Adrian Parr's Blog

Pixel Bender Logo Doppelgänger

Adrian Parr — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:47:07 +0000

I recently heard about Miro Video Convertor (a super simple way to convert almost any video to MP4, WebM (vp8), Ogg Theora, or for Android, iPhone, and more) and went to download it this morning, at which point I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between its logo and the Adobe Pixel Bender logo. Uncanny [...]

Video: Michael Plank’s FDT4 Presentation at Flash Camp Manchester

Adrian Parr — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:53:13 +0000

Last Thursday I went to Flash Camp Manchester and recorded Michael Plank’s FDT4 presentation. He does some speed coding and then demonstrates all the shortcuts used. I have used the pre-release version of Adobe’s Strobe Media Playback to play the video. Watch it here! (Duration 43 minutes) Note: It’s progressive download, not streamed.

Flash Camp Manchester - Tomorrow (8th July 2010)

Adrian Parr — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:27:00 +0000

Flash Camp Manchester is tomorrow! It is a FREE event, but you need to register online before you go. Here is the schedule … 12:00 | Registration opens 13:00 | KEYNOTE - Adobe Systems 13:45 | Break 14:00 | INTRODUCING THE OPEN SOURCE MEDIA FRAMEWORK, Edwin van Rijkom (Adobe Systems OSMF Team) 14:45 | Break 15:00 | DEVELOPING WITH YOUR INNER DESIGNER, Mike [...]

Setting the Tab Order of TLFTextFields

Adrian Parr — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:06:40 +0000

I have just spent ages trying to set the tabIndex order of a bunch of TLFTextFields in Flash CS5. With the old Classic TextFields you would have done something along the lines of … holder_mc.tf1.tabIndex = 1; holder_mc.tf2.tabIndex = 2; holder_mc.tf3.tabIndex = 3; holder_mc.tf4.tabIndex = 4; holder_mc.tf5.tabIndex = 5; But with the new TLFTextFields this doesn’t work. You can’t just set [...]

swffit - Smart Flash Resize Script

Adrian Parr — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:35:35 +0000

I remember stumbling across swffit ages ago, but never really gave it much thought at the time. However, a little while ago I put a small Flash site together (www.beauseat.com) for a friend, and it was scaled to fill the browser window. But when you resized the browser down to a small size you lost [...]

stop(); Action Ignored on Nested Movieclip

Adrian Parr — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:35:54 +0000

Recently I stumbled across this post by Ryan Creighton at Untold Entertainment from back in October 2008 titled ‘stop(); Action Ignored on Nested Movieclip‘. It basically demonstrates how (in AS3) a child movieclip does not stop on the first frame (even though you have put a stop(); action on it) when it’s parent/container is dynamically [...]

HexoSearch - A Search Engine Dedicated to Actionscript

Adrian Parr — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:48:12 +0000

HexoSearch - The World’s First Search Engine Dedicated to Actionscript I know this has been around for quite a long time now, but I had kinda forgotten about it. It is a seach engine that is set-up specifically to search ActionScript related sites for your search term. This can be better than just using Google because [...]

Adobe AIR Runtime Version Checker

Adrian Parr — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:04:09 +0000

Have you ever wondered what version of the Adobe AIR Runtime you have installed on your computer? Well, if you have then you’ve probably found it difficult to find out. Luckily Jason Madsen has built a simple AIR App that will tell you. It does what it says on the tin. Very handy! BTW, if you [...]

Digital Art Exhibition - Decode at Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Adrian Parr — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:54:04 +0000

Decode: Digital Design Sensations Victoria and Albert Museum London, UK 8 December 2009 - 11 April 2010 A new digital art exhibition is on at the V&A in London (in collaboration with onedotzero) called Decode. It is showcasing works from Daniel Brown, Karsten Schmidt (aka Toxi), Aaron Koblin, Golan Levin, Daniel Rozin, Jonathan Harris, Sep Kamvar, Simon Heijdens and [...]

GreenSock Tweening Platform has been updated to version 11

Adrian Parr — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:01:30 +0000

The GreenSock Tweening Platform (which includes TweenLite and TweenMax) has recently been updated to version 11. It is still available for AS2 and AS3 and claims to be faster and more capable. There is a huge list of improvements on the GreenSock website (it was great before, even better now) and it has now confirmed [...]

Custom Event Reporting from Flash to Google Analytics

Adrian Parr — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:37:42 +0000

Joseph Labrecque from the University of Denver has posted his session on Flash and Google Analytics that he presented at the FITC Unconference at Adobe MAX 2009. His example uses the gaforflash API which I hadn’t heard of before. It’s pretty interesting stuff and is definatley something that could be useful in the future. His [...]

ActionScript 3.0 Reference for the Adobe Flash Platform (BETA)

Adrian Parr — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:33:49 +0000

Adobe have consolidated all their ActionScript 3.0 help documentation for the Flash Platform in to one central place online. It works using search and filters to show you the information you are looking for. BETA ActionScript 3.0 Reference for the Adobe Flash Platform http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/beta/reference/actionscript/3/

Printing a PDF document from AIR without displaying it or the control bar (using PDF cross-scripting)

Adrian Parr — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:21:42 +0000

Recently I had a project where I needed to allow the user to print out a PDF document from my AIR application, but I really didn’t need the user to actually view the document first and I didn’t want to display the default PDF control bar. I needed some way to send the PDF file [...]

