Maximizing flash performance
Date: 14 February 2010With the birth of AS3, actionscript -and flash in particular- grew up and became more and more suitable for professional web and desktop based solutions. But like any scripting (or programming) languages you need to keep an eye on your performance. Building astonishing and complex projects is ofcourse very satisfying, but can be also a big pain in the ass when your client uses a machine from the early nineties.
What a client expects
Developing huge 3d projects with fullscreen videos won't render that well on machines that already have a lot of trouble with starting notepad. But as long as the client knows flash can achieve miracles, but it can't cure deseases, you're in the right zone.Project cycle
Nevertheless always be on top of your game as it comes to performance. If you start new (large) projects and keep focussing on performance from the very first line of code you write and monitor your result alongside the entire process you won't get any unpleasant suprises once your client tests your final version.
Illustrated on the graph above, the further away you are in a project the more difficult it gets for the developer to add new functionality in it's code.
So if you could be warned in an early stage of the flashproject cycle that a particular update is using too much system recourses or the framerate is at an unacceptable level, you could take measures and therefor avoiding the 'last minute' adjustments. Which -we all know- will only decrease the quality of your code and the project itself.
This exactly is the reason why you need to keep monitoring and making your code use as little resources as possible. Click the 'read more' link below, to see a few examples and best practices in maximizing flash perfomance
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