Flash Article

Mapping Flash video to 3D objects

Setting up your workspace

As with any new project, a little forethought goes a long way and can save valuable time down the line. Before you get your hands dirty with code, you will need to do a little setup to ensure a clean workspace for moving forward. I use Flex Builder to do my work, but similar considerations apply regardless of your specific development environment.

When you set up your project, it is important to think at a high level about the varying levels of abstraction and responsibility involved. You'll be using two Eclipse projects to divide your workspace for the tutorial at the appropriate levels. The first, a Flex Library Project, manages the Papervision 3D library (see Figure 5). Keeping Papervision 3D in its own project enables you to manage it individually and reuse it as a library across projects.

Figure 5. Papervision 3D Flex library project

If you're working with the sample files, you can use the existing project, which has already been set up for you. If you're working from scratch, you'll need to set up the project. First, create the project folder and check out the latest Papervision 3D code from the Subversion repository. I use Tortoise SVN, a popular Subversion client for Windows that integrates with Microsoft Windows Explorer. You are free, of course, to use whatever SVN client suits your needs.

Note: The Papervision 3D library may have changed since this writing which could impact the validity of the sample code.

Typically, I like to place my source in a project subdirectory corresponding to the language of the source code: \as3, \as2, or \java, for example. However, because you are working with a third-party library, it makes more sense to play by its rules and let it govern the directory structure a bit.

The Papervision 3D repository already includes an as3 directory and it does not correspond to the root of the ActionScript source. Because of this, the main source folder in the build path for the library project's properties needs to be changed to as3\trunk\src. When you've done this step, be sure to check the entire contents of the src directory for inclusion in the library.

The second project, an ActionScript Project (see Figure 6), will be for your primary application files.

Figure 6. Video3D ActionScript project

Again, if you're working from the sample files, you can use the existing project that is included. If not, you'll need to create the project. When creating the new project, set the main source folder to as3 and the output folder to deploy. While I like using bin in typical circumstances, you'll be storing more than just binaries in here. It makes more sense to name it something that better reflects its purpose. You also need to add the Papervision 3D library to the build path. Click the Library Path tab and add the Papervision library project.

With your workspace set up, you are ready to proceed. Let's start by looking at the 3D model.

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