Flash MX!!!

[totally_fly]

Hey guys, since the beginning of this school year i've been messing around with flash every once in a while.. going into it, I had very little knowledge of programming in general : javascript (very basic) and html (doesnt count)
I had a vision of making a flash Visualizer for music.. well I still havn't quite accomplished that.. but I have put together a few pretty neat swfs.. whether you're a computer genius or a complete *retard* you can enjoy my files.. they all utilize action script
you might want to sit back and watch my learning progression go to http://achkara.ath.cx:82/flash/

tell me what you think:D

if anyone else does anything purely through actionscript give me a shout at andrew_achkar@mac.com


Requirements
Flash 6 player: http://www.flash.com
G4

[edesignuk]

That's some clever stuff, I'm still looking through it all now, but it's great! Nice work indeed :)


Do you have any links to online guides you might have used to learn how to do this type of stuff?

[vniow]

That's pretty slick.http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/veronica/smiley.gif

There's a member here named zed that has a killer Flash site.
Maybe he could give you some pointers or something.

Here's his site:
www.sethkellydesigns.com

[totally_fly]

I never used tutorials, but whenever I was lost and did a google search, I always landed on this site: http://www.actionscript.org/tutorials.shtml
it has very good examples.. although I never followed the whole thing ( i am very anti-tutorial) this site has more complex examples and gives respectively good explanations... (i hate tutorial sites explanations)

enjoy :)



ps: although this site might include good compatible methods of doing things, they are often very tedious, confusing, boring.. whatever u want to call them... I suggest always looking for alternatives

[Tiauguinho]

Excelent Job tottaly_fly! Congrats on your work!

[Thirteenva]

Originally posted by totally_fly
I never used tutorials, but whenever I was lost and did a google search, I always landed on this site: http://www.actionscript.org/tutorials.shtml
it has very good examples.. although I never followed the whole thing ( i am very anti-tutorial) this site has more complex examples and gives respectively good explanations... (i hate tutorial sites explanations)

enjoy :)



ps: although this site might include good compatible methods of doing things, they are often very tedious, confusing, boring.. whatever u want to call them... I suggest always looking for alternatives

I agree that the tutorials are tedious confusing and boring. THere also sometimes not very practical in use. You just got to get in there and start coding.

Believe it or not, your best friend will be the Flash actionscript dictionary. Flash installs it with the help files. Its a great reference guide. I don't do alot of "actionscript only" projects building websites but have used quite a bit of actionscript based motion from time to time, its very nice. Flash wouldn't be what it is today without the great leaps actionscripting has taken in each new version.

Anyway, great work...

[Mr. Anderson]

I'm just getting into flash myself, haven't really done the actionscript stuff yet - but really soon. I don't have a problem with tutorials, actually prefer them sometimes.

I like your stuff, and the link was useful, thanks.

Good work.

D

[totally_fly]

Dukestreet, I understand that in general, tutorials are useful, but when it comes to Flash, there are very few good ones; the link I posted was the one that helped me the most. It doesn't teach how to program and how to use flash, but it helps to learn the syntax!! how am I supposed to know which method does a specific thing just by looking at the names? The naming is not intuitive (unless you know it), so yes tutorials are useful for discovering applicable methods, but for understanding their use, I stick to the flash reference. In most cases, it's very useful (as Thirteenva mentioned). I can't think of a tutorial that does things I don't understand right off the bat and (more importantly) that explains what is happening without circumlocution!! For example, those 3d tutorials, although complex, are confusing and require a thorough understanding of programming, flash syntax and trig. Well, obviously i'm not having any difficulty with trig, flash syntax and programming, yet I cannot follow the tutorial without frying my brain. Although good tutorials may exist for other materials, the flash tutorial standard is definitely low.

ps: for those of you who are not used to programmer talk here is a quick explanation of what a method is

method: pretend you have a habit of eating soup every day at 2 am (ok ur an oddball), in programming ville you would say something like: wait till 2 am then eat soup!! or if( time is 2 am) then eatsoup()

now what are you doing when you eat soup, you use your mouth arms eyes lungs stomach muscles bla bla bla.. the eatsoup() Method contains all those instructions (thank god we dont have to think all this when we eat soup)

so now lets take a Flash method like: stop()
that method STOPS THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!! well its more complicated than that.. the method itself contains some highly optimized code to actually stop the movie, but using the method to do it makes all our lives easier.. so like variables relate to one thing, a method relates to a set of actions..

A Method is a group of actions that can be called by typing its name [ stop() , eatsoup () ]
How is a method useful?

You don't want to re-write all the instructions for doing something everytime you want to do it, you want to just say: do it!!

