Learning Interactive 3D in Flash

Question

I'm interested in learning about 3D engines in Adobe Flash. I understand that 3D doesn't actually exist in Flash and must be accomplished with complex ActionScript, but the idea is so intriguing. Having 3D capability on a platform as widespread as Flash allows for nearly unlimited interactive possibilities for a web site, and would be quite fun to play with.

I visited a site today, http://ecodazoo.com/, which blew my mind... it is incredible.

I'm looking for some resources where I could begin to learn how this type of work is done. Just trying to expand my horizons. =)

Any feedback is much appreciated!

Answer 1

Believe it or not Flash CS4 actually added a bunch of functionality to support 3D. I've always been a huge fan of Adobe's tutorials, so I have to recommend one of their articles to get you started.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/3d_support.html

The article has a handful of pre-built SWFs so you can open them up, poke around inside of them and see how everything is done.

Answer 2

Good Points to start are:

• Sandy3D (Demos)
• PaperVision (Demo / Demos)
• Alternativa (Demos)

They all have good tutorials and documentation. In my opinion it easier if you do not use Flash or Flex, build you movies from scratch and pure AS3 Code.

Answer 3

woah. mind blowing. awesome.

on top of the three links above, I would also suggest Away3D, I am using it(just a little bit) and it seems to be more accessible than Papervision (even though it's a branch form it) . Most of the engines, to my knowledge, have the ability to import models that have been made in other software, like Maya, 3Dsmax, Blender etc, but I think the importing of textures may leave a little to be desired (I could be wrong, and looking at some of the demos, people are making magic happen)

go and have a dig through Kirupa.com, and watch some tutorials at gotoandlearn.com. Most material will probably be based on papervision, as they seemed to be first to figure it out and have a strong talented community behind them, but you may find other engines to be more suitable once you have your head around it.

I built a really basic terrain generator with away3D in an hour or so, after bashing my head against the wall with papervision.

Answer 4

I'm using Alternativa as the 3D engine for my own project and you're right, adding 3D makes for some extremely cool possibilities. If you have access to a design suite such as Lightwave, and I'm sure others, you can export the model as vertices, load that data through Alternativa and make some nice environments.

Here are a few very basic rendering tests:

• http://battletechlive.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/battlefield.png
• http://battletechlive.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/plant.png
• http://battletechlive.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/adfull.png