Since the surfacing of Apple’s CoverFlow, many of us have tried to mimic this very sleek effect within our Flash projects.  There are many successful attempts at accomplishing this effect of visually viewing of files. Below you can find many of those attempts.  Enjoy!

Freemium Flash Coverflows

Simple Papervision Coverflow by Charlie

Flash 10 Coverflow by Weber Design Labs

PictureFlow by Osamwal Design

Picasa ImageFlow by Paul

Premium Flash Coverflows

PhotoFlip Video by Digicrafts

Cover Flow FX by FlashXML

IgalleryX: Full Media Interactive by RimV

Coverflow Scrollbar Component by Flabell

PhotoFlip 3D CS AS3 by Digicrafts

photoFlow by Flashloaded

IgalleryX: Photo Stack Gallery v2 by RimV

coverFlip3D by FlashFramer

Papervision3D Cover Flow by FWDesign

3D Image Flow Menu 01 AS3 by Oxylus

Majestic 3D Cover Flow by FWDesign

XML CoverFlow Video Gallery by sike

IgalleryX: Photo Stack Gallery Mini by RimV

Flash-Tunes by flash-zone

XML/CSS Coverflow by rcuela

XML ImageFlow MP3 Player by sike

Once again the popularity of an earlier post has caused me to revisit a topic and improve upon a post that had been written over two years ago. The post that I am referring to is on the topic of creating a mini music player in AS3. Simple music players still have a place on the web and I’ve taken the liberty of re-creating an easy to use MP3 player built in AS3.

Introducing the Mini MP3 Player

While creating this MP3 player, I took much of the feedback from its previous implementation into consideration. Based on your feedback, I’ve decided to include the following features into this release.

Features:

• Easily load a new sound into the player at any given time
• Autoplay supported (defaults to false)
• Looping supported (defaults to false)
• Fast forward and rewind the loaded sound
• Control the volume with supplied volume scrubber
• Extends CASALib’s CasaMovieClip giving you features like destroy()
• Fresh UI designed by Ryan Butz that can easily be customized

Implementing the Mini MP3 Player

I have updated the initial post to include how to implement this MP3 player into your Flash projects. Since I know everyone’s version of Flash might not be the same, I’ve taken the liberty of providing legacy versions of the FLA for Flash CS3 and CS4.

Download

Preview

Feedback

As you integrate this into your projects, I’d love to hear our feedback. However, like always, let’s keep it constructive.

Credits

The provided audio loop is a part of the Teru’s Keys Loop freebie pack.  Like it?  Download the whole pack.

As the amount of tool sets to create Flash content on mobile devices increases, so will the realization within the Flash community that these applications can not be created with the mindset of desktop development.

The guys over at JumpeyeComponents have listened to the community’s interest and feedback to provide a lighter, faster and more affordable version of FlashEff called FlashEff Nano.

FlashEff Nano

FlashEff Nano was designed to run on devices capable enough to run Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and extremely well on mobile phones and tablets.  While this version of FlashEff might be lighter, it is still packed with over 750 effect presets and support for custom presets.

FlashEff Nano in Action

Check out this sweet example of FlashEff Nano. If you’ve got a Flash enabled device I would urge you to test it on it as wells just so you can experience it for yourself.

Personally, I have always been a fan as to what FlashEff offers to the Flash community. With the addition of FlashEff Nano, a tremendous need within the Flash community is being filled.

In a previous post, I introduced the release of FlashEff 2 as an innovative Flash animation tool. In an attempt to prove my point, I am going to demonstrate how you can use FlashEff 2 to create a button using a MovieClip object.

OK, I know some of you might be thinking, a button? Well, creating a button in AS3 can be somewhat of a pain. After you get through creating your buttons, adding its functionality along with creating its appropriate event listeners; this process can get very old and tiring. Since FlashEff is here to simplify your workflow, why not let FlashEff handle your button’s functionality, animation and event listener creation.

Using Button Mode

In FlashEff 2, you can edit a button using its Button mode. This mode will allow you to assign your button some actions like following an URL, calling a function, or even going to a different frame whenever it gets clicked. All this without one single line of ActionScript. Here’s how!

Creating a Button Object

I am going to take a button graphic/design and create a MovieClip out of it. Once created, I will go into my Component Panel and drag a copy of the FlashEff2Button component onto my newly created MovieClip. One other great thing about FlashEff is that upon dragging a copy of its component onto the target object it will snap to the target’s 0,0 position.

Now it is time to toy around with the FlashEff Panel.

Using the FlashEff Panel

The FlashEff Panel is where all of the magic happens. Here you can select any of the preset effects/animations that an object can have. Once you’ve added a preset, you can then preview an example of it via the live preview feature of the panel.  Take it for a test drive.

Adding my Button Effect/Animation

In this example, I will select the “HappyTurn” preset. Now, if I wanted to I can modify the presets; allowing me to then save my own “custom” preset.  (Feature available only if you have the Premium Plus license) You can also adjust the tween type and speed for the up, over, and down button states. Just to keep things simple, I won’t be doing any of that.

Adding Commands to the Button

FlashEff’s Button mode comes equipped with its assortment of commands that you can trigger upon press. They include adding a sound, calling a function, going to a keyframe, navigating to a URL, playing back a sound, and switching objects. Also, you can even stack these commands which will allow you to trigger a sound, call a function, and navigate to a URL on one press.