(if you think about it, we use methods in everyday life for ex your teacher says: sit down, well u sit down, ur mom says.. clean the dishes, you clean the dishes, you say: lets play a game of basketball to ur friends, u guys play a game... you don't have to or want to restate how to play basketball every time you do it!!)

so is a method useful? yes

are methods more useful than i am saying they are? yes, im tired..
how are they more useful? ugh, why did i type that

methods can take parameters, so if you use a method called : moveTo()
well guess what, that method MOVES SOMETHING!! but how does it know what ur trying to move and where to?? lets pretend there is a ball in flash movie.. i called it myBall

this line of code would move the ball to an x position of 100 and y position of 200
myBall.moveTo(100, 200);

so you can now assume that what the moveTo() method requires is information. It is acquired using parameters. We can also assume that the first parameter is the x position and the second is the y position

so, the way move to works is
myMovieClipNAME.moveTo(xPosition, yPosition);

Methods are useful for giving information and getting results.

(sorry, ive never attempted to explain it, so please tell me if this is too confusing)

whats an example of unintuitiveness in flash?

most would assume that: onMouseDown
is used somewhat like this:

onMouseDown {
doSomethingPretty();
/*Thats a method, see instead of writing a bunch of bogus code, I just pretend to have a method called doSomethingPretty() that does something pretty.. but, sadly, I don't... */
}

that makes sense right?

well it doesnt work that way, heres the example from the flash dictionary

someListener = new Object();
someListener.onKeyDown = function () { ... };
Key.addListener(someListener);

its pretty ugly..

flash is not always intuitive and tutorial sites *help* figuring out what the people at Macromedia were thinking, but often, they don't or they do it very badly... that is why I don't like FLASH TUTORIAL SITES!! GOD THIS IS LOONG

[Choppaface]

hmmm in my class they stated that arguments were the passed values and not parameters (parameters are the 'placeholders' for the passed values)..

personally I find the actionscript dictionary very useful. if you've had some experience with C/C++, or if you take an intro course at your local college/high school, it will eventually seem more intuitive :D

[totally_fly]

you are right, they are arguments... the number of parameters you have is the number of arguments you have, and the arguments are seperated with commas.. but you probably know that :)

so basically all that changes in my ultra-long post is that you arnt giving parameters, you are giving arguments...

thanx for the correction

I forgot to mention that at my school I am taking a Java course and that the Flash teachers are envious of my work :p .. there's no one there who can really teach me except other students.. and I think u mis-understood me; I find flash mostly intuitive NOW, but at first, and without any instruction, it was very confusing!

[beatle888]

a good book on action script would be

ActionScript the definitive guide
by O'reiley.

[theranch]

Originally posted by beatle888
a good book on action script would be

ActionScript the definitive guide
by O'reiley.
I hear that is a good book....it's by Colin Moock (http://www.moock.org/)

Those are nice samples by the way "totally_fly", if you're not already, you might want to sign up for the flashcoders (http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/) news group.

Gerry

[Mr. Anderson]

Once I start doing more in ActionScript, I'll get back to you. I was a C/C++ coder for 10 years (that was about 5 years ago) so I don't think I'll have that much problem with it, but I can't say one way or the other yet.

Thanks for the links, though, I'll be checking them out.

D

[totally_fly]

I recently added a new movie to my Keyboard Stuff folder, for anyone who's interested.

http://achkara.ath.cx:82/flash/Keyboardstuff/Keyboard3.swf

I made that drawing myself (unfortunately, NOT through action script :( )

tell me what you think about it... and guys, if you have any ideas, thoughts, of where I should go, what I should do that would be neat, feel free to tell me... I'm working hard in school and arn't sacrificing time to think of things to try in flash.. so help me out!

[Mr. Anderson]

good interaction with the arrow keys, but no matter what I do I loose - so what's the point? you also need to show control keys so you don't leave it to the user to figure out what to do to get the thing to move.

Its got good potential for a retro-game.

D

[theranch]

...the WORST thing that you can do is have the user try to guess what keys they have to press. I only tried this once and lost....not good.
Be thorough in your design...not everyone is a mind reader.

theranch

[scem0]

That is very nice, you should definitely think about making a flash
site. I could see some cool things coming from the graphs at the
end with the things flying around. Those are nice. GJ.

[totally_fly]

Originally posted by dukestreet
so what's the point? you also need to show control keys so you don't leave it to the user to figure out what to do to get the thing to move.


Does anything here have a point? In about this folder there are instructions... why waste processor power displaying text that refreshes uselessly 120 times per second... and yes, you can't win, you can only lose.. it's not a game, I just made boundaries so you don't lose your spaceship...

the ranch, i agree with you, I just thought that inversed controls would be cool, but people have been saying otherwise and I plan on changing it.. i just woke up... ill do it soon..


scem0... flash site? meh... what for?

