Special 10% discount for EFUG peeps! Discount Code: EFUG
Flash. Design. And so much more.
Back for its second year, FITC Edmonton promises to be jam-packed with presentations, demonstrations, and panel discussions. With some of the most interesting and engaging presenters from around the world, FITC Edmonton will be two days and nights that will leave you inspired, energized and awed!
Confirmed Speakers:
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)
Shaw Theater, 11726 - 106 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5G 2R1
Map
Hope to see you there!
]]>"A meeting by developers for developers to see the new Flash Builder 4 and Flex 4 features from Adobe. Adobe evangelist Duane Nickull will walk through the new Spark architecture and other changes in Flex 4 components as well as take a deep dive into many of the new features in Flash Builder 4. Most of the night will be spent with code and code samples will be handed out after."
This is great opportunity to chew the fat with one of Adobe's own, network with your local community, and enjoy some sweet, sweet nectar on Adobe's tab (while supplies last).
Learn more about Duane 'Chaos' Nickull:
TV Show - http://tv.adobe.com/show/duanes-world/
Blog – http://technoracle.blogspot.com/
Band – http://22ndcenturyofficial.com/
Twitter – http://twitter.com/duanechaos
As usual we'll be sporting five-buck appies, happy-hour drink prices, free billiards after the session, and door prizes galore: including a copy of Flash Builder 4 Pro, bundled with ColdFusion Builder to one lucky duck!
Wednesday, May 5th @ 7:00 PM
The Billiard Club
10505 82 Avenue NW
Second Floor of the Historic Post Office Building
Tell your friends and colleagues -- hope to see you there!
]]>This Monday, August 24th, 7:00pm @ the Billiard Club on Whyte Ave (map and address in the left-hand pane), Grant Skinner & Lanny McNie of gskinner.com will be showcasing some of their recent work:
Fun With Balls: Grant Skinner, gskinner.com
----
In this fun and informal session, Grant will show a wide variety of experiments he has built using circles and spheres as the core concepts. He will touch on concepts like trigonometry, circular collision detection, organic systems, and Flash Player 10's 3D APIs with a simple, example driven approach.
Dynamic Streaming in Flash: Lanny McNie, gskinner.com
----
The latest streaming video offering from Adobe, Flash Media Server 3.5, includes a new feature called Dynamic Streaming that allows applications to deliver video at a suitable size, quality, and bitrate depending on a user's internet connection and processor speed, and change feeds dynamically during playback without any noticeable change. This short session will discuss how the new feature works, and introduce some tools that automate this process. We will also touch on Adobe's new Media Framework (formerly known as Strobe), and show how dynamic streaming can be implemented into an existing framework.
As always, efug & The Billiard Club are happy to offer happy-hour drinks prizes, five-buck appetizers, free billiards after the presentations, and a never-before-seen swag extravaganza!
Tell your friends & colleagues -- hope to see you there!
-------------------
FITC Edmonton, October 17-18th 2009
FITC has held 18 events over eight years, through nine cities and four countries, with over 700 presentations and over 10,000 attendees. From Flash to motion design, to design and creative inspiration, to other technologies like Flex, AIR and processing, FITC events stand as unique and exciting events that educate, challenge, and inspire.
FITC Edmonton presents two solidly packed days of presentations, both technical and creative. Presenters from around the world have been hand-picked for their skill and talent, and all are eager to share and meet you.
It's going be be killer:
Grant Skinner / gskinner.com
Ralph Hauwert / UnitZeroOne.com
Erik Natzke / natzke.com
James Paterson / presstube.com
Mario Klingemann / quasimondo.com
Stacey Mulcahy / bitchwhocodes.com
Lee Brimelow / adobe.com
Mike Chambers /adobe.com
Chuck Freedman / chuckstar.com/blog
Erik Johnson / disruption.ca
Victor Rubba / crazedcoders.com
Randy Troppmann / randytroppmann.com
Phil Chung / philterdesign.com
Missed the early bird discount?
Sign up before September 1 using the discount code "backintime" and and you can purchase tickets for just $99 regular, $49 for students.
