November 18, 2008
Novemberfug - for lack of a more clever name.
This Monday, November 24th @ 7:00pm, join us at The Billard Club (10505 82 Avenue NW) for our monthly nerd-out. As always, we'll be sporting the happy-hour drinks, the five-buck appies, the door-prizes galore, and the post-session free billiards. efug is a super-casual group of designers / developers that welcomes first-timers, veterans, uber-nerds and the super-cool.
We've two stellar presos lined up:
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Flashify Drupal
Owen Brierley - Director of Production, Gystworks || Executive Director, Guru Digital Arts College
Drupal is a wickedly cool open-source content management system. Owen will walk through setting up a connection to Drupal and ingest the CMS based content into a Flash environment. It's tasty and fortified with geeky goodness.
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(Insert intermission, socializing, networking, bingeing...)
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Ten Essential Things We've Learned at gskinner.com
Maurice Leier - Junior Developer, gskinner.com
Oscar Hungsberg - Junior Developer, gskinner.com
Junior developers Oscar and Maurice give a quick introduction to the ten most essential Flash skills they've learned so far, covering AS3 best practices for beginners, and even the basics of Flex Builder 3.
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Check out efug on Adobe Groups!
http://groups.adobe.com
Still hot out of the oven, Adobe Groups is live and running! Set up your profile and join the efug group at:
http://groups.adobe.com/groups/b37b274b9a/summary
Adobe has gone to great lengths to make an online presence for our community, so feel free to participate and contribute to our group space by using the discussion board, posting resources and job listings, populating the reference library etc. I plan on making this group page the main source for efug & Adobe User Group info over the next few weeks.
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Mark the 24th in your calendar and get involved in Adobe Groups! Hope to see you there!
Posted by Michael at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2008
The Return of Octoberfug
On Monday, October 20th, 2008, @ 7:00pm, join us for two stellar presentations from our local community!
Randy is going to kick off the evening by doing a dry-run of his 360|MAX session he will be presenting in San Francisco in mid November.
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Randy Troppmann: www.randytroppmann.com
Using Yahoo! Maps AS3 API in Flex, and making money with Mapvertising
Early in 2008 Yahoo! released an AS3 version of their maps API. Randy will demonstrate how to quickly get up and running with the Yahoo! Maps in Flex. Randy will also demonstrate how you can add geographically relevant advertising (Mapvertising) to your mashup and start making money!
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After a short intermission for networking and socializing, Erik is going to take center stage:
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Erik Johnson: www.disruption.ca
Building Games in Flash for Free
Did you know the Flex SDK contains everything you need to build flash apps? Did you know that Adobe gives it away for free? You can even use it to build applications without writing any XML or MXML. Erik will talk about how to get started with mxmlc, and show a simple flash game built with the Flex SDK.
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I managed to get us free pool after the sessions if anyone is interested and also will be bringing a microphone to combat the ambient noise we've been battling at the Billiard Club. As per usual, we will be enjoying happy-hour drink prices, five-buck appetizers and swag giveaways to lucky attendees.
It is going to be an awesome evening, hope to see you there!
Posted by Michael at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2007
Flex and AIR Pre-release Tour with Adobe’s Duane Nickull
Our first gathering of 2008 is gonna rock the casbah — Creative Suite giveaways and swag galore! January 31st, 2008: Mark it down.
Flex and AIR Pre-release Tour with Adobe’s Duane Nickull
Flex 3 and AIR are getting close to launch and in preparation, Duane Nickull from the Adobe Flex/AIR product team is traveling to select cities to show off the great new features and help prepare us for this exciting launch.
Duane Nickull works as Senior Technology Evangelist for Adobe. He participates in many architectural and developer forums on various subjects including Web Services, SOA, Ontology and Computational Intelligence as well as writing frequent trade publications on Web 2.0. He is currently the chair of the OASIS SOA Reference Model TC and has worked on previous technology architectures for W3C (Web Services Architecture) and the United Nations. He is also in the process of writing a book on Web 2.0 for O'Reilly Media and Publishing.
Flex 3 is a feature-packed release, adding new UI components like the Advanced DataGrid and improved CSS capabilities; powerful tooling additions like refactoring; and extensive testing tools including memory and performance profiling, plus the addition of the automated testing framework to Flex Builder.
Adobe AIR is game-changing in so many ways, extending rich applications to the desktop, enabling access to the local file system, system tray, notifications and much more. Now you can write desktop applications using the same skills that you’ve been already using to create great web apps including both Flex and AJAX.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to see and hear about this highly anticipated release of Flex 3 and AIR during this special pre-release tour. Plus, in addition to giving away some one of a kind Flex/AIR branded schwag, we will also be raffling off a copy of Flex Builder 3 Professional (pending availability) and a full commercial copy of CS3 Web Premium at this event!
