Top notch Flash
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- ********0
"...non-developers tend to spend more of their time experimenting creatively and coming up with fresh, new stuff as opposed to getting bogged down with seo, browser compatibility and using the newest techniques even when not needed."
Maybe so, but most of the really amazing work I've seen in Flash has been done by designers who are also really good coders. Ecozoo site, Papervision stuff, Wonderwall...none of these were conceived by designers coding on the timeline...at least I don't think they were. And the counterargument here is that being a good coder makes you aware of what's possible.,
"now that Carson's back in action, I'll use him as an example...
DOES CARSON KNOW HOW TO CODE? NO!"No, and he's never created a decent website either as far as I know:)
- Bravo, that's exactly what I meantpauliusuza
- well, it's not what you said...kingsteven
- mikotondria30
That Monet site is fanfuckingtastic..wow :)
- fyoucher10
I'm a Flash guy. I use the timeline all the time. I use code too. There are many (many many many) things that you just can't achieve efficiently by using 'just' code. When it's more than just simple slides, scales, and the generic easing settings that come with whatever tweening engine -- it makes sense to use the timeline. The timeline is a great 'animation tool', not just for interactivity.
If you're a developer thinking that the timeline isn't useful, maybe you haven't been asked to animate something very complex yet?
- I use math for animations, especially for complex ones.pauliusuza
- I'm not talking particle animations. Try using math with a complex storyboarded animation or even character animation.fyoucher1
- animation...fyoucher1
- try doing animation which is affected by physics on the timeline...pauliusuza
- I'm talking about Flash as an "animation tool" like what you do in AE, not interactivity.fyoucher1
- I completely agree with you with using OOP for interactive sites, shit like that.fyoucher1
- But Flash is more than just for programming. There's a whole community of folks who use Flash for 2D animation purposes.fyoucher1
- I know, for some things you NEED to use the timeline. I'm cool with that. But some bastards are just lazypauliusuza
- "The timeline is a great 'animation tool'," No it's a SHIT animation tool, you just haven't used a good oneanimatedgif
- I use AE a lot too. Flash is a great 'vector' animation tool.fyoucher1
- Great developers use both.instrmntl
- Pixter0
Sometimes you need to make some shape tweens for rollovers. I use timeline animations and tweenlite to control the currentframe.
- shape tweens must die, it's a complete processor hog.pauliusuza
- you should use scale9 with bitmap data instead, or draw the object with graphics class.pauliusuza
- pauliusuza0
^ example. An ad agency sends me stuff for a Flash game on Facebook. Some animated characters which are falling down like tetris pieces. Now the animations on each character are pretty basic (up/down bounce, some eyebrow rotation) this could all be done in AS3 and randomized. But no, they insist we use their timeline based assets.
Result: after showing 10 of these timeline-animated characters on the stage the quad core CPU usage goes to 100%, ad agency does not give a shit, we launch the game, users are dissapointed :(
- are you on a mac lol?fadein11
- no, windows. Just the assets were so badly done that it had 100 nested objects and was crashing CS4.pauliusuza
- Maybe Flash is the problem, a couple of animated characters should be childs play for modern computersanimatedgif
- meaning not just technically shit, but also the workflow flash encourages to produce animation is bad for performanceanimatedgif
- performanceanimatedgif
- fadein110
"Result: after showing 10 of these timeline-animated characters on the stage the quad core CPU usage goes to 100%, ad agency does not give a shit, we launch the game, users are dissapointed :( "
must have been some heavy timeline stuff unless you were on a mac of course in which case it would be shit
- the fla was hell. Object in object in object in object, etc.pauliusuza
- moldero0
ef dubya a - end of thread
- animatedgif0
"quad core CPU usage goes to 100%"
Does Flash even use more than one core yet?
- Haggerty0
OVER NINETHOOOOUUUUUUSSAAAAAND!
- 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).
- autoflavour0
im on an ipad, flash is dead to me..
- i have an iPad too, I still think it sucks for browsing the webmoldero
- really? i actually find it pretty good. prefer a mouse, but yep, its not that objectionable.autoflavour
- i was just being facetiousautoflavour
- its cool for sure but a lot of things bug me about it like no mouse oversmoldero
- animatedgif0
"At the same time, hardware is going to get better and will eventually be able to handle whatever we throw at it."
Hate this justification, do you not realise that in the future we are going to want to throw even more at it. They should focus on making things work well on todays hardware.
Besides, if anything we're going to be taking a step back processing wise as casual users switch down to lightweight laptops/tablets/phones
