|
Flash Sites
The number of online Flash resources can be quite overwhelming.
This list is a selection of some of the best Flash resources I have found on the Web:
ActionScript.org
(www.actionscript.org)
This is an excellent online resource that covers all things Flash. You
can interact with other users and developers, download FLA files and
tutorials, and use the site's online ActionScript library, a resource
generated by the user forums.
Albinoblacksheep
(www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/)
Some great tutorials and demos submitted by many contributors.
Artifact
Interactive (www.artifactinteractive.com.au/dev/resources.html)
Artifact Interactive is a multimedia development firm based in Adelaide,
Australia. As dedicated members of the Flash community, it has posted
a series of tutorials and files about Flash development for games and
other kinds of interactive entertainment.
Computer-Based Training Cafe
(www.cbtcafe.com)
CBT Cafe has online and downloadable tutorials for Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, PowerPoint, etc.
CoolHomePages.com
(www.coolhomepages.com)
Art is not created in a bubble, and Flash movies are no exception. It's
important for everyone in the Flash community to get out on the Web
and see what other developers and designers are doing with the application.
CoolHomePages.com offers galleries of some of the most interesting and
exciting Flash work around. It's a great source for ideas and inspiration
to help push your own projects to new heights.
Echo Echo
(www.echoecho.com)
This is a good place for Newbies to begin. Tutorials and .fla archive will help you get started.
Ellen Finkelstein
(www.ellenfinkelstein.com)
Ellen Finkelstein is an educator in Macromedia Flash, AutoCAD and other computer applications.
Her flashtips tutorial are easy to follow, no-nonsense examples to gain design skills.
Flash Kit (www.flashkit.com)
Flash Kit is arguably one of the best Flash resources on the Web. It
features extensive tutorials, open-source FLA files, several excellent
discussion boards, news, product reviews, professional commentary, and
classified ads.
Flashcomponents.net
(www.flashcomponents.net)
This is your source for all things related to Components. The site includes
a bevy of downloadable Flash MX Components, as well as tutorials for
creating and distributing Components.
FlashGuru
(www.flashguru.co.uk)
FlashGuru is a resource of resources. It is a repository for
about ActionScript and a seemingly endless list of links to other Flash-based
sites, sources of inspiration, and information.
Flashmagazine
(www.flashmagazine.com)
Dedicated strictly to Flash, Flashmagazine features topical, in-depth
articles, tutorials, and news.
Flashmo.com
(www.flashmo.com)
Free Flash templates.
Kirupa.com (www.kirupa.com)
Named after its creator, Kirupa Chinnathambi, this site features Flash
news, downloads, tutorials, and forums. It also includes resources for
Flash-related products such as Swift 3D, Swish, and Flix.
The Lab of
Dr. Helmut von Flashenstein (www.vonflashenstein.com)
Flash MX Savvy's official website where Helmut von Flashenstein, the
mad scientist, and his faithful lab assistant Müvie Klip create
all manner of Flash oddities.
LearnFlash.com (www.learnflash.com)
Designed for the self-learner, this site produces video tutorials for several adobe/Macromedia
products. Included on the site are a number of freely accessible short on-screen tutorials to
introduce the teaching method, using sample screen .swf lessons.
Robertpenner.com
(www.robertpenner.com)
Robert Penner is a freelance Flash developer from Vancouver, Canada.
His site offers a great selection of websites, animations, ActionScript-intensive
Flash experiments, and news about the Flash community.
senocular.com
(www.senocular.com/flash)
A collection of source files (.fla and .as) and tutorials, from Flash 5 through to Flash MX 2004.
Difficulty level ranges from beginners to advanced, covering techniques from animation to
advanced ActionScripting.
sitepoint.com
(www.sitepoint.com/subcat/flash)
Articles and tutorials for Flash, as well as website development in general.
Great reference for Web professionals.
SoundShopper.com
(www.soundshopper.com)
This site offers a wide range of music clips, loops, sound effects,
and other audio elements for your Flash productions. You can audition
and purchase any of these royalty-free sounds directly from the website.
Ultrashock.com
(www.ultrashock.com)
One of the most comprehensive resource sites on the Web, Ultrashock.com
has it all: tutorials, user forums, downloadable FLA files, articles,
games, cartoons, and on and on.
w3Schools
(w3schools.com)
W3Schools is one of my favortie resources to learn all things Web.
Some of the tutorials allow you to code in a window, and the right pane demonstrates
how the result will display. Flash tutorial is basic, with very little ActionScript.
Design Sites
The Web is full of great, general-interest interactive design resources.
These are among the best:
Site of the week
(www.learnflash.com/siteoftheweek.html)
LearnFlash.com archives a list of chosen sites that demonstrate effective use of Flash.
Aittight Interactive
(www.learnflash.com/siteoftheweek.html)
Personal showcase site of designer Felix Turner, featuring news about Flash, games,
digital photography, and Web development.
Computer Arts
(www.computerarts.co.uk)
The Computer Arts site, which is the digital component of the print
magazine of the same name, contains news, product reviews, and extensive
tutorials that cover all sorts of digital design programs (including
Flash).
Builder.com (www.builder.com)
Currently run by CNET, Builder.com ("beyond the code") has everything under the sun for
the web developer, including discussion boards and lots of great articles
and free scripts.
Sonify.org (www.sonify.org)
This is an excellent resource for those interested in interactive audio
for the Web, wireless applications, Beatnik audio, and, of course, Flash.
The site offers professional articles, tutorials, and discussion boards
that cover a variety of topics related to Flash and Flash development.
