Flash 3D Cheats Most wanted

Digital 3D is a tricky area – and until the day someone makes 3D TV commercially viable, it's going to remain a tricky area.

What is 3D? Can you genuinely render 3D on a flat screen? Do you have to spend a year's wages to get a dedicated piece of 3D software? Do you have to conjure up a bunch of complex math techniques to make the grade? Is anyone going to answer these interminable questions?

Well, listen: we're not out to work ourselves into the ground here. We want 3D and we want it fast, and we want to use Flash to get it. In a series of clear and concise demonstrations, this book shows you exactly what can be achieved in Web 3D. Some of the most cunning designers around have put their heads together to present these: the most wanted 3D cheats in Flash.

This book will show you that you can:

• Lie your way into 3D with simple drawing techniques
• Cheat a 3D interface with cunning use of light and shadow
• Fool Flash into thinking it can render genuine 3D, and con the Internet into delivering it for us in double-quick time
• Hoodwink visitors into thinking they're witnessing focus and depth of field
• Improve your depth of deception with an innovative slice engine to create convincing 3D objects
• Trick users into thinking they're moving through a 3D space

Contents

• Introduction to Flash 3D
• Light and Shadow
• Scaling for 3D
• Isometric 3D
• Focus and Depth of Field
• Parallax Scrolling
• Text Effects in 3D Space
• Drawing API and Math for 3D
• 3D Slice Engine
• Departure Lounge: Moving beyond Flash 3D