With the high demand for quality Flash content in the market, finding a way to reuse ActionScript and animation styles is key to the success of quicker turnarounds. In my opinion, FlashEff is probably the most mature Flash tool to provide that heavy lifting in Flash projects.
Personally, there is no other tool available that can provide an instant boost in your Flash project work flow than FlashEff when it comes to custom animation/effects. Initially, when FlashEff was first released, I was extremely impressed with the tool. There was a little bit of a performance issue, but FlashEff was still worth every cent and nothing came close to it.
Out goes FlashEff 1, in comes FlashEff 2
Recently, the second version of FlashEff was released and once again my mouth drops in awwh! FlashEff 2 simply improves upon its previous features like speed, usability, effects, and customizability. New features that you can expect with the release of FlashEff 2 include:
Take a quick online tour of FlashEff 2 Panel. Browse patterns and over 3000 effects to see exactly how the user experience got improved.
Overall Impression
When it comes to rapid application of custom,quality Flash animations and effects, FlashEff sets the bar really high. If you haven’t yet given FlashEff a try or are skeptical, download the free version and take it for a test run. You will be amazed on how easy it is to create custom quality Flash animations and effects. Below are links to videos demoing FlashEff and more of its features in depth. Enjoy!
A quick overview of what FlashEff 2 has to offer. Learn how to create show/hide animations, add filters and make flash interactive buttons in just a few clicks.
A complete step by step tutorial that will take you through all the most important features of the product, showing you how to obtain successful results using FlashEff 2.
Debugging your Flash applications can take some getting used to. Especially, if you’ve never used a debugger before. Having the right tool to aid in debugging your Flash Applications can save a boat load of time. Also when debugging, the debugging tool used should provide easy access to your ActionScript data with little of a learning curve. An innovative debugging tool that I have been pretty fond of lately has been De MonsterDebugger.
What is De MonsterDebugger?
These days my ActionScript 3.0 debugger of choice has been De MonsterDebugger. De MonsterDebugger is an easy to use open source debugger for Adobe Flash,Flex, and AIR created by the guys over at De Monsters. Not only does it provide an Adobe-styled familiar interface, but it comes in a convenient Adobe AIR Application. It’s impressive list of features make it a tough debugger to compete with.
DeMonster Debugger comes with an impressive set of features:
Can be used with Adobe AIR applications
Can be used with Adobe Flex applications
Can be used with full screen Adobe Flash applications
Trace strings, numbers, objects, arrays, XML and even custom classes
Trace the complete structure of multilevel objects
Trace messages in custom colors
Explore your live application
Edit properties at runtime
Run methods and get the results at runtime
Application is lightweight
Auto update
Look and feel of Adobe CS4
Customizable interface
Highlight display objects
Client class included
Example application included
FDT templates included
The one feature that is probably missing from it’s feature set is probably the ability to step through break points, but hey, I won’t be picky. It is still a great debugging tool and best of all it is open source!
Check out the video rundown on De MonsterDebugger!
The guys over at Jumpeye have recently released an update to their exiting flash text effects component, TxEff. This is an update which targets improved performance, quality, and Flash integration. The great thing about TxEff is that it allows you to create quality effects and transitions with little effort and time and saving time is huge when dealing with multiple Flash projects. Learn more about TxEff2 below.
What is TxEff2?
TxEff2 is a Flash CS3/CS4 AS3 component created for easing the text animation process. TxEff2 is also a framework based on patterns, a large collection of classes, which enable cool show/hide and swap transitions on texts.
TxEff2 comes with cool new features
Better architecture (based on the FlashEff engine)
Improved performance (thanks to TweenLite)
Lower file-size
Seamless pattern import
More patterns (100+)
Filters (like reflection, glows, stripes)
Compatible with FlashEff effects and patterns
Cool new visual User Interface
Swap through different texts (not only show & hide)
TxEff2 vs FlashEff
If you’ve ever heard of or used FlashEff before you might be asking yourself what is the difference. Well TxEff is based off of the FlashEff engine which takes advantage of the FlashEff Panel and FlashEff patterns, however, there are some limitations. While FlashEff allows you to apply the effects to MovieClips along with TextFields, TxEff2 is limited to just effects on TextFields. Here is a chart that compares the both TxEff2 and FlashEff.
Note: Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed as there will be a contest giveaway of TxEff2 very soon. Stay tuned!
Today’s freelancing market has been great to Flash Developers/Designers. However, mocking up an interactive concept for a client can be a somewhat of drag since nothings guaranteed. You don’t want to spend too much time, but you definetly want to land the gig. This is where Balsamiq Mockups comes into play.
What is Balsamiq Mockup?
Balsamiq Mockups is a Adobe AIR/Flash based mock-up toolset for rapid prototyping UI designs. Balsamiq Mockups comes with a vast library of pre-built controls, so that you don’t have to spend time building them.
With an elegant, minimalist, easy-to-learn interface, Balsamiq Mockups provides a great solution to any RIA developer/designer.
Pattern Showcase Demo
FlashEff 2 Panel Demo
Quick Overview
What’s new in FlashEff 2
Getting started with FlashEff 2
Free Version of FlashEff 2
It is still a great debugging tool and best of all it is open source!
