I want to share with you some hidden gems available in Flash Player 11.2 and AIR 3.2, that we just released for beta this week. Those were not mentioned in the release notes, cause they will not be part of 11.2 and AIR 3.2, but will be part of a next release. But that's cool, quickly grab the beta builds, that way you can start playing with those APIs, just use -swf-version=15 to unlock them 
You won't find any docs on those, so here we go, let's start with the new API that we added on StageVideo : StageVideo.attachCamera(), it says it all. You can now attach your camera to a StageVideo object, to use very little CPU when displaying the camera stream:
public class StageVideo extends EventDispatcher
{
public native function attachCamera(theCamera:Camera):void;
}
For the image processing lovers, we added Camera.drawToBitmapData, Camera.copyToByteArray, Camera.copyToVector. No need to manually BitmapData.draw a video object to get the camera pixels, and same for the pixels as a ByteArray or Vector. Notice that those should have very low impact on the GC. Rather than creating new buffers for each call, you get to provide the buffer to fill, and just call the API :
public final class Camera extends EventDispatcher
{
public native function drawToBitmapData( destination:BitmapData ):void;
public native function copyToByteArray( rect:Rectangle, destination:ByteArray ):void;
public native function copyToVector( rect:Rectangle, destination:Vector. ):void
}
We also added an event, informing you about the availability of a new video frame, this way you can execute your image processing logic in this event rather than Event.ENTER_FRAME, way more efficient:
public class Event
{
public static const VIDEO_FRAME:String = "videoFrame";
}
For those who recall this conversation on Twitter, some of these additions were added after a conversation with Mario and Eugene, hope you like these guys! 
Comments (52)
Hi Thibault, thanks for the information
So wait … You have hidden gems in FP 11.2 and AIR 3.2 but they are not yet part of 11.2 and 3.2?? But they will be part of the next release??? Excuse me, but you lost me there! swf version 15? What about swf version 14?
Is it mandatory that one must have read the Twitter thread to understand the logic behind this?
Ok so raise your hand anyone of the 1000+ people who are reading this who are interested in new webcam features? … I see two hands! Wow!
And how many of you are using your webcam for more than just an occasional gimmick? … I see one hand! Waaw! That’s great!
Seriously, can Adobe move onwards and add features that are important and long requested? you know, things like mouse locking so we can actually create controllable games with Stage3D!
Well, aside from Saschas reasonable response that its hard to understand how you choose what to implement: Wasn’t the big point of @inspirit’s remark to get each channel separately?
There is a big market in apps that use the camera, so these additions are welcome.
However, if no bugs are reported on these features, I think these features should be in Flash 11.2.
Any sneak preview on what Flash 11.1 will have?
Hi Martin,
Direct extraction is the fastest path. Doing channel extraction would slow it down a lot, maybe not be worth adding it natively. Could be done in AS3.
Thibault
Mmm… strange…
TypeError: Error #2007, null value in VIDEO_FRAME:
public static const VIDEO_FRAME : String;
Perhaps must be:
public static const VIDEO_FRAME : String = “videoframe”.
Anyway, congrats.
Anyway to use this VIDEO_FRAME in normal videos (or stage videos)? With (oh my god!) a number of frame variable?
I actually have a lot of respect for you Thibault and other Evangelists/engineers etc who are very well connected to the Flash community and are really approachable. This fact alone is so satisfying.
Just wanted to bring it up and give credit where it is due; Big thanks.
- Tahir.
Awesome, I was thinking about asking for this but once again you read my mind. Adobe must’ve realized that Capture Device support is one big advantage Flash has over HTML 5.
And ppz: Please all be aware the Camera API is not limited to streaming from WebCam’s! It seems Flash uses all Capture Devices the OS has registered, for example my TV Tuner / Capture Card is listed, it’s really cool to mess with.
One thing: will Adobe be fixing that ugly and extremely buggy Privacy Panel piece of horror?
So that people in all browsers can click on the Allow/Deny buttons and not be stuck with a blocked SWF?
Even in WMODE opaque/transparent? Or when the SWF has odd-numbered dimensions? That would be realy bomb, then we can actually use the camera in the wild.
Hi Thibault,
I’m a bit confused about SWF versions
> swf version 14 is for FP11.1 and AIR
3.1. Minor releases.
This part is clear. SWF 14 is for FP11.1, not released yet.
But then,
> they will not be part of 11.2 and AIR 3.2, but will be part of a next release.
So, these won’t be in FP 11.2.
>just use -swf-version=15 to unlock them
But they are in FP 11.2 *beta*, and version for them is 15.
So my questions to clear my confusion:
Is SWF 15 for F P11.2 or a newer “next release” version?
