We have discussed the two versions of Away3D, with version 2.x targeting Flash Player 9, and version 3.x targeting Flash Player 10. The reasons for using one version or the other were highlighted, along with the reason why this book will focus on Away3D version 3.x.

We saw the steps required to download the Away3D source code, either as a ZIP file or from the SVN repository. The process of configuring the authoring tools Flex Builder, Flash Builder, FlashDevelop, and Flash CS4 was described, allowing each of these tools to create Away3D applications.

With the authoring tools configured we could create the Away3DTemplate class, which was then built upon by the SphereDemo class to show off the process of compiling and running a simple Away3D application.

Now that we have seen how to configure the authoring tools and created the Away3DTemplate class as a base for future Away3D applications, we can start to explore the features provided by the Away3D engine. In the next chapter, we will see how to create the primitive 3D objects supplied with Away3D.