Pittsburgh Adobe Flash Users Group

This blog is no longer maintained

2009-11-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

We've moved the PittMFUG site to something much easier to deal with than blogger a few months ago. Please update your links: http://pittmfug.org/ is where you can find all things PittMFUG now.

We'll be deleting this site within the next few weeks.

August Meeting

2009-08-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight's meeting is not at our usual location. To celebrate summer we're having a game night at Games 'N At on the south side!

If you've never been before, Games N'At has a ton of games. From their site: "...unlimited play on pool tables, ping-pong basketball, pinball, driving games, shooting games, video games (a lot of old school classics), air hockey, foosball, bubble hockey..."

Thursdays are $10 all you can play until midnight. So, come ready to play for as long as you'd like. We'll meet at Games N' At at 6:30pm, but feel free to stop by later, too. Games N' At is also BYOB.

Thursday August 20th
6:30pm
Games N' At
google maps

RSVP to let us know you're coming.

July Meeting Redux

2009-07-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out tonight!

Josh's Unit Testing presentation:
source files (zip)

Val's Better Typography presentation:
slides
links:
Text Layout Framework demo page
Text Layout Framework download
NYT Reader 2.0 download

Other links discussed:
Color Scheme Designer
We Choose the Moon
INSPIRE

August 2008 Meeting

2008-08-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

We had a good turnout last meeting. Val talked about the upcoming FlashPitt conference and brought pizza for everyone. There's a great lineup of speakers. Hope you can join us. If you haven't already, buy your tickets here. Early bird discounts still available til Sept. 5th.

I talked about creating dynamic Flash layouts using a static Stage positioning class. You can download the source code here. And for those that attended... yes, I fixed the html so it actually shows it working!

Felix Lloyd, president of Skill-Life, Inc. mentioned he is currently looking for Flash developers for their "CentsCity" product. You'll find the complete job listing on our Yahoo group site.

Also, Patrick and Isaac passed along this link to us. If you haven't yet seen the SMW Photography site out of the UK, take a look. Choose Visit Site and check out the cloth effect with the photos. Nice job.

- Wayne

PittMFUG Podcast 22 Now Available

2008-08-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hey MFUGers! Podcast 22 is now available! We cover our last meeting and much, much more!

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

July Meeting Redux

2008-07-18T08:03:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out last night. We had a lot more folks than we expected for a mid July meeting. Here are the files and links and such we discussed.

Easy Papervision Panoramic
Download the example files

Some of the links we looked at:
The photo from Flickr
Tutorial this example was based on
Full screen cube panoramic
More on full cube panoramics

Firefox Add-ons for Web Developers
Firebug
http://getfirebug.com/

Flash Tracer
http://www.sephiroth.it/firefox/flashtracer/

Web Developer
http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/

Mac related dev stuff you might want to check out:
http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/web-development-with-safari

PittMFUG Member Flash Poll

2008-07-17T05:46:00.001-07:00

Hey all you MFUGers! We are in the process of gathering information from our members in order to provide an optimal experience at out meetings. Please take our anonymous survey and let us know your thoughts about Flash and ActionScript! You can access the survey here.

2008-07-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

July Meeting

Our July meeting is this Thursday, July 17th. We have two presentations booked for this month's meeting:

Easy Cheesey Panoramic, Val Head
If you've been put off by the complex looking code behind Papervision3D examples, this presentation is for you. Val will show how much the easier it is to work with Papervision3D now that the BasicView class is around. She'll walk you through building a simple panoramic with a whole lot less code than you'd expect.

Development++, John Kramer
With the zillions of firefox add-ons out there, how do you know which ones are worth your time? Kramer will give you his list of useful add-on tools, both for Flash and Web development.

Meeting details:
Thursday July 17th
6:30pm
at New Perspective

This is new! If you know you're coming, email pittmfug@gmail.com to RSVP.

FYI: We'll be holding the meeting upstairs. If you arrive after 6:30pm the front doors will be locked and you'll have to call or text the number posted on the door to get in.

Flashpitt 2008

Tickets for Flashpitt are on sale! Early Bird tickets are $110, but we have less than 30 left!

Confirmed speakers for the event include Big Spaceship, Julian Dolce, Stacey Mulcahy, Criag Swann and more! Check out our speakers page for the full listing.

Suggest a Topic

Do you have a topic you'd like to see covered at a PittMFUG meeting? Do you want to present at a PittMFUG meeting? Send an email to pittmfug@gmail.com and we'll make it happen.

Flashpitt 2008 speakers and tickets

2008-07-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

Tickets for Flashpitt2008 are on sale and there are still early bird tickets left! Check out http://www.flashpitt.com/register to get your tickets.

We've also started to announce our speakers list, and it's definitely a great list so far. Speakers confirmed for Flashpitt2008 include: Big Spaceship Julian Dolce, John Lindquist ,Stacey Mulcahy, Ben Pritchard, Jose R. Rodriguez and Craig Swann.

Our speakers are coming from places like: Big Spaceship, Papervision3d, Schematic, Fuel Industries, Pixelfumes, New Perspective, JRVisuals and CrashMedia.

Our speakers page will be updated with the remaining speakers as they are confirmed.

If you were at the last meeting and haven't used your PittMFUG discount code yet, now is the time! We're down to less than 10 tickets avialable for that discount code.

PittMFUG Podcast 21 Now Available

2008-06-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

Hey MFUGers! Podcast 21 is now available! We cover our experience at FITC Chicago and the last meeting! Come, listen to our chats about Flash, Flex and much, much more!

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

PittMFUG June Redux

2008-06-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

The great software giveaway of June was tonight! As you saw, we also received a nice new shipment of swag from Adobe! Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting.

Thanks again to the sponsor of the night, Conviva.com. You should check into a career at Conviva if you are a super talented Flash/Sliverlight Developer or even a great web-oriented professional. You can download this PDF which contains their current list of open positions. Remember to check out the PittMFUG Yahoo Group for job listings and more as well!

The Files
Wayne
Skinning the FLV Playback Component

Ben
Publishing Content for Flash Player 10 Using the Flex 3 SDK

I thought I'd share some pictures from the night's festivities too:

June Meeting

2008-06-17T06:29:00.000-07:00

Our June meeting is this Thursday, June 19th. We have two presentations planned for this month's meeting:

Code for the Future: Compiling Flash 10 code with terminal and the Flex 3 SDK, Ben Pritchard
Does that sound hard and confusing? It's really not. Ben will show you how to pull off publishing code for the beta Flash 10 player. Now you can play with cool Flash 10 things like 3D space without waiting for the public beta of the Flash 10 IDE.

Making Flash CS3 Skinnier, Wayne Lincoln
Need a custom video player right this second? Wayne will demo how easy it is to skin the FLVPlayback component's controls and have a custom video player in no time at all.

Meeting details:
Thursday June 19th
6:30pm
at New Perspective
google maps

FYI: We'll be holding the meeting upstairs this month. If you arrive after 6:30pm the front doors will be locked and you'll have to call the number posted on the door to get in.

Software Giveaway this Month!

That's right, the bi-annual software drawing is upon us again. We will be holding a drawing for CS3 software suite of your choice*. Drawing will be from the last six months of meeting sign-ins and you must be present to win.

Showing up for this week's meeting will also get you on the list for the next software drawing. That makes it even more worth it to come out.

*Master Suite is not one of the options, but everything else is fair game. You get to pick!

Flashpitt 2008 Tickets on Sale

Tickets for Flashpitt are now on sale! The first 50 tickets are available at the early bird price of $110.

We've also updated the site with more details about the event. Check out our list of sponsors, the basic schedule and more location details.

Suggestion Box

Do you have a topic you'd like to see covered at a PittMFUG meeting? Do you want to present at a PittMFUG meeting? Send an email to pittmfug@gmail.com and let us know what's on your mind.

FITC 'Last Call' Contest

2008-06-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

The first 10 people who answer the skill testing question "What does FITC stand for?" get a free ticket to FITC Chicago, June 22 - 23 at the Doubletree Hotel Chicago (formerly the Chicago City Centre Hotel).

Deadline to enter is Thursday, June 19 at midnight!

To enter, go to http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pBk-8Hvbj8g-tQLuXWg_Gaw&email=true

Winners will hear back by end of day Friday, via e-mail.

For complete event details, go to http://www.fitc.ca/chicago.

May Meeting Redux

2008-05-16T07:58:00.001-07:00

Hey all you MFUGers! Great meeting last night. We covered a lot of Perlin Noise at the meeting and as promised, here are the files from the presentations:

Val's Files
Noise and Particles

Ben's Files
Fire!!!

We look forward to seeing you guys at the next meeting. We plan on having the big software raffle for real this time :). You must be present to win! See you in June.

Podcast Episode 20 Available: Special Guest Julian Dolce of Fuel Industries

2008-05-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Podcast 20 is now available from the PittMFUG crew. We had special guest Julian Dolce on the podcast!

Julian Dolce
Director Creative Technology, Fuel Industries, Ottawa

Bio from FITC:
Julian Dolce is a Creative Technologist with Fuel Industries in Ottawa, concentrating on creating Flash Applications, Flash Multi-User Environments and Immersive web solutions. While at Fuel Julian has worked on projects for Coors Light, Panasonic, Pepsi, and MegaBloks.
Julian is also involved in improving Fuel’s Flash team workflow by extending the Flash Authoring Environment and creating code libraries so the team can be more efficient. He is actively involved in the Flash development community, and can be found lurking on many Flash mailing lists. He is also one of the main contributors and authors of Fuel’s web blog.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

May Meeting Topics

2008-05-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

Our May meeting is this Thursday, May 15th. If you want to get meeting info in your inbox, use the form on the right to subscribe to our mailing list.

We have two presentations booked for this month's meeting:

FIRE!!!!, Ben Pritchard
Ben will demo how to create a fire effect in Flash. Or, he may just set fire to the table... no one can be sure.

Particles in Perlin Noise, Val Head
Perlin noise is the official theme of this meeting! Val will show some of the perlin noise variations that Flash can natively create. She'll also show and example of how to get particles to animate "through" perlin noise.

Meeting details:
Thursday May 15h
6:30pm
at New Perspective
(directions linked on the right -->)

FYI: We'll be holding the meeting upstairs this month. If you arrive after 6:30pm the front doors will be locked and you'll have to call the number posted on the door to get in.

Flashpitt 2008

As all your MFUGers know, Flashpitt has been officially announced. If you have a blog, grab a banner to help get the word out.

Flashpitt 2008 will take place on October 10th 2008 at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh. National industry leaders will be present to educate, inspire, and engage the region’s New Media community. Check out flashpitt.com for more info.

We'll be announcing more details like confirmed speakers and ticket prices as soon as that info. becomes available. Joing the announcement list or follow flashpitt on twitter to be the first to get the news.

Jobs for Flash Developers - PittMFUG Yahoo Group

2008-05-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been bombarded with openings for Flash developers lately. It detracts from the blog to constantly post the openings. I think I will start posting them in the Yahoo Group for the PittMFUG. I was recently sent a few so if you are an aspiring Flash developer in look for work make sure you check out our Yahoo group. You all DID know we have a PittMFUG Yahoo Group right....?

