Here are the first 8 paragraphs of Chapter 26 of Essential ActionScript 3.0 26. Bitmap Programming In programming terms, a bitmap image is an image stored in bitmap data format. The bitmap data format treats an image as a rectangular grid of pixels, where each pixel in the grid is assigned a number that indicates its color. For example, in bitmap data format, an image with a width and height...

Here are the first 5 paragraphs of Chapter 25 of Essential ActionScript 3.0 25. Drawing with Vectors In ActionsScript, primitive vectors lines and shapes are drawn via the Graphics class. However, the Graphics class is never instantiated directly; instead, each ActionScript class that supports programmatic vector drawing creates a Graphics instance automatically and provides access to it via the instance variable graphics. The display classes that support vector drawing are...

Here are the first 6 paragraphs of Chapter 24 of Essential ActionScript 3.0 24. Programmatic Animation This chapter discusses the basic techniques for creating animation with ActionScript. It focuses on integrating animation code with the Flash runtime’s automatic screen updates. It does not, however, cover advanced animation topics, such as programming physics-based motion, motion on a path, collision detection, bitmap animation effects, or color transformations. No Loops To create animation...

Here are the first 4 pages of Chapter 23 of Essential ActionScript 3.0 Chapter 23. Screen Updates Conceptually speaking, all screen updates in ActionScript can be separated into two categories: those that occur at regular intervals (scheduled updates), and those that occur immediately following the execution of certain event listener functions (post-event updates). Regardless of the category, all screen updates are automated. In ActionScript there is no general, arbitrary means...

last year at fitc i interviewed mike downey (then Flash Product Manager, now Group Manager, Platform Evangelism). this year, mike interviewed me :) we talked about Essential ActionScript 3.0 and tips for new designers and developers who want to learn ActionScript. >> watch the interview...

the entire manuscript for Essential ActionScript 3.0 is now available online via O'Reilly's Rough Cuts service. >> Read Essential ActionScript 3.0 on Rough Cuts or you can just: >> Order the printed book (shipping in june)....

Here are the first 9 paragraphs of Chapter 22 of Essential ActionScript 3.0. 22. Interactivity In this chapter we’ll see how to add interactivity to an application by responding to Flash Player’s input events. Specifically, we’ll explore five different categories of input events: * Mouse events * Focus events * Keyboard events * Text events * Flash Player-level events For each of the preceding event categories, we’ll consider the specific...

Here are the first 6 paragraphs of Chapter 21 of Essential ActionScript 3.0 21. Events and Display Hierarchies In Chapter 12, Events and Event Handling, we studied ActionScript’s built-in event architecture in general terms. In this chapter, we’ll take a closer look at how that event architecture specifically caters to objects in display hierarchies. ActionScript’s system of dispatching events through an object hierarchy, as described in this chapter, is based...

i've just uploaded my notes for my session at fitc this sunday. >> read notes for "ActionScript 3.0 and Flash CS3" the lecture explains the new links between ActionScript 3.0 code and content created in Flash CS3. topics covered include the document class, linking symbols to classes, automatically generated classes, accessing on-stage instances from linked classes, and symbol instantiation....

Here are 12 paragraphs from Chapter 20 of Essential ActionScript 3.0. 20. The Display API and the Display List One of the primary activities of ActionScript programming is displaying things on the screen. Accordingly, the Flash platform provides a wide range of tools for creating and manipulating graphical content. These tools can be broken into two general categories: * The Flash runtime display API, a set of classes for working...