Flash

HBO Voyeur

For example, after telling me a fascinating story about bulldogs, Josh Hirsch of Big Spaceship gave me a tour of HBO Voyeur. This visually stunning website built in ActionScript 3.0, using Flash CS3, Flash video, After Effects, and Papervision (for 3D effects) invites you to observe human life within New York City apartments.

 

OASISS

I also had an opportunity to interview Mark Cadle of the US Border Patrol about the Operation Against Smugglers Initiative on Safety and Security (OASISS) website. A MAX Award finalist, the OASISS website uses Dreamweaver, ColdFusion, and Flex to enable field agents—on both sides of the border—to easily search for, track, gather, and input case information. A Flex and Adobe AIR app are in development.

 

International Space Station: An Interactive Reference Guide

The winner of a 2007 MAX Award in the Best Public Sector category, NASA's Interactive Reference Guide to the International Space Station shows how the onboard crew lives, how the station was built, and what its purpose is. NASA Developer Michael Carbajal provided a demo. Michael's team used Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF, After Effects, and Premiere to build this app.

 

ILM's The Show: The Visual Effects of Pirates of the Caribbean II

Senior Designer Rachel Roth from DHAP Digital described the rich interactive website that she and her team built for ILM. A MAX Award finalist, The Show: Pirates of the Caribbean II provides visitors with a behind-the-scenes look at the artistry and technology used to bring characters and environments to life in the movie. This site—built using Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects—will be of particular interest to anyone who has seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movies as well as industry professionals who like to see how others create stunning special effects.

 

Can't stop now...

While I yearned for an opportunity to sit back and relax, I couldn't resist pulling people out of the community lounge for impromptu one-on-ones. While these folks didn't necessarily submit for (or win) an award at the conference, they are certainly developing best-of-breed websites and applications.

Buzzword

Case in point: I spoke with Rick Treitman, CEO of Virtual Ubiquity, which makes Buzzword. As a writer and editor, I was blown away by this awesome online word-processing application built with Flex, ActionScript 3.0. Currently deployed via Flash Player, Buzzword will soon be available as a desktop application on Adobe AIR. In addition to having excellent typography and layout options, Buzzword lets individuals or teams create, review, and revise documents offline and online. For me, it's a dream come true. Check it out.

 

Discovery Channel Cancer Collage

When I spotted Anthony Franco of EffectiveUI hanging out in the Community Lounge, I went over to chat with him. I'm glad I did. He told me all about the Discovery Channel documentary "Living with Cancer" and its companion website, Cancer Collage. This community-driven website built with Flash and Flex helps connect people who are affected by cancer. Take a look.

 

Disney Travel Planner

I also got a chance to catch up with a couple of cool cats from Frog Design. Cary Gibaldi and Josh Bloom were heavily involved with planning and creating this Adobe AIR application using Flex and Flash, as well as Photoshop CS3 for building comps. Their Disney Travel Planner will make life so much easier for Disney travel agents. See it in action.

 

Auburn University Department of Fisheries

As a web developer at Auburn University, Troy Hahn used Dreamweaver CS3 and Spry widgets to build and manage a 1,000-page website for the Department of Fisheries. This academic website allows the faculty to use Contribute to add their own content, making Troy's web dev life so much easier than before. The Spry data set helps pull down even large PDFs without a hitch. Troy talked with me about the website, and demoed some of its features.

 

One more demo: Thermo

While I was interviewing people and recording demos, I missed a big demo. on Day 2 of the general session, Steven Heintz and Mark Anders presented a project code-named Thermo. While I didn't have a chance to attend the session, it was hard not to notice the buzz. In the hotel lobby, in the community lounge, at the PDF kiosks, and in the nearby bars and restaurants, I continued to hear the same word over and over again, "Thermo."

Thermo is an Adobe product in development that makes it easy for designers to visually create rich Internet applications. Basically, you create a comp using an Adobe CS3 product (Illustrator, Photoshop, Fireworks, and so on). Then you open Thermo, import the AI, PSD, or PNG file, and transform that artwork into a working application—without having to write a line of code. And that's not all. The application you create in Thermo can then be loaded directly into Flex Builder.

I swear, that's all I know. Lucky for me, though, I'll soon be interviewing Steven Heinz and Mark Anders and recording a demo about Thermo, so I'll get to see it up close. Hopefully, in a few weeks, we'll post the demo on the Adobe Developer Connection so you can see it too.

And next year?

As for MAX 2008 in San Francisco, I suspect I'll be interviewing quite a few beret-wearing CS3 users who are developing rich Internet applications with Thermo. Until then, check out this video that Stefan Gruenwedel recorded and produced that captures the excitement surrounding MAX 2007. Turn up the volume and enjoy!

About the author

Julie Campagna manages the Adobe Edge newsletter as part of her work on the Adobe Developer Relations team. In addition, she contributes feature articles and produces video interviews for the Developer Center. In her free time, Julie likes to dabble in Flash video and produce web-based movies that feature her two English bulldogs, Daisy and Laverne.