MFuggers Win at West Liberty Flash Festival

2008-04-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

One of our new members, Brendon Gonzalez, won 2nd Place at the 8th Annual West Liberty Flash Festival for his submission in the Professional Website category. Brendon's piece, "Standpoint", is a flash based website featuring a fictitious band designed to present a clean content layout, cool transitions, and a mp3 player. The entire solution was created with AS 3.0.

Brendon received a cash prize of $50 and spoke in front of a packed house about his project. Currently Brendon is an 8th quarter student at PTI and will be graduating this Summer.

Flash Jobs at Struck Creative

2008-04-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Jon Minori, prior MFUGer, at Struck Creative (In Utah) gave me a heads up on some sweet opportunities available where he works. Thought I would pass them on to you guys!

LEAD DEV
General Info: Do you dream in design patterns? Do you write notes to yourself in camel notation? Do you know how to lead with the loyalty and passion of a Spartan? If so, you may want to read on. We are looking for a lead developer who is fully versed in both AS 2.0 and AS 3.0 -- the kind of person that understands design and how to exploit a creative opportunity. The kind of person that gets cranked about translating photoshop comps into motion. The kind of person that has a firm grasp on every technical aspect of dynamic interactive web-applications.

In this position, you will work on leading a team of developers to build complex web-based applications. You will need to have an understanding of integration with dynamic sites. People management skills are a must, since you will not only lead projects technically to maintain quality of work, you will also lead a team of developers to help maintain quality of the workplace (happy team members is the first step to doing exceptional work). You will need to be comfortable working within a predefined scope, as well as provide reasonable/accurate time estimates for development.

Key Responsibilities(As a Developer):
• Development of web-based applications using the latest Adobe Flash technology
• Help maintain a consistent code framework
• Contribute in the overall digital strategy for our clients
• Translate static comps to their full-motion glory

Key Responsibilities (As a Team Leader):
• Work with a design director to maintain design integrity from start to finish
• Mentor and inspire team members to learn, progress, and grow in their positions
• People management tasks like performance reviews, filling open positions, identifying and solving problems, approving time-off, etc.
• Work with the producers to produce appropriate time estimates and work schedules

Required Skills:
• Expert skill level in building dynamic interactive web-applications using both AS 2.0 and 3.0, including: OOP, functions, arrays, sending and loading XML, AMF, integration with server side such as PHP, Ruby, or Python
• Portfolio should include string examples work showing a knowledge of motion, design, and technical ability
• Ability to read a Scope of Work and evaluate time requirements
• Up to date with the latest technologies and a willingness to learn them
• Strong attention to detail and a fanatic about clean code (A code nazi, if you will)
• Working knowledge of web standards and JS/AJAX
• Understanding of server-side scripting and database concepts and
logic

Added Bonus:
• Flex 2 and Flex 3
• Soundtrack Pro, Logic, AfterEffects, Final Cut Pro, or Cinema 4D
• SQL experience - MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, .NET, JSP

Benefits:
• Competitive salary based on experience
• 401K with employer match
• Medical/Long-term disability insurance
• Killer group of people that love to work together
• Casual work environment
• Live within 30 minutes of 13 different ski resorts in the greatest snow on earth, hundreds of rock-climbing routes, and miles upon miles of mountain biking trails

Application: If you just read a description of yourself and have a burning passion to do exceptional work, we want to hear from you! Hit us up email-style with your resume, personal website, or links to your latest work for immediate, discreet consideration. We will hit you back up only if you are selected for an interview. No phone calls or agencies please.

send resumes to:
kyles@struckcreative.com

FLASH DEVELOPERS
Our ideal candidates will realize that classes are not something that you just take in college. We are looking for someone with experience in the following to join our world class team:

Actionscript 2 and 3
OOP
Programmatic Animation (Fuse, Zigo, Caurina)
Flash Remoting
A great attitude
Good communication skills

Additional Skills include:
Flex
HTML, CSS, PHP, etc.
Database Integration (MySQL)
XML / Web Services
JavaScript / Ajax

send resumes to:
kyles@struckcreative.com

Special Offer from Total Training

2008-04-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Total Training contacted us with this offer for UG members. If you've been wanting to check out any of their training offerings, now might be a good time to do it.

If you're not familiar, Total Training provides video software training for Adobe.

If you visit this site: http://www.totaltraining.com/adobe7,
you will have a 7 day FREE all-access Adobe Essentials pass, as well as a 15% off coupon if you are interested in any of their products.

Job Posting: Flash Developer Position Available

2008-04-18T08:12:00.001-07:00

Mullen, a full-service marketing agency has an immediate opportunity at its Pittsburgh office for a Flash Developer / Designer within the Interactive Marketing Division.

Candidates should be well versed in Flash, HTML and CSS. The Flash Developer / Designer will be responsible for rapid Flash application and site prototyping, scripted Flash animations, data-driven Flash applications, large and small site development (using Flash), and CD-ROM development (using Flash and / or Director).

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Code / develop projects from prototype to final client deliverable. .
• Ensure that final deliverables are to industry, client and agency accepted standards / requirements.
• Be an effective liaison between web development, creative and application / db development teams.
• Develop and continually contribute to team code library and general knowledgebase. Help develop and define methods, conventions and code that best suits the team’s and our clients’ needs.
• Be current and knowledgeable about existing and emerging technologies related to work.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Minimum 2 years, professional Flash front-end (animation) experience
• Minimum 1 year, professional Flash Actionscript experience
• Expert knowledge of Action Script and JavaScript including moderate / heavy use of math and physics, (X)HTML, structured CSS
• Working knowledge and some applicable experience in ActionScript 2.0, Flash Remoting, active server technologies, (PHP, ASP, .NET), databases (SQL, MYSQL, XML / XSLT), Object Oriented Programming, cross-platform Director and Lingo development is required.
• Must have excellent understanding of, and experience with using industry best-practices and accepted conventions and can appropriately apply them to work.
• Must possess the ability to respond and / or adapt quickly to team/agency and client needs.
• Must be able to work with tight schedules, extended hours, short notices, and be able to multitask under pressure.
• Experience working in a larger team and within an agency a plus.

We offer competitive salary & terrific benefits, including a sensational team and the best work environment in the business.

Sound like you? Send your resume with salary requirements (a must to be considered) to jobs@mullen.com. We'll gladly and quickly respond to qualified candidates!

April Meeting Redux

2008-04-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who attended the meeting tonight! As promised, here are the files from the presentations:

Joe Kromer
ActionScript 3 Migration Tips

Josh Sager
File Uploads Using PHP and Flash

Ben Pritchard
Using Tweener

Mick Rose
TweenLite

This Week's Meeting

2008-04-16T07:40:00.001-07:00

Our April meeting is this Thursday. Yes, that's tomorrow. We're a little late getting this newsletter out to you.

We have three presentations booked for tomorrow's meeting:

WorkFlow: Making the move from AS2 to AS3, Joe Kromer
The move from AS2 to AS3 means making some changes in how you build the basic building blocks of your projects. Joe will be talking about some of the changes he's made when switching to AS3.

Flash and PHP Application Development, Josh Sager
Want to make Flash and PHP work together to do something cool? Josh will show you how.

Tweening with Tweener, Ben Pritchard
Tweener is a class used for creating tweens and other transitions via actionscript. Ben will demo some of the features of Tweener and how you could use it in your next project.

Meeting details:
Thursday April 17th
6:30pm
at New Perspective
google maps

FYI: We'll be holding the meeting upstairs this month. If you arrive after 6:30pm the front doors will be locked and you'll have to call the number posted on the door to get in.

Announcement: A Flash Conference for Pittsburgh

We've mentioned it briefly in some of our podcasts and meetings, but now it is officially announced. Flashpitt 2008 will take place in October. This will be the first conference of it's kind in this area and it's being planned by some of our very own MFUGers!

Flashpitt 2008 will take place on October 10th 2008 at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh. National industry leaders will be present to educate, inspire, and engage the region’s New Media community.

Flashpitt 2008 is for the Pittsburgh region’s designers, artists, students, and developers working with Flash, Flex and AIR. Two tracks of sessions will run from 9am until 6pm. The day will be finished off with an after party full of fun and networking opportunities.

We can't share too many details yet, but we promise it will be an awesome Flash event for everyone who attends. Check out flashpitt.com to sign up for the event notifications mailing list and to be notified when tickets for the event go on sale.

We'll be announcing more details like confirmed speakers and ticket prices as soon as that info. becomes available.

If you would like to volunteer to help with Flashpitt, email val. And if you have a blog, please post about Flashpitt to help get the word out. Our media kit is online to help with that.

The Adobe Lunchbox

2008-04-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Recently, Adobe sent the PittMFUG Managers a sweet metal lunchbox full of goodies! Its funny how excited two grown men can get over something as simple as a metal lunchbox. Inside was a plethora of goodies... A Wi-Fi Locator Keychain, energy drinks, Pop Rocks, a T-shirt, cord wrapper and a sweet collection of stickers! The stickers are my favorite. You have probably seen a rowing trend of these little square stickers gracing laptops in your local user group or at conferences. The lunchbox also had a CD in it full of Integrated Workflow demos.
This is a definite pickup for us and a great way to help present new content to our UG members. I thought I'd share some pictures with you guys.

Thanks Adobe!

New Perspective Internship Program

2008-04-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

In the past, some of you MFUGers have expressed interest in internships available at New Perspective. Besides having the invaluable opportunity of working (dealing) with Wayne, Val and Myself (Ben) on a daily basis, you will have the opportunity to let your interactive skills shine for the world to see! If you are a college student and feel you have what it takes visit the Interactive Internship page on the New Perspective website for prerequisites and details. Those of you interested in audio and video internships can hit the main Internship page. Thanks!

March Meeting Files

2008-03-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out for the March meeting last week. Here's the files that were covered in the two presentations on Thursday night:

Brian's files: drawing letters

Wayne's file: writing pOOP

Flex Camp Cleveland Announcement

2008-03-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Hey MFUGers, we just received a local Flex conference announcement some of you may be interested in. Please read the following details from Mick Keily of the Cleveland Flex Users Group:

Hello,

There is an excellent one-day software conference in Cleveland on April 7th. It's called Flex Camp Cleveland and it offers an opportunity to get a fast education to programming in Flex by Adobe. Please visit www.flexcampcleveland.com to see the line-up of expert guest speakers. Ben Forta, noted author and web developer, will give the keynote address.

Flex is software tool that lets you create powerful applications that run in your browser or on your desktop. These applications are different from ordinary HTML applications because they are actually RIA's, or Rich Internet Applications. Once you see a Flex application, you will understand why they are so much more interesting than HTML applications.

Flex Camp Cleveland was organized by the Cleveland Flex Users Group (CLEFUG), which is just a bunch of programmers who get together and share ideas about Flex. We contacted several Flex experts and put together a full day of one-hour presentations to help the beginning Flex developer get on their feet with Flex.

