Under The Radar: qub

In the first of what I hope to be a regular series, I am going to highlight an impressive FlashDen file that most users may have overlooked and has consequently slipped “under the radar.” What this means is, we have no idea why such a brilliant file has only received a few sales.

To kick things off, may I introduce qub:

File: qub
Author: chrometaphore
Overview: qub is a 3D cube-based transition effect completely customizable either via the provided component, or via AS3. Users can use qub to make 3D cube transitions between any quantity of different Display Objects, such as movieclips, images (bitmaps), sprites, text fields and much, much more.

Made using Tweener and Papervision3D, the online demo speaks for itself. But the incredible thing about this file that may not be apparent is the impressively detailed API that accompanies the file which allows users to totally customize the appearance of the transition effect. Want to change the number of cubes across the x axis? Change a value and, done! Want to change the way each cube rotates? Update a variable and, mission accomplished! In fact, just to give you an idea of the things you can do with this file, here’s a list of all the methods available:

init() init class and start rendering first displayObject
tween() tween to a new displayObject
tweening() qubInstance.tweening returns true if the class is performing a tween at that moment
xTiles() set number of tiles on x-axis
yTiles() set number of tiles on y-axis
expTween() set explosion tween type
impTween() set implosion tween type
rotationTween() set cubes rotation tween type
rotationTime() set cubes rotation time (in milliseconds)
cubeFacesColor() set cubes free faces color
rotationOrder() set rotationOrder
expTime() set explosion time (in seconds)
impTime() set implosion time (in seconds)
version() get qub version

So if you are looking for a very powerful, completely customizable and dynamic way to transition your content using 3D cubes, look no further than qub. Congratulations to author chrometaphore for such a terrific file and for being featured in our very first “Under the Radar” series!

If you have created a FlashDen file or know of a FlashDen file that is truly awesome but has surprisingly low sales, please send the name and URL of the FlashDen file to me, scott AT flashden DOT net, and between ourselves, maybe we can highlight more quality and useful files that have unfortunately slipped under the radar.