ScaleNine

I’m getting ready to take off for Webmaniacs to present during the FlexManiacs portion which starts on Wednesday. I’ll be presenting on Degrafa, its features and what the next release will bring. Of course, you can always check out the dev branch to get a hint.

One thing I noticed is that Degrafa session is listed under the “Advanced Development” category of session topics. However, working with Degrafa is anything but that. Sure, you can do some really advanced stuff, but it is super easy to work with at an MXML level. In fact, that’s one of our primary focuses. I’d say that if you know how to add a Button to a Canvas you can easily jump into Degrafa and do some really cool stuff. Working with the Drawing API is advanced, not Degrafa.

There’s also a session that was put together surrounding some of the current open-source projects going on. I’ll be sitting in with Adam Flater, Ben Stucki, Tony Hillerson and other open-source contributors to talk about the different aspects of open-source. Should be a good one.

I depart on Tuesday with fellow EffectiveUIers Tony Hillerson and Jim Cheng. It’s pretty cool seeing how many of the presenters are flying out of Denver. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to meeting up with people, so feel free to say “hi”.

See you in D.C.

The beta of Flash Player 10, code named Astro, is now available on Adobe Labs. This will bring all the features that were demoed at MAX including:

•  3D Effects
• Custom Filters and Effects : Pixel Bender
• Advanced Text Layout
• Enhanced Drawing API
• Visual Performance Improvements

Adobe Labs provides demos and more information or check out the press release: Flash Player 10 Delivers…

Tomorrow I’ll be giving a presentation on Degrafa at the Rocky Mountain Adobe User Group (RMAUG). The user group is in Denver, CO, but if you can’t be there in person, the whole thing will be “broadcast live” via Adobe Connect. If you can’t make it at all I think it’s going to be recorded, so you can replay my lack of typing skills and those things that always seem to go wrong during a presentation.

If you haven’t heard of Degrafa, it’s an open-source framework for defining graphics programatically through MXML. It greatly simplifies the process of creating dynamic graphics, skins, data visualizations, etc. Features include a library of shapes, fills, strokes, advanced CSS, focus on code reuse and much more. I use Degrafa in every Flex project I’m get my hands on.

I’m glad to finally be able to do something like this. There has been a lot of expressed interest in Degrafa, particularly in a Connect Session. I plan on going in depth on the features Degrafa has to offer, what people are doing with it, running through some sample code and talking about what plans we have for the next release. There will also be more of a hands-on session, which I’m not quite sure how that will work for those following via Connect.

If you’re interested in Degrafa I think this will be a great way to get up to speed with the framework, get some questions answered or just another way to heckle me. I’ll also be listening for feature requests, although my answer usually always is, “We’re working on it.”

Get more details here

Degrafa links:

Degrafa Website, Samples, Community Showcase, Documentation, Discussion Group, Code Repository and Degrafa on Twitter.

I’m excited to say that Maikel Sibbald has joined the EffectiveUI team. I’ve been following Maikel’s work for a while now via his blog and have featured some of it in the ScaleNine showcase area. Maikel brings knowledge of Flex and AS3, but I’m most excited about his experience in the area of 3D. He has extensive experience using 3D engines for Flash like Away 3D and this comes across on his blog. Maikel’s expertise in this area will help us as more attention is being placed on effective use of 3D in RIAs.

So, welcome to EffectiveUI Maikel! I look forward to collaborating with you.