backstage view of Flash Player 9 running in a Linux browser

Today we launch the first full day of sessions at Flashforward2006 Austin, beginning with the Adobe Keynote. This blogger is watching it from backstage, so it’s a bit difficult to hear; if any of these tidbits are completely backwards, you know why. Anyone with more to add, please chime in!

Chapman Bros video honoring Flash 5

Kevin Lynch: Flash 9 player penetration: forecast to achieve 50% of web users in 3 months! (well ahead of even the Flash 8 curve)

Garrett Nantz: Showed Flash 9 player on Ubuntu Linux (running Nike Air site)

Mark Anders: Demo of FlexBuilder 2 on 15″ MacBook Pro (built sleek Flickr browser)
Then showed it running as a self-contained app… Apollo on a Mac!

Justin Everett-Church: Showed Flash 9 Public Alpha (on WinXP on Parallels on 17″ MacBook Pro); cool demo of huge speed increase from AS2 –> AS3 (sun-like vizualization built from particles)

Mike Downey: first public demo of Flash 9 internal build (on WinXP on Parallels on 17″ MacBook Pro)

- imports PSD files: control over every layer, group, effect, etc — and control the import options for every layer right in the importing tool; auto-placing the layered import (and/or individual layers/groups) into MovieClip(s), etc.

Imported text can be designated editable, or rendered to vectors, etc.

Can tweak (render-time) compression settings per object right in import tool, and preview the resulting size of the objects (easier initial optimization)

- space-efficient new interface options (tools recede to the edges of the screen until called on)

Flash Complaint: The designer/animator protptypes his work on the timeline (lots of keyframes, tweens) then developer starts over in code; does it match? No

New workflow: devised with Robert Penner. Shows ladybug animation with all this type of animation, all built in the timeline. Then right-clicked selected frames in the timeline and chose “Copy Motion as ActionScript 3” (applause) and after a couple prompts, you can paste the resulting code (XML-heavy) onto a new instance of the bug, which then animates EXACTLY the same way as the hand-animated bug! (applause)

Then you can take the code over to Flex Builder and continue working with it! (Applause)

Components: users requested components that are smaller and easier to skin

Beau Ambur and Grant Skinner are helping out with those new components, and they meet those requests! Will be demoed in their respective sessions.

Q&A is still underway but I honestly can’t hear it very well so I’ll let someone else blog about that.

What an exciting start to the day!

Update: Robert Hoekman posted a list of highlights from his perspective, and Lee Brimelow took a couple screenshots of the key Flash 9 features that were demonstrated. Woohoo!

Update 2: Flashmagazine and Aral Balkan posted their recaps of the keynote as well! Many interesting details there that escaped me, so check them out.

Update 3 Regarding that 50% penetration statistic — after reading other bloggers’ recaps of the keynote, I now think Kevin said this penetration rate is a forecast, based on the current shape of the curve, but hasn’t been achieved quite yet. FP9 hasn’t even been out for three whole months — this press release is dated June 28:

http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200606/062806Flash9.htm

So no one should cite that as a fait accompli until you see the Adobe press release in a couple more weeks. :-)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 9:26 am and is filed under Culture, Flashforward News, Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.