Chris Jackson

Exploring 3D in Flash

We live in a three-dimensional world. Objects and spaces have width, height, and depth. Various specialized immersive technologies such as special helmets, gloves, and 3D monitors have produced very effective and exciting computer-generated virtual reality environments.

Flash 3D Applications: Putting It All Together

We have explored many concepts and techniques for creating and simulating 3D space in Flash. This chapter applies the key concepts to practical applications. These projects range from arcade-style games to interactive galleries. We give you the starting code for five different types of Flash 3D templates. Each template is complete in that it incorporates the basic 3D functionality.

Animating Depth: Tweening Movement

The previous chapter explored visual depth cues and techniques that reproduce them within a two-dimensional world such as Flash. These visual depth cues add dimension to a still image. Lets review these visual cues. Figure 3.1 contains relative size, interposition, shadows, aerial perspective, and texture gradients. This collection of visual cues depicts depth to a certain degree. As the viewer, we can determine what is foreground, middle ground, and background. As a static image, the scene has gone as far as it can in portraying a three-dimensional world.

Programming Depth: Interactive Movement

The previous chapter explored how animation enhances the illusion of depth. Motion tweens were used in Flash to create parallax scrolling and to simulate camera movements. This chapter explores using ActionScript to add interactivity to your Flash files. ActionScript is Flashs programming language. It allows you to create a variety of interactions, from simple to complex.

Fundamentals of 3D Space

So far we have dealt with creating the illusion of 3D space while staying within a 2D environment. Its time that we take a step into the third dimension. Working in 3D space brings a sense of depth and movement that can be difficult to achieve in a strictly two-dimensional world. Like anything, there are various degrees of complexity when working in 3D. In this chapter we will be dealing with movie clips that are defined in 3D space. We can think of these as two-dimensional planes that are living in a three-dimensional world. This will give us simpler expressions while providing a wealth of imagery to work with. We will work with more complex 3D shapes later.

Drawing 3D Objects

In Chapter 6, we learned how to place objects anywhere in three-dimensional space, then move and rotate them in any direction. The objects we used were basically 2D objects whose plane was perpendicular to the center of vision and viewed in one-point perspective. In Chapter 8, we discussed object movies that enabled us to see multiple views of an object through a series of still images. With panoramas, we were also able to see an actual scene from multiple points of view.

Integrating 3D Graphics in Flash

Creating 3D graphics involves the modeling and rendering of 3D objects. Modeling is the creation of 3D objects. The rendered image includes visual depth cues found in the real world such as light and shadow, perspective, form and texture, and sometimes movement. Exercises throughout this book have incorporated rendered images from 3D software packages. There are many 3D software packages available to you. All include modeling techniques that are universal.

Chapter 1 – Exploring 3D in Flash

We live in a three-dimensional world. Objects and spaces have width, height, and depth. Various specialized immersive technologies such as special helmets, gloves, and 3D monitors have produced very effective and exciting computer-generated virtual reality environments.

Chapter 11 – Flash 3D Applications: Putting It All Together

We have explored many concepts and techniques for creating and simulating 3D space in Flash. This chapter applies the key concepts to practical applications. These projects range from arcade-style games to interactive galleries. We give you the starting code for five different types of Flash 3D templates. Each template is complete in that it incorporates the basic 3D functionality.

Chapter 3 – Animating Depth: Tweening Movement

The previous chapter explored visual depth cues and techniques that reproduce them within a two-dimensional world such as Flash. These visual depth cues add dimension to a still image. Lets review these visual cues. Figure 3.1 contains relative size, interposition, shadows, aerial perspective, and texture gradients. This collection of visual cues depicts depth to a certain degree. As the viewer, we can determine what is foreground, middle ground, and background. As a static image, the scene has gone as far as it can in portraying a three-dimensional world.