In this example, I will be adding a sound playback on press along with an event to navigate to a URL upon double clicking the button object. When attaching a sound you can identify that sound through a linkage ID or path.

Overview

Below, you can find the final result of this mini demo.  Basically, the button, upon rollover, triggers the HappyTurn animation, then on press a click sound will trigger.  Now, if you double-click it will take you to the designated destination, Google’s homepage.  The custom possibilities are endless.  The more you use FlashEff the more situations you can picture yourself using the tool to simplify your project’s workflow.  To learn more on what FlashEff can accomplish, visit FlashEff.com.

FlashEff 2 Giveaway Opportunity

In the upcoming days, you are going to have the opportunity of winning 1 of 2 FlashEff 2 unlimited premium licenses.  Stay tuned…

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:

• Live Preview
• Improved filter effects
• Flash Player 10 features
• Advanced Copy/Paste
• Advanced Commands
• FlashEff 2 Code Component
• Better TweenLite performance
• New Button mode
• Save custom effects

Take it for a test drive

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!

New videos demoing FlashEff 2

With the constant birth of bloggers hosting their own blogs, XML banner rotators have become quite popular. Banner rotators are an excellent way to showcase products, featured articles, or anything you feel that needs that extra attention. I have compiled a list of Flash XML banner rotators that can provide an elegant solution to showcasing important news or content. Enjoy!

Looking for more banner rotators?

Check out a growing collection of the web’s coolest banner rotators!

Also, if you know of any other XML banner rotators that deserve a mention, feel free to comment below or via the contact page.

Looking for more banner rotators?

Check out a growing  collection of the web’s coolest banner rotators and sliders!

The guys over at Jumpeye Components, creators of the FlashEff Animation Tool, has created another incredible Flash component called the JC Panorama Viewer.  This new Flash component is filling a void in the market for a robust Panoramic viewer.  It is totally customizable and provides a convenient solution to editing the settings of the panorama creation with the use of its desktop AIR app, JC Panorama Editor.

What is the JC Panorama Viewer?

JC Panorama Viewer is a flash component that can be used to display several types of panoramic images: plain, cylindrical, spherical and cubical. This flash panorama component supports hot spots (informative, web link and panorama), horizontal and vertical mouse movement, scroll zoom, transitions and virtual tours.

JC Panorama Editor is a very easy to use AIR application that allows you to create and edit panoramas to be loaded by JC Panorama Viewer as well as virtual tours directly on your desktop.

Free version limitations

The free JC Panorama pack includes a fully working version of JC Panorama Viewer that shows the JC Panorama watermark while preloading.  It also includes a free version of JC Panorama Editor limited to plain and cylindrical images. To enable panoramas like spherical/equirectangular (most used) and cubical (best looking) you need to buy JC Panorama.

Download the demo and test it out for yourself.

Magazine style Flash page flip books have been popular over the last few years and for good reason. I’ve seen them used for e-magazines, e-books, retail flyers, and even portfolios.

When in need of one, here’s a list of popular Flash page flip books that will give you some food for thought. Enjoy!

Firefly – AS3 XML Flip Book

Power Book by bluegestaltX

Flipbook Facebook Website Template by marcfolio

Nature Book v3 by flashmaniac

Type: Premium

Real 3D Magazine Page Flip by zlac

Type: Premium

XML Flip Book AS3 by mpc

Type: Premium

True 3D Flip Book with CMS AS3 by oxylus

Type: Premium

PageTurn 3D CS by Digicrafts

Page Flip V3 Template by robwes19

Type: Premium

PageFlip by Pixelwit

Type: Free

Page Flip V4 Advanced by robwes19

Type: Premium

Magazine Page Flipper V2 Template by robwes19

Type: Premium

PageFlip

Type: Free

Magazine Style Flip Book by robwes19

Type: Premium

FoldR XML Driven Flipbook by FonZ

Type: Premium

Dynamic Flash PageFlip Template by wangruyi

Type: Premium

FlippingBook: HTML Edition

Type: Free

Flash Page Flip

Type: Free

iPaper

Type: Premium

PageFlipper by Flashloaded

Type: Premium

K FlipBook AS3 by kudoshinichi

Type: Premium

Dynamic Page Flip Pro by robwes19

Have you ever wanted to integrate a rich text editor into your Flash projects?  AS3 TextEditor Lite is a SWC based component for rich text editor which can be used in Flash applications to be developed using ActionScript 3.0 and Adobe Flash CS3 IDE.

This component provides features like:

• Dynamically attach it to any text field of your application
• Complete WYSIWYG Editor
• Formatting of characters as Bold, Italic, Underline
• Hyperlink with color, underline options
• Search and replace texts
• Indent, Margin (left and right)
• Paragraph alignment left, right,center,justified
• Making unordered lists
• Line spacing, Character spacing
• Adding Image (No Edit)

At the beginning of the month, Lee Brimelow released a new video series he calls Flasher Magazine.  He is now sharing the video player he uses on the site to the community.  It’s a nice piece of work.  However, keep it mind that the “Flasher Player” was not meant to be feature rich.  I guess we can’t be too picky, its free.

If you’re interested, head over to Lee Brimelow’s blog and grab it.