3D Flash Animator 4.9 beta 3 is available

[kusco]

I guess we'll keep releasing betas this week until everything works perfectly.

The sound bug is fixed. Position bugs are fixed. There are still some small things that are known to need fixing. The documentation is yet to be updated.

If you find a bug, please don't complain about it in the forum. Email a bug report to contact@3dfa.c*m If possible, include a simple movie file showing the bug.

Projects saved from this beta cannot be loaded back into earlier versions. So backup your movie files first.

You can download the beta from ...

http://www.3dfa2.com/files/3DFlashAnimator4Beta.exe

Thanks to those who have submitted bug reports. Keep the reports flowing in.

[my_6th_sense]

Can someone tell me what the new things/updates are??
I can see that the menu layout has been changed and a few new samples, but I can't figure out what's really "new"'?

[Finjogi]

A lot of bugs are fixed Flash filters are new thing. Some new collision "stuff" is "visible" but not yet working.

[zoranvedek]

I'm loving the way properties are now applied to elements. It's a much more logical system, also elements having children is pretty cool too, especially since the children can have properties relative to the parent.

Still getting used to some of it, but I'm thoroughly impressed with the new layout.

-J

[kusco]

The most important change in 4.9 is the export of sprites.

In previous versions, each element with properties was exported using 2 flash sprites, the first one handled all movement and a second one handled all animation. You accessed the base using element("name") and you accessed its animation offset using .movie.

Now all elements are exported using only one flash sprite. For backward compatibility, the .movie property is ignored. You only need to use element("name") for everything, or in beta 4, you can also specify your own variable name so that you can access the element from the start using root.my_name.

For better flash compatibility, you can now use 'root' or '_root', and you can use 'parent' or '_parent' to get the parent element.

If you add a script to an element, or if you add an "on First Frame" handler, any variables that you declare become properties of the element, and any functions you declare become methods.

This was possible in the previous 2 sprite system, but is much more intuitive now. Each element can be treated more like a programming "class", with coding for that element contained within the element instead of in the root script.

There are more changes to come, and everything will be properly documented with samples in the final 4.9 release. Beta 4 will be released very soon. Please keep sending in your bug reports.

[RonaldCrow]

Hi,
One question : is 4.9 Beta 4 the next and "final" release or 5 the definitive new version ?
Something else : you speak about "better flash compatibility" (?); effectively, when I decompile a swf file made by 3DFA (with ******* SWF Decompiler, for example), the resulting fla file never works.
I ask you the first question because I'm working on a new movie, and I think it would be perhaps better if I waited for the new 3DFA version 5...
(note : sorry for my bad english).

[kusco]

Version 4.9 beta 3 already seems to be more reliable than previous versions. If there are no serious bug reports for beta 4 then a final version 4.9 will be released on the download page of the website, probably at the end of this week.

Versions numbered 4.9.x will continue to be released over the next several months. Version number 5 won't be used until 3DFA is ready for a major relaunch, later on in the year.

On the other question, Flash compatibility refers to the similarities between 3DFA's scripting and Flash 8 scripting, which is all the same once exported to the SWF file format. If you are having difficulties decompiling SWF files from any source then you might need to find a more compatible SWF decompiler.

[RonaldCrow]

OK. Thanks for your answer.