Registration Time:
After reaching the respective hall in ITC, as I was already a registered user for this seminar the beautiful ladies near the respective registration counter, were given me a Adobe Hand Voucher, which has got all the respective schedules like Agenda and Who were the respective partners for hosting this seminar. As some of my friends were new to this session (I mean not registered user) then they have filled up a form out there and registered themselves for this seminar. This Registration process went for an hour that is from 9:00 to 10:00 am, then after 15 mins the actual seminar has been started.

You can view exclusive photographs from “Developer Snippets” which were taken in the session, the credit goes to one of my friend Sunil Akula, he has taken many photographs in the seminar, and they are awesome enough and rocking as well :), I can say this was a tour which I was experienced in Adobe Seminar. Please do have a look and let me know the feedback.

Seminar:
The Seminar has started with a huge round of applause, as this is the launch of Adobe CS4 at Hyderabad. Then after that the actual seminar has started, really I would like to say the seminar was awesome enough and very interactive, impressive etc., On the whole I would like to say Wowwwww….

Adobe Bridge:
The Seminar has been started with Adobe Bridge, the respective speaker has given a brief introduction on what new features has been added in Adobe Bridge, and why people (I mean here Developers and Designers) are using Adobe Bridge extensively. And he has beautifully presented the respective features on fly I mean by doing and showing as practically on his awesome APPLE “MAC” laptop, Amazing session I would like to say, since in Adobe Bridge now Adobe introduced a facility by which we can directly upload the respective file to online web, here I mean we can connect to FTP server directly from Adobe Bridge, and has got more features like Improved performance, Refined work environment, one-key full-screen previews, Quick Search, Review mode, Built-in creation of web galleries, List View (This is awesome feature), Thumbnail grid lock, 3D file format previews, Auto collection of HDR and panorama images, Additional filters, Enhanced XMP support.

After Adobe Bridge session, we had a brand new session on “NVIDIA“, NVIDIA is the Most Demanded Multi-GPU Platform (Here GPU is “Graphics Processing Unit”, would you like to know more about this then have a glance here), Frankly speaking I have no idea on this GPU since I am very much new to this. In this “NVIDIA” session, one of the speakers has shown up a video, this is the video which has been taken in the session of NVIDIA (at US), the video was amazing, the video captured all the respective features and what’s new about NVIDIA.

And after NVIDIA session, we had a session on NDTV NX Paint, and frankly speaking I have no idea on this tool as I am only a simple and good web designer and senior web developer. NX Paint has been developed in NDTVlabs and this is an Instant Graphics and Video Delivery Tool. If you would like to know more about this yeah you can swift here.

And after that we had a session on, Adobe After Effects, What can I say about this friends, this is simply awesome enough. Now video editing made very easy, there were many features which has been introduced in Adobe After Effects, some of the things which I have noted are Searchable timelines, nested comp navigation, Compositions exported as layered projects, Integrated workflow for mobile device authoring, Dynamic link between Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects and Soundbooth, Keyframing of x, y, z values, Cartoon effect, XMP metadata, versatile 3D cameras for each composition, Multiple 3D lights with shadows and many more new features, later if time permits will prepare an article for all the respective tools of Adobe CS4.

After this there was a session on Adobe Soundbooth CS4, I would like list down some few new features which I remember - Multi track support, Volume matching, Beat Detection, New Adobe Sound Document .ADND, XMP metadata collection etc.,

After this session, there was a session on Adobe InDesign CS4, this was an interactive session, and here in this session the respective speaker has explained and showcased about the new features that has been introduced like, Smart Tools, Choose Edit App, Proportional Place, Live Preflight, Custom Views and Workspaces, Kuler panel, SWF export etc.,

Lunch break for a while, people had a great lunch at ITC Hyderabad near the seminar hall.

