Awesome.

There hasn’t been a single (legitimate) bug reported since the release of Partigen 2.5.1. (Over half a year!)

Awesomer.

How many other development companies have such a tested and rock-solid product, let alone be able to claim it’s practically bug free?

Awesomest.

That being said, I’m always on the lookout for un-noticable bugs and ways to improve the engine, so with this update, I’ve done just that. The biggest improvement is the automatic handling of pooling memory. In the previous release, objects stayed in memory to improve performance, even if the engine was no longer running. Now, every time you stop an emitter or tweens go idle, the engine quietly removes unnecessary objects from memory.

Also, there’s a new ParticleEvent for FINISHED. This gets called when the last living particle gets removed and checked into the pool. This is super handy when you stop an emitter and there’s particles still alive, and you want to know right when the effect finishes (which can be a few seconds after you stop it). This was actually made so the pools know when to purge all the objects out of memory safely.

This is a recommended drag and drop update for those concerned with memory issues with either engine. The Partigen2 Plugin has also been updated with these improvements in both the component and UI, so you should see better memory management across the board.

(Tip: If you notice a lot of flux in memory when running emitters, try creating a new BasicPool with a high expandsize (200+) for the emitter. The pools now will increase AND decrease the size based on need, so you can tweak it to suit your needs if performance is really critical)

The online API has also been updated to the latest released as of this post.

In addition to all bug fixes, the ability to use blend modes with the PixelRenderer has now been implemented. For a full list of changes, see the changelog here:

http://github.com/andrewfitz/desuade/blob/P251M151/changelog.txt

Stay tuned, the official Desuade Partigen 2.5 plugin release is coming next week!

Whew, it’s been a long time coming.

This is huge update that brings some incredible updates to Partigen, and some of those innovations trickled down into the DMP v1.5 (like object pooling). This is the biggest update to Partigen since the original 2.0 release, and am stoked about all the improvements.

Let’s take a look at what’s new since the original 2.0 release:

• pixel renderer and pixel-based effects
• tremendously improved performance and memory management with new object pooling for particles, particle sources, and tweens
• support for particle filters and XML filter support
• renderers start/stop automagically without needing to do it manually anymore
• caching particles as bitmaps
• more rendering options such as predraw, removeAllParticles(), and clear()
• improved custom Random class
• prefetching allows you to start emitters as if the effect has already been running for a while
• XML support for renderers
• BitmapCanvas class allows for super easy use and duplication of Bitmap/PixelRenderers
• blendmode support for particles
• groupBitmaping to improve performance on particles with a high groupAmount
• particles can now be any class, without having to extend Particle
• all the improvements in the Desuade Motion Package
• plus over 50 bug fixes, tweaks, changes, and minor enhancements

By now, you can tell this is huge – big enough to be a full new version release. If you’re interested, you can checkout the full changelog here: http://github.com/andrewfitz/desuade/blob/master/changelog.txt

Now the bad news.

Unfortunately, the developer helping with the backport to AS2 totally failed to come through… so no AS2 version. It’s actually an incredible amount of extra work, and I still decide to place my energy on the future instead of the past. So we’re still AS3 only, unless somebody else wants to give it a go.

Regardless, this release is has been incredible amount of work, and I really hope you try it out and share it with your friends because the more feedback I get, the more work I put into it for you.

The commercial Flash extension and plugin is almost done being upgraded to 2.5 as well, and will be released sometime in July. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

So stop – and download the latest Partigen 2.5 library and examples now here:

http://desuade.com/partigen/download

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

(PS. The docs have been updated with all the new additions to 2.5 - http://api.desuade.com/)

With tremendous help from Peter Elst, we’re working on getting Partigen backported to AS2 for those of you still required to use it. AS2/AS3 components for the plugin will be provided together in 1 package for the same price. Unlike most other component developers, I don’t feel the need to ask for more money just for another language (even though it’s almost double the work). The goal is to get the AS2/AS3 version working seamless as possible, regardless of which you’re using in your document.

