GreenSock

Teach others and get a free Club GreenSock membership

Got an idea for a tutorial centered around GreenSock tools like TweenLite, TweenMax, TimelineLite, TimelineMax, LoaderMax, etc.? Turn it into a "Shockingly Green" Club GreenSock membership by submitting it here. If your tutorial is deemed good enough to get posted on the GreenSock.com site, you'll win a free membership plus the satisfaction of knowing that you're helping a bunch of other developers. I keep getting requests for more training resources and example FLA files, Flex projects, etc. that developers can dissect to gain a better understanding of how to work with the GreenSock tools. So I need your help.

LoaderMax – Smart AS3 Loading

LoaderMax is a new AS3 loading system that does much more than just getting swf, mp3, css, video, image, text, binary, and xml files into your Flash application. It eats files for dinner, burps, and then asks for 2nds. And 3rds. Yet it's surprisingly thin. In fact, it can be half the size of most other loading systems even though it delivers a bunch of unique capabilities, some of which you probably never knew you needed but won't want to live without. Here are a few of the noteworthy features...

AutoFitArea – Stretch/Scale/Position DisplayObjects to Fit Within a Rectangular Area

AutoFitArea allows you to define a rectangular area and then attach() DisplayObjects so that they automatically fit into the area, repositioning and scaling/stretching in any of the following modes: STRETCH, PROPORTIONAL_INSIDE, PROPORTIONAL_OUTSIDE, PROPORTIONAL_CROPPED, NONE, WIDTH_ONLY, or HEIGHT_ONLY. Horizontally align the attached DisplayObjects left, center, or right. Vertically align them top, center, or bottom. Even apply a minimum/maximum width/height for each attached object. AutoFitArea extends the Shape class, so you can alter (and yes, tween) the width/height/scaleX/scaleY/x/y properties of the AutoFitArea and then all of the attached objects will automatically be affected. Attach as many DisplayObjects as you want.

SplitTextField – Break Apart TextFields by Character/Word/Line for Easy Animation

What if you could take the existing text in a TextField and dynamically break it apart into individual TextFields for each character, word, or line so that you could animate them separately? Maybe your goal is to explode the characters apart or have words fall into place while fading in or blur sequentially. There are lots of great tools out there for creating interesting text effects but maybe you don't want an all-in-one solution with a new interface or API to learn. Maybe you're comfortable with the GreenSock Tweening Platform and you want to control all the animation yourself and minimize file size. That was the idea behind SplitTextField. It isn't meant to be a text effects engine - it simply breaks apart a TextField instance and swaps itself (a Sprite) into place where the original TextField was in the display list, retaining the same scale/position/rotation so things appear relatively seamless. The SplitTextField has a "textFields" property which is an Array containing all the child TextFields it created (one for each character, word, or line based on the splitType property). Then you can animate to your heart's content.

RoughEase and Ease Visualizer

Ever wanted a more "gritty" transition like an alpha fade that flickers a bit or a position tween that jerks around before reaching its destination? Ever thought to yourself "smooth eases are for sissies"? If so, you're gonna like RoughEase. You can define an ease that it will use as a template (like a general guide - Linear.easeNone is the default) and then it will randomly plot points that wander from that template. The strength parameter controls how far from the template ease the points are allowed to go (a small number like 0.1 keeps it very close to the template ease whereas a larger number like 2 creates much larger jumps). You can also control the number of points in the ease, making it jerk more or less frequently. And lastly, you can associate a name with each RoughEase instance and retrieve it later like RoughEase.byName("myEaseName"). RoughEase is included in all the tweening platform downloads and is available in AS2 and AS3.

Video Lesson: TimelineLite/Max Basics

If you're familiar with TweenLite and/or TweenMax but haven't tried the new TimelineLite or TimelineMax classes yet, don't missing out. They make sequencing and managing groups of tweens fun. Get acquainted with the basics by watching this 16 minute video:

Faith: Silly or Significant?

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with Flash or what you may typically expect to see on this site. It's about my personal faith journey from Atheist to Christian and some of the wrestling I did in my head and heart along the way. Why put it on the web site?

There were a lot of responses to my brief comments on the about page regarding this topic and creating a dedicated page made more sense than using the about page for any ongoing discussions.
My hope is that the discussion will help others who may be wrestling with the same issues.
I have received many requests to share more about myself on a personal level.
My faith affects the decisions I make in virtually every area of life including professionally, so if you like my work you may appreciate knowing what shaped me as a person and influenced the posture I take with things like support and licensing.

GreenSock Tweening Platform v11 Released

After hundreds of development hours, countless caffine-fueled late nights, and a level of preoccupation with tweening that borders on obsessive-compulsive, version 11 is born. This is no minor update. It is by far the most significant (and extensive) upgrade ever.

Getting Started Tweening

This article will help you get up and running with the GreenSock Tweening Platform. It covers installation, importing, basic tweening, special properties, plugins, choosing which engine to use (TweenLite/Max/Nano), sequencing with TimelineLite, and some tips and tricks. If your new to the GreenSock Tweening Platform, this is the place to start.

TweenNano – 1.6k TweenLite with Some Sacrifices

TweenNano is a super-lightweight (1.6k in AS3 and 2k in AS2) version of TweenLite and is only recommended for situations where you absolutely cannot afford the extra 3.1k (4.7k total) that the normal TweenLite engine would cost and your project doesn't require any plugins. Normally, it is much better to use TweenLite because of the additional flexibility it provides via plugins and its compatibility with TimelineLite and TimelineMax.