Work <- -> Hobby <- -> Passion
Concepts > Software
Be master of tool or instrument (specialist) or creative user of that tool
Eye of the Tiger with iPhone v Flash player. Good way to start a code heavy session first thing in the morning. Up to late to really try to comprehend much of this. Will be a good session to watch back.
-It was good to have examples of things in the SDK and their analog in the Flash IDE. Example: Create an image view. Put a .png in it. Similar to creating a movie clip and placing a library item in it.
-All class have a .h and a .m file. .h contains vars while .m contains executable code that relies on the .h file.
Scripter -> Developer -> Architect
Reactive -> Proactive -> Pragmatic
Developter is proactive. Architect not focused solely on completion, more about reason and problem solving.
In development there are lots of wrong answers. Lots of really wrong answers. No right answers. Eventually learn to bend rules to solve problems creatively.
Why have coding standards? Consistent both internally and externally Consistent within your own work as well as the community as a whole. Standardized code tends to be self documenting.
Events vs. Method calls. Events don’t rely on other bits of code. They simply broadcast. Something else may or may not be listening. Doesn’t break due to dependancy. Try to absract external dependencies. When something changes, make adjustments to the connection rather than the funcitonality.
Build isolated test cases and integrate when stable. Set micro-deadlines.
Design -> UX <- Developmet
Thoughts:
Really a great roundup of best practices and ways to think about working. It’s nice to have this information collected in one presentation. Made me proud to be part of a development team that implements most if not all of these techniques on some level.
Exactly as advertised. Maybe could have been call Very Cool Shit or Super Cool Shit.
sourcebinder.org – coupon code SBFITC
Whatever babbles bubbles up. Neat flash/twitter integration aviary.com
Papervision X running Quake … Clay surface … Reflective surface … Sphere with water surface.
Open frameworks – talking to illustrator and moving objects on a live .ai file in realtime to music … similar, iTunes audio controlling view of data in Maya. vimeo.com/drwoohoo
Awesome session! Lots of practical information. Full code samples. fitc.sisutastic.com
Commercial web apps using Drupal: The Onion, Infoworld, Fast Company, Nonesuch
-SEO! Publish views for Flash and Static HTML. Able to publish for multiple front ends.
3 systems:
-Create a view for dynamic embed of flashvars
-Create an HTML view and consume that content into Flash (parse as XHTML or XML)
-Create native actionscript objects with AMFPHP. Small, Fast. This connection allows for 2 way communication; writing in to the Drupal CMS
Modules:
-Services Module (AMFPHP gateway) (Also can create JSON object, good if one wanted to create an AJAX version of the same content)
-CCK Module – expands on properties available when createing a content object
-Views Module – What we use to create our data object
-SWF Address Module (optional)
-Admin Menu (optional)
-Also need to get Core Lib from Adobe
In Drupal a ‘node’ is the native content object, a view is a filtered collection of these objects. AMFPHP is the data gateway; requests will go to /services/amfphp with query string. In Flash we need to import net.responder, net.netconnection, net.objectencoding. AMFPHP returns a native Flash object.
-sidenote: was not familiar with setting breakpoints in actionscript and using that to run code only to a specified point in the debug player.
-create encoded keys in Drupal to authenticate session information.
-use a singleton class to store session information and call public methods.
Thoughts:
Admittedly I am a fan of open-source, off the shelf solutions. I love wordpress, and we have scratched the surface of flash integration in WordPress themes. The interesting thing about Drupal integration, is that we can use it solely as a CMS and easily create custom data objects with the views module and package them in a native Flash object. Increases speed of retrieving data, no need to transform PHP and HTML into a format that is easily parsed by Flash. Also allow creation of a variety of front-end interfaces. Create data views for flashy Flash front-end, Static HTML pages for SEO, and HTML and JSON versions for non-flash, but still rich browser based experiences like iPhone all from the same data source, and all in a very user friendly admin back-end.
-Tailor message for the audience you want
-Shape your image
-Create a following of ambassadors
-Define your mantra
-Know what your real product is (it isn’t your skills)
Speaker posted slides, the rest of my notes are kind of pointless.
Thoughts:
Great speaker in general. Techniques outlined are useful, I suppose for anyone on an individual level, but also within a larger organization where you have departments that rely on each other for clear communication.
