HumanCode Studios™

ExperiMENTAL file caching bitmaps via ActionScript in Flash. Clicking the mouse within the Flash turns caching on improving performance of animated (tweened) sequences. **Faster computers may not see any difference in flow, speed, etc. – Purpose of this test is to optimize higher frame rate animation experiences for optimal viewing in legacy browser platforms and slower CPU clock speeds.

From Adobe Developer Connection:

“When you turn on bitmap caching for any given movie clip, the player converts the contents of the movie clip into a bitmap, which it generates and then stores in memory alongside the original vector data equivalent. The renderer then displays this bitmap in the place of the vector data by copying the image from memory onto the Stage.

This process essentially makes the renderer’s life easier, because it doesn’t have to update the movie clip each frame. Instead the process only has to draw the bitmap it generated once, and from then on it simply copies the bitmap from memory onto the Stage. If you change the movie clip or its contents, Flash regenerates the bitmap. There is little or no visual difference when a movie clip has bitmap caching turned on. You may notice a very slight difference because the vector data is snapped to the nearest whole pixel when the bitmap is generated. Bitmap caching also works perfectly well with nested movie clips (movie clips inside movie clips).

To put it in simple terms, by turning on bitmap caching for a movie clip, you are essentially telling Flash Player, “Hey Renderer, I’ll make your life a little easier. Freeze this movie clip and display it as a bitmap instead, because this movie clip or its contents are not going to change very often, if at all. They are static.”

Design|Dev Toolbox: Flash CS4, Photoshop, Illustrator, 3D Studio Max, ActionScript.

The ImagePro product from Photo.Net will be available with completely customizable look and feel, column layout, content sections and personalized photo galleries featuring user defined categories and features.

Design+Dev Toolbox: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, CSS, XML, HTML, JavaScript and PHP.

Don’t be afraid to sweeten your Corporate site. Even a little frosting on the blandest of cakes makes the eating experience O’ so sweet..or at least a little more sweet. – With the correct use of integrating XML, HTML and JavaScript into a Flash site, many of the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) concerns in developing a rich media, “searchable” business site can be resolved.

Design+Dev Toolbox: Adobe Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, CSS, DHTML, XML and JavaScript.

Experiment manipulating multiple 3D animation streams at once using Flash CS4.

Combining a decade of “Home Page” usability and focus-group results on what Monster’s users would like most from the Monster.com home page, we created a contained experience using OpenLaszlo and Adobe Flash that provided instant user-experience gratification (no re-directs) of user controls. For Job Seekers, the functions such as job search, member login, job search results, collapsible advertising and broadcast video are all functional from within the same working view.

For Monster’s Employer home page an identical design and development approach was taken with the addition of expandable advertising “modules” to accommodate alternative revenue streams such as “featured employers” and “special offers”.

In terms of global site consistency, both versions followed the same control/feature/function layout. – i.e., searching for jobs exhibited the same user behavior as searching for resumes. Unifying user control behaviors such as this, regardless of their source (seeker or employer) created a consistent, integrated user experience for either side of the business.