This is a world-class event you don't want to miss.
]]>To kick it off, Michael Graves & Wes Gorgichuk are going to showcase one of our most recent projects:
The ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform API
The Facebook AS3 API makes it easy to build applications that combine the strengths of the Flash Platform and Facebook Platform, providing the ideal solution for building rich, social experiences on the web.
Check it out ahead of time:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/facebook/
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/facebook/samples/
http://code.google.com/p/facebook-actionscript-api/
Following a short intermission for beverages and socializing, we'll have an 'open podium' portion of the evening. Take 5 minutes to share with the community some Flash-related work you've done, an inspiring use of Flash you've encountered recently, or a Flash tip / feature that you've found to be especially cool or valuable.
Your 5 minute contribution will earn you a chance to win a commercial boxed version of Electric Rain's Swift 3D v5!
As always, we'll be enjoying happy-hour drinks, five buck appetizers, free billiards after the presentations, and all-new, never-before-seen door prizes!
Invite your friends and colleagues - hope to see you there!
]]>---------------------------------------------------*
Flex "Gumbo" Recipe
There are number of Gumbo recipes worldwide, but Adobe has a unique recipe that can call their own: Flex "Gumbo".
Ingredients
3/4 to 1 pound Catalyst
1/2 pound Flash CS4 Professional
1 1/2 to 2 cups Package Explorer
1 can (14.5 ounces) Client Data Management (CDM)
1 cup of Network Monitoring
1/2 cup Flex Unit Support
3 tablespoons custom file templates for MXML, ActionScript, and CSS
3 tablespoons try getter/setter generation
3 cloves debugging, minced
1/4 teaspoon refactoring, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ASDoc ToolTip support
In Flash Catalyst, take an existing design using Adobe Creative Suite tools, and create custom UI components on the fly (in the form of a Flex application). Next, save your Catalyst file and import into Flex CS4. You can also use Flash's "New Flash Component" or "New Flash Container" to create and edit content, and have it imported directly into Flex CS4 instantly.
Now in Flex CS4 you can mix the rest of the ingredients, to make one mean stew, or Flex application.
Serves: Worldwide.
---------------------------------------------------
Following a short intermission for beverages and socializing, we'll have an 'open podium' portion of the evening. Take 5 minutes to share with the community some Flash-related work you've done, an inspiring use of Flash you've encountered recently, or a Flash tip / feature that you've found to be especially cool or valuable.
Your 5 minute contribution will earn you a chance to win a commercial boxed version of Electric Rain's Swift 3D v5!
As always, we'll be enjoying happy-hour drinks, five buck appetizers, free billiards after the presentations, and all-new, never-before-seen door prizes!
Invite your friends and colleagues - hope to see you there!
]]>Scaleform GFx is a third-party standalone SWF player that enables developers to author UI elements for cutting-edge PC & console games in Adobe Flash. Many AAA game titles use Scaleform technology to author 2D UI elements (menus, huds, target reticules, etc.) in Flash (using a subset of AS2), and map their swfs as interactive textures onto 3D objects in the game environment.
gskinner.com was approached by Scaleform to develop a component set and workflow enhancement tools for GFx customers, and will be sharing their progress, process and findings to the local community on December 15th, @ 7:00, in the Billiard Club on Whyte Ave.
We will be joined by Troy Dunniway and Mathew Doyle from Scaleform's Washington headquarters to give us a look under the hood of Scaleform technology. gskinner.com will be showcasing an overview of the Scaleform component set, workflow enhancement tools and demonstrations.
As usual, we'll be sporting the happy-hour drink prices, the five-buck apps, the swag draw giveaways and the free billiards after the sess. Anyone is welcome, this is going to be a fantastic session you don't want to miss.
Bring your friends and colleagues - hope to see you there!
---------------
I also wanted to extend thanks to Owen & Oscar for posting follow-up content for their presentations last month on our Adobe Groups page. Be sure to log into Adobe Groups with your Adobe ID and join the efug group for the latest info in the local and international Flash scene. Additionally, I've added info about our various sponsors and what offerings they have to efug members.
