3000+ reasons why Flash isn’t going anywhere soon
The FWA is almost 10 years old (established in May 2000) and they started their 10th anniversary celebrations early by launching a brand new site (created by Belgian based Flash rockstars Group94). The FWA is one of the few sites I visit daily and a great inspirational resource. Every day they award the best site with their acclaimed and much wanted “Site of the Day” award. Winners proudly add the yellow ribbon to their site to show that they won.
The FWA has awarded over 3000 sites in the last 10 years… Less than 10 of those use a technology other than Flash. So… If you’re looking for great examples of why Flash isn’t going anywhere soon, The FWA is a good place to start! In just about every thinkable category from games to architecture to educational to fashion and more you can find inspiring examples that showcase the power of the Flash Platform.
If you have any doubts that Flash doesn’t have a future, you should just look at some of the amazing sites and apps showcased on The FWA!
Here are some of my favorite recent FWA winners:
Flash on!
The gallery: HBO Imagine
Just about every week, I come across many cool sites and applications. To showcase these apps and sites, I’ve created a new category on my blog: The Gallery. The Gallery will be a place to showcase cool and innovative Flash applications and sites.
The HBO Imagine site is a great one to kick off this new category. HBO Imagine is an interactive movie. You’re not only the director in this movie but you also need to solve the crime. Great work by The Barbarian Group and BBDO showing off high quality Flash Video in a 3D environment.
The power of the Flash Platform part 3: Video
Remember the “old” days where you had to struggle with bandwidth selectors, video player choices and codec nightmares before you could watch a video online? I know it’s kind of a bold statement, but Flash really did change all that and the continuously increasing Flash Video market share proves that. I also often hear people complain about the quality of Flash Video. Most of the time, these people don’t know that Flash Player can actually play high definition video up to 1080p using the H.264 industry standard video codec.
But Flash Video is about more than just video. With Flash, you can easily make your video interactive. A piece of video in a Flash project is just like any other visual object. You can animate it, change it’s dimensions, layer it with other videos, make it interactive, … Heck… You can even personalize it. No other web technology currently available on 99% of all Internet-connected PCs is able to do this. And bloggers who claim otherwise should get their facts straight. (Are you reading this TechCrunch?)
Flash Video is everywhere and sites like YouTube, Vimeo and many other like it would not be as popular today without Flash Video! Traditional media companies like the New York Times, CNN, ABC, MSNBC also use Flash for the delivery of their video content. Hollywood studios use it on Hulu and the recently announced Epix site.
But like I said, Flash Video isn’t just about playing on demand video. Lots of people also use it for live video every day. Sites like UStream, Justin.tv, Qik and FlixWagon allow users to quickly setup a live video stream and stream it to hundreds of viewers. Ever sent a recorded video message to someone on FaceBook or Tokbox?
So how about interactive video? There are tons of amazing examples out there! Remember the immensely popular Elf Yourself campaign? Or what about those really cool augmented reality cases? Augmented reality is actually another great example of how Flash changes the web. AR has been around for years now but it wasn’t until the recent availability of the FLARToolkit that the technology was used online and even in campaigns for big brands like Doritos, Jack Link’s and Microsoft.
Flash on!
The power of the Flash Platform part 2: Augmented reality
Augmented reality has been around for quite some time but now that it is available for the Flash Platform (and thus available to just about everyone) it is really booming. I was recently looking for some AR examples and came across some really cool applications. I hope these will give you a bit of an idea of the immense possibilities this technology has. It’s not even that difficult to build. Check out Lee Brimelow’s tutorial video and you’ll be building applications like this in no time.
LIVING SASQUATCH
This one really blows people away. You can completely animate the sasquatch while still being able to control it in 3D space. You really need to play with it yourself to believe it. Check it out on http://www.livingsasquatch.com/
RONALD CHEVALIER
This one is very funny to demo. You stick the black and white pattern on your forehead and when you launch the application, your face is replaced with the one from Ronald Chevalier. Good fun! ;-) Check it out on http://ronaldchevalier.com/mindportal/
GE SMARTGRID
This was the first augmented reality Flash application that I saw and you’ve probably seen it as well. But if you haven’t, go check it out on http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality
MICROSOFT SQL SERVER
I think this is the first augmented reality campaign in Belgium. Obviously the agency and the client chose the best platform to do this. The Flash Platform is also the only cross OS and cross browser platform that allows you to bring AR to the widest possible audience. Check it out on http://sqlug.be/augmentedreality/activate/activate/
I’m sure you’ll agree that augmented reality is pretty cool but what do you do with it? In Brazil, Doritos actually put the black and white pattern on the Doritos bag. When you go to their site and show the bag, you get access to exclusive content. (via http://kiss-the-future.blogspot.com/2009/04/augmented-reality-in-doritos-sweet.html)
Lego even created an in-store display with augmented reality. Just hold up the box to the camera and the display shows you what the finished project looks like. See http://www.notcot.com/archives/2009/01/legos_digital_b.php for more.
I’m sure there are more AR cases out there. If you know of any or are building one yourself, please leave a comment.
The power of the Flash Platform
Flash Player 10 is now on 75% of all Internet connected PCs. It’s amazing to see it reached that number just 6 5 months after it was released. And it’s even more amazing to see what developers are building on top of the Flash Platform these days.
Sumo Paint
When I first saw Sumo Paint, I was completely blown away. It was just a couple of weeks ago, on April 1st. I remember mailing out a link to their main page and getting replies from colleagues asking if this was an April Fools joke. ;-) Sumo Paint is actually very easy to describe. Think Photoshop in a browser window. I thought these guys were also using Pixel Bender to do some of the effects but when I met them earlier this week in Helsinki (where they are based), they told me it’s all ActionScript 3.0. Even though Sumo Paint’s feature set is extremely close to Photoshop, it’s all built using ActionScript 3 and the Flex framework.
Hobnox Audiotool
You’ve probably seen this one before but this German based company just keeps adding new features and new instruments and it just keeps amazing me every time I see or demo it. The Hobnox Audiotool is basically a complete studio to create electronic music. The Hobnox team made Flash versions of a bunch of popular electronic drum computers and synthesizers that you can easily add to your composition. Additionally, you can also add effect modules and even record your performance to share with your friends. And all this is done using ActionScript.
Aviary
Aviary is a suite of online creative tools. Where Sumo Paint is “just” an image editor, Aviary has a vector editor, image editor, visual laboratory and a colour palettes application. All built on the top of the Flash Platform. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of code behind this application suite and it all runs smoothly in a browser window using the Flash Player.
These are just 3 great examples that nicely demonstrate the power of the Flash Platform and there are many more out there. If you know of a cool example, make sure you leave a comment with the link(s).
Now… If you’re a web developer, just ask your self this question: “Can the platform I’m building applications on do this?”. If the answer is yes, chances are you are already a Flash Platform developer. If the answer is no, it’s not too late for you. ;-)
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