on our community and above all; make Friends” Im sure this will serve as a great place to find the latest 3D related links and information.

The release of the much awaited, Object Oriented Programming with Actionscript book is imminent, the first shipments of the books should be hitting the stores this week and for those of you who cant wit another second, there is good news, the publishers have placed 75 pages from the book online to give people a good idea of what they are spending their hard earned cash on, some of the 75 pages are taken up by a great tutorial by Samuel Wan, ‘Building Your First Component’, you can also see the Front Cover, Introduction Pages, Table Of Contents, Full Index and the Back Cover. Enjoy! and may your copy arrive soon, im eagerly waiting for the postman.

Levitated is famous for its daily flash experiments, but earlier this year the site and everything that goes with it, dissapeared off the face of the web, a little hidden message in the html source led us all to believe that it would be back, and we were right, its back in all its glory, checkout the open source studies. If you are addicted to experimental flash sites and need more fixes, then also be sure to checkout Bit-101 another daily experiment site.

Electric Rain have released the latest version of Swift 3D, Version 3. With every new release of a product comes tonnes of new features, Swift 3D Version 3 is no exception, the latest release sees the addition of Reflections, Complex Shadows, Advanced Speculars, Bitmap Texturing, Raster Output, Transparency, Flash MX Import with SmartLayer Technology and Path Morphing to name but a few. The full list of new features can be found here. A great buy for only $169 or if you own a copy of any of the last copy of Swift 3d, then you can upgrade for only $89.

One of my Flash buddies, Simon Barber, has rolled out a stylish new blog which aims to provide everybody with ‘All the Flash MX news that makes the cut’. Check him out and see what you think!

Mike Chambers, as always, is the first to let us all know about the new Flash related content available on the Macromedia Designer & Developer Center, today we have 9 new articles at our disposal, the most interesting of which, are the two articles about Flash Components; Creating a Flash Component and How to create Help Files for Components. [Via Mesh On MX]

Mike Johnson, aka Exorcyze on the Were-Here forums, has his own blog, and his site also contains some funky experiments, actionscript snippets and flash games to keep you occupied. Be there already!

Peter Hall reminds us all that the Flash 5 undocumented feature, ASNew, still exists in Flash MX, just not by name, instead its hiding away in the depths of ASNative land. Might be useful for those who have used it in their Flash 5 movies and are wondering why it doesnt work anymore in the latest player.

Stuart Schovenold has written a nice little class that generates a whole StyleFormat colour scheme for you, based upon a base colour that you specify. The majority of the results are amazing, almost as if the colours chosen where just destined to be together, well almost! Give it a whirl!

Flash Community Manager, Mike Chambers, has created two examples that highlight the functionality and possible usage scenarios for the new Macromedia DataGrid component. They are available for your viewing on his site. The DataGrid is a commercial component available to purchase as part of the Macromedia Developer Resource Kit.

Shockfusion have developed a Pocket PC Version of their web based avatar chat system. This is a very well built chat application and a little different to those we are used to seeing, check it out! Better still if you have a Pocket PC, then be sure to point your mini web browser their way and let us know how it feels and functions with the stylus.

A selection of some of the sites in my Internet Explorer bookmarks, they are there for one reason or another, make your own minds up; Andre Michelle, Frontend Multimedia, Genetic Shoes, Machinatus, Simon Hoesberg, Squarewave, Flash MX Pro, Ignition, swf.hu, Openswf, Sorenson and Calendar Component Examples. All of which deserve a visit, more later!