The Flash10 branch has recently received the first of it’s optimising updates that deals with some of the problems shading presented to us in the past. Flash 9 is restricted by blendmodes and layers that mean a huge overhead on extra drawing operations and filters to create shading effects. With Flash 10 however,  Pixel Bender allows us to solve the problem very neatly and with a significant speed boost!

The above demo shows some of what is possible with the update: normalmapping with ambient, diffuse and correctly normalised specular shading, without the need for layers. As if that’s not enough, a further Pixel Bender shader is applied to the view to create a HDR (High Dynamic Range) effect on the highlights, something usually seen in much more 3d-rich console games. Special thanx go to Eddie Carbin for donating an excellent normalmapped mustang model, and David Lenaerts for writing the HDR filter.

The demo is available for download (along with the latest flash10 version of Away3d) in the zip files on the downloads page, or direct from the flash10 branch of the svn.  You can also access the demo source via the right-click menu in the flash movie, or go straight to the code here. Enjoy the new release!

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