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LEAD DEV
General Info: Do you dream in design patterns? Do you write notes to yourself in camel notation? Do you know how to lead with the loyalty and passion of a Spartan? If so, you may want to read on. We are looking for a lead developer who is fully versed in both AS 2.0 and AS 3.0 — the kind of person that understands design and how to exploit a creative opportunity. The kind of person that gets cranked about translating photoshop comps into motion. The kind of person that has a firm grasp on every technical aspect of dynamic interactive web-applications.

In this position, you will work on leading a team of developers to build complex web-based applications. You will need to have an understanding of integration with dynamic sites. People management skills are a must, since you will not only lead projects technically to maintain quality of work, you will also lead a team of developers to help maintain quality of the workplace (happy team members is the first step to doing exceptional work). You will need to be comfortable working within a predefined scope, as well as provide reasonable/accurate time estimates for development.

Key Responsibilities(As a Developer):
• Development of web-based applications using the latest Adobe Flash technology
• Help maintain a consistent code framework
• Contribute in the overall digital strategy for our clients
• Translate static comps to their full-motion glory

Key Responsibilities (As a Team Leader):
• Work with a design director to maintain design integrity from start to finish
• Mentor and inspire team members to learn, progress, and grow in their positions
• People management tasks like performance reviews, filling open positions, identifying and solving problems, approving time-off, etc.
• Work with the producers to produce appropriate time estimates and work schedules

Required Skills:
• Expert skill level in building dynamic interactive web-applications using both AS 2.0 and 3.0, including: OOP, functions, arrays, sending and loading XML, AMF, integration with server side such as PHP, Ruby, or Python
• Portfolio should include string examples work showing a knowledge of motion, design, and technical ability
• Ability to read a Scope of Work and evaluate time requirements
• Up to date with the latest technologies and a willingness to learn them
• Strong attention to detail and a fanatic about clean code (A code nazi, if you will)
• Working knowledge of web standards and JS/AJAX
• Understanding of server-side scripting and database concepts and
logic

Added Bonus:
• Flex 2 and Flex 3
• Soundtrack Pro, Logic, AfterEffects, Final Cut Pro, or Cinema 4D
• SQL experience – MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, .NET, JSP

Benefits:
• Competitive salary based on experience
• 401K with employer match
• Medical/Long-term disability insurance
• Killer group of people that love to work together
• Casual work environment
• Live within 30 minutes of 13 different ski resorts in the greatest snow on earth, hundreds of rock-climbing routes, and miles upon miles of mountain biking trails

Application: If you just read a description of yourself and have a burning passion to do exceptional work, we want to hear from you! Hit us up email-style with your resume, personal website, or links to your latest work for immediate, discreet consideration. We will hit you back up only if you are selected for an interview. No phone calls or agencies please.

send resumes to:
kyles@struckcreative.com

FLASH DEVELOPERS
Our ideal candidates will realize that classes are not something that you just take in college. We are looking for someone with experience in the following to join our world class team:

Actionscript 2 and 3
OOP
Programmatic Animation (Fuse, Zigo, Caurina)
Flash Remoting
A great attitude
Good communication skills

Additional Skills include:
Flex
HTML, CSS, PHP, etc.
Database Integration (MySQL)
XML / Web Services
JavaScript / Ajax

send resumes to:
kyles@struckcreative.com

Candidates should be well versed in Flash, HTML and CSS. The Flash Developer / Designer will be responsible for rapid Flash application and site prototyping, scripted Flash animations, data-driven Flash applications, large and small site development (using Flash), and CD-ROM development (using Flash and / or Director).

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Code / develop projects from prototype to final client deliverable. .
• Ensure that final deliverables are to industry, client and agency accepted standards / requirements.
• Be an effective liaison between web development, creative and application / db development teams.
• Develop and continually contribute to team code library and general knowledgebase. Help develop and define methods, conventions and code that best suits the team’s and our clients’ needs.
• Be current and knowledgeable about existing and emerging technologies related to work.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Minimum 2 years, professional Flash front-end (animation) experience
• Minimum 1 year, professional Flash Actionscript experience
• Expert knowledge of Action Script and JavaScript including moderate / heavy use of math and physics, (X)HTML, structured CSS
• Working knowledge and some applicable experience in ActionScript 2.0, Flash Remoting, active server technologies, (PHP, ASP, .NET), databases (SQL, MYSQL, XML / XSLT), Object Oriented Programming, cross-platform Director and Lingo development is required.
• Must have excellent understanding of, and experience with using industry best-practices and accepted conventions and can appropriately apply them to work.
• Must possess the ability to respond and / or adapt quickly to team/agency and client needs.
• Must be able to work with tight schedules, extended hours, short notices, and be able to multitask under pressure.
• Experience working in a larger team and within an agency a plus.