Have a safe and relaxing holidays — hope to see you on January 31st!
Posted by Michael at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2007
A Good Ass Kicking: Round Two
At last month's gathering, Grant Skinner shared the first half of his 2007 FitC presentation entitled "50 Reasons AS3 Kicks Ass". He then took us under the hood of his presentation engine, shedding light on its intricacies and architecture.
This Monday (August 20th: 7:00, Billiard Club), Grant will be wrapping up his presentation, touching on 25 more reasons that AS3 is arguably the largest step forward in the history of Flash. Grant is internationally renowned for his expertise and contributions to the Flash community - offering an evening you won't want to miss.
Following the break, we are going to have an open-podium portion of the evening. Volunteering to speak will earn you an entry for our major giveaway of the evening.
To earn your entry, you simply need to comment on one of the following, for no longer than five minutes:
- sweet feature in AS3, Flash CS3, AIR or Flex
- handy or awesome Flex / AIR application
- showcase a project you've completed or are working on
- show a stellar Flash site you've found and why it appeals to you
We will have a laptop & internet connection available to you, but come prepared if you need any additional files or resources.
Expect to enjoy the usual five-dollar appetizers, happy-hour drink prices, great socializing & networking.
Hope to see you there!
Posted by Michael at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2007
June Patio Panel
This Monday (June 18, 2007, 7:00 at the Billiard Club on Whyte)
As our Edmonton summer continues to blossom, the Billiard Club patio has been silently calling me to move the group outdoors. In response, for June's gathering, I've assembled a panel of local experts to share their views in an open-ended discussion of New Media. Weather permitting, we'll take advantage of this format outdoors on the patio.
Following the discussion, we'll move indoors to enjoy a presentation focused on the future of AS3:
Actionscript Heresies
Erik Johnson
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With Actionscript 3, Adobe has put a lot of effort into making the language into something "Enterprise-Ready" that will appeal to Java programmers. But at its core, ActionScript is a dynamic language with features that aren't available in more mainstream languages. Is Adobe making a mistake by encouraging us to adopt the "industry best practices" of the enterprise crowd? I will be looking at some interesting programming techniques that are different from the way most people write their code.
As always, expect to enjoy five-dollar appetizers, happy-hour drink prices and all-new, *never-before-seen* 2007 swag!
Hope to see you there!
Here is a quick introduction to our volunteer panel of experts for the patio:
Win Geis
President, Guru Digital Arts College
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Involved in educating and mentoring New Media talent since the early 80's, Win was highly instrumental in the creation and delivery of the first full-time multimedia program in Alberta in 1994. Graduates from that and subsequent programs form the backbone of local business and education today. Most recently, he was Multimedia Program Director/Instructor at DevStudios Inc. and prior to that Win was Program Coordinator at the N.A.I.T. Microcomputer Institute. A more experienced professional in New Media simply does not exist.
Randy Troppmann
Flash Platform Developer, Spin Technologies Inc.
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Randy Troppmann’s career as a designer and multimedia developer spans 18 years. During the last 6 years his focus has been on the role of developer for the Flash platform and has worked for NAIT, the GSkinner team and his own company Spin Technologies. Randy’s latest after-work obsession is his mashup runningmap.com which combines on-line mapping with the sport of running.
Lanny McNie
Project Manager, gskinner.com
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Despite a long history in design and web development including PHP, HTML, CSS and JS, Lanny has been focused solely on the Flash Platform for the last 4 years. Be it AS2, AS3, JSFL, Flex, Apollo, or whatever comes next, Lanny believes in the future of Flash to deliver everything from boring corporate applications, to rich desktop applications, to awesome interactive pieces for cool clients.
Michael Warf
devbox.ca
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Michael is a passionate multidisciplinary designer / developer with a proven track record in concept, design and execution of both print and web materials. As the current Lead Visual Designer and Owner of Devbox Design & Development Inc., Michael is an active member and promoter of Alberta’s digital media community — Michael evangelizes standards-based, accessible design practices and user experience design to both clients and industry peers.
Posted by Michael at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2007
May Fug Madness
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Venue: The Billiard Club on Whyte (map and address on left)
Doors: 7:00pm
That's right, another month come and gone. Our May lineup is stellar and we have some huge giveaways too. So read closely. Our world-class presenters:
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Flexing Apollo with Digg & AS3
Wes Gorgichuk, gskinner.com
This year has been huge in the world of Flash. AS3, Flex 2 and CS3 have paved the way for probably the most anticipated and coolest technology to come out of Adobe in a long time ... Apollo!
Any geek will tell you the best place to waste your time is Digg.com. So when Digg and Adobe approached us to build a sample application using the new Digg API, we thought, "...what a great chance to merge cool with geeky - all to make your time wasting more efficient!" DiggTop was born.
