Now I don't mean to rain on your parade or anything Mike...but

I had to check the date on this because to me, that's not "Coolest Flash demo - EVER!" and you're not the first to highlight un-interesting work as outstanding.

Now it might be that I have more time to read blogs so have seen these:

http://theflashblog.com/icons.html - and every other 3d carouselle, ever.

http://www.fwiidom.org/?p=14 - WiiMote controlling PaperVision3D Flash

http://blog.je2050.de/2007/02/02/wiiflash-and-papervision3d - more WiiMote PV3D

http://www.unitzeroone.com/blog/flash_examples/flash_9_pv_3d_example_3d_bumpm.html - 3D Bumpmapped objects with textures - in FLASH!!!

The last one, bump mapping is by far the most advanced development that PaperVision3D has made. Textures mean we can do more than just create 3D carouselles with video clips. Now THAT'S exciting :-D

Jolyon

[md] I'm sure there are many great Flash-based sites/experiments that could be considered "cooler" than this one - but to me, this is a really big deal. This is the one demo that Microsoft keeps showing as a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" at Flash - because you can't do Flash video on a 3D carousel. This proves that wrong. Very cool.

And you're right, I don't see most of the cool stuff that's out there. Thanks for those links. [/md]

Haha, that's funny because a demo I did months ago, had no 3 videos but 6 videos:
http://www.mrdoob.com/lab/PV3D/panorama_anim.html

Well, in the end I didn't used videos because flash wasn't able to play the 6 FLVs into a decent speed. So I ended up having 6 movieclips with all the frames inside.

This does say quite a lot of you guys :(

[md] Hi. This may say quite a lot of *me*. This is my blog, and I think it's perfectly acceptable for me to say that I think something is cool. That doesn't mean your stuff *isn't* cool.

Give me a break, dude. Relax... [/md]

By the way, If you want to see what Flash9 is able to do. Check this out, it was released 1 year ago already:
http://www.flashscene.org/travolta/

Here's another couple of video/Papervision3D demos

http://www.blog.lessrain.com/wp-content/testarea/papervision/papervision_video.html

http://www.oscartrelles.com/projects/papervision3d/videoCube/

Very nice implementation, and seriously kicks our own attempts in mid-2005. However, we were able to get the same kind of smoothness using AS2 well over a year ago. I hauled out the demos and put them up here:

http://www.karbonized.com/miscellaneous/3dlinear/

The first demo uses a displacement map, can't quite remember what the method for the second sample was.

Flash definately hit it's stride when it hit AS2...(now we are an AS3 Flex ony shop).

More cool demos here: http://blog.papervision3d.org/2007/02/13/thank-you/

It is definitely a very nice demo, specially the pseudo sound3D detail and the fact that there are two hot Flash topics implicated, video (FLV) and 3D (Papervision), makes the piece a little bit more special for us. (us= flash developers)

HAHA You have got to be freaking kidding me. Big Deal!!! Has anyone at adobe actually seen WPF. Here is a screenshot from there PDC Demo...

http://www.winsupersite.com/images/showcase/pdc2005_day0_02.jpg

They are running a 3D sphere FULL of video content that is actually playing will the 3d camara moves around. WPF makes flash look like a scooter compared to a dragster. Don't get me wrong I'm a Mac user and have no love for windows. But credit must be given where credit is deserved. And WPF runs rings around Flash. So instead of being awed at a little demo you guys should get with the program and really take Microsoft's threat seriously. Before Adobe becomes the next microsoft victim.

Cheers,
Sam

[md] Yes, you can do very cool things with WPF, Vista, and high-end hardware if you leverage WPF's hardware acceleration. This demo is cool because it runs on every major operating system, including four more versions of Windows than WPF supports (and Linux). Oh, and over 700 million people already have the Player required to render this. How many people have Vista with WPF support and adequate hardware again? [/md]

LOL sheesh you took a tough time on this one huh Mike.

I think what people are missing is that a lot of people who aren't neccessarily Flash Devs would read you blog so it's good that your linking up examples like this for people outside the Flash community to see.

Mike,

I agree the Flash has a much broader penetration. It runs on multiple desktops which is a fantastic achievement. However... What I find amusing is that you guys have already solved the performance problem. The Shockwave player does a lot of things in the realm of hardware acceleration that if used within flash could really make flash a contender against WPF. Sure WPF needs some work (speically in the hardware arena). But don't you think Microsoft knows this? Of course they do and they are working on making WPF better and more efficient so it can run on just run of the mill hardware... and at that point Flash will start becoming more and more irrelevant. Look, I don't want to see Flash go... but I think you guys really need to up the momentum. I see it everyday... Experienced flash developers checking out WPF, why? Because they have more options and more choices to create interactive experiences. And while Flash may seem like the logical choice now, there are no guarantees in life and underestimating WPF and WPF/E could mean serious problems for Adobe and Flash.

cheers,
Sam

Tink,

Btw... I am a Flash dev. I Have been a serious flash dev for over 8 years. So I'm definetely not missing the point on this one and while it may be a little difficult to believe there are those of us who have hardcore Computer Science background and still choose to deal with flash (despite it's many limitation). We are just interested in seeing the platform catch up to our abilities as developers.

Cheers,
Sam