The Sandy 1.0 beta has been released. Sandy is a Flash 3D API, and there’s nothing else like it, if you want to be able to do real-time 3D rendering in Flash. I’ve tried almost everything else that is available on the internet for Flash 3D, and nothing else goes so far beyond being a toy demo. I’ve tried out the first and the second releases of Sandy, too, and it just keeps getting better. One change in this release is that now it’s possible to draw curved faces. Another is the addition of an ASE parser. The remaining changes can be read here.

Sandy can be difficult to learn if you’re not already experienced in doing 3D programming. Being more of a breadth-first than a depth-first learner, and being used to filling in the gaps as I go along with new programming projects, I had expected to learn Sandy more quickly than I did. What I found was that I needed to first learn the basics of 3D programming in order to know what method to call when, and what kind of arguments to pass to it. If I can learn basic 3D programming math, though, anybody can. If you’re wondering whether you can learn to do 3D programming in FLash, take heart, because it’s much easier to learn math when you are motivated by your own selfish use for it, than when it’s only an abstract, academic exercise.

Other Posts Categorized as 3D Programming:

• Aegia Physics Code Samples in Director 11 - April 5th, 2008
• WOW 3D Physics Engine for Flash - January 30th, 2008
• Creating a Simple Hinge in Shockwave 3D Using the Havok Xtra - April 11th, 2007
• Director, I Missed You - February 9th, 2007
• Going Around in Circles - Back to Shockwave 3D Now - February 4th, 2007
• I've Been Martened, Tarted and Torqued - November 18th, 2006
• Stuck on Rotation with Verlet Integration - June 17th, 2006
• A Good Tutorial on Basic 3D Math - June 7th, 2006
• A Trigonometry Tutorial - June 4th, 2006
• 3D Models of Seemingly Impossible M.C. Escher Drawings - May 2nd, 2006

Other Posts Categorized as Flash:

• WOW 3D Physics Engine for Flash - January 30th, 2008
• Flash Player 9 for Linux in the Works - July 13th, 2006
• Flash 9 for Linux - July 1st, 2006
• Verlet Integration in Flash with Flade Open Source Flash Dynamics Engine - June 4th, 2006
• A Trigonometry Tutorial - June 4th, 2006
• Flash BabyCam - See the World Like Babies Do - May 21st, 2006
• Jim's Flash Bestiary - March 29th, 2006
• Spam in Art and Poetry - March 24th, 2006
• Page Flipping Script for Flash - March 18th, 2006
• Tarquin Engine for Flash Webcomics - March 18th, 2006

Other Posts Categorized as Open Source:

• Second Life Developers to Release Client Source Code - January 10th, 2007
• Cool Open-Source Hardware and Machines - December 2nd, 2006
• Flash Player 9 for Linux in the Works - July 13th, 2006
• Flash 9 for Linux - July 1st, 2006
• Verlet Integration in Flash with Flade Open Source Flash Dynamics Engine - June 4th, 2006
• Filter Forge Photoshop Plugin Allows You to Build Your Own Filters - May 27th, 2006
• Version 0.3 of the Sandy Flash 3D API Is Coming - March 11th, 2006
• Sophie Electronic Book Software Soon to Be Released by the Institute for the Future of the Book - March 10th, 2006
• Sandy, the New Open-Source Flash 3D API - February 25th, 2006