Using custom blended feeds, users can see their top 10 most popular stories. Taking advantage of RegEx we can scrape images and videos from the Dugg page for your viewing pleasure. Come see what was involved in building this little app using Flex 2, AS3 & Apollo. Download it for yourself!
http://www.gskinner.com/DiggTop/
* You will need the Apollo runtime installed from
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/apollo/
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Full Screen Flash For Fun & Profit
Michael Warf, devbox.ca
Have you ever checked out your site on a 30 inch LCD? Does it look like a postage stamp? Join Michael Warf (devbox.ca) and learn how to create adaptive layouts that look gorgeous at most any size & scale. Using a live example for work on the new Alberta Government site, Michael will demonstrate how flash elements can work as an integral part of a larger HTML / CSS based liquid layout. Don't miss it!
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Swag Closet Spring Cleaning!
To compliment the insight and expertise of our presenters and community, expect to enjoy five dollar appetizers, happy-hour drink prices and raffles from Adobe, O'Reilly, adultswim.com, mediatemple and others. In addition to the usual swag, prizes this month include watches, iPod speakers, iPod cases and a full CS3 Suite to one lucky attendee (up to a value of $2100 US).
Keep in mind that our gatherings are open for anyone. First-timers are welcome and our regulars should encourage friends and colleagues to join us for a pint. Help our local community grow!
Hope to see you there!
Posted by Michael at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2007
Grant Skinner's FITC preso!
Hey Flashsters,
Special thanks to all of you who came down to the Billiard Club last month for the CS3 launch. Hope you enjoyed the drinks & food on Adobe's tab and a big congratulations to Neil Madsen who walked away a winner with the Creative Suite 3 package.
If you are unable to make it to FITC in Toronto this year...
We're holding another sweet efug event this Monday, April 16th at 7:00. Before Grant Skinner presents at FITC in Toronto, he has agreed to give his presentation at the Billiard Club on Whyte Ave to the local community! Grant's sessions are internationally acclaimed and this is a rare opportunity you don't want to miss!
Grant Skinner, lead architect of the v3 component set for the next release of the Flash authoring tool, will discuss ActionScript 3 and the new v3 component set. Topics will include skinning, styling and customizing components, using data providers, and building new components. While this session will be primarily technical in nature, the content will be approachable for designers with a modicum of ActionScript experience. Attendees will leave with an understanding of the goals and architectural decisions that defined the Flash CS3 component set, as well as in-depth Information on styling and skinning components, and a basic understanding of building or extending components within the new framework.
Take advantage of this opportunity to sit in on one of Grant's sessions. Hope to see you there - invite your friends & colleagues!
Posted by Michael at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2007
February's Gonna be Sweet!
For February, we are going to try a slight change from our usual format: we've decided to try a new venue that is acclaimed for hosting beer-drinking professionals such as ourselves. The kind folks at The Billiard Club on Whyte Ave (www.thebilliardclub.com) have offered us their entire back bar to hold our monthly gathering. The change allows us to offer a vast array of specialty beverages and a full menu to our community members, while enjoying a casual environment conducive to networking and socializing. We are also being offered five-dollar appetizers and happy-hour drink prices all night long!
As always, we'd like to thank Guru Digital Arts College (www.gurudigitalarts.com) for their hospitality over the years and hope to see Guru staff & students join us on Whyte Avenue.
The Nitty-Gritty:
Wednesday, February 21, 7:00 @ The Billiard Club on Whyte
10505 82 Avenue NW, second floor of Old Strathcona's historic Post Office building (map on the left)
http://www.thebilliardclub.com
Our All-Star Lineup (it's going to rock):
"Mastering the Creative Process"
Stefan Morris (www.shustudios.com, www.kalida.ca)
The creative process, although rewarding, can often be a difficult phase in the development of a project. Stefan Morris from Shu Studios will be addressing some of the common challenges encountered during this process and provide solutions that will allow you to consistently deliver quality work to your clients.
"Generating Flash From Data"
Erik Johnson
Erik will be showing a tool that takes a 2D blueprint-style map and outputs an animated 3D map. Topics will focus on using external data to create flash images and animations and some of the possibilities that this approach uncovers.
Invite your friends and colleagues down as well, we have an awesome community here and we'd love to see it grow!
Hope to see you there!
Posted by Michael at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2006
Flash, Flex and Fug
To kick off 2007, we are holding a special efug gathering at 7:00, on Thursday, January 4th at Guru Digital Arts College (address and map to the left).
