Flash 8 Bootcamp

I realized I’ve never blogged this officially, so I thought I should.

Over the past couple months I have been assembling a new workshop called ” Flash 8 Bootcamp“, which I will be running in Toronto on Nov 11-12 (this Friday-Saturday) and Los Angeles on Dec 2-3. It is an intensive two day workshop that covers every new feature of Flash 8 in gritty detail. The thing I like about this workshop is that unlike my previous “Enterprise Development” workshop, this workshop is accessible to a much broader range of Flashers (both because of the low pricing, and the lower prerequisites) and the content is much more future-proof. While the course won’t specifically look at AS3, I’d say over 80% of the content is directly applicable to it. This is largely due to the fact that most of the Flash 8 features were added with AS3 migration in mind.

UPDATE: The bootcamp will be running in London, UK on February 11-12. Please read the announcement for more information.

I also like this workshop because it should be a lot of fun. While I love teaching hardcore technical content, it’s nice to do a course that is much more relaxed and visual.


Here’s a look at some of the more interesting bits:

Introductions

Full feature tour

Theory: Matrices

Demo: Skinning a window with 4 lines of code and slice-9

Creating alpha video with After Effects

Using and skinning the FLVPlayback component

Demo: Sequencing video

Using cue points

NetStream enhancements

Bitmap Caching

Blend modes

ExternalInterface

Demo: Integrating a custom Flash control with an HTML field

FileReference

Demo: upload and download

XML additions

FlashType and TextRenderer

Localization improvements

Player enhancements

ActionScript enhancements

Theory: Color by number

BitmapData: Basics

Demo: Custom caching

Demo: Webcam motion detection

BitmapData: Manipulating pixels

Demo: Sample color area

Filters introduction

Demo: Light source demo

Demo: Smoothed webcam motion detection

More Filters

BitmapData: Advanced methods

Demo: Water ripple effect with perlin noise

Demo: Collision detection

Advanced Filters

Demo: Webcam snowstorm

Demo: Dynamic glass text

Demo: Webcam fire

Theory: Optimization and performance

Of course, there is a bunch of smaller demos, time for Q&A, tips & pitfalls, ideas for inspiration and problem solving processes, a preview of some (as yet) unreleased work, a pile of source code, and hopefully a lot of fun.

It’s pretty late for the Toronto run, but I’m pretty sure we still have some seats if you want to squeeze in last minute. I know we have seats left in the LA workshop, but they are (hopefully) filling up fast. You can visit the FitC site to sign up or get more info.

I’m also considering running this in London and possibly other locations. I’m also putting serious thought into running it as an online workshop (either live or prerecorded), as I’ve had a lot of interest expressed in that. If you’re interested in any of these options, leave a comment or send me an email.

Grant Skinner

The "g" in gskinner. Also the "skinner".

@gskinner

21 Comments

  1. You should record these and drop everything on a DVD or downloadable. I would buy it.

  2. I agree with somehow capturing this stuff and delivering it via DVD or other media:

    1. Source Files

    2. Presentation materials

    3. Some video (2 days would be a whole lot of DVDs)

    Should be great workshops!

  3. I would also be interested in purchasing a recording of this bootcamp. Downloadable would probably be most efficient.

    It doesn’t have to be professionally done. Just stick a camera in the room and point it at the board/screen.

    If you’re doing it all off of a computer, just do a Breeze/Captivate recording with a mic.

  4. Grant, there’s no doubt it will be a lot of fun.

    I got a camera in my fruit loops this morning (and I was angry because that means I got less fruit loops). But nevertheless, I’ll bring this camera and capture the fun with true analog glee!

    -d

  5. Had I only known that you where going this in depth, I would have crossed the boarder for that. No offense but the FITC site info is not half as exciting as what you posted here.

  6. Why not team up with the folks over at Lynda.com or do something similar?

  7. Come to Denver.

    Nobody ever comes to Denver.

    Except microsoft, ech 🙁

  8. Would be very interested if you came to London.

  9. Would be seriously interested in attending a London bootcamp. The above details, specifically with a view to AS3 migration, sound like an excellent course. Alternatively, if you were to make a comprehensive DVD/book combo I’d buy that too.

  10. ++ on the idea of capturing it all and selling it online. would buy as well.

  11. Would also buy a DVD/or online package including (video, presentations, sources, etc …)

    and come to Montreal !!!!

  12. Edward McIntyre November 10, 2005 at 9:30am

    Grant! Do somthing in Alberta man! I cannot afford to travel, but I would love to attend. Hell, nothing design based seems to happen in this province.

    Your from here, why not make it happen?

  13. Agree that a DVD or some sort of presentation would be great! If not, how about coming to Osaka, Japan and giving a workshop for some Canadians living abroad and dying for some flash tutelage 🙂

    cheers erick

  14. Having just been to the workshop (lucky me, I’m a Toronto resident :), I have to say it was worth every penny! Two days and BAM!, I’m all up to date. Just saved myself buying four books in six months. Grant is an awesome workshop speaker and an all-around great guy, I was extremely impressed. Kudos to Shawn, Rick and Liz at FITC for putting together a great event. Never saw much use for a webcam until now. Gotta get me one of those. Flame on! 😉 And yeah, a DVD set of the event would be nice, even for those who were there. Dunno if they will or not, but you can email shawn at info@fitc.ca to request it. Okay, I’m going to find a nice quiet corner now while my brain explodes…

  15. The workshop went amazing. thanks to Grant for all his hard work and his wealth of knowledge!

    If you are interested in seeing this(or any other) workshop in your city, i recomment emailing liz@fitc.ca as we keep a list going and thats how we pick cities to do workshops in!

    and as for a DVD, we did tape it, so please watch Grants site for further info to come!

    Shawn Pucknell

  16. I agree completely with Edward McIntyre. With you being from Alberta, you should organize a workshop in Edmonton. Your work is amazing and I have heard many positive comments in regards to your workshops.

    As a fulltime student at NAIT in the Digital and Interactive Media Design course and a freelance flash and web designer, I am unable to afford to travel workshops across Canada and the United States.

  17. Grant has offered several workshops in Edmonton in the past. I’m sure that if he does one in the future, the NAIT students will be the first to know, as that is where it has been held in the past.

  18. Hi Grant, We’d be interested in a London bootcamp!!

  19. Get a bootcamp in London. Please!!!!

  20. David,

    It is coming to London in February. You can read all the details here:

    http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2005/12/flash_8_bootcam_1.html

  21. I’m trying to find out if Grant is doing anymore workshops and if so, where? I’ve heard great things about the bootcamp and haven’t been to a Flash event since FlashForward2000 in NYC. This blog entry looks pretty dated, but hopefully someone will still answer it.

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