Archive for the 'Announcements' Category

The time has come for our first annual PhysExtravaganza! The winner can take home up to $2100 in software from Adobe* with the 2rd prize being a month’s subscription to Lynda.com (I’m still searching for other potential prizes). Here are the rules:

1. Develop a Flash project (game, experiment, useful tool, etc.) using an open source physics library such as the following (source is usually provided at the links):

* Box2d: http://box2dflash.sourceforge.net/
* APE: http://www.cove.org/ape/
* FOAM: http://code.google.com/p/foam-as3/
* Fisix: http://www.fisixengine.com/
* WOW: http://seraf.mediabox.fr/wow-engine/as3-3d-physics-engine-wow-engine/

2. Release the source code to the group
3. Comment the source code reasonably well
4. Show off your project at the meeting
5. Win the popular vote of the group (I will be the super delegate in case of a tie)

At the meeting, I will spend the first 45 minutes presenting on Box2d. The rest of the time will be used to start a project from what you’ve learned or finish up a project you’ve started on. Around 7:45 we’ll demo all the projects and put them all to the vote with the winner being one happy camper. At the very least everyone will walk away with free food, drinks, and physics source code for future projects.

The meeting details are as follows:

uFlash will be held Tuesday May 27th @ 6:30pm at RED Interactive in downtown Salt Lake City.
Pizza and drinks will be provided thanks to RED.

RED Interactive
http://ff0000.com/
230 S 500 W
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Google Map with street view looking at the building- http://tinyurl.com/65ezlg

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll be sending out reminders each week before the meeting.

-
John Lindquist

This month Brent Arnold will be presenting on best practices for video tutorials and other video tricks. Jacob Wright will then follow up with custom metatags in flex as well as how to use the proxy class.

April 17th
6pm
mediaRain

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See you there!

Just a reminder…

Join uFlash 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. uFlash 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 meeting will happen on Monday, February 25 at 6:00PM

As usual, we’ll be meeting at mediaRAIN

Don’t forget about next week’s Adobe Flex 3 /AIR tour stop in SLC!

Adobe Evangelist Kevin Hoyt will be visiting us on January 23, 2008. This meeting will be a joint meeting of uFlash and FlexUserGroup.org.

January 23, 2008
6:30 PM

Neumont University
Salt Lake City Campus
10701 S River Front Pkwy Room 200
South Jordan, Utah, 84095

We’ll have lots of prizes, food, a big software raffle, and some great Flex / AIR info.

Mark your calendars now!

Mark your calendars now, as the Flex 3/AIR Pre-release User Group tour is stopping in Salt Lake City!

Adobe Evangelist Kevin Hoyt will be visiting us on January 23, 2008. This meeting will be a joint meeting of uFlash and FlexUserGroup.org.

Here are the basics so far:

January 23, 2008
6:30 PM

Neumont University
Salt Lake City Campus
10701 S River Front Pkwy Room 200
South Jordan, Utah, 84095

More details coming soon, but so far there will be lots of prizes, food, a big software raffle, and some great Flex / AIR info.

Mark your calendars now!

Don’t forget - we’re meeting THIS THURSDAY!

Our presenter will be Joe Snow of Helius. A quick summary of his presentation is below.

We’ll be meeting at the mediaRAIN offices, at 6:00PM.

Introduction to the Flash SWF File Format

Understanding the SWF file format and the flash compiler can increase your working knowledge for flash application development. We’ll go through the basics of the Adobe SWF file format documentation together and compile a custom SWF file. We’ll demonstrate some real world examples to expose search engine text and replacing outdated copyright text in an existing SWF file.

If you want to get a head start, begin the free licensing process for Adobe’s SWF and FLV File Format Specification http://www.adobe.com/licensing/developer/

Also, Helius has generously agreed to help sponsor this week’s meeting, and will be providing some pizza and drinks. So… please let us know if you’ll be attending so that we can have an idea of how much food to get.

Just drop me a line at josh@joshbuhler.com to let me know you’ll be there.

Just a quick reminder, in case it’s not obvious, but we will NOT be meeting this Thursday - we’ll be meeting next week, on Thursday, November 29.

Our presenter will be Joe Snow of Helius. A quick summary of his presentation is below.

We’ll be meeting at the mediaRAIN offices, at 6:00PM.

Introduction to the Flash SWF File Format

Understanding the SWF file format and the flash compiler can increase your working knowledge for flash application development. We’ll go through the basics of the Adobe SWF file format documentation together and compile a custom SWF file. We’ll demonstrate some real world examples to expose search engine text and replacing outdated copyright text in an existing SWF file.

If you want to get a head start, begin the free licensing process for Adobe’s SWF and FLV File Format Specification http://www.adobe.com/licensing/developer/

From our friends at lynda.com, here are some discounts specially for user group members:

20% on all Videos or CD/DVD-ROM Training

This discount applies to all CD/DVD-ROM titles (not to be applied to bundles or books). Offer expires 12/31/2007; subject to change without prior notice.

At checkout, use the discount code ugdeals

20% on both year-long subscriptions to the Online Training Library

This discount applies to the Annual and Premium Subscriptions to the Online Training Library. Offer expires 12/31/2007; subject to change without prior notice.

ANNUAL

Normally $250, now $200!

Includes access to all courses in the Online Training Library.

At checkout, use the discount code ug200otl

PREMIUM

Normally $375, now $300!

Includes access to all courses in the Online Training Library, plus access to the downloadable exercise files.

At checkout, use the discount code ug300otl

From the announcement:

We are happy to report that the second public beta release of Flex 3 is now available. This release adds important new features including .NET support, web service introspection, project import and export and major new improvements to the profilers. You can also check out the new Flex Skin Design Extensions making it fast and easy to export Flex skins from Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, and Flash.

Beta 2 is a near-feature-complete version of the Flex 3 release and the quality should be very high. The goal of this release is to give the community an opportunity to continue to provide feedback as we refine the final features and to help identify any bugs and missing
capabilities.

You can get the complete details and download the beta on Adobe Labs at:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex.

Please be sure to also get involved in the open source Flex project at:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex.

Thanks,

Dave Gruber

Flex Product Marketing Manager

Ellis Elkins - Displacement Maps

Ellis Elkins began the meeting with a great intro to using Displacement Maps in Flash. He did a great job explaining how they work, and was able to show some great examples on how to use them.

Links:

Psyark Example

Sample Files

John Lindquist

John continued his presentation from where he left off last week at the UDFUG meeting, and was able to show some great examples of exporting 3D models from 3D Max and importing them into Papervision. (Including more of a gorilla than anybody needed to see.)

(I’ll add any sample files or other links when I get them.)

Thanks again to Ellis & John for volunteering to present on these topics - it’s greatly appreciated. If you’re interested in presenting on any topics for an upcoming meeting, just let us know. Drop me a line at josh@joshbuhler.com.