Will these hidden gems be in release version of FP 11.2?
Thanks, and congrats to you all.
Best,
Burak
This is awesome news! Thanks for listening, Thibault. I can’t wait to start adding this to my Webcam Toy app which creates camera effects with Pixel Bender.
I guess we can create a fallback for this so it will work for users who do not yet have FP 11.2. Something like this:
if (StageVideo["attachCamera"]) { StageVideo["attachCamera"](); }
else { myVideo.attachCamera(); }
That way we can compile against < FP 11.2 but still use these APIs if they are available. The same can be done for the VIDEO_EVENT event string.
Paul.
Hi Thibault,
Pleaaaaaaaase can we get some idea of when stageVideo for desktop air is going to be available?
PLEASE!!
What object will fire frame events? Video? StageVideo? Camera?
These changes are exactly what I need to help optimize a mobile project I’m working on. Are these API additions available for mobile as well?
jce,
Let me follow up on this. I give you an update here very soon.
makc,
Camera will dispatch the videoFrame event.
Mike,
These APIs will be available for mobile too in the future, but not as the same time as on desktop.
Thibault
any 3d drawing API (lines, circles, bezier curves) gpu powered?
With 3.2 I successfully loaded a 28330×3180 pixel jpg.
Nice!!!!!!!!!
I agree with Tahir. The insights and information you bring forward here are greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!
Hi Spencer,
I believe actually there is no limit for bitmap size.
Fantastic, the new frame event alone is going to help us a lot, thanks!
What do you think of:
function copyEncodedToByteArray( rect:Rectangle, destination:ByteArray ):Boolean;
that would place a key or intermediate video frame encoded in the currently used video codec into a ByteArray, and return true for keyframe?
Having similar functionality for the Microphone would be amazing, especially on mobile devices (our primary focus).
i was nearly about to give up on Flash technology in order to create augmented reality applications and now you tell me about this.
i have more hope to wait and see the results.
Hi Thibault,
Please tell me whether it is possible use of Flash 11.x in adobe cs5 (flash prof. cs5 or flash builder 4 ) ? or I have to upgrade to cs 5.5 ?
Please Answer …
Hi Burak,
Yes, SWF version for FP11.2/AIR3.2 is 15 but those features, even if they appear in these beta builds will not make it for 11.2 and 3.2.
Hope this helps!
Thibault
Hi Martin,
Yes you can target Flash 11 with Flash Builder 4, not sure for Flash Pro CS5, but with Flash Builder 4 for sure. Just use the right -swf-version as a compiler argument. For example, the Flash Player 11 APIs are -swf-version=13.
Thibault
thank you Thibault .
Hi Thibault,
Thank for the hidden gems. Is it possible to use color transform with StageVideo? Or is the best way to color transform the webcam stream by using Camera. drawToBitmapData ?
Thanks Tim.
Hi Thibault !
Is there any comparation table of AIR 3 capabilities for different profiles ? as for AIR 2.0 ( http://help.adobe.com/en_US/air/build/WS144092a96ffef7cc16ddeea2126bb46b82f-8000.html ) ?
Actualy, I’d like to know if DatagramSocket will be available for AIRforTV 3
Could you also tell me if stage3D layer transparency will be enabled in the future ? I work on samsung smartTV platform and this transparency is very important to provide good accelerated interface over video stream.
Thanks a lot by advance for your answers
morgan
How about:
Camera.drawToTexture(texture:Texture)
Hi Thibault, any update yet on StageVideo for desktop air??
What the hell are you guys doing? I don’t care if you give me better camera support with lower CPU. Why the hell did you get rid of Alchemy, and in a point release at that! WTF are you guys doing? What am I meant to use now?
Hi there,
Looks like an amazing improvement! Would there be an example written for Stagevideo.attachcamera(), I cant seem to get my head around it! ^^
@Tarwin
Alchemy 2 I suppose? As told in other thread, the original Alchemy code will work when targeting swf 13 or lower.
@paha
Which thread actually says this? The official blog says that 11.2 will break this support (saying that means SWF v13)
http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2011/09/updates-from-the-lab.html
So if you want speed you just have to hope that your user will not upgrade, and you have to create two versions, one for the old, and one for the new users.
I still have not seen any good reason why they are not just stopping development,but also breaking it. That simple courtesy would be the least they could do!
As you can see from the comments at this blog though it doesn’t seem like anyone reads it – or there would have been a big fuss a lot earlier.
Hi Tahir and David,
Thanks for the kind words.
Thibault
Hi Tarwin,
Yes Alchemy 2 would be the path forward. But I know that being in the dark for this period of time can be annoying.
