Macromedia Flash - Software Review and User Report
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Macromedia Flash hit the market in the mid-nineties as a relatively humble, no-frills browser plug-in and went on to become the standard file format for streaming Web media. The graphics application of the same name (not to be confused with it) lets you create amazing web content having a relatively small size (which is always critical on the Web). Flash movies don't just play, pause, stop, rewind, and freeze your machine like RealPlayer movies: by assigning "actions" (commands written in the JavaScript-like, object-oriented ActionScript language) to parts of the movie, you can make Flash movies interactive. Thus, a GetURL action redirects your browser to a new www address when you click a button in the movie. Although ActionScript has great graphical and audio capabilities, only the most advanced Flash programmers will use it: the learning curve is rather steep for the average hobbyist, unfamiliar with ActionScript or JavaScript authoring. That's why Macromedia also provided Flash MX with an easy drag-and-drop Novice Mode, which hides the complexity of the ActionScript programming from the rank beginner.
To make a movie, you first create a separate layer for each object you add to your work space. To build objects from scratch, use Flash MX's vector toolbox, comprising the standard pencil and Bezier pen, tools for making circles/squares etc. Flash MX's Free Transform tool lets you distort the outlines of objects. To animate the movie, you use the Timeline panel. The Timeline window displays layers vertically, with a horizontal set of frames for each layer. You can animate the movie either frame by frame or through tweening. With the first method, you have to alter each successive frame by hand. In the latter - speedier - mode, you just define the first and last frames of your movie, then sit back and let Flash MX interpolate ("tween") the intermediate frames.
Software Review - Pros
Customizable interface (e.g. Flash's 20 dockable and shrinkable palettes, including the Movie Explorer, which sorts/displays movies as hierarchical documents) saves screenspace. Configurable workspace and objects save time as well.
Integration. Already in Flash 5.0 Macromedia updated its look and feel towards greater product unification to please users who move between Flash and other Macromedia tools on a regular basis. In Flash MX this integration was taken a step further, eventually leading to a "standardized" Macromedia MX interface. Moreover, Flash interacts closely with Fireworks and FreeHand, a vector drawing package, so you can edit an image in FreeHand and export it back to Flash. Since v5.0, Flash supports direct import and editing of native Adobe Illustrator files; mp3 files can be imported directly as well.
The Free Transform tool; Sub-Selection tools; draggable motion guides; Bezier Pen; scripted volume; panning; dynamic audio event creation; and the useful Properties Inspector that lets you edit the properties, such as size, color, and font, of any selected element (images, text...).
Flash's workgroup optimization features. Assisted by the Movie Explorer, programmers, animators, and artists can work together on larger projects by using Shared Libraries and external script files. The Smart Clips tool allows programmers to create controls such as menus or list boxes and pass them on to other users who can then reuse/customize them.
XML parser (present since v5.0) allows integration with back-end systems, databases, etc. You can, for example, make movies that gather data from online forms and send it to a database.
Macromedia support. During the 90-day support period, you can call or e-mail Macromedia as many times as you like.
Software Review - Cons
Macromedia support. After the 90-day support period, you can either pray, or pay ($25 per incident - or buy a Support Package costing you from $95 to $650, depending on the amount and type of support required).
The passage from Flash 5.0 to Flash MX will roughly double your hardware requirements: you pass from a 133 MHz Pentium, 40 MB free disk space, and 32 MB RAM, to a 200 MHz Pentium, 85 MB free disk space, and 64 MB RAM. On the plus side, these hardware requirements are nothing that can't easily be met (and surpassed) by any average machine today.
Glitches with the Flash 5.0 Player have been reported in v5.0.
The folks at Macromedia apparently like to modify and rewrite the interface all the time. After some major changes to the interface in Flash 5.0, they did it again in Flash MX, which is getting a bit confusing and kinda annoying for the casual user, not willing to spend too much time learning such a complex piece of software. Furthermore, this is hardly compensated by any "groundbreaking" new features.
The ActionScript scripting language is not easy to learn unless you are familiar with JavaScript. And complex movie actions simply require programming.
Only experienced, code-savvy Web developers with great programming expertise can take advantage of its most sophisticated features. Great for programmers or designers, but it's probably harder and longer to make a plain-vanilla homepage intro than with Adobe LiveMotion.
The price, which starts at around $440 (list price: $499). If you wanna buy it anyway, and if you're like me, always looking for a good bargain, you'll >>
User Report - Tips, Tricks and Tweaks
Buyer's Guide Tips
>> get the discounted latest version (MX) for $428 at www.ecost.com.
