3D Animation in Flash

Fri, 04/04/2008 - 01:05 — Jacob

Want to do 3D in Flash? There are 3 basic ways to get 3D animation in Flash.

Methods:

You can export video (or a series of images) from your 3D program, and import it into Flash. These would be basically a series of raster images (i.e. bitmaps) in Flash, that look like 3D.
You can use some type of export from a 3D program that renders directly as a vector object in Flash. This would be similar to method 1, except that it would be in a Vector format instead of raster.
You can use a real time Flash rendering engine. This is the newest way and has the most power for user control at run time, but the results don't look quite as good as they could using method 1. On the plus side, you don’t even need a 3D program for this!

Method 1 should be pretty self explanatory. You just export images or video from your 3D program of choice, and use them in Flash like you would any other video or series of images for an animation. The benefit of this method is that you can get a lot of detail. The down side is file size.

For method 2, there are a few different commercial options out there, but if you’re looking for a free version, there is Blender (www.blender.org) with sFlender (http://www3.sympatico.ca/emilio.aguirre/s2flender.html). This exports a native SWF file, which is entirely vector based (no Bitmaps in it), but it only works with an old version of Blender (2.36). These files can often be smaller than bitmap based files for method 1.

If you’re going for method 3, there are several rendering engines, such as PaperVision 3D, Sandy 3D, and Away 3D. These engines render the 3D in real time inside the Flash player. Getting your 3D objects into Flash can be a bit challenging, but luckily (if you’re using Blender) there is an export script for Blender, that can export directly to any of the 3 rendering engines mentioned! You can find this blender script here:
http://rozengain.com/?postid=54

If you want to spend some money, a very good option is Swift 3D. Swift 3D can export to any of the render engines mentioned, but can also export directly as vector in Flash (method 2 above).
Swift 3D is a commercial app, but the others mentioned are open source, and free.

If you own a different 3D app, (such as Maya or 3DsMax) here is a tutorial about how to get your stuff into PaperVision (this tutorial is good for Blender too, but doesn’t use the special export script mentioned above):
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/3d__and__animation/introduction_...

That wraps up our quick article about methods for 3D in Flash! Hope you found it informative. :)

Jacob's blog
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Comments

Mon, 06/22/2009 - 09:40 — arlon

I did use flash many times

I did use flash many times and this is very useful software for me to design templates and one thing is when i run the page it generates iframe virus.
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Thu, 06/18/2009 - 07:33 — scaner

Really!!! it is a great

Really!!! it is a great invent..we can import video images and place it in flash which looks like 3D..it is a great sharing..thanks for the info..
regards,
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Wed, 06/17/2009 - 20:51 — Danny

The demand for 3D Flash

The demand for 3D Flash projects has been so great that third-party applications have been written to pre-render 3D objects from 3D modeling applications. However, these applications merely create the illusion of 3D by generating key frames for each position of the 3D object. Amazing Stuff! Hallucinogenic plants

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Mon, 06/15/2009 - 01:12 — William

3D Flash Animator gives you

3D Flash Animator gives you everything you need to create Flash animations and games for Web pages. To my knowledge JiglibFlash project is an open source project to create 3D render engine. Quite an useful post. Ganja seeds

Fri, 06/12/2009 - 14:34 — giemx

These are really good

These are really good animation workouts using Light Fixtures.This is the newest way and has the most power for user control at run time, but the results don't look quite as good as they could using the newest methods.

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 18:51 — Andrew

Swift 3D is the most

Swift 3D is the most versatile tool for creating web-ready 3D animations for use with Macromedia Flash. I use it for everything in 3D that I need. From making backgrounds for clients to flyers, the possibilities are limitless. Till date I am happy with it. Nice technology! Salvia

Thu, 06/04/2009 - 11:07 — tina

thanks

a very good option is Swift 3D. Swift 3D can export to any of the render engines mentioned, but can also export directly as vector in Flash (method 2 above).
Swift 3D is a commercial app, but the others mentioned are open source, and free.
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Thu, 06/04/2009 - 07:19 — m.furqan.latif

Thanks for shearing

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Sat, 06/06/2009 - 12:28 — topu09

You can use a real time

You can use a real time Flash rendering engine. This is the newest way and has the most power for user control at run time

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Tue, 06/02/2009 - 18:48 — Robert

One big trend that I was

One big trend that I was surprised to see Macromedia miss the boat on was the increasing use of 3D elements in Flash-based designs. To me swift 3d is the best rendering machine. When you create a new file in Swift 3D, you can either choose a .3DS file to import or start with a blank scene and use Swift 3D's built-in modeling tools to build a scene from scratch.
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Sun, 05/17/2009 - 17:23 — Tommy

This article is aimed at

This article is aimed at providing useful information for web designers. As you probably know, Flash is a 2D program. However, there are a handful of open source 3D engines that allow real time 3D environments to be rendered within the flash player. I just recommend some open source rendering machines instead of commercial app.
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Fri, 05/08/2009 - 03:53 — Steven11

Yes, we all know that this

Yes, we all know that this is a great stuff but I have a simple question, when we use 3d animation in flash to design pages will it loading fast as 2d [light weight], some one pls share your views on it.
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Tue, 05/05/2009 - 05:30 — Karen112

Thanks Jacob for some

3D Animation in Flash seems to be complicate but worth. This technology is the bottom line to the current designers. Also thanks Jacob for some useful links incorporated in the article.
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Excellent info! This has

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Wed, 05/06/2009 - 08:54 — emil300

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Thu, 04/30/2009 - 09:52 — Jamie

No doubts Jacob

No doubts Jacob, It is really informative and crisp. I know 3d in flash is rocking but need some details regarding the rendering engines. To be focused, I just wanted to know the major functionality difference in using open source rendering engines and commercial application like Swift3d.
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This is really nice info ,

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3D Animation in Flash

3D Animation in Flash hits the top of current trend. It is wide spread and ranks no1 in the mind of designers. 3D animated pages are more attractive and keep visitors repetitive. Do remember that flash is primarily a 2D environment so typically there is a need for a library to display and manage the 3D graphics.

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Informative article,I really

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This is really good

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Sat, 01/17/2009 - 11:23 — day170109

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