Working with Bitmaps in Flash 8 - part 2

If you completed part 1 of this article series, you’ll have learned about the BitmapData class. I showed you how to create a BitmapData object and we worked with it in different ways: displaying it within a movie clip, creating noise and using floodFill. Remember, that the Flash Player doesn’t redraw bitmaps each frame as it does with vector images.

In this article I’ll look at:

• Working with pixels
• Using the draw method
• Applying filters to BitmapData objects

We’ll work with several examples and even create a simple application that samples colours from a photo. You’ll need to have completed part 1 of the article before you tackle part 2 as it explains a lot of the background behind the code we’ll be using here. Note that there are other methods of the BitmapData object that I won’t cover in either of the two articles.

You’ll need a copy of Flash 8 to work through this article. You can download a trial copy from the Macromedia Web site. Note that the code samples within the article all use AS2.0.

You can download the files referred to in the tutorial from the blue Properties box that contains the article PDF. There's a heading titled Code Download and you can click the Details link next to it to get the zip file.

We’ll start by looking at how you can work with individual pixels.

This article is part of the new interactive e-book; Out of my mind: Flash 8 Power