Our guest presenter has agreed to share his insight and expertise on emerging Flash technology, straight from Adobe Headquarters in San Francisco, California. As an "Ambassador, Arms Dealer, Mercenary, and Reporter for Adobe", Ted Patrick's presentation is a rare opportunity that you don't want to miss. The 411:
Ted Patrick - FLEX to Success
Ted Patrick, lead product evangelist for Adobe Flex, will give an introduction to Flex 2, MXML, the FlexBuilder IDE, and the free Flex SDK / compiler, including building an application in under 15 minutes! Ted will also discuss market opportunities for Flash developers using Flex, and show some cool examples of existing Flex 2 applications.
Ted's blog can be found at www.onflex.org.
Have a safe and relaxing holiday season and we hope to see you in the new year to share some cold bevies, 2007 Adobe shwag, great networking and cutting-edge expertise. Merry Christmas from efug!
Posted by Michael at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2006
Happy Holidays!
This is just a quick reminder that there will be no efug gathering this month in lieu of the holiday season. Our next meeting will be January 15th, 2007. A warm & heartfelt thank-you goes out to all of our 2006 presenters, attendees and especially Guru Digital Arts College for being our gracious host for another year! Have a safe & relaxing holidays and we'll see you in 2007!
Posted by Michael at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2006
Next Meeting: November 20
On Monday, November 20th at 7:00, anyone who's anyone will be gathering at Guru Digital Arts College (address and map to the left) to enjoy some world-class presentations for the last eFug of 2006. We won't be meeting in December due to Jesus' birthday, so this is your last chance to get your fill of fug. For starters:
Michael Warf (devbox) will explore the history of flash text replacement via sIFR, show real world examples of the technique and show current explorations with sIFR 3 alpha.
CSS / JS / Flash Mashup - Exploring sIFR 3.0 Alpha
Typography on the web still sucks, Why not get the goodness of antialiased custom fonts, the flexibility of CSS and the magic of javascript to bring love and positivity to your projects. Fight back with Flash 8 text rendering engine, multiple colour support and more!
Following the usual 15-minute intermission for networking and brewskies:
[Insert Witty Title About AS3 Here]
Lanny McNie of gskinner will be introducing us to ActionScript 3, the new object-oriented programming paradigm commonly associated with Java and C++. Lanny has been coding in AS3 for almost a year now, and will be sharing what he has learned along the way. He will also be showing us how to migrate our AS1 / AS2 projects to AS3.
Mark it in your calendar - hope to see you there!
Posted by Michael at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2006
Next Meeting: September 18
The next EFUG meeting will be held on Monday, September 18 at 7pm. As usual it will be held at Guru Digital Arts College (address and map available to the left ), and will feature refreshments, networking, discussions, shwag, and a couple of great talks from some local Flash talent.
Our first talk will be presented by Randy Troppman:
Demonstration of RUNNINGMAP.com and YAHOO! Maps.
The world of map mashups and geo-encoded content is exploding. Google provides an easy to use API for incorporating an interactive map on a website, but it is AJAX based and difficult to customize if you are use to the Flash world of development. To the rescue comes Yahoo! Maps which provides both AJAX and Flash based APIs. RUNNINGMAP.com is an example of a Yahoo! Map Flash based mashup and has been lauded by the Yahoo! Map Team themselves.
In this demo Randy will:
- show iterations of the applications
- demonstrate how to use the Yahoo! Maps component
- give a brief code tour of RUNNINGMAP.com
This will be followed by open networking and discussion time, then Erik Johnson will take the stage to present:
Competitive game programming, development sprints, and flash.
Erik will be talking about his experience participating in online game development competitions. He will cover what the process involves, and how it is possible to create a game in a weekend. Erik will also share his thoughts on why Flash is such a great technology for this application, and what could be improved.
I hope to see you there!
Posted by Grant at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2006
Happy Flashy Birthday Event!
On August 21 we will be having a special EFUG gathering in honour of Flash's tenth birthday. As always, it will be held at Guru Digital Arts College (see left bar for address and map). As usual, we will have beer, beverages, and great company.
Because this is a special event, we'll also have food and some special Flash-oriented goodies. You'll also get to see a special "History of Flash" reel from Adobe, and have a chance to win a full copy of Macromedia Studio 8 (worth )! You're going to have to work for it though. To be entered in the raffle for Studio (and other shwag), you will have to do one of four things at the meeting:
1) Describe how you got into Flash, and show off an early piece of work from your career. Alternatively, show off a piece of work that inspired you to become a Flasher. Or,
2) Show off one of your favourite things that you have built using Flash, and describe why you like it. Games, experiments, applications, websites or anything else you've built in Flash. Or,
3) Give everyone a tour of a current Flash site or piece that you find especially amazing, inspirational, or forward-looking. Or,
4) Talk about your favourite feature in Flash, and show how you use it.
Any of these can be design or development oriented (ex. show off an illustration trick for #4), and should only be a couple minutes long. I'm hoping to showcase the diversity of the people in our community, their varied backgrounds, and the work they produce.
