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.
New to ActionScript 3.0 is the ability to dynamically change the frame rate of an animation via runtime. By having this ability, you can create a slow motion animation without the exact precisiong in keyframe timing. You can also use this to lower the frame rate for slower machines dynamically. Let’s see it in action.
Getting Started
I’ve created a small example that will demonstrate this new feature. In this example, you can simply use the arrow buttons to increment/decrement the animation’s frame rate by 1. You will noticeable see the difference of how changing its frame rate will have on the animation.
Also, you can thank webtasarim for the animation sample.
Setting a Frame Rate of 60+
If you noticed, I’ve capped the frame rate off at 60 fps. According to a study, the in browser Flash Player will cap out at 60 fps. Basically, if you ever wanted to exceed the frame rate of it will have no effect on the animation…so why bother.
Example
The ActionScript Used in the Example
//imports the necessary as events
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
//Define the initial stage frame rate
this.stage.frameRate=1;
rateTxt.text="1 fps";
//attaching mouse events to the buttons on stage
arrowUp.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN,arrowPressUp);
arrowUp.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT,arrowOut);
arrowUp.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER,arrowOver);
arrowDown.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN,arrowPressDown);
arrowDown.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT,arrowOut);
arrowDown.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER,arrowOver);
function arrowPressUp(event:MouseEvent):void {
if (this.stage.frameRate<59) {
//Incrementing the frame rate
this.stage.frameRate=this.stage.frameRate+1;
rateTxt.text=this.stage.frameRate+1+" fps";
}
}
function arrowPressDown(event:MouseEvent):void {
if (this.stage.frameRate>1) {
//Decrementing the frame rate
this.stage.frameRate=this.stage.frameRate-1;
rateTxt.text=this.stage.frameRate-1+" fps";
}
}
//On mouse over function
function arrowOver(event:MouseEvent):void {
event.target.alpha=1;
}
//On mouse out function
function arrowOut(event:MouseEvent):void {
event.target.alpha=.7;
}
Crappy Cat is a Flash experience that offers no real reasoning or solution, but provides every bit of an enjoyable experience. Experience Crappy Cat for yourself.
“Flash in a flash” is a series of training videos that John Schuman of Adobe designed to get you going with Adobe Flash CS3—in a flash. This series of training video takes you through the creation of a Flash project as you learn the fundamentals of working with Flash including working with symbols, creating and controlling animations, adding audio, creating buttons, and video.
As you can see these videos are intending for beginners looking to get into Flash CS3 or simply need a rundown of Flash CS3′s capabilities. Take a look at the following training videos below to see if any fit what you are expecting to learn from Flash CS3.
John Schuman introduces the fundamentals of Flash CS3 such as creating symbols, drawing tips and tricks and more. John will also introduce introduce the virtual hero of the series, Victor Vector.
In this episode you will explore the fundamentals of animation and some of the various animation techniques like keyframing and motion tweening and how to use ease in/ease out control.
Continuing with the Victor Vector project, putting the various animation and graphical components together and introducing sound. You’ll also learn how to use MovieClip filters, blends, and alter the speed of a motion tween.
An introduction to Flash video, in you will learn how to add video to your Flash project, how to create cue points and closed captioning for accessibility, fullscreen viewing, and more.
An introduction to basic interactivity and ActionScript 3.0. Learn how to create a simple UI slider, component, invisible buttons, and add basic interactivity in Flash CS3.
Here’s a sweet interactive Flash experiment created by Noel Billig called “curious robots”. The robots will watch and approach the mouse cursor, but will flee in fear if the mouse cursor gets too close. The best part is that you can single out a robot and chase him around with the mouse while the others watch in fear. Enjoy this fine piece of work!
This tutorial is great for beginner Flash animators. It covers everything from how to know what sounds go with what mouth movements to animating the mouth movements to fit with an audio clip. Lip-syncing is huge for successful Flash animations and the technique used within this tutorial is probably the easiest and most effective way known to handle lip-syncing.
In a matter of 10 simple steps, Flash Farmer will get you on your away to becoming a better Flash animator. Enjoy!
Check out this very neat Flash animation that starts off with very little activity then builds into a aggressive battle with inanimate objects. Great and original concept, check it out for yourself!
Drum Machine is one of the best audio synchronized flash animations on the web that I have come across over the years. Simply wanted to share it with you all. Enjoy!
Also, if you have innovated Flash content that you want to share, please feel free to drop a line within the comments section of this post or you can also send an email to suggest@flashspeaksactionscript.com.
Here’s a great example on how to creatively use morphing text within Adobe Flash. The video is by Bert Lee of LearnFlash.com. This is just one of many ways you can possibly morph text inside of flash. Great tutorial if you never really toyed with the morphing tween inside of Adobe Flash before. Take a look for yourself.
Looking to get the most out of the new filters in Flash Professional 8. In today’s tip, you’ll learn how to use the “blur” filter to create some very realistic clouds, and then you’ll learn how to animate those clouds in Flash. The great thing about this tutorial is not only that it is easy, but you don’t necessarily have to be a great artist to accomplish this effect.
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