Agenda:

8:15 – 9:00 / Registration & coffee/bagels

9:00 – 9:50 / Keynote Presentation - Ben Forta (Adobe)

10:00 – 10:50 / Building Your First Flex App - Mike Krotscheck

11:00 – 11:50 / Creating Flex Components - Doug Pierce & Curtis Gayheart

11:50 – 12:50 / Lunch (provided)

1:00 – 1:50 / Flash, Flex and the Prepaid Gift Card - Scott Andrews

2:00 – 2:50 / Intro to OOP for Flex Developers - Kris Schultz

3:00 – 3:50 / Intro to AIR - Adam Lehman (Adobe)

4:00 – 5:00 / Open Q&A with presenters

Location:

Middleburg Heights Community Center
16000 Bagley Road
Middleburg Heights, OH 44130 (map)

Two of the instructors are with Adobe, and the rest are Flex experts from Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. The keynote speaker is Ben Forta, noted author, developer, and instructor. We will also be giving away raffle prizes such as books and software.

The cost is only $25.00, including lunch. To register for Flex Camp Cleveland, visit www. flexcampcleveland.com

Fun Videos for Your Monday

2008-03-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

We were passing some great geek/Adobe videos around today in the office. We thought we'd share with everyone to brighten up your day.

Why Adobe Updater?

Why such a poor AS editor in Flash Authoring?

Both of these are from philipk. Nice work. Where are your 30onAIR videos?

March Meeting Details

2008-03-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Yes it's true, we're back to our regular meeting schedule this month. This Thursday's presentations will be:

Writing pOOP, Wayne Lincoln
No, that's not a typo, or a joke, it's procedural Object Oriented Programming. If you use classes, you're probably writing pOOP -- a blend of procedural and OOP practices. Wayne will be demonstrating some techniques for moving from Procedural based code to more Object Oriented code with AS3.

The drawing API, Brian Cawley
Brian will be demonstrating how to use the drawing API to draw things beyond your basic shapes. He'll be showing us how to draw more interesting shapes, like letters.

Meeting details:
Thursday March 20th
6:30pm
at New Perspective
google maps

FYI: We'll be holding the meeting upstairs this month. If you arrive after 6:30pm the front doors will be locked and you'll have to call the number posted on the door to get in.

Podcast Episode 19 Now Available

2008-03-05T19:10:00.001-08:00

Podcast 19 is now available from the PittMFUG crew. We chat about Flex, AIR and the recent Adobe-sponsored AIR/Flex Builder 3 Release part we had. Those of you who didn't manage to get an eboy poster can get the next best thing here.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

AIR/Flex Prerelease Tour Aftermath

2008-02-29T05:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who attended the AIR/Flex 3 Release Party last night. I think this was the largest turn out we have ever had for any of our events. It was great to see so many new people as well! Those of you not on the mailing list should signup! There is a form on the right side of the page that will allow you to subscribe to the mailing list. Don't forget the next meeting will be on March 20th, 6:30pm at New Perspective.

30onAIR
Don't forget about submitting your 30onAIR videos! You don't have to do it at an MFUG meeting. You can upload your own at anytime. Just be sure to tag it properly (follow the directions). Be on the lookout for MFUG members you know up there! Details and videos at 30onAIR.com.

Pictures
I took a bunch of photos at the party last night. You can view them here: http://flickr.com/photos/55758862@N00/tags/release/. I figured I would throw a couple of the prize winners on here as well:

More Details for This Thursday's Meeting

2008-02-25T05:48:00.000-08:00

As you may have heard, Adobe has announced the release of Adobe Flex 3 and Adobe AIR 1.0. Now that the cat is out of the bag, this will be the focus of our Feb. 28th special meeting! Adobe is sponsoring this meeting with food, giveaways and a raffle copy of Adobe Flex Professional.

Flex 3 is a feature-packed release, adding new UI components like the advanced datagrid and improved CSS capabilities; powerful tooling additions like refactoring; and extensive testing tools including memory and performance profiling, plus the addition of the automated testing framework to Flex Builder.

Adobe AIR is game-changing in so many ways, delivering rich applications on the desktop, enabling access to the local file system, system tray, notifications and much more. Now you can write RIAs on the desktop using the same skills that you've been already using to create great web apps including both Flex and AJAX.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to see and hear about this highly anticipated release of Flex 3 and AIR at this meeting.

On top of all that we'll have free food and lots of prizes to give away. Don't forget to RSVP if you haven't already. There will be one prize drawing just for folks on the RSVP list, and you don't want to miss out on that, right?

Date:
Thursday, February 28th

Time:
6:30pm

Place:
(The usual place)
New Perspective building
2949 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh

Reminder - No Regular Meeting Tonight

2008-02-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

There is no meeting tonight. We've moved our meeting to next Thursday, the 28th when we will be having a special event meeting.

Details on the special meeting are here (More details about the meeting will be posted soon)

To stay completely up-to-date on all our special events and meeting topics, use the awesome new form on the right to subscribe to the PittMFUG email newsletter list.

Adobe Flex 3/AIR Prerelease Tour Wrap Up

2008-02-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight Kevin Hoyt visited the Pittsburgh MFUG and CFUG groups and gave a presentation on Flex 3 and all of the new features that are available. He also gave a brief overview of the newer features in the Adobe Integrated Runtime. What I found most interesting was the descriptions that he gave of the Flex workflow, how Flex fit into the Adobe family and how easily Flex and Flash can work together. Those of you who didn't show, and there were many of you, missed a great presentation. Kevin gave away a copy of Flex Builder Pro, the Adobe Web Bundle, and iPod and a lot more. You can get some pictures of the event here.

Remember, we are having an event this February 28th for a special event! Make sure you show up! You can get more details here.

Air/Flex Prerelease Tour Reminder

2008-01-31T07:45:00.001-08:00

Mark your calendars! Kevin Hoyt from the Adobe Platform Evangelist team will be making another stop in Pittsburgh, the evening of February 4th, as part of a 40 city user group tour announcing Flex and AIR. A copy of Flex 3 (delivered after the launch), the CS3 Web Premium Suite and a 4GB Ipod Nano will be given away during the event. Adobe and IMPAQT are kicking in for munchies.

This joint meeting of the three Pittsburgh Adobe User Groups will be held on Feb 4th at IMPAQT in Greentree. The presentation begins at 7pm, with networking and food starting at 6pm. The meeting is jointly sponsored by IMPAQT and Adobe. Click HERE for directions.

Kevin Hoyt is a Platform Evangelist with Adobe. Passionate about engaging user experiences, you'll most often find him meeting with customers, speaking at conferences, presenting online seminars, or just enjoying the chance to share ideas and brainstorm with other developers. When not on the road, Kevin enjoys spending time with his family, photography and general aviation.

Podcast 18 Available

2008-01-22T08:06:00.000-08:00

Podcast 18 is now available from the PittMFUG crew. We chat about Flex, AIR and the upcoming events.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

January Meeting Redux

2008-01-18T06:03:00.000-08:00

Great meeting last night guys! Thanks to everyone who attended. You can access the files from the presentations last night below. Also, don't forget that we have two meetings in February as well.

Val's Custom Events with ActionScript 3
download
View Val's Google Presentation

Josh's Many Things Flash
download

Ben's Motion Parallax in Flash
download

Flex Builder 2 Review

2008-01-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, to some of you this may be a pretty funny article. Many of those who attend the Flash Users Group know my stance and views on Flex. I am not what you would consider a proponent of Flex but I do understand that it has a place in the Rich Internet Application development field. I was recently given a copy of Flex Builder 2 to try out in order that I might review the software and report my findings. I went into this testing phase with an open mind eager to learn more about Flex and Flex Builder.

The IDE
I’m a Flash Developer when it comes down to it; so working within an entirely new IDE was a bit disconcerting for me. When getting into Flex Builder you need to start thinking a bit differently. No longer is your good friend Mr. Timeline sitting at the top of your screen ready to welcome your assets and code. Flex Builder 2 is built off of Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/). Java developers will likely feel comfortable in the IDE of Flex Builder since Flex Builder itself remains true to much of the basic Eclipse IDE. Those of you used to cranking out the AS2 and AS3 classes should feel at home quickly.

Creating a Project
One of the first things you are presented with when getting started in Flex Builder 2 is the dialog allowing you to setup a new project and define what type of project it is that you will be developing.

Creating a new document or Project in Flex Builder 2.

Many people think of MXML, the typical greenish-tinted background and working in the Design view when they think of Flex Builder. As you can see in the screen shot above there are many options when creating new documents in Flex Builder 2. You can create a pure ActionScript Project using Flex Builder 2 as well.

MXML you say? For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, MXML is the XML Markup language used to define elements (user interface components, etc) that make-up the interface for the user viewing the resulting swf file.

A nice feature of the project setup process presents you with the opportunity to define your Source and Library paths for all of the related files in your project.

Defining Source and Library Paths.

Learning Your Way Around the Flex Project
Once you get your project setup you then have a nice Navigator that will allow you to view what files make up your Flex Project. In the image below you can see that we have several different support files (js, html, and swf files) that are created for you by Flex Builder 2. You can see that we also have an MXML file that has been created for us. This file will likely be your primary file for development.

The Navigator view for the Flex project.

Design View
Design view has to be my favorite part of Flex Builder 2. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m as big of a code monkey as the next guy but who wants to blindly write XML to define a user interface. Design view in Flex Builder 2 feels a lot like Microsoft Visual Studio to me. The screen below shows that you have all your basics: Components, a Properties Panel, our Navigator and the ability to switch back and forth between Design and Source views.

Design View.

Source View.

Adding components to the form (Stage area for you Flashers) is simple. Just drag the components out and onto the form as you would using components in the Flash IDE. The Properties panel is awesome – it not only provides you with a means to visually change the selected item in the form but also provides a way to set and view Events assigned to that particular item.

The Properties Panel.

Overall
Overall the Flex Builder 2 has some really nice features including an integrated compiler for exporting your code to SWF and code collapsing. Another amazing feature is the intelligence of the code completion. Those of you writing custom classes will love that Flex Builder will be aware of the methods and properties you have defined.

Though I am not a lover of Flex itself, I think that Flex Builder is a great tool for writing ActionScript. In fact, some people use Flex Builder 2 to do just that and that alone! It still feels a little too much like Eclipse for me. I almost wish they would have built on top of the Dreamweaver engine instead. Overall, I give Flex Builder 2 ½ stars out of 4.

Learn More
You can read more about additional features in Flex Builder 2 by visiting the Flex Builder page on Adobe.com

You can download a trial of Flex Builder 2 here.

Flex Builder is available for purchase and is currently only $249. If you want to add on the charting components Flex Builder 2 will run you $699. Visit the Adobe Store for additional information.

Special Live Event February 28th!

2008-01-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Calling all MFUGers!

Join the Pittsburgh Flash Users Group for this "can't miss" meeting!