We offer competitive salary & terrific benefits, including a sensational team and the best work environment in the business.

Sound like you? Send your resume with salary requirements (a must to be considered) to jobs@mullen.com. We’ll gladly and quickly respond to qualified candidates!

Why Adobe Updater?

Why such a poor AS editor in Flash Authoring?

Both of these are from philipk. Nice work. Where are your 30onAIR videos?

The IDE
I’m a Flash Developer when it comes down to it; so working within an entirely new IDE was a bit disconcerting for me. When getting into Flex Builder you need to start thinking a bit differently. No longer is your good friend Mr. Timeline sitting at the top of your screen ready to welcome your assets and code. Flex Builder 2 is built off of Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/). Java developers will likely feel comfortable in the IDE of Flex Builder since Flex Builder itself remains true to much of the basic Eclipse IDE. Those of you used to cranking out the AS2 and AS3 classes should feel at home quickly.

Creating a Project
One of the first things you are presented with when getting started in Flex Builder 2 is the dialog allowing you to setup a new project and define what type of project it is that you will be developing.

Creating a new document or Project in Flex Builder 2.

Many people think of MXML, the typical greenish-tinted background and working in the Design view when they think of Flex Builder. As you can see in the screen shot above there are many options when creating new documents in Flex Builder 2. You can create a pure ActionScript Project using Flex Builder 2 as well.

MXML you say? For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, MXML is the XML Markup language used to define elements (user interface components, etc) that make-up the interface for the user viewing the resulting swf file.

A nice feature of the project setup process presents you with the opportunity to define your Source and Library paths for all of the related files in your project.

Defining Source and Library Paths.

Learning Your Way Around the Flex Project
Once you get your project setup you then have a nice Navigator that will allow you to view what files make up your Flex Project. In the image below you can see that we have several different support files (js, html, and swf files) that are created for you by Flex Builder 2. You can see that we also have an MXML file that has been created for us. This file will likely be your primary file for development.

The Navigator view for the Flex project.

Design View
Design view has to be my favorite part of Flex Builder 2. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m as big of a code monkey as the next guy but who wants to blindly write XML to define a user interface. Design view in Flex Builder 2 feels a lot like Microsoft Visual Studio to me. The screen below shows that you have all your basics: Components, a Properties Panel, our Navigator and the ability to switch back and forth between Design and Source views.

Design View.

Source View.

Adding components to the form (Stage area for you Flashers) is simple. Just drag the components out and onto the form as you would using components in the Flash IDE. The Properties panel is awesome – it not only provides you with a means to visually change the selected item in the form but also provides a way to set and view Events assigned to that particular item.

The Properties Panel.

Overall
Overall the Flex Builder 2 has some really nice features including an integrated compiler for exporting your code to SWF and code collapsing. Another amazing feature is the intelligence of the code completion. Those of you writing custom classes will love that Flex Builder will be aware of the methods and properties you have defined.

Though I am not a lover of Flex itself, I think that Flex Builder is a great tool for writing ActionScript. In fact, some people use Flex Builder 2 to do just that and that alone! It still feels a little too much like Eclipse for me. I almost wish they would have built on top of the Dreamweaver engine instead. Overall, I give Flex Builder 2 ½ stars out of 4.

Learn More
You can read more about additional features in Flex Builder 2 by visiting the Flex Builder page on Adobe.com

You can download a trial of Flex Builder 2 here.

Flex Builder is available for purchase and is currently only $249. If you want to add on the charting components Flex Builder 2 will run you $699. Visit the Adobe Store for additional information.

Those of you who know me know that I am not an Illustrator. I enjoy designing and programming but when it comes down to whipping out a Wacom tablet and going to town, I am not your man. Given my lack of illustration skills I thought it would be a joke for me to explain all of the great techniques and options that are available to you in the new Adobe Illustrator CS3 from that perspective. In my opinion you have two primary sets of Illustrator users: those who actually illustrate with it, and those who open, modify, and export from it. Being a Flash developer I’m part of the latter group, myself. Seeing that this is the Flash Users Group blog, I thought it beneficial to show the features of the new Illustrator through the lens of a Flash Developer.

I would wager that most of you have used a vector art program sometime in your past; most of the time it was Freehand for me. I mean, Macromedia made both Flash and Freehand so it was easy enough to get art from Freehand into Flash, for the most part. I think a lot of Flashers used to avoid bringing Illustrator files into Flash because of color shifting and oddities; integrating the two programs often left people wanting. Throughout this review I, as a “modifier and exporter”, hope to touch upon a few of the new features that make upgrading to Illustrator CS3 a no brainer for Flash designers and developers.

