Flames IDE is a new project to create an easy-to-use Flash development environment in Eclipse by combining existing open-source tools as well as a couple of new ones. All tools in Flames work on the Unix philosophy (small tools each doing one thing well.) Flames describes a combination of these tools, a workflow and an easy to use installer.

Note to the developers - It’s probably not a good idea to name this project “Flames IDE” when there are other Flash projects using “Flame” in their name:

http://sf.net/projects/flameproject

Flames IDE aims to replace FAME/FAMES as a completely open-source solution that does not use the free, but not open-source Flashout. It aims to create missing pieces of the open-source Flash development workflow (such as library creation) and break up some of the functionality in Flashout into separate views that integrate better with the Eclipse way of doing things.

The tools that make up Flames IDE are:

• Application Panel - Project to be started. An eclipse view with Application settings (width, height, frame rate, document class, etc.) that uses swfmill.
• Library Panel - Planning. A panel to make it easy to add assets to a SWF’s library using Swfmill.
• Swfout - Project to be started. Browser control for previewing SWFs (including their HTML)
• LuminicBox.Log
• AdminTool
• AsUnit
• swfmill
• MTASC
• Eclipse IDE

The Application Panel, Library Panel and Swfout include the functionality currently in Flashout (and then some.) However, each panel/view does one thing. This approach fits the Eclipse way of doing things better than having a mega-panel that does multiple things like Flashout.