Participant's Gallery

Click here to see a sample of the applets created by the 2008 workshop participants.

Preworkshop resources

The following resources will be valuable to look through before the workshop:

• Get the Flash Download. You will receive an official copy of the Flash CS3 Pro software at the workshop, but you can install it now by going to http://www.adobe.com/downloads/. When you return home from the workshop, you simply enter your official copy's activation number and your installation will be complete. In the meantime, you will have the opportunity to get a jump on Flash, maximizing your benefits from the workshop.
• Download documentation & samples. It seems like software never comes with printed manuals any more. The two main Adobe reference guides for Flash can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/flash/. If you would like to have documentation available on your computer, save the pdf files under "Using Flash" and "Programing ActionsScript 3.0." Also, these documents refer to sample files that can be downloaded to your computer as well. Get these samples from http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/flash/samples/ All of this information is nice to have "off line" on your own machine for quick reference.
• Read some documents. Regardless of your level of experience with Flash or other programming environments, you will learn some interesting things about Flash at Adobe's Flash Developer Center ( http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/). If you have never used Flash before or would like to see some new features of CS3, we recommend that you go to http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/getting_started.html . The "Creating a simple Flash document" tutorial provides a well-documented lesson that will successfully get you into the Flash environment for the first time.
• Watch the Videos. Adobe has posted some nice introductory videos for Flash CS3 at http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/ The are paced pretty fast but if you download the source files (link in the bottom right corner) for each video before you start and use the pause button a lot, they are really worthwhile. In particular, we think the following are very worthwhile for our purposes:
  • Using the workspace
  • Using the drawing tools
  • Creating your first working, interactive FLA file
  • Getting started with AS3
• Look through the Gallery below. The applications below illustrate the kinds of mathematics-specific interactions we will be teaching in the workshop. A really good "preconference exercise" is to try these out and think about what you wish each one could do. Enhancing some of these "starting points" would make a great final project for the workshop! In addition, you can have a look at our website (http://www.flashandmath.com) for a preview of other material we will be working with this summer.

Workshop gallery

Here are examples of the material we will develop in this workshop. All of these examples are fully implemented & documented for Flash CS3 & ActionScript 3.0. Click on any screen shot to open the sample in a new window so you can see how it works. Note that the examples on the first row are templates are based on custom ActionScript 3.0 visual and parsing classes that you will learn about during the workshop. The templates are easily customizable using methods of the classes. ALL FLASH MATHLETS ON THIS PAGE REQUIRE THE FREE ADOBE FLASH 9 PLAYER.

Function Grapher Template 1 Uses custom classes for graphing and parsing	Function Grapher Template 2 Adds tracing functionality	Parametric Grapher Template Tracing parametric or polar curves with slider
Arithmetic Quiz Three types of textboxes, random numbers	Multiple Choice Question Radio button components	Proof Completion Combo box component
Simple Histogram Parsing data, drawing filled shapes at runtime	Circular Motion Managing motion w/ buttons and keys	Line through Two Points Creation of shapes from mouse clicks
Function graphing demystified Creating a function grapher from scratch	Family of functions Illustrate scaling and shifting of functions	Bouncing Ball with Sprites Animation with onEnterFrame and Sprites
Proof Scrambler Drag and Drop	Transformations of a square Color transformations	Matrix Manipulation Runtime creation of input textboxes

The site http://webspace.ship.edu/deensley/ is maintained by Doug Ensley, who is solely responsible for its content.