Degrafa for AS3-only Projects
One of the most common things we get asked about in the community is if there’s a version of Degrafa for AS3-only projects, i.e. a way to use Degrafa without having to use Flex. This was definitely on our roadmap, but working on the actual framework itself was taking priority.
A few days ago, with the help of Ryan Campbell, we were able to demo using Degrafa in an AS3-only project created from Flash CS4 at 360|Flex. Things are still being ironed out, but people seemed interested in taking a look at the simple example. You can download the example below.
Our plans are to make 2 separate branches of Degrafa, one for Flex and one for AS3-only. Eventually, we hope to see the 2 branches become one. Hopefully this will allow even more people to take advantage of all the hard work that’s already been put into Degrafa.
Stay tuned for more details as things get a little more formalized around Degrafa in AS3-only projects.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:19 am
Heya,
I did some playing with this back in October: http://www.flashgamer.com/2008/10/bezier_drawing_with_degrafa.html and I’ve used Degrafa in many pure AS3 projects since then.
Degrafa’s Origin branch is a great asset to anyone wanting to do any kind of bezier drawing in Actionscript. Thanks guys!
J
May 21st, 2009 at 10:13 am
Hi there,
First of all, I would like to congratulate you guys for all the effort you’ve put behind Degrafa. The samples in your website are truly excellent and encouraging.
The problem I’m seeing is something like an identity crisis for Degrafa. For example, if Degrafa’s original purpose was to avoid AS3 and create compelling graphics using XML tags, why work on an AS3 without tags?
Then, Degrafa was going to serve as a bridge between SVG and Flex (or so I thought). In theory, one was going to be able to bring SVG files and render them dynamically in a Flex app, which is useful for those of us that have external apps that generate SVG. But this seems to have been put on hold (or used only for paths) given Adobe’s commitment to FXG in spite of SVG.
In essence, I’ve been scratching my head for months figuring out how to integrate Degrafa in my projects but have stuck to writing for the Flash library in AS3. I’m just wondering out loud if your efforts will be compensated.
Good luck,
Tomas
May 21st, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Hi Tomas,
.
Thanks for the awesome feedback.
The main drive behind Degrafa was to abstract away from lower level drawing API work, that is true. But this goal is achieved whether it’s used in mxml (mxml is easier for a broader range of people, and more intuitive for those who don’t know actionscript) or in actionscript.
A Path, for example, can be instantiated in mxml or actionscript and both ways are much easier and more versatile than defining the drawing commands natively.
Folks already use Degrafa in as3 as well as mxml inside Flex projects, the difference here (now) is really about opening up that possibility to regular flash devs indepedent of flex -where mxml is not really an option in any case. It’s simply removing the requirement for the bulk of the flex framework (at least most of it – a small amount is being mirrored for compatibility- until we change a few more things).
We’ll figure out the naming aspect I’m sure. As Juan says, ’stay tuned’