After this session, we had an very interactive session on one of my favorite, Adobe Photoshop CS4, since in my daily life mostly every moment at work I used to use this, and I was eagerly waiting for this session, here in this lots of tons of new features has been introduced, like firstly I would like to say about the UI of the Adobe Photoshop CS4 has been changed, Adjustment Panel, Masks Panel, Canvas Rotation, Smoother panning and zooming, Better raw processing in Camera Raw, 3D Acceleration, Comprehensive 3D tools, Masking Layers etc., and lots more in this session.

There was a session on Adobe Flash CS4, the UI was entirely changed like the respective timelines and layers has been moved from top to bottom like Adobe After Effects, there are top new features which were showcased like Object-based animation model (Shown the example of bouncing ball with a path), 3D transformations, Motion Editor Panel, Motion Presets Panel, XFL support, Metadata support etc which I remember.

There was an interactive questionnaire’s which were asked by the people around and got good response in the form of answers from the speakers, and I would like to thank them a lot, for there enthuse in answering them.

After this interactive session on Adobe Photoshop CS4, there was an another interactive session on Adobe Fireworks, I would like to say frankly that in my daily life I have not used Adobe Fireworks because I used to think that Fireworks does not work for me, but guys I would like to say that its awesome, after listening to this session, I really thought to have a look at it once sine it has got many awesome enough features like Improved performance, New User Interface, CSS based layouts, PDF Export (This is something awesome) for we had an awesome example which was shown in the session, Live Styles, Workspace Improvements.

Last but not the least, the Adobe Dreamweaver Session was awesome enough, everything is ready made, just drag and drop your job is done in seconds, frankly speaking for creating an AJAX based website it will take 2 to 3days of time effort, but now it will takes only seconds if you got to used to it. I would like to say, like there was one new feature called “Live View” this is awesome instead of viewing the respective output in your browsers you can preview it then and there itself through this “Live View”, and Dreamweaver has got many features like CSS best practices, HTML data sets, Adobe Photoshop Smart Objects, Code hinting for Ajax and JavaScript frameworks etc.,

This was my experience at Adobe CS4 Seminar which was organized at ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad. I am going to try it out the brand new Adobe CS4, that’s for sure and how about you guys!

But it is possible only in one way, visit PhotoFunia for more information.

When I was searching for a web browser tool, I got to know about one awesome enough tool, Just upload your respective photograph and can change or convert the same to what ever you like, for example if you want to become a celebrity and want to paste all the respective posters road-side yeah you can do that and believe your colleague or friends that you became came a pop star or rock star, by looking at the image of yours they will believe that you really became a pop or rock star. PhotoFunia is the tool which takes your photo as an input and will change your photo a celebrity snap in seconds. Just look at the below snap, Paris Hilton is a brand ambassador for my new video/audio release function.

Paris Hilton as a brand ambassador and chief guest for my new video/audio release event function

Girls Loving Me :)

Below is the exclusive video which I would like to share with you (Video Copy Rights - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.), just click on the image below - it will take you to the respective video.

Quick tour of new G1 Phone

Articles which you would like to read:
1. Twinkling hidden features of Google Chrome
2. Google Chrome Browser on your personal USB Drives
3. Netscape is the ‘navigator.appName’ for Google Chrome
4. Develop Google Chrome App using EXT JS and Google Data API

If you want to debug the same in IE or Opera or Safari browsers then you have to go for Firebug Lite. Firebug Lite is a JavaScript file can be inserted into your pages to stimulate some firebug features in browsers. Firebug Lite creates the variables “firebug” and “pi” and doesn’t affect or interfere with HTML elements that aren’t created by itself.

By looking at this you might be having a query like how to install the same in-order to utilize the features, below code depicts on how to install.

Installing Firebug Lite:
Just insert below line of code into any page that you want to contain Firebug Lite

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<script type='text/javascript' src='http://getfirebug.com/releases/lite/1.2/firebug-lite-compressed.js'></script>

If you want to use Firebug Lite offline, then just download the source files from here and import the respective files into your site’s directory. Find “firebug-lite.css” URL on the javascript file which you imported and replace this with offline address of firebug-lite.css file.

