Posted by SpaceGirl on 01/19/85 11:35

Onideus Mad Hatter wrote:

>> Flash really isn't pixel based, that's why. It's a vector based system
>> that has some support for bitmaps and excellent support for video.
>
> WRONG!
>
> ...well, not everything you said, but parts of what you said...try and
> guess which parts. ^_^
>

Humor me. You seem to be the expert.

> Kid, YER the n00b, trust me on this one.

hehe, well I'm not an expert that's for sure, but I'm not a TOTAL beginner.

>> Given the "fucked" nature of flash,
>> perhaps explain how a site like www.eight8.jp exists? Perhaps it's the
>> user rather than Flash ;)
>
> In your case it is. Kids like you are often easily impressed by
> things that you don't understand. Once you know how such sites were
> created they suddenly don't seem so impressive. Oh hey, look, I can
> integrate video segments in Flash too:
> http://www.backwater-productions.net/_test_platform/cbmain/
> Ooo...how impressive. *rolls eyes*

Um, are you REALLY comparing the two? Yes getting video into Flash is
pretty easy, but the design and interactive elements are NOT so easy,
not when you are starting out. Once you start getting into AS it becomes
a little more logical (personally, I still think it's a horrible
language tho... blah).

>> Flash is really weird to work with, and I seriously hate it's authoring
>> tool - even in Flash 8 it's super-sucky. But once you start to "think"
>> like Macromedia - I mean, Adobe ;)
>
> And ya see, that's the primary problem right there, it's like Adobe
> just can't release a product unless it has a HORRIBLE interface.

Well you have to cut them some slack there - after all they didn't do
the interface to Flash, that was Macromedia. They only just bought
Macromedia, so hopefully Flash will gain some of the simplicity of
Photoshops UI.

> One
> of the reasons I'm still using Paint Shop Pro. It's the ~little~
> things that get to ya. Like in Paint Shop Pro if you're on a layer
> with a transparency, you can use the selection tool, make a box around
> an area and then click once inside the box to autoselect all the
> active pixels on that layer...can't do that in Photoshop.

Yes you can. Just hit CTRL and click the layer in the layer palette. All
active pixels are selected. Tad easier, no? Photoshop is a far deeper
program - but a lot of the functionality is initially obscure because of
just how MUCH it can do - there cant be a pretty button for
everything. Anyway, I guess that's just my opinion - I know designers
who use other tools, but most use some version of PS in their workflow.
I dont think that's just "because" (Photoshop is very expensive after all).

Or like in
> Paintshop you can actually save selections as separate files and then
> easily use them in other images...where as in Photoshop it binds them
> into the file itself, which is just annoying and then forces you to
> save all your files in their proprietary shit format. I guess if you
> "grew up" with Adobe products that stuff doesn't matter much...sorta
> like if you were born blind, you wouldn't miss not seeing.

I guess I did because I know the above isn't true. Perhaps you used
older versions of PS? PhotoShop has smart objects that can be embedded
PhotoShop or Illustrator files. They can be stuck into other files.
Update the smart object and all files that use that image are updated
without you ever having to open them. This works in all the major Adodbe
products - you can embed PhotoShop objects in Illustrator, then take the
combined Illustrator document and embed that in InDesign. Everything is
still editable. Edit any one of those file outside of InDesign and your
InDesign document is also updated automatically. It's very cool.

>> - it does sort of make sense. You
>> really have to plan well before you start a Flash project,
>
> ...well, not if you're using Swishmax. You can easily manipulate any
> object you've added, move them around on the timeline with ease,
> encapsulate objects as sprites, group them, break them apart, etc,
> etc, etc.

I'll take another look at it. It's been ages! Anything that will save me
time is fine :)


>> and it DOES handle bitmaps just fine if you are careful.
>
> Yeah I hear you talkin, Kiddo...lots of kids like you talk though.
> Let me know when you put up a Flash file that uses split form images,
> then maybe I'll take you seriously.

I cant think of a good reason why anyone would actually want to do that
- especially if your project is for the Internet. The results would be
to large, or to slow to play on an old computer. I tend to avoid bitmaps
in Flash if I can help it.


>> Well before you give up, why not send me your FLA file and I'll take a
>> look. I know how frustrating Flash was when I started out. I spend a LOT
>> of time with it now working on interactive videos and other scary stuff
>> with my clients. Even now I get completely lost in it fairly regularly!
>
> At this point my problem isn't with Flash, it's with SwishMax, for
> some reason turning off image smoothing (on the image properties, not
> under "view") doesn't seem to have any effect. Basically, my current
> method works great when previewing within Swish and keeping image
> smoothing turned off under "view", but when you export...yeah, not so
> good (unless you zoom in at 200 percent or higher).

Weird :| Well I'll grab a trail of Swish over the holidays and have a
play myself.

> I could use Macromedia (Flash) but the lack of control over objects is
> just absolutely unacceptable. Please, if you can, explain this:
> http://www.backwater-productions.net/_images/_Scraps/Where.png
>
> ...no, REALLY. o_O
>
>> JS is not really an alternative for this sort of thing. In *theory* more
>> people have Flash enabled than JS enabled.
>
> Most people who have JS disabled probably have Flash disabled too.
>

I'm not so sure, but I don't have evidence either way other than
personal experience.

> ...I'm already one of the best:
> http://www.backwater-productions.net/

heheh okay. When you get a site on here, I will believe you

http://www.thefwa.com/

Until then, you're just playing with Flash like me regardless of what
you might say :)


> Not too worried about it...take that site you posted, hell they
> weren't even doing anything with alpha transparencies fer fuck
> sake...*shakes head*...pathetic.

lol. There were a few, when the Japanese girl appears. Also, lots of
video-alpha going on (but of course... you know all about chroma keying
being a Flash expert and all :P)

Talking of which, we're doing some blue-screen stuff just before new
years - I'll try remember to post the Flash demo here. Unless it's
totally rubbish anyway (there's a fair chance of that).



--


x theSpaceGirl (miranda)

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