FITC Toronto Pre-Festival Workshop

Practical ActionScript 3 for Flash CS3 and CS4
Dates: April 25th, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm (~8 classroom hours a day)
Instructor: R Blank
Location: Hilton Toronto

ActionScript 3 has completely changed the Flash development landscape. The power and performance is outstanding but there's a lot to learn. This workshop is designed to get you up to speed quickly with the amazing new version of our favourite programming language.

We cover the fundamental changes in ActionScript 3, so you can learn the core changes and how to execute all basic functionality (such as loading external music, keep using your FlashVars, and parse through huge XML files) and start getting a handle on some of the new terms and concepts available in AS3. There are source files for each lesson so students leave with a complete set of AS3 sample files that teach all the core functional AS3 concepts, like playing video, display list manipulation and managing event bubbling. At the end of this course, students will know enough AS3 to complete many types of projects exploiting the amazing performance in the Flash Player 9. This is an amazingly effective way to get started in the brand new world of Flash power.

Students will receive a copy of all prepared notes, as well as dozens of sample source files.

Watch R give the one-hour version of this course at Adobe MAX 2009

Hearing Pictures with the Synesthesizer at FITC Toronto

The Synesthesizer -- the first publicly available output from Project Ludi, a long-term skunkworks project at Almer/Blank -- is a Flash 10 application that translates pictures into music in real-time.

In this talk, R describes the process he followed to get the Synesthesizer to this point.

Using the 1943 Hermann Hesse novel, The Glass Bead Game (also published under the title Magister Ludi, the protagonist of the novel, from whom Project Ludi derives its name), as a starting point, and proceeding through a discussion of synesthesia, the aural illusions of Professor Diana Deutsch, the Experiments in Musical Intelligence by Professor David Cope, the music of Tamarin Monkeys, and many other stepping points, R will walk attendees through the thought process required to assume an odd endeavor such as the cross-modal translation of pictures into music.

Who this talk is for:
Stoners, acid-freaks, and shroomies. Fans of Oxycontin should stay away, as the information in this talk will likely cause long-term damage.

Practical ActionScript 3
Dates: May 1st, 2010, 9:30 am - 5:30 pm (~6 classroom hours)
Instructor: R Blank
Location: RMI - Los Angeles

Mastering ActionScript 3 Events
Dates: May 8th, 2010, 9:30 am - 5:30 pm (~6 classroom hours)
Instructor: R Blank
Location: RMI - Los Angeles