Animation for Sticklers

I'm in an Adobe Flash class now where I've been learning about ActionScript 3 the past 2 days.  Mind you, I didn't know it was gonna be this weird.  I was warned that AS3 was so drastically different from AS2 that it was like learning an entirely new language and culture.  And yet, here I am.  How the hell did this happen?

After a kinduva refresher course on Adobe Flash animation last month, I figured that the next logical step would be to take up ActionScript.  Not that I wanted to master it (who has time for that!?), but it'd be good to know what it looks like backstage, y'know what I mean?

To be honest, I went into ActionScript class expecting to learn AS2.  So when I got a thick manual that said "ActionScript 3", I was like "What the fuuuuuuuuuu......???!!!?!!!"  I felt ambushed.  I wasn't ready for something as insane as this!  I kid you not, I was so ready to back out of the class and just take up another animation course.

But once I got control of my hyperventilation and regained my poise, I began to flip through the manual real quickly and said to myself, "What the heck.  I'm here, right?  And this is company-sponsored, y'know.  I'm lucky to be here.  So let's just get on with it."  It was like a free pass to a ride I didn't want to get on.  It's bound to be exciting.

Four hours later, I could swear that half of my brain had killed itself.  I could barely make out the logic behind a set of codes for loops and what is the difference between "++" from a "+", and why do we have to keep using 2 of each? "&&", "=="?  Why?  Why?!  And don't even get me started on the fact that, to make a simple tween or row of the same image, I have to hard-code at least 4 sets of different scripts: 1 set to simply identify variables, another set just to name their characteristics, then the 3rd set is for staging whatever animation will be done, and then the last set is for defining the settings of the animation.

I kept imagining pulling a Leonidas ala-300 in the middle of the lecture.  "THIS IS MADNESS!!!"

Oh, but here's where it got kinda creepy for me.  When we got started on the main lab exercise (creating a fully-animated gallery page using only AS3 codes), the geek in me flipped on some sort of switch in my head and then suddenly, I could see.  It was like when Neo was resurrected as "The One" and he could see the matrix for what it really is.  Yeah, it was magical.  And weird -- yes, of course -- and a teensy weensy disturbing.

As it turns out: I could speak nerd.

Can you see this sh*t?  Yeah, baby, I built that!  With my own bare hands!  Literally, 'cause I had to type all of those codes in.

And then when some things didn't want to work, I dived into those back-end scripts and conquered them.  Oh, the sweet, sweet taste of victory.

But don't get me wrong, I still haven't mastered this.  I think AS3 is for people who have too much time on their hands or who have kickass cool startups/projects so they really have to make it work.  

I still don't get AS3 completely.  Although I am starting to understand the logic behind it, and I do appreciate its organization and basket of easter eggs, I would still pick AS2 or UI animation via keyframes over AS3 any time.  In a heartbeat, in fact.  It's familiar territory that won't give me carpal tunnel or make my brain cells die.

I can still choose to work with AS3 if I want to, but I would most probably use the keyframes or objects-within-objects approach, and then I'll just import the codes out if I have to.  

The class is not a total loss because it gave me the advantage of knowing where crazy stuff goes on within a Flash page.  When things do get crazy, and you know AS3, you don't have to track back through all those layers and keyframes just to find where things went wrong or where you might need to make some adjustments.  If you know the codes, you'll know exactly what you're looking for and deal with it backstage.  It is more efficient that way.

After 2 days of exploring the matrix--erm, I meant--ActionScript, I can say, "Well, that wasn't totally freaky.  It was kinda cool, actually."  And it is.  Today's the last day of this class, I will miss nerd time and being around creative people. I still have so much to learn with AS3.