Releasing new versions of the extension is a big effort (1-2 weeks of packaging, documentation, site updates, testing, etc), so instead of releasing many 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 updates, I’ve decided to just do 1 big shebang as version 2.5 with lots and lots of improvements to the plugin (and libraries). There’s really a lot of free goodness coming with this update, and here’s a sneak peak of what will be new since v2.0:

• (Maybe) Particle filter support
• (Maybe) Faster performance with better pooling
• Flash CS5 and AS2 Support
• Emitter prefetching (start emitters as if they’ve already been running)
• BitmapRenderer now starts/stops automagically (no need to start()/stop() renderers anymore)
• Lots of other new BitmapRenderer goodies
• Renderer support via XML (allowing preset bitmap effects in the UI!)
• New BitmapCanvas component to simplify BitmapRenderers
• Particle Blendmode
• Use any DisplayObject as a particle without needed to extend it
• Improved Particle grouping with Bitmaping support
• Indicators always show in IDE development mode
• New and improved presets
• Lots of bug fixes and refinements

So there you have it, a sneak peek at the new features in Desuade Partigen 2.5! If you’ve taken a look at some of the demos recently, you’ll see Partigen 2.5 in action.

Due to working with two code bases now, both AS2 and AS3, development time will take a bit longer, with a planned release sometime early summer. After that, effort will be put into documentation, tutorials, and examples.

This release comes with lots of goodies, so let’s get straight to it and see the major changes in this release:

Motion:

• MotionController.start(keyframe, startTime) – Allows you to start a controller at the given time as if it’s already been running
• ClassSequence – duration, startAtTime(), getPositionInTime() for Tween-based classes only
• Tween and BasicTween now have run() method to statically perform a tween instead of creating an object
• BasicTween.position

Partigen:

• Emitter prefetching – allows you to start an emitter as if it’s already been running
• XML support for Renderers in Emitters – allowing bitmap effect presets
• BitmapCanvas class for BitmapRenderer for easy management of BitmapRenderers
• emitter.particleBlendMode – blendmode for particles
• emitter.groupBitmap – lets particle groups be created as bitmaps
• emitters now automatically start their renderers on start()
• emitter.particle can now be any class, and does not have to inherit from BasicParticle
• BitmapRenderer no longer asks for BitmapData (not backwards-compatible)
• BasicParticle and Particle classes inherently use groups (removed BasicGroupParticle, GroupParticle)

As you can see, there’s some pretty awesome additions brought into the package, mostly refining and enhancing Partigen 2. These changes will soon be reflected in the upcoming Partigen 2.1 plugin as well, most importantly with XML support for BitmapRenderers and a BitmapCanvas component.

Download your copy now: http://desuade.com/partigen/download or http://desuade.com/dmp/download

After 11 months of development, and 3 months since the last beta release, the open source AS3 particle effects library Partigen 2 is now out of beta and has been officially released! You can grab it now:

http://desuade.com/partigen/download

Along with the particle system, an entire motion package featuring tweening, physics, sequencing, and the exclusive motioncontroller was built to power all those particles. Cleverly named the “Desuade Motion Package”, it has been released as well as version 1.0.

Both packages are being developed together, and those looking for just a powerful animation package for AS3 can use it independently.

I will be finishing up getting the Partigen 2 plugin ready for a release over the next few days, so be sure to keep an eye out for that. If you are excited about this, you should tell somebody else who might be interested.. as I’m sure they’d love you for it!

I’m starting to get really excited.. can you feel excited about this yet?

This is mostly a bug fix/tweak release for the DMP, but Partigen sees a shiny new toy… the BitmapRenderer.

The BitmapRenderer was originally going to be put on hold until 2.1, but it was just too easy to build and too powerful to leave out. Example fla for Partigen has an example of using the BR, so be sure to check it out now to see a lot of particles… and motion trails.

DMP and Partigen RC2 - download now here: http://desuade.com/developer

• Tweens/physics performance increase 400%-500%!
• Both packages can export and import XML from classs
• Sequence class rewritten with tons of extra features
• Physics and Tween packages re-factored into new classes
• New Bases package that provide a base for Primitives
• Eases are now strings, for XML compatibility
• Lots of internal changes and fixes

See the full list of changes: Changelog

There’s just a little more work to do and then we’re at a final stable version, so this is your last chance to get your input heard, as the API and syntax is pretty much finalized now.

So stop waiting, and download them now here: http://desuade.com/developer

This release offers a 200% speed improvement for tweens, due to a small syntax change and internal rendering. The ‘target’ property is now outside of the tweenobject and physicsobjects that are passed in the constructor.

I know that causes some backwards compatibility issues, but I figured the speed was worth it – and again these are beta releases so nothing is final yet.

It’s nearing the end of the beta, so now is your chance to get your input heard. You should download the betas now: http://desuade.com/developer and let me know what you think!