An Interactive 3D Model - Flash Demo

Macromedia MX is not a 3D development tool. The Flash player does not have any native 3D support. So how is this done?

It is programmed from ground up using Flash MX's JavaScript like language, ActionScript. A mathematical 3D engine has been implemented that projects a 3D coordinate system into the 2D movie area.

Contrast this with another technique.. Skilled graphic designers can make FLASH movies that incorporate some amazing looking 3D effects. Sometimes they are even photo quality in standard unlike the above sample. The drawback is that these movies are not real time 3D - they are a pre-built effect. This works superbly for presentations, but the technique has got serious limitations with respect to interactivity. Also, file sizes for impressive pre-rendered animations are usually very large.

The above sample, on the other hand, is much smaller in file size, and has the potential to be much more interactive. The limiting factor however is the speed of the Flash movie software built into the browser. As we said it does not have any built in 3D capabilities and it certainly does not make use of any 3D graphics hardware that the host computer might have. This means, unfortunately, we can not start making 3D worlds containing thousands of polygons... it would take too long to draw each frame of animation!