What are you using AS3 for in 2019?

[carl schooff]

Hey folks,

I was a big AS2/AS3 user back in the day. I've been in the HTML5 / JavaScript world for the past 7 years and have been pretty much in the dark about anything relating to AS3 and AIR. I still think AS3 is great and I have my own personal use cases where it still has merit.

However, I'm curious where it stands in the marketplace and figured this would be a great place to ask.

2 Questions

Are you currently doing paid work with ActionScript 3.0?

If so, in what type of projects are you using ActionScript 3.0?

I'm asking out of genuine curiosity as my hunch is that market demand has died down considerably, however looking at this forum it looks like folks are still using and learning it (which is cool)

Looking forward to your thoughts and feedback.

Thanks

Carl

[Robert Mc Dowell]

I won't work exactly to your questions but being a developer expert since 20 years in As2/3 and Js I can say that all works I did in Actionscript asked much less time to debug and make it work on all kind of browsers, the biggest lack of JS being no typing and JS engine behavior differences between browsers.

[kglad]

Are you currently doing paid work with ActionScript 3.0?

yes

If so, in what type of projects are you using ActionScript 3.0?

i'm currently working on a punctuation app for school-aged children that will be deployed on android (that will be sold on google play) and ios (that will be sold on the apple app store).

[JoãoCésar]

Hi, Carl.

I have a high demand for AS3 projects geared towards AIR for desktop and Android apps and games, mostly children related stuff, and e-learning training.

Regards,

JC

[carl schooff]

Just wanted to jump in and thank everyone that replied.

I enjoyed hearing that AS3 is still viable for making IOS/Android apps. Maybe I've just been away for too long, but anecdotally AIR just isn't something I hear much about. From my perspective it feels like Adobe doesn't put much effort into promoting Animate for app development or investing much into educating its users on it. Its definitely cool to hear folks still getting mileage out of it despite all the "stigma" around "flash"

I certainly don't think Animate is dead or even dying... just underused or under-understood .

I recently created a video explaining how to choose which platform type (AS3 or HTML5) Animate CC 2019: Choosing Platform Type / HTML5 canvas or ActionScript 3.0 - YouTube

The short story is I prefer the AS3 fla for creating rich motion graphics that get exported to gif / video and only use HTML5 when interactivity is needed in the browser. As such I'm contemplating putting out some material highlighting the power of AS3 for motion graphics: particle effects, dynamic drawing, randomization, animated filters, etc.  I've been reluctant to do so as AS3 seems to have died off with the Flash player... but part of me just knows it still can do amazing things with a lot more ease than JavaScript alternatives.

Your feedback has definitely helped tip the scales towards creating some more content around AS3. Thanks, all!

Carl

[Ned Murphy]

The AS3 market pulled out from under me some years back when Apple was making their moves to squash it and Adobe was following suit.  The folks who were driving the demand for me were worried that Flash (and thus anything related to it) was a scary/dying thing and they needed to find other solutions... primarily medical/pharmaceutical applications.  So my only involvement since has been much like your own... personal use.  I still look forward to any time I can work with it again for whatever new tool it can create for me.

[Ndriana_r]

Hi Carl,

Here are my answers

Are you currently doing paid work with ActionScript 3.0?

Yes

If so, in what type of projects are you using ActionScript 3.0?

I am not a super solid AS3 coder but I work on complex interfaces for AAA games and currently for cockpit R&D at Airbus. Tools like Axure, Invision and Just-In-Mind are either too simplistic and/or lack proper UI animation (that I need to convey affordance). They are tailored for websites and apps.

I need the ease of animating of Animate and the power of multi-staging and movieclips independant timelines since I rely on features like the ability to trigger some specific events in several other parts of the UI and several other specific events in another part of the UI depending on which button I clicked in a specific part of the UI (not sure if that was clear).

I don't think Flash/Animate is dead yet  

[dmennenoh]

Are you currently doing paid work with ActionScript 3.0?

Yes

If so, in what type of projects are you using ActionScript 3.0?

I work in the digital department of a large events marketing company. Lately I've been using Unity more and more, but I still use Animate/AS3 for things like photobooth's and simple games. The photobooth(s) on Katy Perry's Witness Tour was made in Animate.