This is cross-posted with Docta | Process blog

For a particular project we had to brush up a bit on the ActionScript 3 Drawing API (Flash 10). We needed to provide a sort of whiteboard where people could draw up vectors and save the metadata to XML for later use and also so we could process either PDF or some large scale images . We struggled a bit with performance and had to change the approach a couple of times settling, at some point Flash 10 was coming out and we took advantage of the new Vectors and Drawing API changes, we also had to work up the math / geometry equations so the vectors could be deleted / split using an Eraser tool .

All went fine, we delivered the project, gained some experience and now we leave you with a in-between experiment so you can have some fun (or not ) . Draw away to your hear content, let the randomness help you and when you’re happy press our logo, save the snapshot and SHARE IT with us

If your reading via an RSS tool you might not see the Flash app, but it’s easy enough to follow the link to the post , so go ahead

You need Flash 10 Player , sorry . Yes, if you use the Debugger Version you might see some weird stuff

Now, I had some general knowledge of Papervision, enough to put it on top of the list as soon as the requirements came up, so I jumped at it . I went with version 2.0, no need to start with “old” code , and became quickly overwhelmed by it , Cameras? Viewports? Scenes? And that’s just to get a cold, grey screen going . Luckily, we live in G-World, and information is but a keystroke away, so I found a couple (hundred ) of nice Tutorials that offered a Model / Framework / Template approach to it all .

First is the Papervision 2 tutorials , it covers all basic aspects that you need to get started and gives you a Base Template that covers all your setup needs . I then found another series of tutorials that also ofered some template classes, but this one was a bit more modular and I’m now working over this .. plus, the very first thing they did was draw up a cool space ship, so it was a winner

Now, this got me going but I still have a long way to go, either way it’s good exercise to share these initial steps (feel free to point me to other interesting starting points ) , meanwhile, the Papervision Blog brings us an excelent Showcase of what people are doing with it and this blog entry throws a huge list of examples too, so plenty to look at if you want to take a look at Papervision

I leave you with a good example of a combination of tools, including Papervision that has brought Flash, at least to me, to a different level than it used to be , more information here

Papervision – Augmented Reality (extended) from dpinteractive on Vimeo.