Top notch Flash
Out of context: Reply #31
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- fyoucher10
He's right. However, that's typically because ad agencies need shit yesterday. Most of the time, getting a 'developer' to create something an 'animator' should be creating just doesn't work out and isn't efficient, especially in regards to something like character animation. It's much more efficient, with cost and time in mind, to mock something up with the timeline for a designer. At the same time, bad practices are being used. There are time's when things should be programmed and there are times when the timeline should be used. It's knowing when to mix things up and find the best middle ground.
It's probably because Flash originally started out as a design and animation tool. Then interactivity was added later on. Over the years a lot of the dev folks are coming from other programming languages and are now using ActionScript. So now we have a mix of both worlds, designer and developer. I think as time passes and as the software gets better, we'll see more and more designers following the good habits of strong developers...and seeing more developers becoming better at design and animation. Right now we're just in that in-between phase seeing a lot more folks who can do both sides.
At the same time, hardware is going to get better and will eventually be able to handle whatever we throw at it. I mean look at the progress hardware has more over the past 10 years. It's crazy. I remember when using a frame rate over 12 FPS was considered daring. Look at the shit it does nowadays. It always boggles me. When that happens, then it's less likely to even be an issue.
There will always be a use for the timeline as a linear animation tool. Eventually, I can totally see After Effects and Flash combining into one program, once bandwidth and hardware isn't an issue.
For now, I think 'best practice' entails knowing what technique is best to use, whether it's using the timeline or doing something completely in code. What would be cool is if there was a way for a designer to create something on the timeline and then have it re-generate it using some sort of tweening engine that a developer could use (something more than motion xml).