Adobe's RIA technologies enable you to rapidly build and deploy the most engaging applications across browsers and on the desktop. The Pittsburgh Flash Users Group is hosting a special live event to share exciting new information on Adobe's platform tools and technologies for building RIAs. You'll see an exclusive user group video presentation by Adobe Chief Software Architect, Kevin Lynch, hear some important product news, plus get your hands on some exclusive schwag and other giveaways.

Be part of the fun and excitement and join the rest of the Adobe developer community by participating in this very special event.

This event is free as usual, but please RSVP to let us know you'll be there.

We will be announcing more details about the meeting when it gets closer to the date, so keep an eye on the pittmfug blog for the latest details.

Date:
Thursday, February 28th

Time:
6:30pm

Place:
(The usual place)
New Perspective building
2949 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh

January Meeting

2008-01-16T06:11:00.000-08:00

Hey all you MFUGers!
The January meeting of the PittMFUG is this Thursday! Come join us for topics including, Custom Event Creation using ActionScript 3, Josh's Presentation on Many things Flash, and Coding a Motion Parallax using ActionScript. It should be a great time! We may potentially be using the space upstairs since we have been crowded the last few meetings so be sure to get here by 6:45 - we will lock the door at that time and you'd have to call to get in. Hope to see you there!

The Adobe Pittsburgh UG Holiday Party

2007-12-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you MFUGers who showed up to the party that Adobe threw for us and the other UGs in town! Too bad we got stuck into a hole in the wall at the Sports Rock - wish we could have mingled with a few more of you from the other UGs! I have uploaded some pictures from the evening's festivities. The party took place of our December MFUG meeting. I'll see you all in January! Merry Christmas!

AIGA Pittsburgh Annual Design Competition

2007-12-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

Our own Ian DeJesus wanted me to let you guys know about the AIGA Pittsburgh Annual Design Competition. I suggest you guys try submitting some work. They are looking for more interactive submissions.

You can get additional information at:
http://pittsburgh.aiga.org/context07/

The work will be judged by some major players which can be found here:
http://pittsburgh.aiga.org/context07/impress.html

Good luck!

Holiday Party!

2007-12-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

It's official! Thanks to Adobe and the Pittsburgh area Adobe User Groups, we will be having our first ever joint User Group Holiday Party! Members from the Pittsburgh Elearning User Group and Pittsburgh CFUG will be joining us. The party starts at 6:30pm at Sports Rock Cafe in the Strip District, Thursday, December 13th.

Prizes will be raffled off like iPods, an iHome docking station, lots of books, CFUnited tickets and more.

Food and non-alcoholic drinks will be served and a cash bar is available.

Please RSVP to Wayne Lincoln if you're planning on coming (wlincoln at gmail dot com).

November Meeting Redux

2007-11-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

Wow - what a great meeting! Standing room only in the room at the last PittMFUG meeting. We had some great presentations from Max and Joe and then afterwards the giveaways started!

The Winners
Terri won the Grand Prize of $2100 worth of Adobe Software

and Joe won the O'Reilly Book Pack!

We also handed out a bunch of new Adobe Swag at the meeting as well. If you guys are interested in more photos from the event you can view them on the MFUG Flickr page or my Flickr page.

The Files
Max Kaufmann - Flash and Flex Files
Joe Kromer - Creating Screensavers with Flash and Zinc

In the Meantime
Don't forget about our UG Holiday party on December 13th - more details to follow!

Adobe Flex and AIR Tour Coming to Pittsburgh!

2007-11-21T06:57:00.000-08:00

Mark your calendars! Kevin Hoyt from the Adobe Platform Evangelist team will be making another stop in Pittsburgh, the evening of February 4th, as part of a 40 city user group tour announcing Flex and AIR. A copy of Flex 3 (delivered after the launch) and the CS3 Web Premium Suite will be raffled off during the event. Adobe's kicking in for munchies. Stay tuned for details on the venue.

This joint meeting of the three Pittsburgh Adobe User Groups will be held on Feb 4th at IMPAQT in Greentree. The presentation begins at 7pm, with networking and food starting at 6pm. Adobe is also kicking in some bucks for upgrading the food and munchies! The meeting is jointly sponsored by IMPAQT and Adobe. Click HERE for directions.

Kevin Hoyt is a Platform Evangelist with Adobe. Passionate about engaging user experiences, you'll most often find him meeting with customers, speaking at conferences, presenting online seminars, or just enjoying the chance to share ideas and brainstorm with other developers. When not on the road, Kevin enjoys spending time with his family, photography and general aviation.

New Adobe AIR Logo

2007-11-15T11:21:00.001-08:00

Mike Chambers has the scoop on the new Adobe AIR Logo on his blog. Check out his post about the new logo.

Mike Says:

I am not going to go into a detailed analysis of what the logo represents, but I do want to point out one of the core concepts behind the logo. Adobe AIR is built on top of three core web technologies (HTML, Flash and PDF), and we wanted the logo to represent this. Thus, each corner of the logo represents one of these core technologies.

I for one love it. I made a quick wallpaper in case anyone is interested. You can download it here (click to get the full-sized version):

Mike offers vector versions of the logo as well here.

PittMFUG November Meeting

2007-11-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hey all you MFUGers out there!
Tomorrow is the November Meeting for the PittMFUG. More importantly, tomorrow is the Bi-annual software drawing! Someone will be winning $2100 worth of software! You HAVE to be present to win - the only exception is Jeremy Heckathorn. We also have some BIG PittMFUG announcements for you guys. Be sure you show up, bring a friend! The night's presentations include:

Joe Kromer - The Ease of Screensaver Creation Using Flash
Max Kaufmann - Flex + Flash Working Together

If you want to present as well or want to have us review something at the meeting feel free to shoot me an email.
We got a new swag shipment in as well guys!
I look forward to seeing you there - make sure you plan to stay a little afterwards for some Guitar Hero action!

October Meeting Redux

2007-10-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

The last meeting was a great one! Wayne and I are very happy about the level of attendance lately! We had an action-packed meeting covering many different areas. You can access the files from the demos you saw below. I also added some links to topics of discussion at the meeting. Hope to see you next month!

Ben's Files - FZip
download

Josh's Files - Debugger
download

Jeremy's Files - Overriding
download

Wayne's Files - AE Puppetry
download

Links
Spinning Girl Links
Great Flash Player 10 (Astro) Sneak Peeks

Adobe Illustrator CS3 Review

2007-09-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me know that I am not an Illustrator. I enjoy designing and programming but when it comes down to whipping out a Wacom tablet and going to town, I am not your man. Given my lack of illustration skills I thought it would be a joke for me to explain all of the great techniques and options that are available to you in the new Adobe Illustrator CS3 from that perspective. In my opinion you have two primary sets of Illustrator users: those who actually illustrate with it, and those who open, modify, and export from it. Being a Flash developer I’m part of the latter group, myself. Seeing that this is the Flash Users Group blog, I thought it beneficial to show the features of the new Illustrator through the lens of a Flash Developer.

I would wager that most of you have used a vector art program sometime in your past; most of the time it was Freehand for me. I mean, Macromedia made both Flash and Freehand so it was easy enough to get art from Freehand into Flash, for the most part. I think a lot of Flashers used to avoid bringing Illustrator files into Flash because of color shifting and oddities; integrating the two programs often left people wanting. Throughout this review I, as a “modifier and exporter”, hope to touch upon a few of the new features that make upgrading to Illustrator CS3 a no brainer for Flash designers and developers.

Integration with Adobe Flash

The best place to start is with the tight integration there is between Flash and Illustrator when importing an Illustrator file into the Flash IDE. I’m not talking about the nice Import feature from Flash CS3 here. I’m talking about straight copying and pasting from Illustrator into Flash. To users that haven’t had to deal with things like this in the past this may seem like the most basic and simple thing in the world. People need to realize that these two rock stars of vector haven’t always been distributed by the same company. Now that they are, I think that you will see a lot of sweet integration features coming your way. Copying and pasting from Illustrator is just that. You copy and paste. Your paths, gradients, etc. copy right over to Flash with little to no degradation. Nice editable paths also paste over as well. This is how it should have always been. Better late than never.

Illustrator paths, gradients and masks can easily be copied and pasted into Flash with little to no quality or editability loss.

Symbol Integration

I really wasn’t aware of symbols in Illustrator prior to learning about the way in which they can be ported into Flash. Symbols in Illustrator work similarly to the way they do in Flash. You can create a symbol and reuse it throughout the file. Changes to the symbol instance will cascade through all the instances that are being used. Illustrator also has a tool called the Symbol Sprayer which allows you to paint with symbols. Copying and pasting a symbol from Illustrator into Flash is very simple. If you name your symbol in Illustrator and then paste it into Flash the symbol data will carry over by creating a movie clip instance in Flash with the given instance name.

Copying symbols from Illustrator into Flash carries over the symbol data and instance name.

SWF Exporting

Exporting swfs from Illustrator is not new – I actually used to use that as a trick to maintain quality when exporting to Flash. Back in the day things weren’t so peachy. The new Illustrator allows you to control many options when exporting to the swf format. So, while this is not new or rocket science, it is a valuable feature you can use to deliver flash content to others who may not have Illustrator to begin with.

Illustrator CS3’s SWF Export Option

Live Color

Not all of the new features in Illustrator CS3 are Flash related. Live Color is an awesome addition to the program. Live color will take the current color palette of the selected illustration and allow you to modify the colors being used as a group. You can easily create and view live changes of different color harmonies on your illustration without taking the time to set them up manually. For example, you have a largely green and orange illustration and you want to see what it might look like using red and blue tones instead. There’s no need to manually set each drawing object to a new color and figure out the tones of each. Simply use Live Color to quickly view the different tones and steps.

Illustrator CS3’s Live Color allows you to quickly view different color options for your illustration.

Improved operating performance and the new UI

Improved performance is always a plus. Illustrator CS3 touts “...more responsive drawing and editing with improved performance in key operations, including faster screen redraw, object moving, panning, scaling, and transformations.” I really enjoy the new user interface. Adobe has done a nice job of creating a common and familiar UI across the CS3 program family. Pallet locations and look and feel is now becoming standard across the CS3 suite. Illustrator CS3 sports the new, highly configurable UI that users of After Effects have benefited from for awhile.

Crop Area Tool

Another really neat feature that Illustrator CS3 brings is the Crop Area Tool. This tool allows you to set an export area on your document. In the image below you can see that I set the crop area using the Crop Area tool. When I exported my file to a swf only the crop area was exported. That can be pretty handy when doing test prints or exports.

Exporting using the CropArea Tool.

Kuler

I think kuler is a great idea. Kuler is a community driven swatch theme exchange. You can upload, download and modify swatch themes on the kuler.adobe.com site. Adding a kuler panel to Illustrator was a great idea. Many of the programs that were originally written by Adobe lack support for Flash-based pallets/panels. This makes developing extensions for them a bit more challenging. It was pretty easy for me to develop the kuler panels for Flash CS3 and Fireworks CS3 using Flash but would not have been so for Illustrator. Adobe thoughtfully provides a way within Illustrator CS3 to view, upload and copy swatches to your swatch library from the kuler feed. The panel can be accessed by going to the menu and selecting Window > Adobe Labs > kuler.

