Linux for Designers

Dennis Ippel updates his script which export scenes of Blender as Flash ActionScript 3.0 objects for various Flash 3D engines like Papervision3D. Now it supports Away3D Lite too. For details visit the official exporter webpage.

I reported in one of my last posts about the updated SWFtools 0.9 and the new AS3Compile standalone ActionScript 3.0 compiler. You can get the flavor of it very easy now by installing the SWFtools 0.9 package of the upcoming Ubuntu Karmic. My Flash SWF Export for Gimp requires this package too.

I updated my Flash SWF Export for GIMP again. This time i added animation support. Any layer of an GIMP image will be exported as a frame of an Flash SWF animation (not a Flash Video FLV).
Later i will add support for Windows too.

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For image conversion and an easy way keeping the content of our lastest Flash project up to date i wrote today an Flash SWF Export Script for Gimp.

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One of most feature requests of Linux users about Flash was a 64bit Flash Player, Adobe make it now happend. This is the first 64bit Flash Player at all, a version for Mac OS X and Windows will follow later. But it isn't final yet, some functionality is still missing: camera, microphone, fullscreen via OpenGL.
The 64bit Flash Player isn't faster then the 32bit. For more performance Tinic Uro, a Adobe Flash developer, recommended to disable the nspluginwrapper. Bugs of the 64bit Flash Player can be reported at Adobe Bugs.

After a while nothing happens on AIR for Linux now Adobe releases its rich media plattform AIR as a beta. This based an AIR 1.1 and has nearly the same features as AIR an Mac or Windows.
Adobe AIR for Linux runs under GNOME or KDE but for some features it requires a compositing manager like Compiz or simliar x server extensions.
Ubuntu is a supported distribution but they didn't offer Deb package - strange. All details about Adobe AIR for Linux beta can be found at the release notes.

Adobe published again a release candidate of the Flash Player 10. This version brings a lot of improvements to the Linux platform:
* optimized sound sound API and sound buffer
* windowless overlay mode now working (Firefox 3 required)
* new embedding modes (explained by the developer Tinic Uro)
* support for the Video4Linux 2
All details about Flash Player 10 can be found at the release notes. And of course the beta 2 is available for Linux too.
Download it and copy the binaries as root to "/usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree". Shutdown your browswer and restart it, open the url "about:plugins" to make sure it's available.

I found this in my inbox (it seems it is there a little bit longer): "Hi, you have my permission to include the SimpleViewer SWF in your plugin." -this means we will have Flash gallery bling soon in Gimp
So development can start now - thanx Felix!

Adobe released a second beta of the Flash Player 10. This version brings a lot of improvements to the Linux platform:
* optimized sound sound API and sound buffer
* windowless overlay mode now working (Firefox 3 required)
* new embedding modes (explained by the developer Tinic Uro)
* support for the Video4Linux 2
Older details about Flash Player 10 can be found in my older post or at the release notes. And of course the beta 2 is available for Linux too.
Download it and copy the binaries as root to "/usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree". Shutdown your browswer and restart it, open the url "about:plugins" to make sure it's available.

Salasaga (formally known as the Flame Project) an integrated development environment for producing eLearning content is now released as 0.8 Alpha 3. Since 0.8 Alpha 2 there are several bugs fixed, take a look at the release log.
An example of what can be done with Salasaga is available online. A Deb package is available for Ubuntu too.