Adobe has announced that a pre-release version of its Flash Player 10 software, code-named Astro, is now available as a free download from Adobe Labs.
The beta brings with it a selection of new features, such as support for custom filters and effects, native 3D transformation and animation, extensible rich text layout and GPU hardware acceleration.
David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe, said:
"For over ten years Adobe has pushed the limits of creativity and redefined rich interactive Web experiences with Adobe Flash Player. Adobe has a long track record of creating technologies that influence market direction and we believe this beta release of Adobe Flash Player 10 raises the bar once again. Working closely with the community, we are delivering groundbreaking creative features that will be transformative for interactive designers and developers, and revolutionary for end users."
The new software, available as a free download, supports Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. Though Adobe's Flash Player continues to dominate the market, it faces ever-growing threats from the likes of Microsoft's Silverlight and Sun's forthcoming JavaFX. It'll be hoping Flash Player 10 can keep itself one step ahead of the competition.
Flash Player 10's key features, as listed by Adobe, are as follows:
- 3D Effects - Easily transform and animate any display object through 3D space while retaining full interactivity. Fast, lightweight, and native 3D effects make motion that was previously reserved for expert users available to everyone. Complex effects are simple with APIs that extend what you already know.
- Custom Filters and Effects - Create your own portable filters, blend modes, and fills using Adobe® Pixel Bender™, the same technology used for many After Effects CS3 filters. Shaders in Flash Player are about 1KB and can be scripted and animated at runtime.
- Advanced Text Layout - A new, highly flexible text layout engine, co-existing with TextField, enables innovation in creating new text controls by providing low-level access to text offering right-to-left and vertical text layout, plus support for typographic elements like ligatures.
- Enhanced Drawing API - Runtime drawing is easier and more powerful with re-styleable properties, 3D APIs, and a new way of drawing sophisticated shapes without having to code them line by line.
- Visual Performance Improvements – Applications and videos will run smoother and faster with expanded use of hardware acceleration. By moving several visual processing tasks to the video card, the CPU is free to do more.
If you're interested in putting the beta to the test, head over to www.adobe.com/go/astro.
To find out more about the software, and see video demonstrations of its new capabilities, visit www.adobe.com/go/flashplayer10_demos