Conclusion
Illustrator is a great application. Even though I am not a hard-core illustrator, I use the Illustrator program a lot in my day-to-day work as a web developer and designer. Today’s Flash-friendly Illustrator gets an “A” in my book. If you were ever going to purchase or upgrade now is the time to do it.

Illustrator is available for $599.00 or for $199.00 upgrade. You can learn more about Illustrator CS3 and the numerous other new features by visiting the Illustrator page on Adobe.com.

September Meeting Redux

2007-09-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all you MFUGers! What a great meeting it was. It was great to see a lot of new folks there as well.

For those you who couldn't make it we covered creating AIR applications using Flash CS3, Working with the Flash 9 Player Update 3 and Quicktime files, Creating kiosks using HTML, Flash and AIR and we even talked to and watched Josh Sager live from Flash Forward. You can access files from the meeting below:

iFreelance
Here is the iFreelance installer. I have not released this yet so feel special :p. This is an MFUG exclusive. It still has some bugs but I think I am done with the development for now. I'd love feedback.
Download iFreelance AIR App

The PittMFUG Wallpaper

Some of you liked the wallpaper I had last night. It is a quick PittMFUG wallpaper I made yesterday. If you are interested you can download it.
Download the PittMFUG Wallpaper

Val's Presentation Files: Flash Player Update 3 - MovieStar
Val's files are available here.

Ben's Presentation Files: AIR Apps with Flash CS3
Ben's files are available here.

Isaac's Presentation Files: AIR-based Kiosks with HTML and Flash
Isaac's files are available here.

Web Links and Other Items of Discussion
We also talked about some other very cool things last night like:
Image Seam Carving Flash-based Demo
and
Image Seam Carving Youtube Video

PittMFUG September Meeting

2007-09-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hey all you MFUGers out there!
Don't forget that the MFUG is meeting this Thursday at New Perspective at 6:30PM! The night's topics will cover AIR Development using Flash CS3. We will be creating the app from scratch so if you are interested in working along please bring a laptop with Flash CS3 installed and install the Flash CS3 AIR plugin. Val will be presenting some new functionality in Flash Player 9 Update 3 as well. Hope to see you there!

Podcast 17: New Video and Audio Podcast Available

2007-08-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

That's right boys and girls. Since we got hit up so hard at the onAIR tour we decided to go all out for this one. We did a four camera and four microphone setup in the sweet New Perspective audio studio. Take a look or have a listen. Joe and I took some time, ok mostly Joe, to get the videos all together and ready. Let us know what you think!

Video Podcast
We only have two videos... If you still want the feed url it is www.pittmfug.com/podcast/videopodcast.xml. To download the video directly you can click here.

Audio Only:
iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

Adobe onAIR Pittsburgh Video

2007-08-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

My good friend Joe Kromer served as our camera man when the Adobe onAIR Bus Tour came to Pittsburgh. Joe put together a nice video for the members of the PittMFUG and was nice enough to share it. You can check out the video below:

Adobe onAIR Pittsburgh

2007-08-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

The PittMFUG and Adobe Folks at Primanti Bros.

Adobe onAIR Pittsburgh was one of the best events I have ever been to. The AIR Tour is such a valuable tool for any of you guys interested in developing with AIR. The night here in Pittsburgh was insane. Adobe really pulled out all of the stops with the food, games and presentations. All of the guys on the tour did a great job of explaining what AIR is capable of and even demoed some sweet apps.

I feel REALLY bad for those of you who couldn't make it. Those of you who did make it - Make sure you upload and tag any pictures from the event that you have! We hope to have some video footage available soon as well.

The members of the PittMFUG even had the opportunity to hit up Primanti Brothers with some of the Adobe folks after the show! For those of you interested you can check out photos from the Pittsburgh stop here.

Pittsburgh Adobe onAIR Bus Tour Tonight

2007-08-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

Hey MFUGers! The Adobe onAIR Bus Tour is tonight. Don't forget! Doors open at 5:15. See you there!

onAIR Bus Tour Pittsburgh

July Meeting Redux

2007-07-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

Hey all you MFUGers! Great meeting last night. Wayne and I were very happy with the turnout and flow of the meeting over all. Don't forget that there is not a meeting next month! We will be at the Adobe AIR Bus tour at the Heinz History Center on August 17th! Registration is free and it looks like it will be an awesome time. If you haven't registered yet, do it now! ( http://onair.adobe.com/schedule/cities/pittsburgh.php) Make sure you put the word out at work and to all your friends!

You can download the files from the presentations on AIR Applications Using HTML and Parsing XML with AS3 here.

July Meeting Reminder

2007-07-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hey all you MFUGers! It's that time again, time to roll on down to your local Flash Users Group for fun and prizes. This Thursday we will be presenting XML usage in ActionScript 3 and Working with Adobe AIR for HTML Developers. The meeting is at the normal time and place. Don't forget the big Adobe Bus Tour is next month in place of the MFUG! Hope to see you all there this Thursday!

Free Flash tutorial at the Creative Treehouse Tonight

2007-07-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the first Tutorial Tuesdays at the Creative Treehouse and the topic is Flash. The tutorial sessions are free and tonight's tutorial is being lead by PittMFUG member, Josh Sager.

Tonight's tutorial will cover:
Get url
Creating load bars
Hit tests
Duplication of movieclips
Masks
Maze hit tests
... and more!

The session starts at 7pm
at the Creative Treehouse
517 Lincoln Ave. 2nd Floor
Bellevue, PA 15202

Directions and other info at creativetreehousepgh.com

Potential Freelance Work

2007-07-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

A small Carnegie Mellon spin-off ,which develops sophisticated management training simulation, is looking for a freelance GUI developer. The company just received funding and is developing its first product which will contain a flash based GUI .

We are looking for a sharp, talented designer that will be able to transfer our crazy ideas to a working prototype. lots of fun guaranteed. If you find it interesting contact hlevi@cmu.edu for more information.

Job Posting: Interactive Designer

2007-06-28T11:10:00.001-07:00

INTERACTIVE DESIGNER

Fast-paced, fast-growing, creative firm seeks full-time innovative multidisciplinary Interactive Designer with 2+ years experience. Applicant must be able to create funky, progressive sites as proficiently as enterprise-wide corporate sites. Candidate should be unafraid to “push the envelope” while remaining sensitive to client needs and timeframe. Deep technical knowledge coupled with creativity and a sense of humor is a crucial. Candidate must demonstrate the following technical capabilities:

- Exceptional project planning skills and documentation
- Firm knowledge of information design, usability principles, and the technical limitations of database-driven Web sites.
- Presentation skills
- Ability to create Flash-based Web sites
- Ability to write DHTML, AJAX, or ActionScript a plus
- Ability to build Web sites using ASP, PHP (database-driven sites) a plus

Send resume, non-returnable portfolio samples, jpegs or web-link to:
Don Charlton, Director of Interactive Strategy
don@walltowall.com

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended Review

2007-06-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended Review

Photoshop, that can’t live without application that we use everyday. I have to say that when I heard about Photoshop CS3 coming out that I was very eager. I have been using Photoshop since version 4 and I couldn't’t imagine what they could be adding to improve the application further. That’s when I found out I must not have a very good imagination. Photoshop CS3 Extended has brought some amazing new features to the table that may radically change the way you use and think about Photoshop.

Extended?
For the first time Adobe has released Photoshop in two different versions, Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. So what’s the difference? Because the features in Photoshop CS3 Extended are so ground breaking I decided that it would be best to concentrate on what makes up the extended version.

Video Editing Capabilities
Photoshop CS3 Extended has the ability to import video files. Users can import video frames to layers for manipulation or use the unique video editing capabilities in the AfterEffects-like animation panel.

You can even use the clone tool to paint out areas in individual frames and duplicate the modified frames so that they carry through throughout the rest of the video that you are editing.

Once you have the video as you wish you can actually export the video back out of Photoshop to several different video formats.

3D Model Importing
The ability to import 3D models right into Photoshop has to be my favorite new feature by far. You can literally import 3D objects (3ds, COLLADA, etc) right into Photoshop.

You can then adjust texture visibility, adjust lighting, rotate the image and reposition cameras.

I can really see a lot of designers getting into downloading 3D models for compositing into their designs. For people like me with limited 3D exposure this is an excellent addition. I can simply download a free model, open it with Photoshop and adjust it until the lighting and angles that I want are just right!

Vanishing Point with 3D
If you have ever used the Vanishing Point filter in previous versions of Photoshop you may know the massive amount of power that it has. Photoshop CS3 Extended ships with Vanishing Point with 3D. This allows you to actually clone areas of your source image in perspective but then map that cloned image to a 3D plane. Once you have the planes created you can then export them to a Photoshop layer or 3D model format.

Medical Imaging and MATLAB Support
Photoshop CS3 Extended also brings some new features for those in the medical field and those mathematically inclined that like to view their algorithm visualizations.

Measurement Tools
Another really neat feature of Photoshop CS3 Extended is the ability to measure and log measurements.

For example, if you had a rough layout of a house in an image format you would be able to measure along a known distance, say the width of a room, and then set the pixel scale size. This would enable you to measure the rest of the measurements in the house using the ruler tool while logging the readings formatted in the unit of your choosing.

You are able to gather the remaining measurements of the house by using the pixel scale to return the equivalent in the unit of measurement that you have selected.

Conclusion
Photoshop CS3 Extended is an excellent tool that provides a few additional tools to the already excellent Photoshop CS3 application. If you are a developer interested in working with 3D or video then you are going to want the freedom and flexibility that Photoshop CS3 Extended offers.

If you are feeling like the features in Extended might be a much for you Photoshop CS3 has added numerous updates such as Smart Filters, Quick Selection and Refine Edge tools, Advanced compositing, Streamlined interface, Better raw image processing, Improved Adobe Bridge, Enhanced Vanishing Point, Enhanced 32-bit HDR support, Peak performance and Black-and-white conversion. These features alone are an excellent upgrade from CS2.

If you have not had a chance to use Photoshop or Photoshop CS3 Extended then I suggest you download a trial copy to try out!

More Information
Photoshop CS3 Extended retails for $999.00 and is available as an upgrade for $349.00. Additonal features and details can be viewed at the Photoshop CS3 Extended page on Adobe.com.

PittMFUG June Meeting Redux

2007-06-26T05:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that showed up for the AS3 Primer class. I hope you guys enjoyed the new swag as well. As promised, you can access the Primer files below. Heather also emailed me a nice version of the AS2-AS3 Migration sheet. You can download there here:

AS3 Primer Files
AS2-AS3 Migration Sheet

Those of you with more questions on the DisplayObject can read more here.

