ActionScript 3 Tutorials

Report · May 10, 2008

Hi All,

I have had many people ask over the last ten months what happened to the FocusOnFlash website. Well we are back with a completely updated site and brand new group of tutorials. Over the last ten months I was finishing a graduate degree in education and found myself swamped with work and school assignments. Sorry for the delay but it couldn’t be helped.

I have added the first 10 tutorials on ActionScript 3 to my website. These video tutorials cover an Introduction to ActionScript 3, Properties of MovieClips, Using variables in ActionScript 3, Functions in ActionScript 3, and MouseEvents in ActionScript 3. There is a brand new format to the tutorials that I would really appreciate feedback on.

So far I have uploaded approximately 5 hours of video that cover these topics. The next groups of tutorials are on Timer Events and the EnterFrame events in ActionScript 3. These are already written they just need to be recorded, produced and uploaded.

I look forward to seeing you all in the forums.

Let me know what you think.

Mike
www.FocusOnFlash.com

Report · May 10, 2008

Mike,

You sound a bit like Dennis Farino, the actor.

I only had time to look at the begining of one video so far but they seem
great. The intro to the one I watched was almost 35 seconds. I'd love to
see you jump directly to the lesson rather than having to wait for the
loading and then the viewing of this 35 seconds.

I guess it's always a toss up between having something look very
professional and optimizing the viewing experience.

Craig

"Mike_King" <mking66743@aol.com> wrote in message
news:g0431s$mnq$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Hi All,
>
> I have had many people ask over the last ten months what happened to the
> FocusOnFlash website. Well we are back with a completely updated site and
> brand
> new group of tutorials. Over the last ten months I was finishing a
> graduate
> degree in education and found myself swamped with work and school
> assignments.
> Sorry for the delay but it couldn?t be helped.
>
> I have added the first 10 tutorials on ActionScript 3 to my website.
> These
> video tutorials cover an Introduction to ActionScript 3, Properties of
> MovieClips, Using variables in ActionScript 3, Functions in ActionScript
> 3, and
> MouseEvents in ActionScript 3. There is a brand new format to the
> tutorials
> that I would really appreciate feedback on.
>
> So far I have uploaded approximately 5 hours of video that cover these
> topics.
> The next groups of tutorials are on Timer Events and the EnterFrame events
> in
> ActionScript 3. These are already written they just need to be recorded,
> produced and uploaded.
>
> I look forward to seeing you all in the forums.
>
> Let me know what you think.
>
> Mike
> http://www.focusonflash.com
>

Report · May 11, 2008

Really, Dennis Farino, I don't know how to take that. :-)

I will consider shortening the introductions to the tutorials, let me see what kind of feedback that I get from other users. When I did the test groups they all thought that the introduction was a good indication of the possibilities of Flash CS3. But you could be right it may be alittle too long. The intro is also acting as a preloader to allow some of the video to buffer before it gets into the actual tutorial.

I appreciate the feedback and look forward to seeing you in the forums.

Mike

Report · May 10, 2008

Hi Mike, I think it's just wonderful that you've produced these videos and are presenting them free-- what a great thing to do-- thank you. There's a great need for just these videos.

Being pressed for time, (a big trip starts tomorrow), I tried to track down the tutorial where you get into classes, and didn't find it. Not that it's not there, but just that I didn't find it. Not everyone wants to explore a tutorial in real time, and I can't always leave my sound on, but it was tricky "scrolling" through the tutorials trying to find the stuff I still don't understand. I know it's possible to set time markers in AS3- I've done it myself though at the moment I forget the name for them, but you might consider adding those for people like me. I'm comfortable with a lot of AS3 but have lots of spot areas where my eyes cross and I wonder if it will ever make sense. Particularly the public private function stuff.

Again, thanks so much. The work that went into something like this deserves great praise. When I return I'm going to explore them all.

Report · May 11, 2008

I haven't covered classes yet, this series will be about 30 parts in length. I an trying to cover the basics first and then will move into Classes and OOP.

I am trying to give everyone an opportunity to get the fundementals down before I move into classes and OOP.

The next group is on the Timer Event, that is two parts and then we move into the EnterFrame Event. Once those are done I will get into conditional statements in AS3.

It takes about 6 to 8 hours to complete one tutorial from start to finish, so I plan to add 2 - 4 per week as we move forward.

I appreciate the feedback, that is the only way of knowing what direction to move in.

Thanks again.

Mike