Keep in mind that Alchemy has always been an experiment project, and even if it became an habit to use it for some stuff, we were always clear about its “experiment-ness” and the possibility that it would not be supported for ever.
Now, you could tell me, well, then give me a better compiler and I would not need Alchemy cause I do not need to cross compile my code, I want better speed with AS3
And we are working on that
Thibault
Hi Thibault,
can you tell me if the copyToBitmapdata and video_frame event is/will also be available to normal videos/netstreams?
Thanks,
Matt
Hi all,
Are the hidden gems not working anymore in the FP 11.2 beta 3 release?
Hi Tim,
Yes, not anymore. They will be back in a next release, very likely 11.3.
Thibault
Hi Thibault,
So if Adobe disables Alchemy 1 opcodes in Flash Player 11.2 or 11.3, then doesn’t that mean that after the player release games could not use Alchemy 1 opcodes and Starling at the same time?
If I’m understanding correctly, Starling uses Flash Player 11 features, but if we want want to use Alchemy 1 features, we would have to target Player 10 in order to keep it future proof?
Would this mean that games that use both Haxe and Starling would stop working in future versions of Flash Player?
Lee Brimelow just released a tutorial using Nape (which uses Haxe) and Starling:
http://www.leebrimelow.com/?p=3245
Would this stop working in future versions of Flash player?
Thanks in advance for your clarifications!
Jacob
Can anyone tell me what is needed to compile to the 3.2 namespace. I downloaded the correct playerglobal.swc, and changed the application descriptor to 3.2 and added -swf-version=15 (using flex4.6 sdk, and also tried an older 4.5sdk with air3.1 overlayed), But i still get :invalid application descriptor: Unknown namespace: http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.2
or do I have to wait for a public Air3.2 sdk?
best regards
Man… these can’t come soon enough for me. i’m writing a camera app that builds histograms on the fly for ios, and it’s wicked slow without access to stagevideo and the other improvements above.
please please please release the sdk and packager for air 3.2 (even in beta) rsn!
gepatto — you’ll need to wait for the sdk
I’d love to get a clear answer to Jacob’s questions too.
We are in the process of building a sdk for augmented reality applications, and targeting Flash without Stage3D AND Alchemy support is almost impossible for us…
Joa Ebert stated on another blog that even loading a “swf-version 12″ alchemy swf inside a “swf-version 13″ standard application won’t work. Is that true ?
This could be a way for existing libraries based on alchemy to continue working.
Hello!
Now that the RC SDK is out, how can we use these little gems?
I have tried to use the above methods but with no success.
Yes I have layered the SDK over my previous install…
Hello what is the name of AIR SDK release that has these gems now? Can we still find it on adobes website?
Hi!
Flash 11.2 has been released, but such stuff is not there! When/how we can use that methods?
Please bring StageVideo.attachCamera back. StageVideo.drawToBitmapData would also be awesome. Both unique and very special hardware efficiency to software functionality features of mobile devices. Great work!
Hi Thibault,
Do you know if the videoFrame event and Camera pixel functions will make it into Air 3.3? As far as I can tell they’re not in Air 3.3 beta 2. I’m currently using an ‘on enter frame’ and bitmap comparison hack which doesn’t run so well on the iPhone 3GS
Cheers,
Dave
This sounds like exactly what I need for my project. Unfortunately these things do not appear to be in 3.2 for iOS. Any expectation that they will be some day?
Thibault,
So here we are and Air 3.3 has shipped, but (at least) stageVideo.attachCamera() still isn’t available? Is that correct? Will it be released any time soon?
Thanks for all your hard work.
Hi Marc,
Yes, all these will be available in FP11.4/AIR 3.4 coming soon
Thibault
Flash évolue vite (et bien) depuis quelques mois, particulièrement. La concurrence, sans doute ?
Merci en tous cas à l’équipe qui lui donne des ailes (le son de synthèse, la 3D native, le bouton de droite, le retour du release outside m’ont presque fait pleurer de joie !)
Et, si on peut être gourmand, j’aurais une requête (toute simple, me semble-t-il): la possibilité de zipper et de dézipper SANS LIBRAIRIE tierce, afin d’accéder aux fichiers archives avec le bytearray (déjà capable de compresser)
You can do it !
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[...] guys remember the post I did a little while ago entitled Flash Player 11.2/AIR 3.2 beta hidden gems? I mentioned at that time camera support for StageVideo, here it [...]
[...] guys remember the post I did a little while ago entitled Flash Player 11.2/AIR 3.2 beta hidden gems? I mentioned at that time camera support for StageVideo, here it [...]