Free Flash Stuff

Keeping up with all the new developments in animation software these days is just impossible, and I'm afraid for me that Flash takes a back seat to 3D stuff. But I have noticed a few new things from the world of Flash lately that I thought were note worthy. Maybe you would like to investigate further.

First up is Papervision3D, an open source 3D plug in for Flash. It seems that you can create 3D environments while maintaining some of the file size advantages that flash has over other animation platforms. The picture here links to a cool interactive underwater environment where you can look around and click on the fish. To go to the Papervision3D site, click here. There is a demo too, but in a video I don't think you can really see the potential here, the 3D doesn't look as good as the high end stuff that's around, but imagine it downloading in a few secs and being interactive, now that's exciting.

Next up is a free online lip sync program. You upload an MP3 of your dialogue, choose from a selection of pre made mouths or build and upload your own and it sends you back a Flash file with the mouth synced to the dialogue. I haven't had a chance to try it, but it looks like fun.