FLASH: 3D in Flash - Hopefully an enticing proposition

[Barry Swan]

Hi there, I'm new to Flash and from what I'm aware it's 3D support is

absolutely non-existant,and that currently the only ways to do it so far are

either by hand (innaccurate/slow) or import models using a 3DS plug-in

(large size, only does stills).


Now I've been sent a URL of this:


http://www.typospace.com/v3/root.html


Which has apparently aroused a fair amount of interest, despite the fact

that it is, in a word, crap.

They hint that someone is doing a better engine, but I believe what they

will come up with will only be a basic extension of what is at the URL

above. I'd imagine that they will simply do a wire-frame version of the

above, possibly with some sort of depth cueing and hidden line removal, if

you are extremely lucky.


Now, having seen this, I have come up with 2 possible ways of doing 3D in

Flash. One is to use raycasting. Chances are this will NOT translate well to

Flash, it requires too much array look-ups and stuff, which is a shame

because it would let you do wolfenstein-like views.


The other, which to me is much more interesting would allow this: A

textured, lit rendering of a 3D object done entirely in Flash and action

scripts, which you can control with the mouse if you wish (a la example

above again).


Sounds interesting?


Now comes the problem. I know nothing about Flash, nor do I have any

particular desire to learn it, being used to Director. So what I am looking

for is firstly to talk with someone knowledgeable about scripting in Flash

and it's limitiations as well as general Flash 'peculiarities'. This owuld

be to work out if it's feasable. If it is, I'd then like to work with them

to do the above mentioned engine. I supply the maths and the know how and

ddetails of what you are trying to acheive. Then they work to implement them

within Flash itself.


You might think this is impossible, and if so, I don't really expect to hear

from you :) It is my understanding that Flash will let you do the following:


1) Change RGB settings for an instance of a symbol

2) Rotate, skew and scale (in independant axes) an instance of a symbol

3) Display and hide instances as required.


Now... does it have some useful mathematical functions like sin(), cos()

etc? If so we are in business. If not, well, there's always lookup tables.


The main problem which no-one seems to have got around is that Flash (as far

as I'm aware) has no equivalent to the quad() command in Director, that

basically allows you to specify any rectangular (or otherwise) outline for a

shape to be mapped to. It's this that gets used so much in Director to do

3D. However, I have worked out a way of duplicating the quad function with

only using scale, rotate and skew.


If you believe you are up to the challenge of creating a genuine first in

Flash that others will never understand how you did it, then maybe we need

to talk :) I'm not doing this for any particular reason, other than because

I think it can be done. And if it works, I can imagine it being used a fair

amount commercially, if that's any incentive!


If you think the weak link in the above deal is me, then take a look at

www.theburrow.co.uk/t3dtesters which is basically the best pure lingo 3D

engine you'll have seen in Director (if you've seen any!). So hopefully

that'll put any questions about my abilities to rest.


If you are interested, then please e-mail me personally at

gerbiltheburrow [dot] co [dot] uk

 (preferably with links to some complicated flash

sites you have done). Don't reply directly to me through this mail, it'll go

to my work account and I'm hoping to pick up responses at the weekend.


Barry Swan

gerbiltheburrow [dot] co [dot] uk

www.egroups.com/group/t3dtesters - Mailing list for the T3D lingo engine.

www.theburrow.co.uk/t3dtesters - Support site for the T3D lingo engine with

source, downloads, demos and more.



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