Flash 10 to Include “Kick Ass” Button

I once heard Joshua Davis say that there is no Kick Ass button in Flash. While his point is valid, it looks like Adobe actually managed to include (at least) one with the upcoming release of Flash 10 (a.k.a. Astro).

The next release of Flash won’t include Actionscript 4 (since the ECMAScript Spec isn’t complete), but it will include some really advanced features. Among them are: native 3D support, advanced hardware acceleration, inverse kinematics, shareable pixel shaders and filters (the same used by Photoshop and AfterEffects), and dynamic streaming video quality adjustment.

Some long awaited additions to AS3 will include: typed arrays, runtime FileReference access, vectors, an enhanced drawing API, dynamic sound generation, and advanced text layout support.

Here’s a quick look at some of the new 3D tools:

It’s exciting to see the continued evolution of such a great program, as well as the creative possibilities opened up by the new features. If there is anyone out there still using AS2, it’s time to guts up and learn Actionscript 3. Without it, you won’t be able to truly enjoy all that the next version of Flash has to offer, even though they are seriously improving the timeline animation experience.

A short demonstration of Inverse Kinematic animation tools:

Download the Flash Player 10 beta from Adobe Labs (at your own risk, since it’s in beta).