]]>We've two stellar presos lined up:
--------------
Flashify Drupal
Owen Brierley - Director of Production, Gystworks || Executive Director, Guru Digital Arts College
Drupal is a wickedly cool open-source content management system. Owen will walk through setting up a connection to Drupal and ingest the CMS based content into a Flash environment. It's tasty and fortified with geeky goodness.
--------------
(Insert intermission, socializing, networking, bingeing...)
--------------
Ten Essential Things We've Learned at gskinner.com
Maurice Leier - Junior Developer, gskinner.com
Oscar Hungsberg - Junior Developer, gskinner.com
Junior developers Oscar and Maurice give a quick introduction to the ten most essential Flash skills they've learned so far, covering AS3 best practices for beginners, and even the basics of Flex Builder 3.
--------------
Check out efug on Adobe Groups!
http://groups.adobe.com
Still hot out of the oven, Adobe Groups is live and running! Set up your profile and join the efug group at:
http://groups.adobe.com/groups/b37b274b9a/summary
Adobe has gone to great lengths to make an online presence for our community, so feel free to participate and contribute to our group space by using the discussion board, posting resources and job listings, populating the reference library etc. I plan on making this group page the main source for efug & Adobe User Group info over the next few weeks.
--------------
Mark the 24th in your calendar and get involved in Adobe Groups! Hope to see you there!
]]>Randy is going to kick off the evening by doing a dry-run of his 360|MAX session he will be presenting in San Francisco in mid November.
----------
Randy Troppmann: www.randytroppmann.com
Using Yahoo! Maps AS3 API in Flex, and making money with Mapvertising
Early in 2008 Yahoo! released an AS3 version of their maps API. Randy will demonstrate how to quickly get up and running with the Yahoo! Maps in Flex. Randy will also demonstrate how you can add geographically relevant advertising (Mapvertising) to your mashup and start making money!
----------
After a short intermission for networking and socializing, Erik is going to take center stage:
----------
Erik Johnson: www.disruption.ca
Building Games in Flash for Free
Did you know the Flex SDK contains everything you need to build flash apps? Did you know that Adobe gives it away for free? You can even use it to build applications without writing any XML or MXML. Erik will talk about how to get started with mxmlc, and show a simple flash game built with the Flex SDK.
----------
I managed to get us free pool after the sessions if anyone is interested and also will be bringing a microphone to combat the ambient noise we've been battling at the Billiard Club. As per usual, we will be enjoying happy-hour drink prices, five-buck appetizers and swag giveaways to lucky attendees.
It is going to be an awesome evening, hope to see you there!
]]>As per usual:
The Billiard Club
10505 82 Avenue NW
Second Floor of the Historic Post Office Building
Come get the skinny on 2 killer projects that have recently launched out of our local community:
------------------------
Christopher Caldwell: Caldwell Creative
Case Study: Cricothyrotomy
A look at the development process of an online surgical simulation.
This case study will take a brief look at the process, learning methodology, development, co-ordination, and resources required to create an e-learning application developed for the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. This application contains multimodal instruction, illustrative support, audit trails, surgical activities and simulated procedural competencies required to augment existing medical training. This simulation is designed to provide third year medical students a safe way to become proficient at procedures that are not commonly encountered in a traditional teaching environment.
------------------------
Ryan Matsikas / Nick Johnston: gskinner.com
DIRECTV SUPERCAST SHOWCASE (Adobe / Blitz / DIRECTV / gskinner.com)
Are you a die-hard NFL football fan? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch live NFL games on your Macbook, or 30" cinema display? As a DIRECTV customer, you can gain access to real-time video (in both fullscreen and mini mode), near real-time highlights, and game stats in a clean UI.
From building custom animations using a combination of programmatic code (GTween/TweenLite) to using Flash & Flex assets deploying to both AIR and the web, the overall goal for this presentation is to discuss techniques used to embed assets and give a brief under-the-hood look at the app which uses the Pure MVC framework.
------------------------
As always we'll be enjoying five-buck appies, happy-hour drink prices and swag giveaways to lucky attendees.