Adobe AIR Bus Tour Coming to Pittsburgh

2007-06-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

The meeting for the August PittMFUG will be moved to the 17th as Adobe's AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime - previously Apollo) Bus Tour will be rolling into town that day! The event will be happening at the Heinz History Center and will include sessions from Kevin Hoyt, Mikey Downey and Mike Chambers! It should be an awesome show and a great time!

We are told that the PittMFUG will have a table or area at the show - so come and represent! You can get more info, tweets, flickr, etc from the other events across the country here: onair.adobe.com

Here is the Pittsburgh Event page.

Make sure you signup!

June PittMFUG Meeting

2007-06-08T09:01:00.001-07:00

Hey all you MFUGers out there! This is just a reminder that the next meeting is June 21st. We will be trying something different this meeting - this meeting will run more like a workshop. I will be presenting a primer on ActionScript 3. So bring a laptop or even a desktop - we will have trial copies of Flash CS3 to install in case you don't have it. I will step you through some basic code; This should be a nice, low-level intro into getting started with AS3/Flash 9.

We also have a new shipment of swag in - so show up and win some door prizes why don't ya! I also still have one copy of Flash CS3 Pro available for purchase on the cheap. Let me know if you are interested. Can't wait to see you all there!

In the meantime, if you want to play with something new - you can check out my new Kuler Panel for Flash CS3 that I wrote.

May Meeting Review

2007-05-21T10:36:00.001-07:00

The May meeting was a fun evening for everyone who came out. Due to the small turn out we put the formal presentations aside and had more of a social gathering. There was some great conversation about recent trends and the industry in general.

The XML and E4X presentation will be covered at our June meeting instead. Stay tuned for this month's podcast to be posted later this week.

Podcast Episode 16 Now Available

2007-04-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

Our latest podcast is out! Episode 16. We chat about the Flex, sIFR, Apollo and more! Check it out.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

April Meeting Review

2007-04-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

Hey all you MFUGers - great meeting last night. You can access the files from the presentations below. The LIVE podcast from the meeting should be released soon as well. Stay tuned.

Ben's Apollo Presentation Files

Val's sIFR Presentation Files

Val's sIFR Presentation Links:

Rich Accessible Typography for the Masses
(History, best uses and sIFR 2.02 download)

Official sIFR sample page

Explanation of sIFR's font sizing

sIFR documentation (wiki)

A sIFR fonts library

Tons of Free Video on the new Adobe CS3 Software Packages

2007-04-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

Adobe is providing a ton of free videos giving detailed information and drill-downs on much of the new software. The videos are nicely laid out and sorted in their Flex-based application. You can view the videos here.

The Pittsburgh Adobe Flash Users Group Chats with Colin Moock

2007-04-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

The PittMFUG was fortunate enough to talk with Colin Moock about his new O'Reilly book, Essential ActionScript 3, how he got started with Flash, Apollo and much more. Colin was nice enough to spending about a half hour chatting with us. We covered a lot of ground and got some great insights from him concerning ActionScript 3 and the Flash Platform.

We are releasing this interview as a special podcast today. You can download the mp3 itself here. Subscribers to the podcast may also access the new podcast on the PittMFUG podcast feed.

Thanks
A big thanks goes to New Perspective for providing the audio recording facilities and expertise and to Mike Rajakovic for his audio engineering know-how.

About Colin Moock

Colin Moock is an independent ActionScript expert with a passion for networked creativity and expression. He is author of the world-renowned guides to Flash programming, "Essential ActionScript 3.0" (O'Reilly & Associates, 2007) and "ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide" (O'Reilly & Associates, 2003, 2001). A web professional since 1995, Moock runs one of the web's oldest Flash developer sites, www.moock.org. When he's not writing books about ActionScript, Colin spends most of his time exploring multiuser application development with Unity, moock.org's complete commercial framework for creating and deploying multiuser applications for Adobe Flash.

Links
www.moock.org
FITC Presentation Info
ActionScript 3.0 and Flash CS3

Free Flash Brush Up Course For PTI Alumni

2007-04-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Our own Josh Sager will be teaching a Free Flash Course for Alumni of Pittsburgh Technical Institute. Check out his blog for the details!

Podcast Episode 15 - March Podcast

2007-04-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

Our latest podcast is out! Episode 13. We chat about the CS3 Release, the RWii and Flash, Apollo and more! Check it out.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

Stay tuned after the 'cast for a special guest interview!

PittMFUG Adobe CS3 Launch Party Aftermath

2007-03-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a blast! Thanks to all of you loyal MFUGers and all of you new folks that showed up as well! We had a great turn out and a great time. For those of you who couldn't make it... Well, you missed out. We gave away two CS3 packages, an iPod, Pirates tickets and more. Adobe provided us with some great detailed dive-downs into the new software that only User Groups got to check out. You can check out some of the happy winners below. Remember that next months meeting will return to the third Thursday of the month as usual.

A big thanks goes to New Perspective for hosting the event and for providing door prizes. Thanks to Joe Kromer for his behind the scenes help as well! And of course Adobe - for picking up the tab and for releasing such great software!

A full set of pics from the event is available on our Flickr feed (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pittmfug/). Access just the event photos here.

Heather - Winner of the PittMFUG Bi-annual Drawing, takes home CS3

Ian - Winner of the Adobe CS3 Launch Giveaway

Jia of Guru.com - Winner of the iPod

Dave - Winner of Pirates Tickets

Val - Winner of the Jump Drive

Recorded LIVE CS3 Event

2007-03-27T12:31:00.001-07:00

In case you missed the LIVE Brodcast of the Adobe CS3 Launch Event you can watch it here:

2007-03-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

Next Tuesday we will be having two major software drawings. One of them is exclusive to you loyal MFUGers. Below you can get a feel for your odds of winning. Good luck everyone!

Special Adobe CS3 Release Meeting and More!

2007-03-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

Join us for this can't miss meeting!

A new era in creative expression is about to unfold, freeing us to color outside the lines, to think in multiple dimensions, to engage audiences like never before. The Pittsburgh Flash Users Group will be hosting a special meeting for the official launch of Adobe Creative Suite 3!! Please join us at this special meeting that will include the recorded launch announcement from Adobe featuring presentations by Adobe executives, product demonstrations, and a chance to win one of the first copies of the new CS3 suite when it starts shipping!

Along with the new Adobe CS3 suite, the PittMFUG will be holding our drawing for the twice a year $2100 software giveaway! If you've made it to at least one of our meetings since our last giveaway this summer -- you're already entered. If the software giveaways and Adobe announcements don't interest you, our buddy Joe Kromer will be giving a demo on Flash and the Wii. If you miss this one... shame on you for 6 weeks!

Come join the rest of the creative industry and be part of the buzz and excitement by participating in this very special launch event.

Tuesday, March 27
6:30 PM at New Perspective

- Wayne

NEXT MEETING DATE CHANGED, Some Big Announcements and Podcast 14

2007-03-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

The next meeting will be March 27th - a Tuesday!
The date has been changed for a good reason - come and find out. We will be having two large raffles of software for all you MFUGers as well! It should be a very exciting night. To find out what we CAN tell you at this point please listen to the podcast.

Podcast
Our latest podcast is out! Episode 14. We have some big announcements in the podcast as well as info about upcoming events in the Flash community.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

February Meeting Redux

2007-02-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you guys that showed up at the last meeting. Below you will find links containing the source for the demos showed and links out to some things we talked about during the Freestyle section. Check back soon and look for the podcast - we have some exciting news!

Wayne's Source for Shared Local Objects
Ben's Source for Perlin Noise

Paper Vision 3D Source Link (Feb 7th)

Creative Marathon at the Treehouse

2007-02-17T05:07:00.000-08:00

Here is some info about the Creative Marathon event I was talking about. For more information and to sign up for the event go to http://www.creativetreehousepgh.com.

Podcast Episode 13

2007-01-30T12:41:00.000-08:00

Our latest podcast is out! Episode 13. We chat about Sound.computeSpectrum, the Rectangle Class, the Wii and Flash and more! Check it out.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

Writing Flash for the Nintendo Wii

2007-01-30T12:06:00.000-08:00

Following some of the talk on the recent podcast (to be posted soon), I thought it would be helpful to post some links to you MFUGers. Below is transcript from my post on Pixelfumes:

The following is an initial attempt to wrangle all of the useful knowledge from blogs and sites throughout the community concerning Flash and the Nintendo Wii. If you have a useful link that you believe is missing from this list - please leave a comment and let me know.

As you may know, the Nintendo Wii currently runs an Opera-based web browser. It can currently display Flash 7 files within the browser as well. As time passes people have been able to write code to recognize gestures with the remote as well as basic tracking of the Wii remote. Below is a compiled list of topics concerning writing Flash for the Wii and the marriage of the two in general:

Opera Browser
Wikipedia Information of the Opera-based Wii Web Browser

Programming (Wiimote)
Flash Wii Gesture Recognization

Wiimote buttons in Flash - Aral Balkan

Wiimote buttons in Flash - wii.teamxlink.co.uk

Wiimote in Flash - Quasimondo

Design
Wii Web Design Guide

Funny Wii Safety: Missing Pages

Videos
Video Showing Apparent Full Support of the Wiimote in Flash at DustyPixels

January Meeting Redux

2007-01-18T17:25:00.000-08:00

It was a great meeting! Thanks to all of you who attended. Last night we covered the Rectangle and Point Classes with Wayne Lincoln and talked about the new ActionScript 3 Sound.computeSpectrum with myself (Ben Pritchard).

Josh Sager gave us an overview of a sweet place that is soon to open in Bellevue. The Creative Treehouse sounds like an awesome place for creatives to get together, work on freelance, have a show, develop film, shoot film, etc. The grand opening is slated for March. There will be a monthly membership fee of around $25. Day passes will also be available. Stay tuned to the PittMFUG blog and to Josh's blog for details.

We also talked a bit about the following links as well:
Flash Element TD Game
http://www.papervision3d.org/
Sound Spectrum Contest Winners

Files
Here are the files from the meeting that we have available:

Ben Pritchard - ActionScript 3 Sound.computeSpectrum

Macromedia Studio 8 Review

2007-01-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Adobe (Macromedia) Studio 8 Review

By Ben Pritchard

I have been in the web development and design field for awhile now and until recently never really took any of the “Studio” packages for a test drive as a whole. Recently I had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy of Studio 8 and now, after using the package for awhile I thought I would detail my findings.

Studio is comprised of 5 programs. The package includes Flash Professional 8, Dreamweaver 8, Fireworks 8, Contribute 3 and Flash Paper 2. The whole idea behind the Studio package is equipping you with programs you will use everyday in your development and design processes. These programs are unique in the fact that they are all very compatible with and tied into one another. I thought it would be helpful to give you a broad understanding of each of the programs packaged with Studio 8 along with an overview of some of the more outstanding features of each.

Flash Professional 8

Flash Professional 8 is the true gem of the Studio 8 package in my opinion. I am a Flash Developer by trade so I may be a little biased on this one.