Integration with Adobe Flash

The best place to start is with the tight integration there is between Flash and Illustrator when importing an Illustrator file into the Flash IDE. I’m not talking about the nice Import feature from Flash CS3 here. I’m talking about straight copying and pasting from Illustrator into Flash. To users that haven’t had to deal with things like this in the past this may seem like the most basic and simple thing in the world. People need to realize that these two rock stars of vector haven’t always been distributed by the same company. Now that they are, I think that you will see a lot of sweet integration features coming your way. Copying and pasting from Illustrator is just that. You copy and paste. Your paths, gradients, etc. copy right over to Flash with little to no degradation. Nice editable paths also paste over as well. This is how it should have always been. Better late than never.

Illustrator paths, gradients and masks can easily be copied and pasted into Flash with little to no quality or editability loss.

Symbol Integration

I really wasn’t aware of symbols in Illustrator prior to learning about the way in which they can be ported into Flash. Symbols in Illustrator work similarly to the way they do in Flash. You can create a symbol and reuse it throughout the file. Changes to the symbol instance will cascade through all the instances that are being used. Illustrator also has a tool called the Symbol Sprayer which allows you to paint with symbols. Copying and pasting a symbol from Illustrator into Flash is very simple. If you name your symbol in Illustrator and then paste it into Flash the symbol data will carry over by creating a movie clip instance in Flash with the given instance name.

Copying symbols from Illustrator into Flash carries over the symbol data and instance name.

SWF Exporting

Exporting swfs from Illustrator is not new – I actually used to use that as a trick to maintain quality when exporting to Flash. Back in the day things weren’t so peachy. The new Illustrator allows you to control many options when exporting to the swf format. So, while this is not new or rocket science, it is a valuable feature you can use to deliver flash content to others who may not have Illustrator to begin with.

Illustrator CS3’s SWF Export Option

Live Color

Not all of the new features in Illustrator CS3 are Flash related. Live Color is an awesome addition to the program. Live color will take the current color palette of the selected illustration and allow you to modify the colors being used as a group. You can easily create and view live changes of different color harmonies on your illustration without taking the time to set them up manually. For example, you have a largely green and orange illustration and you want to see what it might look like using red and blue tones instead. There’s no need to manually set each drawing object to a new color and figure out the tones of each. Simply use Live Color to quickly view the different tones and steps.

Illustrator CS3’s Live Color allows you to quickly view different color options for your illustration.

Improved operating performance and the new UI

Improved performance is always a plus. Illustrator CS3 touts “…more responsive drawing and editing with improved performance in key operations, including faster screen redraw, object moving, panning, scaling, and transformations.” I really enjoy the new user interface. Adobe has done a nice job of creating a common and familiar UI across the CS3 program family. Pallet locations and look and feel is now becoming standard across the CS3 suite. Illustrator CS3 sports the new, highly configurable UI that users of After Effects have benefited from for awhile.

Crop Area Tool

Another really neat feature that Illustrator CS3 brings is the Crop Area Tool. This tool allows you to set an export area on your document. In the image below you can see that I set the crop area using the Crop Area tool. When I exported my file to a swf only the crop area was exported. That can be pretty handy when doing test prints or exports.

Exporting using the CropArea Tool.

Kuler

I think kuler is a great idea. Kuler is a community driven swatch theme exchange. You can upload, download and modify swatch themes on the kuler.adobe.com site. Adding a kuler panel to Illustrator was a great idea. Many of the programs that were originally written by Adobe lack support for Flash-based pallets/panels. This makes developing extensions for them a bit more challenging. It was pretty easy for me to develop the kuler panels for Flash CS3 and Fireworks CS3 using Flash but would not have been so for Illustrator. Adobe thoughtfully provides a way within Illustrator CS3 to view, upload and copy swatches to your swatch library from the kuler feed. The panel can be accessed by going to the menu and selecting Window > Adobe Labs > kuler.

Conclusion
Illustrator is a great application. Even thoug
h I am not a hard-core illustrator, I use the Illustrator program a lot in my day-to-day work as a web developer and designer. Today’s Flash-friendly Illustrator gets an “A” in my book. If you were ever going to purchase or upgrade now is the time to do it.

Illustrator is available for $599.00 or for $199.00 upgrade. You can learn more about Illustrator CS3 and the numerous other new features by visiting the Illustrator page on Adobe.com.

Tonight’s tutorial will cover:
Get url
Creating load bars
Hit tests
Duplication of movieclips
Masks
Maze hit tests
… and more!

The session starts at 7pm
at the Creative Treehouse
517 Lincoln Ave. 2nd Floor
Bellevue, PA 15202

Directions and other info at creativetreehousepgh.com