Hope to see you there, invite your friends and colleagues!
Additionally, I'd like to extend an invitation to an industry event that is occurring in Edmonton (free of charge) on September 23rd, once at 9:00 am and then again at 10:20 am at:
Centre for Excellence in Print Media
NorQuest College
10135 109 Street, Edmonton, AB
------------------------
Paul Trani: Adobe Systems
Assets in Motion: Cross Media for Print Professionals
In the future, successful printers will need to adopt new business and growth strategies in order to prosper. Ways to connect more meaningfully with new and existing customers. In this session, Adobe will discuss the latest trends in communication and show how the tools available in the Adobe Creative Suite will enable you to put your assets in motion -- extending your print communications to the web, video and beyond
Paul Trani is a passionate and knowledgeable 15 year veteran of the interactive design and development scene as well as a respected speaker nation-wide on all things Adobe. Paul has spent many years as an Adobe Certified Instructor, courseware developer, and trainer. He is also an Adobe Community Expert who contributes weekly through numerous forums, blogs, and Adobe online and live seminars, reaching thousands annually. Using his degree in Illustration, a background in Motion Graphics Design and ability to write high level code, Paul has created first-class cross-media projects for diverse clientele such as Bacardi, Neutrogena, Adobe, Best Buy, Hallmark Channel, Qwest, Western Union, Lucent Technologies, IBM, and Sprint.
When Paul is not inspiring the community through online or live events, he can be found at Starz Entertainment where he is the Senior Designer leading a talented design department to create award-winning experiences across multiple media. Paul’s blog can be found at http://www.designupdate.com
------------------------
If you are planning on attending Paul's session, register here to get your free lunch:
Assets in Motion
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
The Billiard Club on Whyte (map and address in the left-hand sidebar)
7:00pm
Chief Architect & CEO of gskinner.com, Grant Skinner is going to shed some light on his design process and tools.
------------------------
Designing With Flash?
While much better known for laying down code than for laying out websites, I still love dabbling in interface design when I have an excuse. Lately, I've found myself doing almost all of my conceptual design in the Flash IDE, instead of Photoshop. This has very obvious workflow advantages, but I would also make the contentious argument that Flash is now a *better* tool for designing certain types of sites. I've even used Flash to design HTML sites, which I then rebuild in part with Photoshop - this is a complete reversal of my workflow from two years ago.
In this informal session, I will talk about the new features in Flash that have made it such a useful design tool, my design process, and some of the things I think make it a better tool for certain projects than Photoshop.
Designers may find this talk useful for their own process. Developers might find it useful to convince the designers in their lives to work in Flash - wouldn't that make the designer developer workflow so much more peaceful?
------------------------
After Grant's session, we will be having an informal open-podium portion of the evening. This is an opportunity for you to share with the local community a cool project you've been working on, a sweet Flash feature/tip you'd like to share or simply show a stellar use of Flash you've experienced recently. Contributions are limited to 5 minutes max, and will earn you a ballot of some of our larger prizes of the evening.
Don't forget that the Billiard club offers us happy-hour drink prices and five-dollar appetizers all night long — hope to see you there!
]]>Monday, April 14th, 7:00pm
The Billiard Club on Whyte Ave
10505 82 Avenue NW
Second Floor of the Historic Post Office Building
As the 2008 Flash in the Can (FitC) Festival draws near, we've put together an evening you don't want to miss! Mark it down.
Flash superstar Grant Skinner has agreed to present his 2008 FitC session that he will be sharing in Toronto. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to enjoy a world-class session, free of charge, amidst five dollar appies and happy-hour drink prices. As always, we'll be swaggin' it up, and yes — even giving away a full commercial version on Adobe Creative Suite 3!
If you are able to make it out to Toronto, FitC has generated a discount code for all efug members to receive 10% off! Your discount code is: EFUG331
Here is the skinny on Grant's sess:
----------------------------------------
My Favourite Things
When the client bites,
When the run-time error stings,
When Flash makes me mad,
I simply revisit my favourite things,
And then I don't feel, so bad.
