Artweaver is a Freeware application that includes most of Adobe Photoshop’s basic tools and a similar interface that previous photoshop users can easily become accustomed to. If your looking forward to using a lighter photo editing application, Artweaver offers various selection tools, brushes, shape tools, color palettes, filters, tablet support and much more. You can download Artweaver for free, the installation file size is only 8.8 MBs in size and different language packs are available for download as well.

[via DownloadSquad]

Our latest Flash tutorial will teach you how to use the new ActionScript 3.0 Class Timer to execute any code segment repeatedly over specific time intervals without using the setInterval method. Click here to read about the AS3 Timer Class.

Atmosphir is a new gaming development platform that was announced at the recent TechCrunch50 conference. The interesting thing about it is that it lets you create rich 3D platform games (which are very similar to Mario 64) by simply dragging and dropping Lego-like blocks on a virtual canvas. The video above shows gameplay and development tools and they both seem quite fun. Games created on Atmosphere can be shared on the platform’s website to let others play and/or edit them if they wish. 

Atmosphir games are created and played using a desktop client for PC and Mac which is currently only available in a private beta (you can sign up for an invitation here). The client will be available for free once the project is fully launched towards the end of 2008.

For more info on Atmosphir you can visit their official website or view the transcript of the Q&A session of Atmosphir during TechCrunch50.

Google has released its new open source browser as promised today. I have downloaded the browser a bit ago and I am very impressed by it. It is very fast, transition between the tabs is smooth and quick, and it has a very clean interface.

Oman3D renders in the same exact way as it does in Firefox. I have checked other websites I operate and they all look perfect in Chrome (including ones made in Flash and those with Arabic characters as well). WordPress Turbo (Gears implementation) seems also to be a bit faster, but I might just be imagining that because I love this thing way too much!

You can download Google Chrome for free for Windows Vista and XP via this link.

All good web developers need to download Chrome to confirm that their websites do not break in it.

The most active section of the Oman3D Forum is the Flash and ActionScript section where many of our members come around to get help and feedback. Recently, a number of our loyal members have published their finalised Flash websites which have turned out to be simply awesome.

The first of these websites is the personal portfolio of Ryan D’Agostino. His new personal Flash portfolio features a fluid layout, a unique animated preloader, smart usage of the MovieClipLoader Class, and motion-blur-powered text scroller. You can view his website here.

The second is the personal portfolio of Brian Loughner. His Flash portfolio features a funky masked main preloader, custom made transitions using the Tween Class, a scrolling image gallery, and a colourful contact form. You can check his website here.

You can also join the Oman3D Community to expose your work, share your experience and get instant feedback and support.

Google has announced that it will be launching sometime TODAY a new open source internet browser called Google Chrome that uses technologies taken from Google’s own Gears and other open source projects such as Firefox and Webkit (the rendering engine used in Apple’s Safari and Google mobile OS Android). In addition to its multi-process tab system, security sandbox, and other end-user features, Chrome will be be equipped with a new JavaScript Virtual Machine called V8 which features hidden class transitions, dynamic code generation, and incremental garbage collection to let Chrome have better interactive performance for web applications. V8 will be independent from the browser so that other browsers can use it as well if they want to.

Google has release a detailed cartoon illustrating the new features of Chrome. You can view the cartoon here. Chrome will be released today in a 100 countries for Windows. Linux and Mac versions should follow shortly afterward.

Oman is officially starting the holy month of Ramadan today (that’s the 2nd of September). Ramadan is the month of the Islamic calendar in which Muslim’s fast during day time. All major Muslim countries started fasting yesterday, but Oman somehow always starts one day later or one day earlier (we think that the government just like to be unique) and this year was no exception. We hope that all of you guys have a great time with your family and friends during this time of the year regardless of where you are.

We have previously published a number of tutorial in Islamic themes and which you can make use of if you are working on any Ramadan related project:

3D Studio Max:

• Modeling a Lantern Using Splines and Loft
  Learn how to create an Arabian style lantern.
• Modeling a Mosque Dome in 3D Studio Max
  A super detailed tutorial on how to model a mosque dome.

Swift 3D

• Modeling a Minaret in Swift3D
  Fans of Prince of Persia will find this one familiar.

Photoshop

• Drawing a Mosque on a Starry Sky Scene in Photoshop
  An easy method for drawing a mosque - the tutorial also teaches you how to do the background.

We have upgraded our Forum to the latest edition of vBulletin. This new update includes many fixes and bugs and many new features such as profile customization, public messaging, mutual friends, and some back-end moderation enhancements as well. You can check out the new features by visiting the Oman3D Forum through this link.

Oman3D’s Website of the Month Award for September 2008 goes to Sfera Interactive. A simple flash website with a slick interface. View the website via this link.

(You can submit your website to win the Oman3D Website of the Month Award via this link.)