In doing some research on filters in SVG I came across some new information regarding SVG. The reason that they have upgraded/changed focus for the SVG format to FXG was triggered when developing Thermo. They started using SVG and then they realized how difficult (and eventually deemed impossible) it was to easily translate SVG to Flash smoothly. So they developed FXG for Thermo & Flex 4 to replace SVG. Now we can just use FXG’s DropShadowFilter instead of copying the bitmap, offsetting it, applying a color fliter, blurring it, and then blending it.
What is FXG?
“FXG 1.0 describes an XML-based graphics interchange format for the Flash Platform. FXG contains high-level graphical and text primitives that can be used to create, group, transform and visually modify basic vector and bitmap shapes. The FXG rendering model follows very closely the Flash Player 10 rendering model and exposes all graphics capabilities of the Flash platform as well as offering expandable support to accommodate future capabilities of the Flash Player. The specification below dives into the technical details governing every element of FXG 1.0.”
FXG Specification:
FXG Specification Link
Blog Posts:
Mike Chamber Blog Post – Why Adobe Chose FXG Over SVG
Mark Ander’s Blog Post – Flash On The Beach – FXG & SVG
How to start playing with FXG:
- Get Flex Builder 4 source and use it in Flex Builder 3: Download Nightly Build
- How to
Finally a file format that Adobe can share across its programs that can easily be written and displayed.
Update 13-Oct-2008 – I originally stated that Adobe was no longer continuing SVG support, when really they are discontinuing support for the Adobe SVG viewer. This article can be found here: Adobe Discontinues Support for SVG Viewer