Memoirs, Regrets
November 17, 2000
That should get you through everything in the Flash pseudo-3D rotation
app. I expect to see this on your next project, context-appropriate or
not. I think this method has some potential. The app we built in this
tutorial reminds me of the kind of dada collages people tried to build
with DHTML, (except that it works). Inside Flash, you really can't go
wrong from a compatibility standpoint, which brings me to my first
point.
Our little etude requires the Flash 5 player. The only function that
absolutely would not work in 4, however, is the custom cursor (actually
just the hideMouse part). Flash 5 offers options like highlighting
non-backwards-compatible ActionScript and publishing to any Flash
Player version you choose.
Detecting plugins, redirecting non-compliant users, and installing
the plugin are all getting easier than ever, thanks in part to
Macromedia. See the
Macromedia Site for their own freely-available detection net.
Otherwise, see
Colin Moock for the most comprehensive detection scheme.
The code in this example is far from clean. When I redo this app for
the client for whom it was demo'd, I will make the rotation clip into
a smart clip, dynamically obtaining the properties of the movie clip
to get the width and the number of frames. And like I said, the button
actions really should be function calls.
A 100k interactive trinket probably isn't very practical at this stage
of the Internet. If you are working on something other than a demo or
a tutorial, you will need to sacrifice some aspect of this technique.
I like writing qualifications. It makes me feel smarter.
Obviously, the quality of the photography is the single largest
determining factor for the success of this technique. Don't use my
before-breakfast, rough-and-dirty, at-my-desk, 10-minutes-or-less
approach as a standard. If you don't have a good digital camera (and
a little bit of time to invest in the photography) hire a professional
photographer. Since I did the app featured here, I went out and
got some huge slabs of black posterboard, a black lazy susan, and a $
20 camera tripod. I now have a a perfect studio for implementing this
effect.
I Find That Highly Logical, Captain
3Dino - Another Approach to Flash 3D
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