Cryptic Flash Error Message of the Week Award

And the winner is...

1180: Call to a possibly undefined method addFrameScript.

If you are using a Document Class, this error will occur if you include any code at all in the first frame of your FLA. Even a lowly comment triggers it.

I hear a lot of complaints about Flash CS4 from people. Since I hardly use it anymore, I don't have much of an opinion. Seriously, if you're a Flash coder, and you're still working in the Flash IDE, you really should take a long hard look at FlexBuilderFlashBuilder. I know it can be overwhelming at first, and it has its drawbacks, but it's still miles ahead of programming in the IDE. And there's nothing you can do in the IDE that you can't do in FlashBuilder. Indeed, I usually set up my projects so they can be built with either tool.

Heck, you can even try it for free for 60 days: get a 30-day trial of FlexBuilder 3 and then get the 30-day trial of FlashBuilder 4 from Adobe Labs (it's reasonably solid for small projects).

Flash 10 For Smart Phones

Flash Camp was cool last night (thanks Adobe), and I can't wait to start poking around in the Flex 4 / Flash Catalyst beta CD they gave out. To me the biggest news, however, was Kelly Lynch mentioning that development of Flash 10 for 6 major smartphone brands -- including of course iPhone. I hope Adobe learned their lessons from the failures of FlashLite, and is ready to enter the mobile space in a big way!

Starcraft 2 Announcement, 2nd Anniversary

It's the second anniversary of Starcraft 2 being announced in Seoul. Congrats, Blizzard. ;)

FlexBuilder becoming FlashBuilder

So according to the gossip online today, FlexBuilder 4 will be changing its name to FlashBuilder 4.

Hallelujah! I've been bitching about this for years. I wonder if this will cut down the number of conversations I have to have explaining what Flex is.

It's a component framework.
No, it's a compiler.
No, it's an IDE.
...

Top 10 Pet Peeves About FlexBuilder 3

10. I can't use relative paths in my ActionScript Build Paths settings. Therefore it is not possible to share project files between Macs and PCs.

9. "Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference." I see this error way too often. Dear compiler, please tell me which object is null so I don't have to waste time poking around in the debugger to figure it out.

8. Data Binding is wonderful... except when it doesn't work the way you want it to. For example, you can't use an XMLList as a data provider for a ButtonBar component.

7. SOAP is supposedly supported, but the auto-generated code is messy and problematic to maintain. Worst of all, some SOAP services simply do not work unless you hack the auto-generated code.

6. Upgrading Flash Player on your machine can ruin Flex's connection to the debug version of Flash. There should be UI within FlexBuilder that lets you specify which Flash Player .exe to use for debugging.

5. "Copy non-embedded files to output folder." I hate this "feature". If you're running within SVN, it will corrupt your SVN meta-files. This setting should be off by default.

4. Does embed syntax really have to be so clumsy? I mean, really, this sort of thing is just plain ugly, and is very difficult to explain to newcomers.
[Embed(source="mask.swf")]
[Bindable]
public var maskSWF:Class;


3. Displaying the hand cursor for Flex components = Major Annoyance. Why do I have to set 3 properties? And seriously, why would a BUTTON component not default to buttonMode="true" ???

2.
What this incredibly unhelpful dialog box is trying to tell you is that you tried debugging an Air app. while a debug session was already running. I'm not sure why Eclipse can't kill the old session at this point.

1. "An internal build error has occurred. Right-click for more information." Needless to say, right-clicking does not provide any useful information. It's time to restart Eclipse.

Job Hunting for 3D Artists & Animators

A friend of a friend, who is an experienced 3D animator, asked for some advice on job hunting. Here's what I came up with. If you have any other suggestions please post them, or contact me. I would really appreciate any good tips!

First and foremost, he needs to get his resume and portfolio up on online (instead of on CD) so that people can easily view his best work. These days, no recruiter is going to bother loading up a CD. Here are some sites that can assist in creating online portfolios:
figdig
carbonmade
squarespace
I have not used any of these sites personally, so I don't know which is best.

I'm not sure if it's as popular on the East Coast, but in the SF Bay Area, Craigslist is the king of classified ads.

Here is a list of other popular job sites. I believe most of these are reputable.

The recruiting company Filter Talent is worth taking a look at too. Though I have never done a gig with them, I have been in touch with them several times, and they are quite friendly and eager to hear from candidates. Perhaps they could at least spare a few minutes to chat and provide some recommendations.

Large companies often don't post on job sites, and want applicants to register directly on their website. Here are some large companies that are worth looking into, though most are based on the west coast...
Activision
ILM/LucasFilm/LucasArts
EA (Electronic Arts)
Disney/Pixar
Dreamworks Animation
Microsoft
Sony
Take Two Interactive
THQ
Nintendo
Digital Domain

It will generally take longer for large companies to respond to postings. Expect 1-2 months. Also, it's a good idea to keep updating your info on their sites, to show that you're still interested. Old resumes in their queue probably get "stale" quickly.

He should try to attend conferences and other gatherings of experts in his field, where he can engage in some networking. I would also recommend looking for groups on meetup.com
Finally he should make sure his Linkedin and Facebook pages are current, and indicate that he is looking for work.

Obviously, job hunting is very challenging in the current economic climate, so much patience will be required. Also, if he's looking for an employer that will sponsor him for an H1B visa, it might restrict his options. I don't have any info on dealing with this, but I would think he's best off looking for work with larger companies.

What is the Current State of Flex Books?

Someone was asking me, and I have to admit I'm a little out of the loop.

If you're somewhat comfortable with programming, I would go with the O'Reilly books. Programming Flex 3 is excellent (well, I read it when it was Programming Flex 2, but I assume it's basically the same). I really liked it because it does a good job explaining what the heck Flex is, and how it relates to Flash. Their ActionScript 3 Cookbook is also worth getting. And I see they have a Flex 3 Cookbook that looks promising...

Flex Solutions: Essential Techniques for Flex 2 and 3 Developers has tons of examples, but is a bit of a behemoth. So it depends whether you like that sort of thing. I also find the writing to be a bit sloppy.

On the beginner side of things, but Friends of Ed has a pretty good track record, so Foundation Flex for Designers might be a good one to try.

Are there any good Silverlight books out there yet? And what's the latest with AJAX? Let me know if you have any recommendations.