Flash Applications on the iPhone!!

Adrian Parr — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:28:13 +0000

It has just been announced at Adobe MAX that Flash Professional CS5 will allow you to set your publish settings to ‘iPhone’. This will compile your movie as a native iPhone app that can be submitted to the Apple AppStore. This is great news. Still no word on Flash within Safari on the iPhone, but [...]

Flash, Flex, AIR and RIA Conferences 2010

Adrian Parr — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:24:01 +0000

Looking forward to 2010, here is a list of dates to put in your diary. Most of them are Flash Platform related, others are more general but still of interest. I will add to this list as events get announced. If you know of an event that I haven’t mentioned, then post a comment at [...]

Flash, Flex, AIR and RIA Conferences 2009

Adrian Parr — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:30:50 +0000

The 2010 list can be found here … http://www.adrianparr.com/?p=115 Ok, I know it is a bit late through the year to be posting this, but here is a round-up of conferences and events that relate directly and in-directly to the Flash Platform and digital media in some way. This give you some idea of what happens when [...]

Flash on the Beach 09 - See you there!

Adrian Parr — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:41:24 +0000

Yay! It’s that time of the year again to head down to Brighton for Flash on the Beach. I’m looking forward to being inspired, educated and meeting up with fellow Flashers. See you there!

Streaming Video using FMS Gotchya’s

Adrian Parr — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:26:19 +0000

I have just come across a few issues whilst building a video player that plays streaming video from a Flash Media Server. I thought I had everything set up fine but then when I tested I got the following error message … ReferenceError: Error #1069: Property onBWDone not found on flash.net.NetConnection and there is no default value. So [...]

Flash Player dispatches KEY_DOWN event when entering FullScreen mode (Bug)

Adrian Parr — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:10:53 +0000

Have just built a video player that allowed the user to switch to FullScreen mode and toggle the play/pause state using the SPACE key on their keyboard. However, I found that everytime the Flash movie entered FullScreen mode the playing video would pause and visa-versa. I then discovered that the Flash Player was dispatching a KEY_DOWN [...]

Learning ActionScript 3.0 on the Move With Your iPhone

Adrian Parr — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:26:23 +0000

A couple of months ago I purchased Colin Moock’s Lost ActionScript 3.0 Weekend DVDs (Course 1 and Course 2). Basically, these two O’Reilly training DVDs were filmed over a weekend with Colin Moock, Hoss Gifford and James Paterson. They cover as lot of the material featured in Colin’s Essential ActionScript 3.0 book, but it is [...]

Make your cursor always point to the middle of the screen

Adrian Parr — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:19:44 +0000

Yesterday I was taking a look at Balsamiq Mockups and liked the way that the mouse always pointed to the centre of the screen when in fullscreen mode. So I thought I’d quickly knock something to together that did this, and share it here. It’s pretty simple stuff, but handy to have [...]

Understanding Games

Adrian Parr — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:38:11 +0000

I have just come across four great animations called Understanding Games. Each episode (1, 2, 3 and 4) looks at a different aspect of game design and is done in a simple, engaging and interactive way. I love the retro styling and the way the information is presented. Whilst you are there (http://www.pixelate.de), check out the [...]

Box2D Video Tutorials

Adrian Parr — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:05:56 +0000

I have just come across some great video tutorials for the Box2D physics engine in Flash AS3. They have been recorded by a chap called Todd Kerpelman. The website address is … http://www.kerp.net/box2d/ He has over 70 screencasts on there going through the process of using Box2DFlashAS3. I also found a few useful links over on a blog [...]

Launched: Open Source Media Framework Blog

Adrian Parr — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:42:28 +0000

A blog focussing on the Open Source Media Framework has just been launched. Product Manager Sumner Paine has posted a couple of blog posts. I’d recommend adding their RSS feed to your aggregator of choice. Find out more … http://blogs.adobe.com/osmf/ http://www.opensourcemediaframework.com http://opensource.adobe.com

Mike Downey to Join Microsoft Silverlight Team

Adrian Parr — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:21:41 +0000

Last week Mike Downey announced that he has taken a new job with the Microsoft Developer & Platform Evangelism team for Silverlight. Those of you that have been in the Flash world for a while will know that Mike was Flash’s senior product manager for a number of years. He has always been a great advocate [...]

50 Flash Websites You Definitely Should See

Adrian Parr — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:50:48 +0000

Over at 1stwebdesigner.com they have put together a list of 50 Flash Websites You Definitely Should See. There are some amazing sites on there to check out and take inspiration from. I’m pleased to see the likes of 2Advanced Studios, Magnetic North and Unit9 on there. I hadn’t come across this site before, but taking [...]

