Tag Archives: Flex

LevelUp for Photoshop – Updated for CC

Flex, Gaming, Tutorials, , ,

With the release of Photoshop CC as part of the Creative Cloud, Adobe has also updated the LevelUp for Photoshop extension with a ton of enhancements which focus on new Photoshop CC features! It’s a great way to get familiar with the product and teach others through an integrated learning experience.

LevelUp CC

LevelUp for Photoshop is a game of missions — and points and rewards — that guide you along the way of learning basic Adobe® Photoshop® CC software skills. If you are a photographer and are just starting to use Photoshop, this is the game for you.

New in LevelUp for Photoshop CC:

  • An additional level to attain – Level 4
  • A new set of Quiz questions
  • 4 new PhotoShop CC inspired Missions (below)

New Missions

It was a really interesting experience working on enhancing this project with Adobe – I encourage anyone learning Photoshop CC to check it out!

Adobe and the Flash Gaming Landscape

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I had the opportunity this month to speak at the Rocky Mountain Adobe User Group about gaming, Flash, Adobe, et cetera alongside Jun Heider who talked about Apache Flex. Here are my slides:

There have been a lot of changes with the Flash Platform over the past year or two  plus a lot of changes in the web landscape in general. The role of Flash is shifting and Adobe is adapting to this shift by focusing engineering efforts, tooling, and community library support to the two areas in which Flash really excels: gaming and premium video experiences. In this session, we’ll have a look at the momentum behind Flash Gaming and see how Flash Builder 4.7, Flash Professional CS6, and Adobe Scout contribute to this momentum while taking advantage of the new Adobe Gaming SDK and the support of Stage3D libraries like Starling, Away3D, and Feathers. Interested in how to get started in game development with the Flash Platform? Don’t miss this session!

The recordings of both my talk and Jun’s Introduction to Apache Flex 4.9 can be accessed as well.

Congratulations to Apache Flex!

Flex,

Please join me in welcoming Apache Flex as a top level Apache Software Foundation project with Alex Harui from Adobe as VP! Congratulations, all – what a wonderful way to close out the year :D

The current release build of Apache Flex is 4.8 – a parity release with Adobe Flex 4.6. However, Apache Flex 4.9 is in release candidate status and could be finalized at any time – the release notes can be found here.

The simplest way of getting a hold of the latest Apache Flex build is to grab it using the awesome installer utility. The best way of grabbing the installer is via the badge, as seen below… GRAB IT!

Apache Flex 4.8.0 is now live! Spoon needs feedback for future development!

Flex,

With Apache Flex 4.8.0-incubating finally released, those who want an alternative to Adobe Flex 4.6 can download and install the compiled SDK or even grab the full framework source. There is also a really slick AIR-based framework installer that will do a lot of the tedious work for you :)

While this is a parity release (essentially the same as Adobe Flex 4.6), it is an important first step for what is to come and what the community will make of what has been donated to ASF by Adobe. There is still a large amount of interest in Flex for the same reasons it became so popular in the first place; a rich component set, excellent adaptive layout structures, consistency across desktop browsers through the Adobe Flash Player, rich MXML and ActionScript based programming environment, and wide industry support.

So what is next for Flex? The Spoon Project wants to hear from you! Flex is not yet a full Apache project but with the next release, it could very well become one. What are important points of focus for the work that is to come? What are your needs to keep Flex a useful framework for your projects?

Let Spoon and the Apache Flex team know by filling out this short survey.

Discussing Apache Flex + Logo Contest!

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Discussing Apache Flex

Last week, I took part in a recording of The Flex Show that centered around Apache Flex and the state of Flash in 2012. I thought it was a pretty interesting discussion – a lot of good points were brought up and you can listen to the entire recording from the show website:
Flexing into 2012 w/ Joseph Labrecque and Mark Ehlert: The Flex Show Episode 159

Apache Flex Re-branding Initiative

Submit your design to the Apache Flex Logo Contest!

On the 31th of December, 2011, the Apache Software Foundation has accepted the Flex SDK into incubation. Apache Flex is now a community project managed by Apache (ASF). The migration from Adobe to Apache involves a re-branding and you can contribute by proposing the new Apache Flex logo.