Flash 8 Professional is a huge step up from Flash 7 in many ways. It has many new features including: blending modes for layers, filter support for great looking effects such as blurs, drop shadows, bevels and glows. Flash 8 also boast a great new text rendering engine that improves the legibility and versatility of text within your Flash movies.

The new features add very little to file size which greatly add to the whole user experience. Small files and great visual appeal meet here. Performance in Flash 8 .swf files has grown phenomenally over that of its predecessor. Flash 8 now supports the ability to render movieclips as bitmaps using the new .cacheAsBitmap property. This allows the .swf to render a movieclip as a bitmap freeing up memory , thereby improving overall performance and limitations of previous versions of Flash.

ActionScript has been given some very nice new features. BitmapData is by far a favorite of mine. Pixel-level code can be written now allowing you to check and modify individual pixels via ActionScript. All of the new filters can be controlled via ActionScript as well. Some nice new additions are the Displacement and Convolution filters. Flash 8 Professional is a very solid application and really helps developers move closer and closer to true OOP programming.

Macromedia also provided a huge step in the realm of Flash video. FLVs can now be encoded using either the Sorenson codec as in Flash MX 2004 or the new On2 codec. The new On2 codec adds support for alpha channels within FLVs. You can now import keyed video into your Flash movies. Overall the On2 codec also provided superior video though at a bit of a hike in processor usage.

Flash 8 also makes great use of screen real-estate allowing the user to easily dock and collapse pallets while truly making the environment their own.

Overall Flash 8 is a huge step up from MX 2004 and is a must have.

Dreamweaver 8

Dreamweaver 8 is by far my web editor of choice. Many new features have been added to Dreamweaver as well. Great XHTML/web standards support has been added. It is great top be able to create a new XHTML web document and hit the ground running. Tag completion is a great compliment to helping you write compliant code.

XML and CSS support have been improved upon as well. You can open the new tabbed window to take a look at the CSS definitions. XML editing and tag completion is also very excellent. Support for XSL is built in as well. Adobe has some great tutorials for getting started with many of these new features.

Back-end development is not an every day event for me but when the need arises I can rely on the support of Dreamweaver 8 again. Whether you are writing .NET, classic ASP, PHP or JSP; Dreamweaver more than likely will be a great tool for you even if it just for the great support of syntax highlighting.

Newbies will also appreciate the design view which actually allows you to zoom in to pixel level and make modifications to your pages visually. You can also split the view to watch visually how your code is affecting the display of your page.

Again, a huge step above the previous version of Dreamweaver. This is another very solid app which is only second to Flash in the amount of usage it gets from me.

Fireworks 8

Fireworks 8 was new for me so this might be a bit of a review for you long time loyal users. I used Fireworks for the first time in Studio 8 and I was surprised that more people have not pushed it. Fireworks 8 makes easy work of graphic optimization, animated GIF creation and general preparation of graphics for display within web pages.

My favorite feature of Fireworks 8 is the support and output of PNG-8 files with Alpha transparency. Fireworks 8 can push out semi-transparencies in a PNG-8 file as well. Naturally there is some quality loss depending on what your PNG entails but when you are cutting a 300kb PNG-32 down to 30kb it is well worth it.

Fireworks follows Flash also supports many new filters that can be applied to bitmaps. The best part about Fireworks is that it seems to be a very “light” application; opening quickly and running very smoothly. If you are looking for a way to optimize your graphics this is the way to go.

Contribute 3

Contribute is a sweet little tool that I feel like most people ignore. If you need to set a site up for a client that requires the ability to be updated and maintained; Contribute just might be your ticket. WYSIWG editing of static websites is what Contribute does. The great thing about it is that you can setup different users whom have different levels of access.

You can lock down the CSS or certain pages and allow other content to be added or modified. Using Contribute, you can take the site you just developed in Dreamweaver, setup an email-able key, email it to the client and voila! The client simply opens the key with their copy of Contribute and they are in.

This is a great tool for those who want to keep their websites updated without knowing HTML or without spending loads on HTML editors themselves.

Flash Paper 2

Rounding up the Studio 8 package is a sweet little application called Flash Paper 2. Flash Paper basically takes any Microsoft Office document and converts it into a .swf file. You can then load that .swf file into your own Flash movie and make API calls against the document to change pages, zoom, etc.

Flash Paper is a lot like a light version of Acrobat Distiller. You can print to Flash Paper just like a real printer or Distiller. The result is a .swf file that contains your document within the Flash Paper chrome.

The beautiful part about using Flash Paper is that most likely the user already has the Flash Player installed and will therefore not need to install another plug-in such as Acrobat Reader. It generates lightweight, searchable and easily viewable swf versions of just about any document you print.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I could not work without Studio 8. It is the de facto standard in web and multimedia/interactive development. With Studio 9 on the verge it may make sense to familiarize yourself with Studio 8 and all of the great benefits and features it provides.

Studio 8 is available for $999 or $399 for the upgrade. You can also download a free trial of the programs contained here.

Holiday Card Submissions

2006-12-19T07:27:00.000-08:00

Hey - some of you podcast listeners know about the contest we mentioned on the podcast. Well, on that note - here a combination entry. Wayne, Val, Joe and myself worked on the holiday card for New Perspective. Hope you guys like it!

Now, shoot Wayne or I an email with your submission and we will post a link to it here. We have a nice little prize to give out this Thursday at the meeting.

Jobs Openings

2006-12-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some job postings that have be mentioned to me by friends and colleagues. I thought I would pass them along.

SOE
SOE is looking for a web developer. They must be good with javascript, DOM, AJAX, CSS, ect... If you are interested please send your resume to kblackman@soe.sony.com. The contact name is Kyle Blackman

Apangea Learning

.NET Developer
Professional opportunity for a highly motivated .Net Developer.
Apangea Learning, Inc. is seeking a qualified individual to maintain
and enhance an industry leading tutoring technology platform. The
ideal candidate will have 2-5 years of successful .NET development
experience in a fast-paced environment. Bachelor's degree in Computer
Science (or related field), knowledge of object oriented programming
and experience with SQL Server stored procedures is also required;
knowledge of Flash, HTML, and CSS is a plus. Apangea Learning is a
high-growth educational support software and services company.
Position located in downtown Pittsburgh, PA.

Flash Developer
Excellent opportunity for a highly motivated Flash Developer. Apangea
Learning, Inc. is seeking a qualified individual to join our
development team. The ideal candidate will have 2-5 years of
successful Flash development experience in a fast-paced environment.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science (or related field) and an
in-depth knowledge of ActionScript are required. Knowledge of object
oriented programming and experience with .net framework and T-SQL are
a plus. Apangea Learning is a high-growth educational support software
and services company. Position located in downtown Pittsburgh, PA.

please apply to careers@apangea.com (no calls please)

CIBER
CIBER is currently searching for 2 Web Developers for our .Net Practice in downtown Pittsburgh. Ideal candidates will possess strong front end development combined with solid end to end development experience. Ability to work from Photoshop to C# would be ideal. Candidates possessing strong experience in front end Web development are a priority but must be willing and able to learn rapidly to code ASP.net, C#, etc. We are looking to fill multiple positions with varying experience levels so feel free to submit your resume for consideration. The emphasis for us is strong front end website development experience and the ability/initiative to do middle tier and back end development. Our project requires well rounded individuals that can work on multiple facets of a software engagement.

Ciber’s Microsoft .Net practice has been focused on building highly scalable enterprise solutions for years. We are a Microsoft Certified partner, and we started with the beta version of Microsoft .Net back in 2001. We’ve architected, developed, and deployed numerous .Net solutions for a variety of customers and industries and have become highly respected industry experts in this technology. We are actively working with the upcoming releases of .Net 2005 and SQL Server 2005.

Contact: David Riley
Email: driley@ciber.com

Reed Smith
Reed Smith LLP, a top-25 international law firm with 1,000 lawyers located throughout the United States and Europe, represents Fortune 100 as well as mid-market and emerging companies. Clients include financial services firms, life sciences companies, health care providers, technology companies and entrepreneurs, power generators and suppliers, manufacturers, universities, non-profit organizations, real estate developers, and municipalities throughout the United States and in 40 countries. For more information, visit www.reedsmith.com.

POSITION SUMMARY:
The Web Developer position is responsible for technical support, application development, implementation, and ongoing enhancements. The position provides technical responsibility and analysis for Reed Smith’s intranet and related applications. The web developer acts as a resource to others within and outside of the group and department. He/She is also responsible for varying levels of project management and client needs analysis.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
* Develop web-based applications. Analyze, design, develop, and support applications for intranet/extranet.
* Develop using ASP, ASP.NET, JavaScript, VB and VB.NET as needed.
* Work on various projects relating to evaluating, testing, deploying, designing, and developing new/upgraded systems/technology. Troubleshoot, analyze, and problem solve.
* Recommend design & development standards for the intranet (e.g., classes, objects, scripts, functions, colors, fonts, layout).
* Provide off-hours and weekend technical support as required.
* Take charge of particularly confidential, high-profile, or otherwise sensitive projects, users, and requests, communicating with the Supervisor of Software Development or other personnel as appropriate.
* Recommend significant intranet/SQL server changes to the other members of the Development team.
* Coordinate special projects as assigned by the Supervisor of Web Development or Manager of Practice Support Applications.
* Identify improvements to systems/procedures and present to the Supervisor of Web Development.
* Remain current on relevant technologies and industry standards through networking, as well as formal and informal training/education.
* May volunteer or be selected to serve on special committees, work groups, project teams, or escalation teams related to various firm-wide S&T initiatives. Initiatives may be specific one-time events (e.g., research, testing, rollouts, upgrades, installations) or ongoing activities.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, & ABILITIES:

*BS in Computer Science or equivalent
*Additional training, education, and/or certification in relevant areas preferred
*5 years of web development experience
*2 years specialized development experience within the Microsoft .NET Framework
*Understanding of relational database concepts and ability to apply these concepts in building data models
*Skilled in writing stored procedures, triggers, and views for Microsoft SQL Server
*Proven experience in graphical user interface design
*Proven ability to work independently and as a team member
*Ability to be flexible and work analytically in a problem-solving environment
*Good communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills
*Good organizational, prioritization, multi-tasking, and time-management skills
*Ability to effectively interact with all organizational levels
*Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines
*Experience using Microsoft Visual Source Safe desirable
*Experience with Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Reporting Services desirable
*Experience with web services (SOAP, XML, etc.) desirable

If I hear anything else I will pass it along :)

Podcamp Pittsburgh Video

2006-12-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

I was browsing over at Josh Sager's blog - a fellow MFUGer we all know and love - and stumbled upon this video from Podcamp Pittsburgh. Josh makes some appearances as well (gotta love the dancing). He promises to have info on Podcamp 07 at the next MFUG meeting. Enjoy - click here [swf]

PittMFUG on Tivo

2006-12-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Recently I got off my butt and got the Tivo Wireless Adapter for my wireless network at home. This opens new options and programs on my Tivo. One that I thought was awesome is Podcaster. You can launch Podcaster on your tivo, type in the PittMFUG podcast url and Bob's your uncle. Listen to Ben, Wayne and Joe in all the 4:3 glory... Below are a couple of screenies. It even pulls the album art.

