About the Authors

Jeff Winder is an independent Flash developer living and working in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He discovered Flash and ActionScript in 2003, mainly creating timeline animation, but was soon gripped by non-timeline coding. He has a special interest in new technologies that are related to Flash, especially open source projects such as WiiFlash, FLARToolKit, and Papervision3D. Jeff acquired an MSc in Social Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a passionate musician, playing guitar and drums. Since 2006, Jeff has been self employed and working for leading agencies. You can contact him at http://www.jeffwinder.nl.

Note

Jeff wrote chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, and 12.

I am not sure whether I should thank my close friends and family for their warm support, or apologize, for not being there for a while. Anyway, I deeply appreciate your patience and understanding, so to everyone who kept asking how the book was coming along—thank you!

I would also like to thank Paul. Writing this book together has been a rewarding experience.

Paul Tondeur is as an Internet entrepreneur who lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

He started as a freelance PHP and Flash developer during his study of multimedia technology in 2003. After successfully completing his study, he was asked to become the CTO of a Dutch online marketing agency in 2004. At this company, he developed a strong interest for 3D and got the chance to get professionally involved as the technical lead for serious Second Life projects. However, Second Life was too limited to fulfill his needs to create accessible interactive multiplayer 3D content on the Web, and this is when he found out about Papervision3D during the early days. Because of his passion for the Flash platform, this was love at first sight.

At the beginning of 2009, Paul decided he had to take more advantage of his technical skills as an Internet entrepreneur. Currently he helps other companies as a Unity, Papervision3D, Red5, and mobile streaming consultant. Together with a team of people around him, he is also involved in creating a browser-based MMO, incorporating the usage of Red5, Unity, Flash, and Papervision3D. You can contact him at http://www.paultondeur.com.

Note

Paul is the initiator of this book and wrote chapters 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 13.

I would like to thank my family and friends who have been enormously patient and supportive while I was working on this book and had no time for social life. Especially my girlfriend—Marloes—has been of great support. She kept me inspired and motivated when I was working around the clock to finish this challenging task. Last, but not least I want to thank Jeff for being such an encouraging partner to write this book with.

We both would like to thank the following people or groups of people. First of all, this book would never have been possible without the knowledge shared by the Papervision3D community, which we experienced as open and enthusiastic. The many blogs and tutorials have been an important source of information, along with all the questions and answers on the mailing list.

We also would like to express our gratitude towards the reviewers, proofreaders, editors and modelers. The meticulous inspection of the manuscript by the reviewers—Stuart, Trevor, and Patrick—has been of great value. The cooperation with the editors at Packt Publishing —James, Darshana, Zainab, and Gaurav—has been inspiring and satisfying.

We very much appreciate the answers that the Papervision3D team gave us when we had some questions left. Finally, a special thanks to Janneke de Koning and Job Steggink, who created and animated the 3D model used in the book.