Archive for June, 2007
June 13, 2007 at 7:20 am · Filed under AIR (Apollo), Actionscript 2, Actionscript 3, Flash, Flex, OSFlash
Aral Balkan has posted the schedule for the 2nd Open Source Flash Conference -- a conference that is held entirely online, and as such is entirely free to attend. The conference will be held on Friday, June 15th starting at 8:00am PST (11:00am EST).
Topics this year include Aral's SWX data exchange format, Papervision 3D, and an update on the FlashCom server replacement Red5.
Check out Aral's post for a detailed schedule of topics and starting times, or visit the OSFlash conference page.
June 12, 2007 at 2:03 pm · Filed under Adobe, Illustrator
A few weeks back I needed to convert some objects in Illustrator CS3 to grayscale, and it took me a while to figure out how to make it happen. Today the issue came up again at work with a co-worker and after I learned she had searched Google without finding an answer, I thought I would post and maybe it would help someone else out.
After initially searching Google for a bit, I noticed everyone was suggesting that the whole document color mode be changed from CMYK or RGB to grayscale, but I only wanted to change a few objects. The solution, which I believe is only in Illustrator CS3, is to select the object or groups on the artboard you want to convert, then under the "Edit" menu choose "Edit Colors" then "Convert to Grayscale". Simple, yes, but hidden in the menus in a very unintuitive spot.
One thing you should be aware of, however, is that doing this removes all the color information from that object/group. This means that any CMYK values will no longer be present. You can, however, always undo the action immediately after converting.
June 11, 2007 at 12:06 pm · Filed under Apple, Flash, Tech
At today's WWDC Keynote Steve Jobs announced that similar to iTunes, Safari 3 will now be cross-platform. As an interactive developer this announcement was not welcomed by me because instead of two major browsers, I'll have to develop (non-Flash) sites for three (IE, Firefox and Safari).
I suppose the case could be made that interactive designers and developers have had to create for three browsers ever since Safari for OS X was released, but the market share of Safari (and those users who use Safari over Firefox on their Macs) was quite small. By introducing this to the Windows market, the task of testing on every browser becomes a growing problem, not a shrinking one.
So be sure to download and install the public beta of Safari 3 from Apple's website (http://www.apple.com/safari/), as you'll need to add Safari for Windows to your CSS and JavaScript testing suite.
Some times Flash's ability to run identically across all browsers on any platform just makes it shine even more. Today's Safari announcement makes the decision to develop for the Flash Platform that much easier.
Update: Todd Dominey and Shaun Inmann both weigh in on the issue with some good points:
Todd: "Speaking of web development, the release of Safari for Windows is fantastic news. Finally, Windows developers will be able to preview/test their work in Safari, without owning a Mac, and have a pretty accurate (if not identical) representation of what Mac users will see."
Shaun: "It took me quite a while to get onboard with Safari when it was originally released for OS X: the prospect of having yet another browser to debug didn’t endear Apple to many developers. But Safari on Windows is another story entirely.
Assuming the rendering engine is consistent (I wonder how it will handle anti-aliasing) this is a huge windfall for Safari users on the Mac because even moderate adoption on the PC means more attention payed to the rendering engine’s quirks which will result in a better experience for all."
June 10, 2007 at 11:10 pm · Filed under AIR (Apollo), Actionscript 3, Adobe, Flash, Flex
Want to find out more about AIR (Apollo) and Flex 3? The Adobe AIR Bus Tour is making a stop in Portland, Oregon on July 12 at Kells Irish Pub in Downtown.
Who?
Anyone interested in learning more about the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR).
What?
A one night conference on Adobe AIR with technical sessions, showcases and discussion.
How Much?
Free and open to the public (registration required).
What to Bring
Yourself, laptop, any Flex, HTML and JavaScript apps you want to get running on Adobe AIR. We will provide the beer, Red Bull, coffee, food, XBoxes, schwag, knowledge, venue and bits.
To find out more information, visit the on AIR website.
June 10, 2007 at 10:40 pm · Filed under AIR (Apollo), Actionscript 3, Adobe, Flex
The Flex 3 beta has been released on Adobe Labs and here is a one stop run-down of tonight's information on the new betas of Flex Builder 3, Flash Player 9 update and the AIR (Apollo) runtime:
+ Adobe Labs: Flex 3
+ Adobe Developer Center: Introducing Flex 3 (Matt Chotin)
+ Adobe Labs: Flex 3 Feature Introduction
+ Official Flex Team Blog Post
+ Adobe Labs: Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)
+ Adobe Labs: Flash Player 9 Update
video.onflex.org has five new videos posted showing the new features of Flex Builder 3 including Design View, Refactoring, Importing Skins, and Multiple SDK Support, as well as a video from Mike Chambers about the AIR (Apollo) Summer Bus Tour.
Mark Anders has a pretty good post providing a quick overview of the new releases if you just want a bare-bones quick hit of information.
Emmy Huang has a great post with more information on the Flash Player 9 update.
Of course a link round-up on Flex wouldn't be complete without Ted Patrick's post on the subject!
June 5, 2007 at 4:20 pm · Filed under Actionscript 3, Adobe, Apple, CS3, Design Inspiration, Flash
Ben Pritchard of the Pittsburgh Flash Users Group recently posted a cool add-in: Kuler Panel for Flash CS3. The extension adds a new panel to Flash which interfaces with Adobe's Kuler, allowing you to browse the color combinations from within Flash CS3. The best part, though, is that selecting a color scheme creates a layer with that scheme's name and then puts that scheme's swatches on the new layer. This makes using the schemes trivial, and is a great addition to the tool.
For more information, check out Ben's post on the panel, or download it here.
[Updated to reflect updated version of the panel, released June 7th, 2007]
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