If you plan to participate, please be sure to bring your files on a USB key, CD, or put them on a publicly accessible server.
It should be a ton of fun, so mark it in your calendar, tell your colleagues, and I hope to see you there.
Because we're offering food, and the meeting might run longer the meeting will probably start at 6:30p. This isn't solid yet, so please let me know if you have any problems with the earlier start time.
I will send a couple of reminders between now and the 21st that will include the exact starting time.
RSVPing to efug AT gskinner.com would be appreciated (but not necessary), as it will let me figure out food / beverage requirements.
Hope to see you there!
Posted by Grant at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2006
Next Meeting: July 17
The next Edmonton Flash User Group gathering will be held on Monday July 17 at 7pm. As usual it will be held at Guru Digital Arts College (address and map available to the left ), and will feature refreshments, networking, discussions, shwag, and a couple of great talks from some local Flash talent.
Our first talk for the night will be presented by Skye Boyes and Jordan Dubuc of XGen Studios Inc.
"Introduction to Real-Time Multiplayer Games (In Flash!)"
Skye Boyes and Jordan Dubuc discuss developing real-time multiplayer games in Flash®. Overall strategy, concepts, and basic ActionScript will be explored. An example game will be dissected and the source code made available.
This will be followed by some open networking and discussion time, then another great presentation by Perry Shulak of Critical Fusion, inc.
"Getting a grip on Actionscript when you need to get the job done."
Perry Shulak operating as Critical Fusion Inc. will journey through one of his currently completed projects, an online learning presentation for the WCB, that was handled from concept, script, creative to programming. This was a do it all yourself project, where he will outline his experience with Actionscipt, and all the revelations he has unveiled in priming his brain to conquer the programming language. He will also give his take on onEnterFrame, and his other personal explorations of movement using code.
This should be a great gathering. I hope to see you there!
Posted by Grant at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2006
June Meeting Postponed!
As mentioned in the previous email, the EFUG meeting scheduled for Monday, June 19 will be cancelled so everyone can watch Game 7 (go Oilers!).
The talks will be re-scheduled for the next meeting on Monday, July 17. I'll send out a reminder email, and post a meeting announcement here closer to the date.
Posted by Grant at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2006
Next EFUG Meeting: Mon Jun 19
This meeting has been postponed until July due to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals
Posted by Grant at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2005
October Gathering
After a slow summer, eFUG is rolling again. Our next gathering will be on Monday, October 3rd, at Guru Digital Arts College (map in the left bar). This meeting will feature Grant Skinner doing a talk called "What's New in Flash 8":
In this one-hour session we will thoroughly review the biggest release of Flash in the history of the platform. We'll talk about how to best apply the new graphical expressiveness features both visually and via code. We'll discuss the long list of new video features, including encoding and delivering video. Finally, we'll explore details of all of the other new features in the next generation of Flash.
As always, there will be beer, shwag and good company. We hope to see you there.
There are exciting times ahead for Flash developers. Flash 8 has amazing new features focused around video and expressiveness. eFUG offers you the opportunity to learn about and discuss these new capabilities with your peers locally.
Posted by Grant at 03:14 PM | Comments (0)
May 27, 2005
Next Gathering Details
The next gathering of EFUG will be on Monday, June 20 @ 7pm at our usual venue (info in the left sidebar). In addition to the usuals (swag, beer, beverages, flash geeks), Grant Skinner of gskinner.com will be doing a session entitled "Puki Dissected". The session description follows:
Take a behind the scenes tour of the popular 3D Flash game, "Puki: The Swarm". This session will detail the architecture, code, mathematics and algorithms behind the game, as well as examining the conceptual and creative path of the project. In addition, Skinner will share a variety of helpful tips and tricks he discovered while developing the game, including strategies for optimization, discouraging cheating, safe-guarding high scores, and thwarting "game pirates".
The game can be found here: http://gskinner.com/games/puki/
We hope to see you there!
Don't forget to check out the forum for job/contract leads, Q&A and random Flash discussions.
Posted by Grant at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2005
Gathering: April 18
The next EFUG gathering will be on Monday April 18th at 7pm at Guru Digital Arts College (see the http://www.efug.org/ site for address and a map). Lucas Swick will be giving a presentation titled "Bringing a whole new dimension to Flash", followed by show & tell and open discussion. As always, we will have beverages, shwag, fun, and lots of other Flash nerds to hang out with.
Bringing a whole new dimension to Flash
Come see the exciting new applications that Lucas Swick and Montage Studios have developed that will change your perspective on the potential of Flash. Utilizing the JSFL Extensibility Layer and Flash MX 2004, these applications bring a whole new dimension to Flash development.
