Actionscript

[jimi_hendrix]

so for school i am in a flash class (better then Office 2007 calss...) and the teacher says we can use actionscript if we want to but he wont teach it to us

the problem is im not coughing up big bucks for a compiler/interpreter/whatever it uses (curse you ADOBE!!!!)

does anyone know of any free/opensource compilers?

[abeisgreat]

Haha I don't think there is any. I once saw one but it was extremely simple and only used the simpleist AS commands. And hardly worked at all. Flash 8 will sorta run under wine, I think. I think your pretty much screwed

[MaxIBoy]

http://www.flashdevelop.org/wikidocs/index.php?title=Features

Free and open source actionscript IDE. The interpreter is the flash plugin itself.

[crazyness003]

I feel your pain, man. Thats the reason why I cant make a 100% switch. and i know people say that you can use wine...but not for flash. trust me, you dont wanna do it. but then again you can try. Also take a look at OpenLazlo (http://www.openlaszlo.org/). It might be what you're looking for.

I use Flash 8. Got it "cheap" on ebay for $200...i know, i know. But then again CS4 is gonna be off the hook with a hefty $700 (or a $200 upgrate im actually gonna consider...maybe...probably not)
But then again, there isnt really "revolutionary" changes.

Anyway, back on topic: If you wanna try flash you can with a no-holdbacks, 30 day trial (thats what i like about that. You can keep trying it out :twisted:) ONLY IN WINDOWS or MAC. If they released CS4 for *nix id buy it in a near-hertbeat...maybe...

[QsM]

I feel your pain, man. Thats the reason why I cant make a 100% switch. and i know people say that you can use wine...but not for flash. trust me, you dont wanna do it. but then again you can try. Also take a look at OpenLazlo (http://www.openlaszlo.org/). It might be what you're looking for.

I use Flash 8. Got it "cheap" on ebay for $200...i know, i know. But then again CS4 is gonna be off the hook with a hefty $700 (or a $200 upgrate im actually gonna consider...maybe...probably not)
But then again, there isnt really "revolutionary" changes.

Anyway, back on topic: If you wanna try flash you can with a no-holdbacks, 30 day trial (thats what i like about that. You can keep trying it out :twisted:) ONLY IN WINDOWS or MAC. If they released CS4 for *nix id buy it in a near-hertbeat...maybe...


Flash 8? Is that even compatible with AS 3?

Anyway I had a flash class last semester we used CS3, no way I was spending hours in our loud and restrictive computer lab working on hw/projects so I had to resort to the poor mans way of getting software :( However, I uninstalled it after the semester.

Didn't really like Flash or AS. For RIA I rather use Silverlight.

You should try the 30 day trial for CS4 and then decide if you want to invest in it. They made the UI very nice and clean for the CS4 suite :)

[jespdj]

Adobe has the free Flex SDK (http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/flexdownloads/index.html). I've never used it, but it includes a compiler to compile your MXML / ActionScript code to a Flash file (SWF). It doesn't come with a nice editor though; you'd have to buy Flex Builder (http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/flexdownloads/index.html) (an IDE based on Eclipse) if you want that.


http://www.flashdevelop.org/wikidocs/index.php?title=Features

Free and open source actionscript IDE. The interpreter is the flash plugin itself.
Hey, that looks interesting! (Unfortunately it's a Windows-only application...).

[jimi_hendrix]

thanks all

[Kadrus]

does anyone know of any free/opensource compilers?
MTASC(Motion Twin Action Script Compiler),open source,implemented in Objective CAML,it's successor haXe.
http://www.mtasc.org/
http://haxe.org/

[MaxIBoy]

Hey, that looks interesting! (Unfortunately it's a Windows-only application...).

It's written in C#, so it shouldn't be too hard to port to Mono.

[crazyness003]

Flash 8? Is that even compatible with AS 3?

Dont be a hater. Just because i cant afford to dish out $$$ every time Adobe decides to release a new version isnt my fault. But you are forgiven.

Like i said, im really thinking of upgrading. As for the poor man's way...[off the record]...been there, done that. Very dissapointed with CS3. Lets see if they improved CS4.

As for AS3, its no longer a scripting language. ita alsmot a complete programming language (but then again, i could be overstating that, im no programmer, just a designer, so regardless of the code, my stuff looks good...if I did any)

My opinion: im gonna steer away from both .swf and esp. ms silverlight. Im wanting to learn a more standard language: javascript. Or even kick it up a notch: Java. You just cant go wrong with that.

Plus if you take a look at OpenLazlo (when i mentioned it earlier, i had only heard about it), you'll be amazed at how simple it really is. Take a look at this video. (30min) (http://blip.tv/file/236998/?skin=popup&file_type=flv)

[jimi_hendrix]

well ill probably never use flash again but its more fun than biology and i want to get a good grade so free ide here i come

[jimi_hendrix]

now does anyone have any good tutorials...preferable ones that dont assume i have the flash program thingie

[crazyness003]

Hang on. Since you're only gonna use any of this knowlege for now on 1 project, it may depend on what you're trying to do...so i beg to ask:
What are you trying to do? Is it some sort of report, or a sequencing thing, or just like a "powerpoint" presentation? Give a little detail.

[skullmunky]

Yeah, good question. If the project is pretty open and you want to make something awesome looking on the web, which IMHO is what Actionscript is all about, then try out Processing instead. It's free and a little easier to learn in some ways if you're doing it all on your own, as in your case.

[jimi_hendrix]

Hang on. Since you're only gonna use any of this knowlege for now on 1 project, it may depend on what you're trying to do...so i beg to ask:
What are you trying to do? Is it some sort of report, or a sequencing thing, or just like a "powerpoint" presentation? Give a little detail.

the teacher said actionscript is not mandatory but it will give me extra points

basically i want to make my movie with regular flash and then make a kinda pick-your-own-path game

[crazyness003]

yeah, Flash is the man(?) for the job. Or you could use [the depreciated] Director. I really dont know of any other program to do this in (besides a whole custom coding kinda thing)

You could also use html...maybe. nah. Like, split the movie up and have it in different files, then have links that take you to certain "chapters" of the movie. But its not the best idea.

Get a trial of Flash from adobe, all you need a an email address and interwebs (obviously). You can use it for 30 days (plenty of time to finish a movie). And if your trial runs out...you have another email address right? :cool:

Or just .torrent it from a site and use the "borrowed" excuse. It works. Its bad, but it works.

Unfortunately...its only for win and mac. Wine does an okay job of running it, but i cant stand it.

Actrionscriptwise, alls you need is stop() command on the frame you wanna stop, a gotoandplay(frame_number) on the buttons and plan your movie out so that everything works.

www.flashkit.com (http://www.flashkit.com) is a great place to get working tutorials as well as video tutorials and actionscript. Also a lot of ideas and neat tricks.

[jimi_hendrix]

thanks