Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn’t stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as the click-and-scrub input fields of numerous Adobe dialog boxes.
If you’re a Flash developer and interested in click-and-drag functionality, you might be interested in a new tutorial series I’m working on at CommunitMX.com. CMX content is generally subscriber-based, but this intro article is free. It does take you completely through the steps of creating basic click-and-rotate content (in other words, it’s not a hook), though future articles will delve into variations on the theme. The bulk of the article is written in terms of ActionScript 2.0, but the same general principles apply in ActionScript 3.0, and an AS3 summary is provided.
http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=8F0CA
As a quick note to regular readers of this blog, I’ve been waaaaay behind — as you know! — in my usual activity. The simple reason is that I’ve been working on two new books in addition to my normal client workload. One of these is the O’Reilly title I mentioned back in March. Although my chapters were done at the time, a handful of challenges tipped O’Reilly into delaying the original publication date. Given the change, we were faced with the opportunity of rewriting the book for the next version of Flash (post-CS3), and we took it. 
That meant dumping some chapters, combining others, splitting yet others, and writing new content altogether. Ultimately, ActionScript 3.0: The Quick Answer Guide for Flash Professionals is a better book for all the additional input and reworking, and I’m thankful for that. The other book an update to Tom’s and my Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers, which we’re working on as I type this.
When the dust settles, I’ll be a on a no-new-books kick for a while. And I’ll back to blogging. I miss it.
June 30th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Stiller’s back! All is well.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Holland,
Soon! Verrrry soon.
Good to hear from you!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:03 am
New Flash version!?! Holy God. Is there going to be A.S. 4.0?? I´m just in the way of training in 3.0!!!!!!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
Angel,
I have to be careful what I can and can’t say, as you can imagine.
Adobe obviously needs to protect its interests, and folks like authors and beta testers are obligated by contract to help Adobe in that regard. Adobe has okayed a handful of websites (e.g. InsideRIA.com) to mention a few details, and you can see preview videos of Flash Player 10 capabilities on the Adobe Labs website. That means I can allude to the next version of the Flash authoring tool — and I’ll go so far as to say that it still publishes AS3 (and AS2 and even AS1, and all the flavors of Flash Lite ActionScript) just fine. 
July 31st, 2008 at 4:59 am
Hi David,
long time. I went off Flash for sometime because I had to learn a couple of things in video production. Anyway my problem has nothing to do with the above topic, but I was wondering if you could help me create a flash content.
I would like to create a sliding image gallery in which a set of thumnails will be displayed horizontally on the bottom and each image when clicked would open a big image. I hope you understand what I’m trying to explain.
Please help me if you could because I’m still struggling with actionscripting. I’m using using ActionScript 2.
Thanks
July 31st, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Hello David
I just wanted to say Thanks for this code, this really helped me a lot
Here is the link of the thing that i have done:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/451468
really, thanks very much
cheers dude
Osukä
August 11th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
To kweku …
I can certainly add that idea to my list of potential blog tutorials. It would have to be broken into more than one article, if it got into any kind of depth — such as scrolling thumbnails. As you can see by my crazy-late replies lately, it may take a while for me to make the time!
To Osukä …
Wow, those look great! Thanks for sharing the link, and I’m glad this code was able to help you!
August 20th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Thanks David, will be around when it’s ready