Weather and time permitting, we might wander over to Sherlock's for a beer and some socializing after the gathering.
Hope to see you there.
Posted by Grant at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2005
Gathering: February 28, 2005
Our February meeting will be held on Monday the 28th at 7pm. As always, it will be held at Guru Digital Arts College (map/address is in the left sidebar) and feature good company, beverages, shwag and lots of learning.
Our presenter for this month is Ryan Matsikas, who will be doing a talk on "Extending Flash". Ryan will be examining the various ways in which you can extend the Flash MX 2004 authoring environment, and point you to some great resources to get started. He will then walk through the simple steps involved in creating your first JSFL command and your first custom panel. This is definitely not one to miss!
Time permitting, we will then open the floor to general questions & answers and show & tell.
Hope to see you there.
As always, we are looking for presenters for the March meeting. If you have an idea for a session you'd like to present, we'd love to hear from you. It's a pretty painless experience, and we're happy to help you polish your talk. We really need support from you, the local community if we're going to keep this group vital.
Posted by Grant at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2005
February EFUG gathering moved
Due to the Family Day holiday on Monday the 21st, we will be holding the meeting the following Monday the 28th. As usual, it will be held at 7pm at Guru Digital Arts College (see the left sidebar for a map and address).
Gathering details will follow shortly.
Posted by Grant at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2005
Efug - January 17,2005
January Presentation
"Dynamic Content with Style"
Michael Warf (devbox.ca) will share practical examples on implementing external CSS definitions to dynamic flash content. Based on experience from www.edmontonchampcar.com, Michael will share how content was kept separate from the presentation layer via this technique.
Posted by at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)
November 30, 2004
Gathering: Postponed
Just a quick notice to let everyone know that we will not be holding a gathering of EFUG in December, due to the holiday season. Our next gathering will be on Monday, January 17 - more details will follow after the holidays. If you are interested in doing a talk in January, we would love to have you.
In other news, the forums are temporarily down (probably for another week or so) as we switch hosts. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Posted by Ryan at 02:49 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2004
Gathering: November 15th, 2004
Gathering number 13 is just around the corner. It will be held at Guru Digital Arts College on Monday, November 15, 2004 at 7pm. For a map and address, please see http://www.efug.org/ .
Beyond the usual swag, refreshments and Flash Geek goodness, Phil & Ryan of gskinner.com will be doing a session on some of their latest work. In addition to that, we will have an open Mic where you can show off your latest project, ask a question or babble incoherently about how much you're craving 8ball and all it's glorious new features!
What's Cookin at gskinner.com
Join us as we take a peek inside some of the latest work at gskinner.com
including:
1) introNetworks - a Flash based social networking application used at various conferences around the world. gskinner has developed version 3 of this application from the ground up, including a visualization tool that allows conference goers to find other people with similar skills/interests/hobbies, as well as a configuration tool that allows the client to visually configure color schemes, graphics and all text in the application.
INFO: http://www.intronetworks.com/
2) glic (gskinner lightweight interface components) - an entirely redeveloped set of components for Flash, the gskinner team has maintainted the Macromedia V2 component API, while reducing filesize and processor hit. In addition, we have implemented some cool new features including a powerful focus/keyboard management system which encompasses all glic components. Lastly, we have built a "test suite" around each component which allows a visual way to test each component's API. Come out to see Canada's first public demo.
INFO: http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/000120.html
Presented by: Phil Chung & Ryan Matsikas
Refreshments are sponsored by gskinner.com.
Posted by Ryan at 01:18 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2004
Gathering: October 18th, 2004
The twelfth gathering of the Edmonton Flash User Group will take place Monday, October 18, 2004 at 7pm. As usual, the meeting will be held at Guru Digital Arts College.
Grant will be presenting a session titled "Object Oriented Procrastination", prior to presenting it internationally (it's like a gala premier, without the gala bit). Following that we will be doing an open Mic session where you can ask questions, show off your latest work, or share a new technique.
As always, we will have swag, beer and refreshments (sponsored by gskinner.com) and good company. We hope to see you there.
Object Oriented Procrastination
Object Oriented Programming is commonly associated with application development (boring but profitable), but it can also be used to create less practical (and much more entertaining) pieces. This session examines the inspiration, architecture and code of a number of Grant's recent multimedia experiments. Designers and Flash newcomers will be introduced to the basics of OOP and programmatic motion in ActionScript 2, while more experienced coders will learn architectural best-practices and hopefully be inspired to use their skills for more creative pursuits.
Posted by Ryan at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2004
Gathering: May 19, 2004
The Edmonton Flash User Group will be participating in the second Macromedia world wide user group meeting on Wednesday, May 19. Come to Guru Digital Arts College at 7:30pm for beer, prizes (including a copy of Studio MX 2004), good company and a look at the future of the Macromedia product line with a number of the MM product managers. We can't tell you what will be revealed, because they won't tell us, but we're sure it will be exciting!
