Activetuts+ (formerly known as Flashtuts+) has a simple tutorial on…how to detect intruders using Flash and a web cam. OK, you may not really need to use your digital signage to detect intruders but detecting motion can be an interesting way to add some interactivity or create interest in your digital sign.
Augmented reality is really hot these days and is only picking up steam. Some creative Flash programming and a $30 web-cam could be the poor man’s AR.
The video below by Michael Coleman from Adobe MAX 2008 entitled “The Motion Graphics Dream Team: After Effects & Flash CS4″ may be a little technical and is probably geared more towards web and mobile but its concept of dynamically serving ads is one of the cornerstones of digital signage and why the media is increasing in popularity. Its also interesting to see how Adobe’s software suite has advanced and how the different components are so closely interconnected. Anyway, the video will give a better explanation than I can.
As you all already know, Adobe’s Flash platform can be a pretty useful technology for the digital signage world. Light-weight “movies”…check. Ability to integrate dynamic data…check. Ability to create interactive experiences…check. Large and easy to find pool of talent to design/program it…check. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its drawbacks (e.g. its inefficient and CPU-heavy, especially at today’s higher resolutions) but the list of benefits is long.
For those that animate with Actionscript (the proprietary Flash programming language) instead of the timeline, our programmers found a useful class package that make animating “tweens” a breeze. The Tweener code pack’s main goals are simplicity, flexibility and modularity. The syntax allows you to tween any numeric property of any object of any class, not just specific properties of Flash’s built-in Classes. Ever want to animate a blur or glow filter? Tweener makes filter properties as easy to tween as the x-position or width of a movie clip.
Happy coding!
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