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<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="/repectivepath/firebug/pi.js"></script>

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<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="/repectivepath/firebug/firebug-lite.js"></script>

And if you want to write messages to console you can do the same, eagerly want to know more about this add-on to IE, Opera and Safari, then please do have a look at this page and download the respective files and have a safe debug.

I would like to recommend this extension, since this going to help developers a lot in debugging their pages accordingly before delivering the same to respective clients.

• Live View Options
• Web Widgets
• Externalize JavaScript

The above three features has given a new life to the developers, these features are awesome enough. Below are simple description about those awesome features, if you would like to know more about the same, please do go through this article Uncovering the hidden gems in Adobe Dreamweaver CS4

1. Live View Options
Live View and Live Code, are two efficient ways to see your page in a real-world context and introspect the DOM (Document Object Model) as it’s being manipulated by JavaScript. Even this works with Server-side applications as well. Live View will show output of the application which you are working on when you setup a local testing server environment, not only these but Live View has got more options.

2. Web Widgets
Dreamweaver CS4 includes several user interface controls in the form of Spry widgets. As you guys! know that these days widgets has got more value and it will improve in accessing some content very easily like Accordions, drop-down menus, Carousel Panels, Tabs Panels etc., Dreamweaver CS4 team, has implemented a way to take just about any JavaScript widget and add it to Dreamweaver.

3. Externalize JavaScript
Unobtrusive JavaScript has become a new best practice in web design. Unobtrusive JavaScript is simply the practice of using standardized DOM methods to attach functionality to page elements through the same selectors (IDs and classes) we use to attach CSS styles. Check this out new feature here at Uncovering the hidden gems in Adobe Dreamweaver CS4

Description:

• Just format any webpage as required for printing in seconds, so no more pasting into word
• You can save lot of money and the environment by reducing your paper and ink usage.
• Make printed web pages more readable by removing ads, widgets and other distractions
• Fix broken pages that don’t print correctly

How it Works:

• Enter the url of a page you wish to print
• Edit the page until it contains only what you want to print, you can do this very easily by the options provided in the left column.
• Print It! Only your modified page will be printed

Make Any Page Printer-Friendly:

• Edit any public page in your browser - no installation required!
• Change page font size and type, remove the background, and remove images
• Edit any part of the page by clicking a page element or selecting text
• Any selection can be removed, isolated or widened
• All changes are undoable
• Combine multiple webpages together - edit and print them as one document!

I have checked the tool, its really awesome! and I would like to thank “PrintWhatYouLike” team for developing such a great tool and I am sure this going to help us a lot. I would like to recommend to developer who has not seen this tool before.

If you want to prepare any video presentation, this add-on will create the same for you in minutes and can be presented accordingly in respective websites. This add-on extension is for Windows XP and Vista as well. After installing Capture Fox, you will find a button in the Firefox Status bar as usual to the right of the bar and while when you are recording you can check the duration of the screencast accordingly in the status bar.

Capture Fox Icon on Status Bar

Capture Fox Settings Window

Capture Fox Options Window

I would like to recommend the same to be installed and can be used as an alternative instead of opening another software’s or tools, you can view and record there itself, work will be simple and easy enough.

Get all the above programs for free, you can download the same from this location - http://download.live.com/

Chatting and e-mail
Stay connected with your loved ones anywhere any anytime. Share a single contact list and work together.

Blogging
Now you can post your valuable articles using Windows Live Writer, and even now you can add photos and videos and format it accordingly and publish to your most blogging services.

Photos and Movies

Now you can use Photo Gallery and Movie Maker to edit your respective photos and even you can built your own movie and you can share the same with your friends, colleagues and to your loved ones.

Browsing the web

With the toolbar provided you can now you can browse the web in a very safe and secure manner. With this toolbar you can customize your browser and can find anything must faster than ever. And this toolbar has got Family Safety settings which will help you keep your kids safer online.