We will not be having our usual gathering on the third Monday of the month.
Remember, you have to be there to win!
Posted by Ryan at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2004
Gathering: April 19, 2004
The next gathering is on Monday April 19 @ 7pm at Guru Digital Arts College. We don't have any formal speakers in place for the meeting, but we will be running a question and answer period, show and tell, and social mixer. I'll be doing a show and tell of some of the experimental work I've been doing with grid-based proximity and tolerance-based systems, and walk through the code in a new "Proximity Fireflies" experiment I'm working on to demonstrate these ideas. Bring your latest and greatest, and show it off to your peers - we all need inspiration!
As always, we'll have tons of great swag, including a chance to win a copy of Studio MX 2004! You have to be there to win!
Sorry again for late notice about this gathering, steps are being put in place to make everything much smoother in the future, one of which I will be announcing on the gathering Monday.
Drinks are being sponsored this month by the New Toronto Group, who is running "Flash MX 2004: Application Development" in Edmonton on April 27-29. eFug members get a substantial discount on this training - see details below.
Macromedia Authorized Flash Training in Edmonton!
New Toronto Group (NTG), a Macromedia Authorized Training Partner, will be delivering "Flash MX 2004: Application Development" in Edmonton from April 27-29. This is a special opportunity to get the latest Authorized training from Macromedia, delivered by NTG, Macromedia's Premier Training Partner in Canada.
As a bonus, NTG is offering all Edmonton Flash User Group members a special discount! As an eFug member, you will be entitled to a 33% discount off of the 3 day course. It's like getting one day free!
If you are interested in this delivery of Flash Training, please visit http://www.newyyz.com/Education/Education.cfm for more information.
To register, please call Rick Palmerio as soon as possible:
Rick Palmerio
New Toronto Group
905-306-2790
rickp@newyyz.com
Posted by Ryan at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2004
Gathering: March 15, 2004
The eighth gathering of the Edmonton Flash User Group will take place on Monday, March 15, 2004 at 7pm. As always, the meeting will be held at Guru Digital Arts College (thanks again to them!!), located in the lower level of the Empire Building at 10080-Jasper Ave.
We have two excellent speakers (session info below), some seriously great prizes, good company, beer (and other, lesser beverages), and a chance to WIN A FULL COPY OF STUDIO MX 2004! Trust me, you'll want to be there!
While I have your attention, I want to remind everyone of a few things:
1) We are always looking for speakers. A lot of you are on my speaker list, which I will delve into if need be, but I'd really appreciate it if people would volunteer to speak on topics that interest them before I chase them down. If you're interested in speaking, or have an idea for a topic, please email us at efug@gskinner.com.
2) We are always looking for new members, too. The more the merrier, and the more educated and connected we all become. So if you know a fellow Flasher that isn't a member, encourage them to sign up for the list, and bring them to the next meeting (it will be a good one).
3) Remember that we have access to a large number of discount programs for everything Flash related: software, books and conferences (FlashInTheCan anyone?). Contact us for details. We can also get you a free copy of a Flash book if you're willing to do a book review.
4) If you're planning to buy a copy of Macromedia software, please do so through the affiliate badge. Doing so doesn't cost you a thing, but it puts a little money in our coffers for prizes and refreshments.
Bridging the Gap Between Flash Programmers and Usability Experts
Tem Frank
Web Mystery Shoppers Inc.
www.webmysteryshoppers.com
Usability experts often complain about the use of Flash in web applications, and yet it can clearly be a valuable tool in many circumstances. Tema Frank, founder of Web Mystery Shoppers Inc., will give a brief presentation on how her company approaches usability testing and then open the floor to discussion about how you perceive the role of flash in web sites, how you determine what is appropriate in different circumstances, and how you think end-user perspectives could be meshed better with what you do. Please bring examples of sites that you think use Flash effectively. We'll have a look at them and discuss what works and what doesn't work from an end-user's perspective.
Tile Based Games: A Primer
Lucas Swick
Join Lucas Swick for an introduction into building tile based games. Learn tile theory, culling principles, and optimization processes that are key to producing games in Flash.
It's going to be a great gathering, I hope to see you there!
Posted by Ryan at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2004
Gathering: Febuary 17, 2004
Our February gathering is tomorrow, Wednesday, February 17 (I know, short notice - my fault - apologies all round). We have a wonderful talk by Ismael Rumzan titled Interactive Video Learning Object, socializing, q&a, prizes and beer. As always, it will be held at Guru Digital Arts College at 7pm. Hope to see you there!