Presentation built inside Unreal engine. 3rd person shooter style walk up to slideshow. Scaleform. Specific flash player for running content inside console games. Hardware accelerated, processes spread across available cores. Flash generates triangles feeds them into the GPU to render. Many AAA titles on PS3, Xbox, Wii, and portable platforms use flash for UI, Intro graphics, and HUD elements. Capable of true HD video output. Casual games; what is sold on Xbox live arcade are entirely Flash driven. For developers it offers a portability of skillsets. Assets are also portable. Graphical assets and Movie clips are usable for web tie ins and mini games. Also some intereting info on the creation of the dev framework for flash designers. Flash built to run in an environment, so gaming engines tie into the same hooks you would use to interface Flash with Javascript in the browser.
Thoughts:
Really cool stuff. Not practical for the average developer. Proprietary flash player. High-price, proprietary dev tools to deploy on consoles. Interesting talk but not a lot of bearing on the type of work I am doing. Would be nice for the average user to be able to take advantage of the processing power of these toolkits for experimental work, and for work that does not reside in the browser. One interesting bit came out of the framework portion of the talk… When describing the case study of creating the “tab box” component; they broke down the component even further. The button object existed. They extended it into a selectable button. Extended that to a button that required a radio group. Then paired it with the view state, or tab content. Seems more extensible. More applicable in my mind to creating this type of UI element with Javascript. The button, or tab, doesn’t have to be tied to its view area by anything other than a common index in an array.
FITC sessions will be posted to tv.adobe.com … They showed Javascript at a Flash conference! … Talked a bit about searchability in Flash, seems like it isn’t quite there yet, but they are activly working on a solution … Open screen project … Adobe mobile packager … Yeah, yeah, yeah Adobe is great they make the stuff we use. It was a mildly interesting keynote.
-Online service to write AS3 and compile .swf
-User community
-View other’s code. Fork and edit existing user code
-Track code that has compiled successfully
-Favorite users and code samples
-Tag broken code as “question” in the hope that the community will fork it and fix it.
-Framework for speeding up flash site developmet (Every framework)
-Supports Class, Component, and Timeline development
-Scene Navigator allows you to create page views and manage scenes. Views are added to the sceneObject, similar to how things are added to the display object.
-Scene states have a unique URI out of the box for deeplinking and also support query params
How to Manage Huge Data in a Beautiful Way – fladdict.net
-examples: gyre.omotesando.com, Design and the Elastic Mind (MOMA), Amaznode
-interesting: create a bitmap to contain data. If a particle is on a certain pixel, red channel of the bitmap might stand for speed, green channel for trajectory. Cuts calculation overhead. Over my head.
Notes:
Crispin Porter + Bogusky out of Boulder
A spectacle is something people will gather around. Transforming a space into the message itself. How to control a “digital out of home” experience. Three types of experiences: passive, dynamic, and interactive. Interactive tends to be the most compelling. It is participatory and communal in nature.
Interesting takes on augmenting reality. FLAR is a 1 foot experience, but what about a 100 foot experience?
Passive: Projection – virtual overlay on a physical space. Easyweb
Dynamic: Experience that adapts to its environment.
Interactive: Users participate in the experience. Establish community groups of individuals interacting with digital work together. In doing this, the participants begin to define the rules of that shared experience. It grows beyond the experience itself.
Other examples: Flare, Human Joysticks, LED mesh, Graffiti Works
Case study on Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” campaign. Fascinating! Takeover of Times Square video walls to redisplay user created content. Relinquishing control of the campaign to users. Majority of people, and nearly everyone in the campaign’s target market have cellphones. Common denominator is SMS. SMS as a “remote control” for the video screens. Users can submit photo and video content and after making it through moderation, can text message the digital billboard and view their message on the Times Square video wall.
Prepare for tremendous success… Make sure project scales well… Digg effect
Prepare for tremendous failure… Backup plans
Thoughts:
Participatory work thrives when it is an ambient experience where the barrier of entry is removed. Technical ideas need to be thorougly explained and understood by account execs who are selling it through to clients. Get team together to outline/explain overall vision and project goals, as well as individual team member roles. Seems logical, but also ensure that those individuals understand how their role fits into the entire scope of the project and how it effects other’s work.