If you want to get started with ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) and create your own Flash applications, you could buy all the Adobe tools you need. You’d be out of a lot of money and still don’t know ActionScript. There’s another option. It’s called FlashDevelop. It requires a little more attention to get started, but it is entirely free and you’ll learn a lot more about the ActionScript ins and outs.
On Streamhead, I’ve been writing a number of FlashDevelop and ActionScript 3.0 tutorials and tips. Here are the best:
Working with Images in ActionScript
Embedding images in FlashDevelop is an easy trick, but it is essential if you want to use FlashDevelop. This older post has some more tips on using and embedding images in ActionScript with FlashDevelop.
One of ActionScript’s strong points is the ease with which it can deal with vector graphics. This allows you to create infinitely resizable applications. It doesn’t matter if the user is looking at your site on a smartphone or on a giant multi-monitor setup. To get started, you just need to know about the SVG format. Check out my SVG howto and my bitmap versus SVG comparison.
Masking images is a nice and easy trick that can lead to some interesting results.
3D in Flash
If you want to create 3 dimensional images and animations on the web, Flash is certainly the way to go (for now?). There are quite a few ActionScript libraries out there that help you with 3D. I personally like Sandy3D. Here is a tutorial on using it in conjunction with FlashDevelop. And another one with a little more substance.
If you want to let the user interact, there are a few hurdles to jump. There are many ways you can let the user select things, this 2 part series shows one way.
And if you want to get really fancy, a physics engine is the way to go.
Multimedia User Interfaces and Flash
Flash and ActionScript make it incredibly easy to use any type of multimedia. For instance, you can run Flash full screen from the browser which is great if you want to capture the users attention.
When you got that going, you can stream Flash movies, with very few lines of code.
If you’d like to add a user interface that isn’t too heavy on the eyes and processor, I strongly recommend the Minimal Components library.
And if that isn’t enough, why not try your hand at a game?