Interactive Video Learning Object
presented by Ismael Rumzan
Based on a section from an Occupational Therapy learning resource, we (Academic Technologies for Learning, University of Alberta) constructed anexperimental learning object consisting of several channels of information:
video, text synchronised with the video, text information area, and text area for typing notes. The technologies used were Flash MX, Flash Communication Server, Flash Remoting and Coldfusion MX. In this
presentation, I will attempt to:
- Define Learning Objects and their origin
- Outline Learning Object Design principles
- Look at how flash can help integrate different learning styles/channels based on the object in question
- Look at the flash comm and coldfusion code used to interact with the server
- Comment on a 50-60 student usability/research evaluation we performed
Posted by Ryan at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2004
Gathering: Januaray 19, 2004
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
The next Edmonton Flash User Group gathering will be held on Monday, January 19 at 7pm at Guru Digital Arts College. We have a couple of great presentations lined up, in addition to the usual beer, refreshments and good company.
Project Management
Presented by Chris Caldwell of Critical Fusion
A look at the people, concepts, and relationships involved in managing successful projects.
This presentation will take a critical look at the mechanics and perceptions of project management. The goal is to establish ideas that can be applied to a project to improve its success. We will also discuss the impact of project management and its relationship to the perceptions and health of the multimedia industry.
Rich Media Development: Process Overview
Presented by: Stefan Morris of Shu Studios
This session will look at the processes and technologies involved in devloping Shu Studios' latest project; The Nokia 3200 Learning Academy. A combination of cartoon illustration, 2D & 3D animation and Flash Interactivity, the Nokia 3200 Learning Academy was developed to provide Nokia's sales agents knowledge about the product using a fun and colorful theme.
Reminders
A quick reminder that if you're going to buy any Macromedia software to please do it through our affiliate banner, it doesn't cost you a cent, and it puts a little money in our refreshment fund.
Also, don't forget that we have access to free copies of Flash books for review from most publishers. Email me at efug@gskinner.com if you're interested.
Flash In The Can
In other news, Flash in the Can has offered us a 10% discount for conference passes. This conference is a phenomenal place to learn some advanced techniques, meet other Flashers (Canadian and international), and its a LOT of fun (this ain't your father's tech conference). I'll be there drinking beer and doing a talk on Results Oriented ActionScript 2.0 (maybe at the same time). If you're interested in attending, email me at efug@gskinner.com.
Shameless Plug
There are still a few spots left in the "FlashMX 2004 Enterprise-level Development" course I'm running at NAIT starting on Jan 26. This course will take you from grunt to guru in the Flash world, and it is an incredibly good deal at $550 for a 36 hour course. For more info, and registration info, check my blog: http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/000048.html
Hope to see you at the gathering. Happy New Year.
Posted by Ryan at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2003
Gathering: December 10, 2003
For December, we are teaming up with Alberta New Media and the brand new EAUG (try pronouncing that - eFug is way cooler), aka Edmonton Adobe User Group for a Year End Christmas Mixer. This is a great chance to network and get to know the community. There will also be munchies and short presentations on eFug and EAUG.
When
December 10, 5 - 8 pm
Location:
Guru Digital Arts College
Empire Building, Lower Level
B100, 10080 Jasper Ave
Come out and enjoy some Christmas Cheer and Snacks and mix with industry Professionals
Help Celebrate the Launch of the Edmonton Adobe User Group.
There will be Short Presentations from both the Edmonton Adobe User Group and the Edmonton Flash User Group.
RSVP to win@gurudigitalarts.com
Please note: We will not be having our regularly scheduled gathering on the third Monday of the month in December - its just too close to holidays. Regularly scheduled gatherings will resume with our meeting on January 19.
Also, be sure to congratulate Phil on the birth of his second son - a future computer guru no doubt!
Cheers, and happy holidays to those not attending the mixer!
Posted by Ryan at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2003
Gathering: September 20th, 2003
We're baaaaack.
After taking the summer off, we want to get right back into the swing of things. We'll be meeting at our usual location, Guru Digital Arts College, on Monday September 20 at 7:00 pm.
Integrating Flash Video
Serving both the design & development crowd, Michael Warf (DEVBOX) will take you through a sample flash video project using Apple's Final Cut Pro 4 HD, Macromedia's Flash Video Exporter, and Macromedia Flash MX 2004.
Designers can breathe a sigh of relief as the first half of this talk will incorporate video using Macromedia's Media Components - without a lick of Actionscript.
Developers can balk at part one (and the bloated overhead of Macromedia's media components) while basking in part two - a pure code driven solution.
Open Mic
This is your chance to share a cool technique that you've learned, a project you've worked on, or anything else Flash.
We'll also be giving away more free stuff, and we all know free stuff is good.
See you there!
Posted by Ryan at 02:31 PM | Comments (0)