[scem0]

I don't know. Do you really like something? How about apple
computers. Make an apple fan site. Make any site. There aren't
enough cool apple flash sites out there. Just think really hard
and I am sure you will think of something that you deem worthy
of a website.

[e-coli]

Originally posted by totally_fly
I had a vision of making a flash Visualizer for music..

Presstube (http://www.presstube.com/) has some good stuff like that. Just fun illustrative eye candy.

[scem0]

Those flash things from that last site are really awesome. Kinda
funny too. :D

[theranch]

Originally posted by totally_fly


Does anything here have a point? In about this folder there are instructions... why waste processor power displaying text that refreshes uselessly 120 times per second... and yes, you can't win, you can only lose.. it's not a game, I just made boundaries so you don't lose your spaceship...

the ranch, i agree with you, I just thought that inversed controls would be cool, but people have been saying otherwise and I plan on changing it.. i just woke up... ill do it soon..


scem0... flash site? meh... what for?

If built properly you won't have text refreshing 120 times per second and the file size for text is SOOOO small that it's not a worry.

[totally_fly]

ive updated the movie again: http://achkara.ath.cx:82/flash/keyboardstuff/keyboard3.swf

[theranch]

Originally posted by totally_fly
ive updated the movie again: http://achkara.ath.cx:82/flash/keyboardstuff/keyboard3.swf
So what's different....I still don't get any response from a key stroke.

[totally_fly]

Originally posted by theranch

So what's different....I still don't get any response from a key stroke.

you have to click on the movie (to give it focus)
then use the arrow keys...

Does anyone know how to request focus with flash?????

[scem0]

you should make a muffinfilms (www.muffinfilms.com) , but with
something other then muffins. THat would rock.

[totally_fly]

lol funny site! i liked it quite a bit!

i updated my game, and am finding it suprisingly hard!! no joke guys, it's harder than you think to catch this little ball!!!

http://achkara.ath.cx:82/flash/keyboardstuff/keyboard3.swf


GOOD LUCK! :D

btw, the keyboard stuff doesn't work right in Chimera, it does in IE tho, havnt tried Opera or Netscape yet.. and im going to bed now!

The best thing to do is to save the file to your computer and play it using Flash Player, you will be impressed with the speed, im telling you the Plugin is soo slow!!

anyways.. have fun

[Mr. Anderson]

Got it on the first try - you should have it reset automatically and go to the next level - and start putting obstacles in the screen - that if you touch them they kill you.

Eventually if you get far enough, the screen gets so full of obstacles, it becomes almost impossible.

Add more balls and power ups, like shields (that make you bounce off the walls/obstacles) and it could be a cool little game.

D

[totally_fly]

I re-updated my game.. its kinda crappy but I threw in a bunch of features.. progressively harder levels, an asteroid ( you will come to hate it, i hate it, but I can't think of any way to make ti better.. making a random path is tuff in flash..) and reduced the file size... plus i fixed a bug that made the spaceship go faster and faster everytime you reset the game.. did anyone notice that??? i wasnt removing my keystroke listener, but everytime you reset, and new one was made... so one keystroke became 2 keystrokes, and then 3 and then 4 and then 5 and then 6 and then 7 and then 8 and then 9 and then 10 and then 11 and then 12 and then... (dude where's my car.. ugh i kill myself)


yup yup neways.. enjoy

http://achkara.ath.cx:82/flash/keyboardstuff/keyboard3.swf

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by totally_fly
you will come to hate it, i hate it, but I can't think of any way to make ti better.. making a random path is tuff in flash..

I can think of many ways to make it better, but the asteroid and levels definitely are a great improvement. keep it up!

D

[totally_fly]

lol.. hmm nope i have NO CLUE how to make this game better.. ive never played a game in my life.. and this to me seems like the best one ever made.. but im not sure...i meant.. i dont know how to make the asteroid more realistic.. and thats more mathematically involved than nething else...

expect better DYING effects and stuff like that.. but not netime soon..

[totally_fly]

Well, I went and outdid myself. Here's what this movie does: you choose two zeros, then you click a point anywhere on the screen, this movie will calculate the quadratic function, the vertex and other things. It also draws the curve very very quickly.. but thats not all, you can then drag the points around! Yes drag them! I did this so that I would be able to ace my math test, I now have a better understanding of quadratic functions than anyone in my Advanced math class! yay.. I even wrote my own algorithm for finding roots (square roots, cube roots...)

Although not complex looking, doing this in flash was very messed up because of the retarded way the stage is set up...

anyways the link is: http://achkara.ath.cx:82/flash/Curve%20Drawing/curve_drawing.swf

tell me what you think :)