WebDeveloper.com
(www.webdeveloper.com)
Here you'll find resources, technical information, daily news, and analytical
features that are essential for the web development community.
Webmonkey (www.webmonkey.com)
Webmonkey features great articles on all sorts of topics, targeted to
all levels from beginner to advanced. A definite must.
Curious Media
(www.curiousmedia.com)
Curious Media is creator Randy Jamison's artistic playground. Currently
a personal venue for experimentation and animation, Curious Media will
eventually be a source for code, download files, and Flash community
projects.
Desktop Image
(www.desktopimage.com)
Desktop Image is dedicated to bringing you the best free images for
your desktop--never any gimmicks, no unwanted surprises. To help contribute
to the collective, artists are invited to supply art and insight through
the website.
Djojostudios
(www.djojostudios.com)
Djojostudios is specialized in web projects like games, gadjets, simulations,
and highly interactive websites. The group uses state-of-the-art tools
to create Internet-ready content, keeping file size low for maximum
benefit to all levels of bandwidth.
Huihui (www.huihui.de)
Huihui is a portal into the gaming world, specializing in Flash-designed
games. Play on-line and off-line games, look for Flash resources, exercise
your inner child for a few minutes.
Moccu (www.moccu.com)
Moccu was founded as a company for outstanding Web design and animation,
bringing together expets in graphic design, illustration, animation,and
programming to provide a one-stop solution for its clients. Specialized
in developing interfaces and applications in Macromedia Flash and Generator,
Moccu has also begun displaying its talents for games and interactive
storytelling.
Rustboy (www.rustboy.com)
Rustboy is a Brian Taylor's short film and accompanying website, which
aims to document the production of the film from concept through completion.
Zanpo (www.zanpo.com)
Zanpo.com is a virtual city and online community. It is an interactive
world where you can explore, chat with others, claim a spot, and build
you own home. Along your journey, you can collect gems that link to
interesting toys, games, and citizens' personal home pages.
Software
As you learned throughout this book, several software packages work with
Flash to enhance your amazing creations. This list contains our favorite
manufacturers:
Adobe Systems (www.adobe.com)
If you are interested in using your Flash animations as part of a digital
video, you need to have a video editing application that can realize
the final piece. Adobe Systems manufactures Premiere, a professional-quality
digital video editor that runs on both Macintosh and Windows systems.
Visit the site to download a free trial version and learn more about
the capabilities of Premiere.
Audacity Systems (audacity.sourceforge.net)
Audacity is a free audio editor. You can record sounds, play sounds,
import and export WAV, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis, and MP3 files, and more.
Use it to edit your sounds using Cut, Copy and Paste (with unlimited Undo),
mix tracks together, or apply effects to your recordings. It also has a built-in
amplitude envelope editor, a customizable spectrogram mode and a frequency
analysis window for audio analysis applications. Built-in effects include Echo,
Change Tempo, and Noise Removal, and it also supports VST and LADSPA plug-in effects.
Beatnik (www.beatnik.com)
Beatnik provides a means for delivering low-bandwidth music and sound
effects. When used in conjunction with Flash, projects are sometimes
referred to as Flashniks. Visit the website to learn more about Beatnik
or to download the plug-in and listen to Beatnik music.
Curious Labs
(www.curiouslabs.com)
Curious Labs is the creator of Poser and Poser Pro Pack (3D human modeling).
The site not only features extensive news and information about their products,
but it also contains tutorials and trial downloads.
Digidesign
(www.digidesign.com)
Digidesign is the manufacturer of Pro Tools, the industry standard of
multi-track, digital audio editing and mixing applications. Digidesign
makes several versions of Pro Tools. To find one that best suits your
needs and the scope of your Flash audio projects, visit the website.
Discreet (www.discreet.com)
Discreet is the maker of 3ds max, as well as a whole host of other 3D
modeling and postproduction tools. Their site features almost everything
you'd ever want to know about 3ds max.
Electric Rain (www.erain.com)
Electric Rain makes the stand-alone Swift 3D program, as well as the
Swift 3D plug-ins for 3ds max and LightWave. The company's website features
a wealth of information about Swift 3D.
Eovia (www.eovia.com)
Eovia produces both Carrara Studio and Amapi 3D. On the site, you'll
find downloadable updates, as well as some tutorials for Amapi 3D.
Ideaworks3D
(www.ideaworks3d.com)
Ideaworks3D makes the stand-alone Vecta3D program as well as the Vecta3D
plug-in for 3ds max.
Macromedia
(www.macromedia.com)
Hey, you can't get any more relevant than the website of the company
that actually makes Flash. Not only does the Macromedia site have extensive
information on Flash, it's got information on all the other programs
in their pantheon of products.
Maxon Computer (www.maxon.net)
Maxon Computer is the company that makes Cinema 4D. The site not only
features extensive news about their suite of 3D products, but it also
contains a fairly hefty list of tutorials for Cinema 4D.
Sonic Foundry
(www.sonicfoundry.com)
Sonic Foundry is responsible for two of the premiere audio applications
for Windows: Sound Forge and ACID. Many audio resources for Flash developers
are available at the Sonic Foundry site, including audio editing and
creation tools, sound loops, and audio effects packages.
SSEYO Koan (www.sseyo.com)
Koan is a music-making technology that can accommodate audio interactivity,
respond to or cue events in an interactive application, generate music
in real time, and deliver high-quality, low-bandwidth audio files. Communication
between the Koan audio engine and Flash can greatly enhance the audio
interactivity of your movies. Visit the SSEYO site for more details
about Koan.
|