Launched: Adobe Flash Platform Blog

Adrian Parr — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:47:49 +0000

Adobe have launched the Adobe Flash Platform Blog. To quote their ‘About‘ page … “Welcome to the Flash Platform blog from Adobe. This group blog provides the latest news, updates, and insights into the technologies, tools, and partners across the Flash Platform. Join the conversation on the latest topics with our experts, engineers, product managers, and others [...]

What’s What on Adobe Labs (at a glance)

Adrian Parr — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:27:49 +0000

I find it is not very easy on Adobe Labs to quickly and easily see what all the current projects are. Just seeing a list of names like Durango and JamJar doesn’t really tell you very much at a glance, and it takes a little while to click through each one in turn to find [...]

ARtisan - New Augmented Reality framework for AS3

Adrian Parr — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:33:08 +0000

A new augmented reality framework for AS3 has been released. It is called ARtisan and is from OneZeroThrice. It claims to be easier to use than the popular FLARToolkit from Tomohiko Koyama (aka Saqoosha) (I think ARtisan is built on top of FLARToolkit). I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, but the [...]

FFD Magazine will be FREE

Adrian Parr — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:24:28 +0000

From September 2009 FFD Magazine will become an online magazine. What is important - it will be also FREE of charge . The only thing you need to do is to sign up to their Newsletter. http://www.ffdmag.com/prt/view/subscribe-to-newslet.html If you’re not sure if you like the idea - try out the magazine - 4 back issues to download: [...]

I got hacked!

Adrian Parr — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:48:44 +0000

This morning my blog got hacked by someone calling themselves M0µ34d. Luckily I spotted it quickly and managed to remove it quite easily (they had somehow added an ‘index.html’ file which takes precedence over ‘index.php’ on the webserver). I have no idea why I was targeted by these political hackers, I guess they just have [...]

Free Flash Catalyst Video Training on Lynda.com

Adrian Parr — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:41:25 +0000

Lynda.com has some free video tutorials called ‘Flash Catalyst Beta Preview’. I’m not sure how long these are going to be available for free for, so go and take a look now, while you can. The training is broken down in to the following categories … Introduction Welcome Understanding Flash Catalyst Using the exercise files Creating a Simple Project Creating a [...]

Flash & Flex Developer’s Magazine

Adrian Parr — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:04:51 +0000

The latest issue of Flash & Flex Developer’s Magazine is out now (issue 2/2009). Some of the topics covered in this issue are … Flash Flex developer interview with Dave Schroeder about the Flashbelt Conference BannerSnack – A quick alternative to Flash? Working With Flash CS4 New Features: Inverse kinematics (IK) with Bone Tool Tracking Time with Screenweaver HX Using all [...]

Drawing circles based on mouse position

Adrian Parr — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:21:10 +0000

This morning I had a need to draw some circles on the stage by clicking-and-dragging, this led me to building a little visual display for lines, mid-points, rects, ellipses, angles, and circles (from centre and from corner). It is all pretty simple stuff, but I thought I’d post it in case anyone [...]

Adobe’s inspiration for the AIR logo?

Adrian Parr — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:33:33 +0000

Yesterday I went to Flash Camp London (a free event sponsored by Adobe) where I found some of the sessions useful and enjoyed meeting up with my fellow Flasher friends. But did anyone else there notice the similarity between the cleaner blocks in the toilets and the Adobe AIR logo? Or was it just me [...]

Test post from iPhone

Adrian Parr — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:03:12 +0000

Test blog post from my iPhone.

10 days to Flash on the Beach 08

Adrian Parr — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:07:46 +0000

Yipee, only ten days to go until another awesome Flash on the Beach conference down in Brighton, UK. With such a great speaker line-up the hardest thing is to decide which sessions to see and which ones to miss. Here is a list of the sessions I am hoping to see … Sunday 28th September 2008 09:30 - 17:15 Ralph [...]

Flash Video to have Speech-to-Text Metadata

Adrian Parr — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:51:00 +0000

I have just come across an interesting video clip of Jim Guerard (VP/General Manager, Adobe Dynamic Media) talking to Beet.tv about using speech-to-text technology to embed transcripts in to FLV files as metadata. This is great news for Flash Video and encouraging to see Adobe’s continuing innovation with the format. YouTube has been looking in to [...]

Flash CS3 Displays A Blank Error Dialogue Box

Adrian Parr — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:49:59 +0000

I’ve just discovered a way to generate a blank dialogue box in Flash CS3. This was on a PC, I’ve not tested the Mac version yet. You’ll need to have the Adobe AIR Update for Flash CS3 Professional installed. Just follow these step-by-step instructions … Open Flash CS3. Create a new Flash File (Adobe AIR). Save the file as [...]

PDF Widget on Acrobat.com

Adrian Parr — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:06:22 +0000

With the release of Acrobat 9 comes the new Acrobat.com website where you can upload and share documents online. One cool new feature is the ability to embed a PDF file on your website using the PDF Widget. It is basically a SWF movie that works like FlashPaper used to. Thanks to Lori DeFurio for [...]