Check out Adobe Labs to download Flash Player 10 beta, take the new demos for a spin, and watch videos about the new features.

The key features for Flash Player 10 beta include:

  • 3D Effects - transform any display object in 3D with easy to use ActionScript APIs while retaining full interactivity.
  • Custom Filters and Effects - In addition to the native filters in Flash Player you can also make your own using Adobe Pixel Bender. These filters, blend modes and fills can be scripted and animated using ActionScript.
  • New Text Engine - Bi-directional text, vertical layout, styeable device fonts are all part of the capabilities of the new text engine. In addition, this generic engine will power a new set of text components with really mazing typographic and layout functionality.
  • Visual Performance - through two new wmode settings you will be able to take advantage of the video card to speed up rendering and blitting.
  • Vector - A new ECMAScript 4 data type that is very much like an array but only accepts one type. By knowing what type will be stored in the array access performanc is dramatically faster.
  • Runtime FileReference access - With Flash Player 10 beta you can open a file dialog box to ask a user to select a file and load it into the runtime. You can also save content from the runtime to the desktop.

There is a lot more in this release, and I look forward to posting more about it soon!