A fun trip through some of the code, concepts, and approaches that have particularly intrigued or interested Grant while doing visual experimentation in ActionScript. This session has a particular focus on visualizing important concepts in coding, and using unexpected approaches to tackle tough problems in interesting ways. No "girls in white dresses and blue satin sashes", but there will be virtual "snow-flakes that stay on my nose and eye-lashes".
----------------------------------------
More about FitC:
Break IT! Break your tools. Break your patterns. Break the norm. Break the standards at FITC Toronto: The Design + Technology Festival. FITC Toronto is the largest event of its kind in Canada and a highlight of the international conference circuit with over 1,000 attendees from more than 15 countries.
FITC Toronto is where the world’s top designers and developers come together to share their insights and expertise across three subject areas: creative, technical and business. Sessions cover all aspects of the creative process, explore the latest developments in rich media technology, and provide insight into the ups and downs of running an Interactive business.
This is the 7th year for the three-day festival, which also includes a kick-ass Awards show, a speakers’ series devoted to experimental art and programming, a large scale interactive art exhibit as well as some very cool parties.
FITC Toronto 2008
The Design + Technology Festival
April 19 - April 22, 2008,
Hilton Toronto, Canada
----------------------------------------
Hope to see you there — bring your friends and colleagues!
]]>Flex 3 is a feature-packed release, adding new UI components like the advanced datagrid and improved CSS capabilities; powerful tooling additions like refactoring; and extensive testing tools including memory and performance profiling, plus the addition of the automated testing framework to Flex Builder.
Adobe AIR is game-changing in so many ways, delivering rich applications on the desktop, enabling access to the local file system, system tray, notifications and much more. Now you can write RIAs on the desktop using the same skills that you've been already using to create great web apps including both Flex and AJAX.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to see and hear about this highly anticipated release of Flex 3 and AIR at this meeting. If you have been working in Flex or AIR, feel free to bring down your applications for a quick demo of what you have been developing.
Additionally, Adobe's Ted Patrick has put together a stellar promo for the release of Flex 3 & AIR, it is called "30onair". The project involves creating 30 second videos answering one of the following questions: Why Flash Player? Why AIR? Why Flash? Why Flex? Why ColdFusion? Why AJAX? Why JavaScript? Why ActionScript?
Rules:
1. 30 seconds of video (estimate)
2. Answer one of the questions above
3. Be creative.
You can talk about your favorite features, why you use these technologies, or just a guitar tribute to Adobe AIR! The best ones will be showcased on Adobe.com, community blogs, and http://www.30onair.com. For instance, check out our own local celebrity Randy Troppmann on the 30onair.com front page, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9iopziDEug
Tonight I'll have a camera set up for you to shoot your own ~30 second clip, it would be great for us to send some casual, fun feedback to Adobe. Feel free to bring ideas and props!
Hope to see you there tonight!
February efug Extravaganza
7:00pm, The Billiard Club on Whyte
10505 82 Avenue NW
Tonight, February 25, 2008
---------------------
Join efug for this "can't miss" meeting!
Adobe's RIA technologies enable you to rapidly build and deploy the most engaging applications across browsers and on the desktop. Efug is hosting a special live event to share exciting new information on Adobe's platform tools and technologies for building RIAs. You'll see an exclusive user group video presentation by Adobe Chief Software Architect, Kevin Lynch, hear some important product news, plus get your hands on some exclusive schwag and other giveaways.
Be part of the fun and excitement and join the rest of the Adobe developer community by participating in this very special event.
Monday, February 25 @ 7:00
The Billiard Club
10505 82 Avenue NW
Second Floor of the Historic Post Office Building
---------------------
Come early to enjoy a beverage on Adobe's tab while supplies last!
Hope to see you there!
A big 'thank-you' goes out to Duane Nickull of Adobe for rocking into Edmonton in sub-zero temperatures to give his presentation. Congratulations to our iPod, Adobe Creative Suite and FlexBuilder 3 winners too!
I am just working out the details for our February gathering, which should be an equally epic event. Just a reminder that you can sign up for the newsletter and community forum on the left, or join our facebook group.
Thanks for your participation!
]]>