Flash/Flex site to build photo virtual worlds

[billy_d_goat]

Hey all. FP for me... Lurked around for a while and love the content (more than a few helpful pointers). I am curious though why there isn't more Flex/AS 3 on here...too new?

Anyway, here is a cool site/flash app (http://www.mapwing.com) that lets you combine digital photos with maps and comments to build virtual tours and share them. Here is one of my fav tours that is in on there:

http://www.mapwing.com/tours/0/7/usr/llPDbPDSDPvSv/thumb_link.jpg (http://www.mapwing.com/explore/view_tour.php?t=llPDbPDSDPvSv)

[CreationsCentre]

Hey I guess I'll be the first to say welcome to the forum! Yeah there's not much on Flex here, maybe if there's more interest shown in the community here they'll dedicate a section. Oh and don't you mean AS 3, not AS 9?

BTW, that site's got a really nice concept to it.

[billy_d_goat]

Hahaha thanks and yeah. AS 3 (which is flash 9 hence AS 9) :tie:

[CreationsCentre]

Anytime ;)

[Pasquale]

ANYTIME eh?... :whistle:

[hybrid101]

lol, not many people here use flex yet. that's why there's almost no tutorials for it.

and welcome:D

[Ordinathorreur]

I think most people on Kirupa are more interested in the creative side of Flash. With Flash splitting into two types of user bases at the moment, the Flash communities are bound to reflect that too.

[billy_d_goat]

I guess when I look at Flex, I just see a new way to deploy AS. AS 3 has a lot of advantages over 2. I come from a graphics background as well as a programming one. I got the Flash way of working with frames and such. However, I always thought Flash would work better, or maybe be more powerful, if it were freed from the keyframe concept and given a blank slate.

But, I think you are right, the community is splitting into those of us who prefer a programmer's model for design and those who prefer the timeline way. I think it really depends on the end product you are designing.

The thing that is kinda funky about Mapwing is that the virtual tours claim to display in Flash 7, so it isnt Flex. However, if you create a tour on the site, it loads Flex/AS 3 app since you have to upgrade to Flash Player 9 to play with it.

[senocular]

How would Flash work better if "freed from the keyframe concept"? :h: No one has to use frames and there many examples out there of "single frame movies". The fact that they're there doesn't mean there's a dependancy on them and, in fact, they're pretty much optional.

Flex, in fact, uses frames - or one of them. You can't see that because it does this behind the scenes but that doesn't make Flex any more powerful. If anything, it's a deficiency. However, Flex's model is based on one that doesn't depend on frames (outside the first) so it does fine without them. Sure, Flex is pretty cool stuff, but it can't attribute that to its lack of a timeline.

(oh, and welcome :) Note: if you want to see Flex be more prominent here, make some tutorials - the forums we have are dependant on the tutorials availble on the main site ;) ;) )

[billy_d_goat]

Okay, first let me say I don't want to start a flamewar over Flex/Flash! Seriously! :hugegrin: And second, senocular, since I got your attention. I have loved your tutorials over the years. Thank you.

So frames. You are totally right. Flex has frames. You can set a framerate for it, AND there is a single start frame where I'm pretty sure the byte code of AS 3 is attached to. If you try and decompile a Flex swf you get a mostly valid first frame and not much else.

Before I worked in Flex, I found Flash's screen updates very frustrating. In AS 2, correct me if I am wrong, you can only call a specific screen update by moving to another frame OR updating on say a mouse event. For someone that expects to call an update to screen and have it happen on the next screen refresh, that is a little irritating. But, I understand Flash's history and that is the way it is.

Flex took steps to fix this. You can call screen updates in timers and other places like that, so my hands aren't as tied in that respect. I don't have to bounce between a couple frames to make sure things are updating as efficiently as possible. That said, Flex/Flash are still bound to frames and do not work off of absolute screen refreshes.

Now, when Flash Professional adds AS 3 (I believe there is a beta of this), I guess some of these arguments will be bupkis. Flash will gain better event handling, just like Flex has. So really it comes down to your preference of GUI/Model for swf design. Do you like timelines and the Flash environment or are you a programmer? Maybe both? Both are totally going to be around because not everyone works the same way.

That's good for Adobe because they get good designers and good programmers on the platform. I think, ultimately, what excites me about Flex is because it is more programmer friendly, it brings in a whole new group to party in Flash land. It's funny because Flex people get in arguments with Flash and AJAX people. Really, I think Flash/Flex are on the same side. We want web sites and web applications that go beyond what is possible with html, ajax, etc. :thumb2:

[senocular]

http://www.senocular.com/smilies/yes.gif

[CreationsCentre]

ANYTIME eh?... :whistle:

And that's supposed to mean?