Guys! I would like to recommend to go through this page once since this page has got really really useful tutorial / video to learn some paintings on the fly and can learn a lot from it.

Below is the respective URL for “20 Amazing High Speed Photoshop Paintings“
http://www.dezinerfolio.com/2008/09/20/digital-speed-painting-just-amazing/

If you were any kind of designer or an artist, you never want to miss these lovely videos. They are so inspiring that at the end of watching a few videos you would end up opening Photoshop right away and start sketching…

Speed Painting is an exercise, primarily digital, in which one paints on a time budget, using already developed methods to create a piece. Contrary to (somewhat) popular belief, “Speed Painting” is not the same as a time-lapse video of a painting. Speed Painting is a widely used term in the Entertainment industry, often amongst Concept Artists. - Wikipedia

The respective link as got enough video’s to learn photoshop.

Coming to our topic today, after going through this post you will get an idea of how we can create a Custom Flash CS3 Preloader.

Custom preloader is a must topic in all aspects while creating any application in Flash or while doing any animation using Flash. The process is much different in ActionScript 3.0 compared to older versions of Action Scripting. External files are no longer loaded on to the stage like you might have done in earlier versions of Flash. Creating a Custom Flash CS3 Preloader is simple and very easy to implement. Here we will be creating a preloader which can be used for loading external images or other SWF (acronym of "Shockwave Flash ") files.

Before start creating the same, initially please do download the respective files – since this going to help us in understanding the same. Please do download the example files for reference, after downloading please do open flashpreloader.fla file.

Getting Started:

Step 1. Open flashpreloader.fla

After opening the flashpreloader.fla file, please do review its contents, you will see that the stage is empty. This is because here we are going to load an external file and display the same here. Here we are going to use some code to dynamically place the preloader on the stage and to remove the same from the stage when the loading is complete.

Press Ctrl+L to open the respective Library; here you will see two movie clips that is rectBarMC and Preloader Movie Clips. rectBarMC is simple blue rectangle bar which will be used to create a visual progress bar when a file is loading.

Firstly we will go with rectBarMC as I have mentioned above this is a simple rectangle bar which will be used as a progress bar for our program.

And coming to Preloader , which is a movie clip contain all the respective pieces of our preloader like the text “Loading 100% ” etc., Just right click on the same and check for the linkage option in the context menu. When you click on Linkage, it will open up “Linkage Properties ” window, in that window make sure that Class name should match with the movie clip name like “Preloader ” for this the Base class would be “flash.display.MovieClip ”. And if you see the checkbox for Export for ActionScript has been selected, this means that when the respective file runs, we can access this movie clip dynamically by its class name that is here “Preloader ”. Below is the screen shot which resembles the same – linkage properties

The Linkage properties for the Preloader Movie Clip.

Now just open the Preloader Movie Clip by double clicking on it in the library. Here you can see three respective layers which are named as Loading_txt , Loading_bar and Border_frame .

“Loading_txt ” layer just contains the “Loading 100% ” text that tells the user what percentage of the respective file has been downloaded. And when you select the same, in the properties inspector panel, you can see that loading_txt has given as the instance name . Using ActionScripting code we can show how much amount of file has been loaded.

“Loading_bar ” Layer contains an instance of the rectBarMC movie clip which will expand to visually indicate how much of the file has been downloaded or completed. And for this we have given an instance name as rectbar_mc .

“Border_frame ” Layer just it contains the box shape, it looks like a border.

Below snap-shot resembles the Preloader Movie Clip.

Step 2. Adding ActionScript to load the external file:

Now we will try to add ActionScript to load the external file, click on the Scene 1 under the timeline. You can see one layer called as “actions ”. Select the “actions ” layer and press F9 to open the Actions panel . Here we will be loading an external .swf file, keeping this in mind we will write some ActionScript code. Just go through the code snippet below which I have written for loading an external .swf file.

