W.J. Warren

Lately I’ve been looking into optimizing SWF in both speed in file size, below is a list of interesting projects I came across.

Optimizers / disassemblers

• Azoth: http://www.buraks.com/azoth/
• Yogda: http://www.yogda.com/
• Apparat: http://code.google.com/p/apparat/ / TDSI: http://blog.joa-ebert.com/2009/08/05/turbodieselsportinjection/ / Reducer: http://blog.joa-ebert.com/2009/08/08/reducer/
• Flasm (AS2): http://www.nowrap.de/flasm.html
• RABCDAsm (AS3): https://github.com/CyberShadow/RABCDAsm and the reason why RABCDAsm was born: http://leethax.net/facebook/bejeweledblitz/
• AS3 Sorcerer: http://www.as3sorcerer.com/

Compiler

• Flex compiler source: http://opensource.adobe.com/svn/opensource/flex/sdk/branches/4.0.0/modules/compiler/src/
• Good read about how MXMLC works: http://stopcoding.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/understanding-the-flex-compiler/
• AVM2 instructions: http://www.anotherbigidea.com/javaswf/avm2/AVM2Instructions.html
• Tamarin (AVM2 project): http://www.mozilla.org/projects/tamarin/

Faster compilation

• Hellfire: http://bytecode-workshop.com/
• Haxe: http://haxe.org/ (Acclaimed much faster compilation than MXMLC)

AS3 Language Specification: http://livedocs.adobe.com/specs/actionscript/3/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm

I’m sure there are some projects I missed… Please do let me know about any good ones I omitted.

I thought this was going to be yet another AR (augmented reality) app, but it is actually quite impressive! Have a look here: http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/graziatv/archive/2010/03/23/video--check-out-grazia-s-3d-walk-in-talking-issue.htm

I'm wondering what agency built this one...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5499785/now-womens-mags-are-doing-augmented-reality

A colleague pointed WinFF out to me, a nice GUI for FFmpeg. No more worrying about command line options, long life laziness!

PS: No need to download FFmpeg, it comes packaged with WinFF.

Just thought this was funny.

Welcome the robots, just click the link using FF and say hello to the robots

You can exclude files and/or packages from Flex PMD by creating your own rule set, use the "exclude-pattern" tag to exclude files.

Link: http://pmd.sourceforge.net/howtomakearuleset.html

Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (English: Encyclopedia, or a systematic dictionary of the sciences, arts, and crafts) was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements and revisions in 1772, 1777 and 1780 and numerous foreign editions and later derivatives.

Have a look at http://diderot.alembert.free.fr/ for loads of nice and old images, like the one above.

I was looking the other day for a way to make a directory that is behind a .htaccess password protected directory accessible for anybody. Does that make any sense? For instance: www.somedomain.com/protected is password protected directory. I wanted anybody to be able to access www.somedomain.com/protected/notthisone/ without a password. After a little searching I found the following trick:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Anybody"
AuthUserFile /path/to/some/autfile

Require valid-user

Allow from All
Satisfy Any

I'm actually not sure if I need all of the above or if I can just get away with "Allow from All" and "Satisfy Any".

So basically by adding "Allow from All" you say anybody is allowed to access this directory. The "Satisfy Any" makes sure that you can access it either when you have already entered the password or when you don't have a password.

A nice way to circumvent .htaccess directory protection.

Below is a list (and some brief explanation) of links with interesting stuff found at Flash on the Beach this year.

Joa Ebert (from hobnox) talked about one of the geekiest subject known to man : Compiler optimization. Good to know some people care about those  things. This is how you can get cooler stuff on the screen. It have the potential to made our work run 10 times faster.
http://code.google.com/p/apparat/
http://blog.joa-ebert.com/2009/08/05/turbodieselsportinjection/

Some good optimization techniques from Grant skinner too: http://gskinner.com/talks/quick/

Contrast’s presentation about breaking design convention:
http://www.contrast.ie/blog/
Some good arguments here. Especially about the end of portal pages and brand over sale (yes we don’t need a massive logo on every single page).

Live feed visualization by Trevor Boyle during the elevator pitch:
http://blog.trevorboyle.com/wp-content/uploads/twittersphere/Twittersphere-Visualizer.html

What can be done with sound from various presenters:
http://www.hobnox.com/index.1056.en.html
http://www.frogdesign.com/
Ruben's tube + propane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpovwbPGEoo
http://blog.drwoohoo.com/
designmind.frogdesign.com
www.openframeworks.cc

We saw some really cool live drawing session from James Jarvis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZHBSBG7RSs
http://www.amostoys.com
James Patterson: www.presstube.com

And Art made with flash:
http://www.joshuadavis.com/
http://hype.joshuadavis.com/

As well, Joel Baumann from Tomato introduced us to some early century artists who being playing with generative art way before flash came about. And shown us us some of his work, some of it still remain really cool like the TV-Asahi indent - sound generated logo !

Stacey Mulcahy, talked about how devs and creatives can work together
better: www.bitchwhocodes.com
Some good technologies that can facilitate that:
- SVN: http://versionsapp.com/
- Version Cue: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/versioncue/
- Catalyst: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcatalyst/ (Though I don't believe in it too much...)

Learn OOP in Flash: www.lostactionscriptweekend.com
And Automate publishing of .fla files: www.deleteaso.com
Koen de Weggheleire: www.newmovieclip.com

Union multiuser Flash platform: www.tryunion.com
- documentation + tutorials: www.unionplatform.com
- cool example: http://clockmaker.jp/blog-en/2009/08/union/
Multi user experience cheap and easy

MegaPhone, using mobile phones as controllers for billboards:
www.playmegaphone.com