Podcast Episode 12

2006-12-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Our latest podcast is out! Episode 12. We chat about Displacement, making snow, external ActionScript editors, Podcamp and more! Check it out.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

Actionscript 3 Snow Storm Class

2006-11-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

I promised I'd attempt an AS3 version of the snow fall I presented at the last meeting. Here it is in all of it's black and white glory. Hope you like it. I will answer questions next meeting if you all have any. Obviously, Flash Player 9 is needed to see the example below. Thanks.
-Ben

Here is the class:

November Meeting Redux

2006-11-27T05:27:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone that showed up for the 1 year anniversary of the PittMFUG. What a great meeting. We were very happy to see new faces and such a great turn out. Below you will find links and files covered at the last meeting. Podcast soon we hope. Thanks!

Using the Displacement Filter in Flash

Creating a Snow Storm in Flash
Link to last year's snow storm code by Pixelfumes

Flash Did You Know Items by Jeremy

October Meeting Redux

2006-11-27T05:21:00.000-08:00

The files for the October meeting are now available for download. Thanks to Kramer and John for presenting!

Dynamic Stretching Flash Files

Using the Right-Click Context Menu in Flash

Kramer uses his technique on the Hot Tips from Tina site:
http://hottipsfromtina.com/

John had mentioned some links at the meeting and here are the links to his files:
http://www.orange-project.com/
http://labs.bigspaceship.com/blog/
Is the big spaceship blog where you can download the visualizer class
used on www.nikeair.com (not the missile silos)

Podcamp Pittsburgh

2006-11-13T18:31:00.000-08:00

Podcamp Pittsburgh just came through town and it was awesome! There were about 200 people there with guest speakers from all over the country giving sessions from podcasting to greenscreening. If you didn't get a chance to go you can check the website for photos, podcasts, videos, and all sorts of great stuff.

Podcast Episode 11: LIVE from Goosky's

2006-10-30T07:03:00.000-08:00

Our latest podcast is out! Episode 11: LIVE from Goosky's. Check it out.

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

Review of Adobe After Effects 7.0 Professional

2006-10-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

Review of Adobe After Effects 7.0 Professional
Wayne Lincoln
Pittsburgh Flash Users Group
10/5/2006

Introduction

I’ve been a Graphic Designer and Interactive Developer for more than 15 years and have been using Adobe After Effects on a regular basis since version 5.5. After Effects is a powerful motion graphics tool, and more, for both video and interactive designers. Since the release of Macromedia Flash 8 with its enhanced video playback capabilities, I’ve used After Effects even more to enhance my interactive projects. With After Effects 7.0 Professional, Adobe has created a robust tool that can be a part of any interactive workflow.

Compact and Customizable Workspace

The new docked panel interface saves time. With one click access to properties in your panels you don’t need to drag them out of the way to get to what you’re after. Everything’s nicely attached so they don’t overlap and get in the way. Simply drag the divider bars between panels to customize your workspace. Adjacent panels adjust automatically. Click and drag them to new “drop zones” to place them wherever you want. You can still create floating palettes if you prefer, which is useful in multiple monitor setups.

Default docked panels

Drag and drop panels into new drop zones

Of course, once your workspace is set the way you want, you can save it. The built in workspace presets are well thought out as well and I find myself changing them often depending on what I’m doing. With the workspace selection dropdown at the top right of the screen, it’s easy to switch your workspace quickly.

A cool new feature is the ability to alter your User Interface colors in your Preferences. Drag the Brightness slider far to the left to darken the background and the text automatically inverts! Very easy on the eyes. My optometrist would be pleased.

Set custom user interface brightness settings

Effects, Presets and Templates Galore

If you’re new to After Effects or just want to learn how to pull off some new effects, the Effects & Presets panel is packed with shortcuts to get you up to speed fast. Just drag an animation preset or effect to an existing layer in your timeline and play with the settings to get professional results quickly. If you’ve never used After Effects’ expressions before, there are several preset examples for you to try out and learn from.

Besides the Effects & Presets panel, After Effects comes with many more effects and project templates that you can access through Adobe Bridge. Choose “Browse” from the “File” menu to launch Bridge and begin exploring. You’ll find several backgrounds, transitions, color correction effects and more. To me, the most useful presets are the text effects. There are hundreds to choose from.

Browse presets using Adobe Bridge to apply timesaving effects

Graph Editor

The new Graph Editor for animation has some powerful features. Click the Graph Editor button at the top of the timeline to see animated layer and effects properties shown in graph form. The graph will change scale automatically as properties change if you keep the autozoom graph height button selected. Select several animated layers on a timeline and you’ll see all the animated properties layed out in the graph. Each property is color coded for identification. I recommend opening the graph editor full screen (by pressing the tilde key when your mouse is over the timeline) to see things more clearly though. Edit multiple keyframes at once by dragging your mouse around several and stretching the selection rectangle that appears, similar to Adobe Photoshop’s Free Transform tool (see image below).

The Graph Editor allows editing of multiple keyframes at once

I found the Graph Editor to be somewhat cumbersome to use compared to other graph editors when it came to adjusting speed values though. You can switch graph modes by right-clicking the graph and choosing either “Edit Value Graph” or “Edit Speed Graph”. In Edit Value mode, everything works as you’d expect. You can adjust values over time with Adobe Illustrator-like bezier controls on keyframe points to create eased transitions, or click one of the Easy Ease buttons to do it for you (see image below). In Edit Speed mode, however, the bezier controls work differently and can be difficult to adjust. This forced me to leave the Graph Editor for position and rotation adjustments at least, and use the motion path instead (in the composition window).

The Graph Editor lets you customize values with easy bezier controls in the value editing mode

Working with Flash

After Effects 7.0 has added the ability to output alpha transparent video directly to the Flash FLV format. Previously, you would have to render to a video format like Quicktime first. Then use either the Flash 8 Video Encoder or the Flash authoring tool to convert the video to FLV. You’ll notice After Effects’ output to FLV is slower than using Flash 8 Video Encoder, but that’s because it has to render each frame first, not just re-encode from another video format. Keep in mind, if you use cue points in your FLVs, you can’t add them directly using After Effects FLV export. You’ll still need to render a Quicktime instead, and add the cue points when encoding through the authoring tool or Video Encoder.

Integration with Other Adobe Applications

Adobe After Effects 7.0 has given Breeze new life for me. Since Breeze was added to the Adobe suite of products a few years back, I was less than impressed with it. However, after using it with the new After Effects, it’s become much more valuable as an asset manager and browser.

Adobe’s done a good job of integrating its other software packages with After Effects 7.0. Start a new Photoshop file from within After Effects and, if you have Photoshop CS2, the file will be set up correctly to match your comp’s settings with pixel correction and all. This saves some of the trouble when deciding on square vs. non square pixels in your Photoshop assets.

If you use Illustrator files in your After Effects projects, you’ll love the Continuously Rasterize setting (see image below). With the setting turned on, your Illustrator vector source will keep its razor sharp edges at any scale.

Adobe Illustrator vector comp layer scaled to 750% with Continuously Rasterize off

The same comp layer scaled to 750% with Continuously Rasterize turned on

Performance

As far as performance, I was pleasantly surprised how well the new After Effects ran on a PC with even the minimum required RAM (512MB). I noticed only minor delays during RAM previews with Motion Blur and Advanced 3D rendering turned on. Obviously, the more RAM the better though. Everything seems to run faster than previous versions of After Effects.

Conclusion

On my wish list for the next version of After Effects is a more complete Graph Editor with fine control over any animated property (in any graph mode). Also, since I have used After Effects 7.0 on both a Macintosh and a PC, I noticed Adobe dropped the Windows Media format from the render output settings in the Macintosh version. This common format is a necessity in some shops and should be brought back if possible.

My impression of After Effects 7.0 Professional, overall, is that it’s much easier to work with than previous versions yet retains its status as a feature-rich tool. You will get your projects done faster and with top notch results.

Pricing from adobe.com

Adobe After Effects 7.0 Professional:

$199.00 upgrade
$999.00 full version

Adobe After Effects 7.0 Standard:

$99.00 upgrade
$699.00 full version

MFUG Meeting Date Change for October (Now October 26th)

2006-10-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

We need to reschedule the MFUG for October 26th. This is the last Thursday of the month. Please take note and don't let you or your friends show up on the 19th. Thanks!

-Ben Pritchard

Maya Job Opening

2006-10-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

Maya asked that I post this for you budding Flash stars. Here is the descrip provided:

Rare opening for a visual jack-of-all-trades (and master of one). MAYA works in many domains, so think fast on your feet. Make products easier to use and invent new ones. Use motion, time, and illustration to describe user experiences and business strategies. Make prototypes and jigs out of code, or found objects, or thin air. What emerges from you is not just art, but information architecture.

To apply
Introduce yourself to us at resumes@maya.com.

-Ben Pritchard

Job: Mid-Level Flash Developer Needed

2006-10-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

BBDigital is looking for a Mid-level Flash developer with 1-2 years of experience. Prior agency experience a big plus. Interested persons should contact the CTO of BBDigital, John Roden at jroden@bbdigital.com. Tell them the MFUG sent ya.

Job Posting: Junior to Mid Level Developer Needed

2006-09-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hey MFUGers - just had this come by me - thought I'd share...

CIBER Inc. is looking for a good Web Developer with strong interactive background. Working with CSS, Javascript, XML,etc and ideally have experience with .Net. We have one of our internal projects downtown. We are looking for one more developer that is more junior to mid-level. Please contact:

David Riley
Sr. Recruiter
CIBER Inc.
driley@ciber.com

PittMFUG September Meeting

2006-09-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd post a heads up for the meeting next Thursday (the 21st). Wayne will be presenting the EventDispatcher class and I plan on presenting a little about Fuse. If anyone else is interested in presenting let us know! We will probably retire to the church or other local establishment to hang out afterwards. Hope to see you all there!
-Ben Pritchard

PittMFUG Podcast #10 is Now Live. Special Guest Asger from www.flashforum.dk

2006-08-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Our latest podcast is out and covers the Flash Birthday party we threw and stars a special guest from Denmark. Check out the podcast and listen to Asger from www.flashforum.dk to learn about what the Flash scene is like in Denmark! Thanks for all your kind words about the PittMFUG and for calling in!

iTunes users: Click here.
Direct Feed URL: http://www.pittmfug.com/podcast/podcast.xml. If you don't listen to podcasts or subscribe you can always download the mp3 itself here.

Adobe Releases Flash's 10th Birthday Interactive/Video Application - Flashback. Flash Future.

2006-08-29T09:19:00.001-07:00

Adobe has just released an awesome interactive/video application to celebrate 10 years of Flash history. Check out the Flash Anniversary Microsite to watch the videos (direct link)!

We had a great time at the PittMFUG Birthday Party for Flash - too bad the video wasn't ready for then! Anyway, better late than never - great work!