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var myUrlReq:URLRequest = new URLRequest("externalfile.swf");
var myLoader:Loader = new Loader();
 
myLoader.load(myUrlReq);
 
myLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.OPEN,showPreloader);
myLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS,showProgress);
myLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,showContent);
 
var myPreloader:Preloader = new Preloader();
 
function showPreloader(event:Event):void {
        addChild(myPreloader);
        myPreloader.x = stage.stageWidth/2;
        myPreloader.y = stage.stageHeight/2;
}
 
function showProgress(event:ProgressEvent):void {
        var percentLoaded:Number = event.bytesLoaded/event.bytesTotal;
        myPreloader.loading_txt.text = "Loading - " + Math.round(percentLoaded * 100) + "%";
        myPreloader.rectbar_mc.width = 198 * percentLoaded;
}
 
function showContent(event:Event):void {
        removeChild(myPreloader);
        addChild(myLoader);
}

Code in Brief:

1. Loading the External file

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var myUrlReq:URLRequest = new URLRequest("externalfile.swf");
var myLoader:Loader = new Loader();
 
myLoader.load(myUrlReq);

Here in the above snippet code, we are creating an object of URLRequest called myUrlReq and will be creating an object of Loader called myLoader, and this Loader class expects to receive a URLRequest pointing to the file you wish to load, it can be an image file / any external file which you want to load. Here we are loading an external .swf file with file name as “externalfile.swf”.

2. Creating respective Listeners to check the progress of the file

After that we need to create listeners to monitor the progress of the file, like how much amount of the file has been loaded till now. For that we will be using event listeners like Event.OPEN , ProgressEvent.PROGRESS , Event.COMPLETE.

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myLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.OPEN,showPreloader);
myLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS,showProgress);
myLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,showContent);

Firstly we will run a function called showPreloader() which will place the Preloader movie clip on the stage. Then Secondly we will run a function called showProgress() which will visually update the preloader bar and text to reflect the download progress. Finally we will run a function called showContent() , which will remove the preloader and show the respective content once the download is complete.

3. showPreloader()

Before running the respective function, we need to create an instance of the Preloader movie clip which will display the Preloader on the stage.

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var myPreloader:Preloader = new Preloader();
 
Then write the code of the respective function showPreloader():
 
function showPreloader(event:Event):void {
addChild(myPreloader);
myPreloader.x = stage.stageWidth/2;
myPreloader.y = stage.stageHeight/2;
}

Using addChild() we are placing myPreloader instance on the stage, if you see the above code we are placing the respective preloader in the center of the stage through x and y positions.

4. showProgress()

Now after completion of the positioning of the preloader, now we will call showProgress() function, here in this function we will calculate the percentage of loading completed by dividing the number of bytes downloaded so far by the total number of bytes. Then after calculating we are assigning the same to the loading_txt . And simultaneously we need to increase the width of the rectbar_mc to visually showing the same to the user that this much amount of file has been loaded.

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function showProgress(event:ProgressEvent):void {
	var percentLoaded:Number = event.bytesLoaded/event.bytesTotal;
	myPreloader.loading_txt.text = "Loading - " + Math.round(percentLoaded * 100) + "%";
	myPreloader.bar_mc.width = 198 * percentLoaded;
}

5. showContent()

After loading everything, we need to remove the movie clip from the stage and need to show the external file respectively. Below is the code for the same.

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function showContent(event:Event):void {
	removeChild(myPreloader);
	addChild(myLoader);
}

The above function is called after completion of showProgress() , and in this function we are removing myPreloader movie clip and adding the external file on the stage that is myLoader (I mean an external file named as externalflash.swf ).

So, we are done with the preloader. Now test the application by pressing Ctrl+Enter you can see preloader in action. Before pressing Ctrl+Enter, please do include some .swf file and instead of “externalflash.swf” place your own file in the same directory. After placing the file then press Ctrl+Enter for better results or else it will give an error like “URL not Found”.

Download
Flash Preloader