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I think we all noticed the awkward lack of supporting video in F5, but could see that to incorporate video would place flash in direct competition with Director...I'm glad to see Video in MX but what about Director?Lingo? Also, I've read that flash supports updateable .jpg files, which sounds like it's edging in on Generator's turf...Are we going to find no need for Generator shortly? Please speculate with me...Love, J_red
Director is still in the lead with 8.5 incorporating shockwave 3D wich basicly means you can do 3D games without almost nowing *any* 3D programming at all.
There are a few more things but I can't remember them just now.
/Mirandir
Generator is already out of the picture. However, Director is still a full packet.
Didnt MM announced that generator is no more available ??
Generator is not on the main products list anymore.
Q. What does this mean for Generator?
A. As we move towards this vision for Macromedia Flash applications, later this year we will be transitioning from Generator to this new product architecture and will provide a path for existing Generator customers. In moving to this new generation of server products, we will be ceasing further feature development on Generator, though we will continue to provide support and maintenance. We value your support and use of Flash for dynamic content, and look forward to advancing the state of the art in dynamic content and application development with you. While there's no need to stop using Macromedia Generator, we want to make sure that you are aware of this upcoming transition.
...now I've got a dilemma - I was just about to buy Director in the next couple of days for a CD-rom job.
It's a big expense, and as I'd be buying Flash MX anyway maybe I should forget Director. The ONLY reason I needed Director was so that I could incorporate some video clips.
Phew maybe just saved myself a few hundred quid...!
Just know this that the video in Flash has NO AUDIO so sync can get a bit wacky. Director is still the Big dog for CD development. Now MX in Director!!!!!!!!!!!!! now your talking POWER
Yeah, we want Director MX!!!
I have found Director to be the best way of putting video on the web. With some experimenting lately by exporting video to the Shockwave/W3D format have managed some amazing results. A 2.2 meg file was exported and the resulting file size is 5kb with no loss of quality.
If you want to get video on the web then its definitely the way to go and I can't see anything that could better those results. You can see this for yourself: http://www.glinted.com/html/3dexplosion.htm
_greg
The first time I saw the pictures on the net with screenshots of Flash MX, I knew that Generator would be little by little assimilated into Flash.
Scorllbars.
Submit buttons.
Combo boxes.
Within a few weeks after Flash MX is out, there will be so many Flash MX Exchange files around, people will hardly remember there was a Generator once upon a time...
What would be more interesting to see is what could eventually happen to Lingo, and Director as a whole entity. Could it be that Actionscript and Lingo take roads that -in a distant end- are meant to meet and become one single highway?
Let me know if that is not possible. I see no reasons, and the idea would definitely be exciting...
hey, greg777, i can't view the 3d explosion, just a blank box. something i'm doing wrong here?
I consider myself an extremely avid 'flash enthusiast' for lack of a better term, but this is the first I've heard about Generator...when was it pulled from the main products page, anybody know? I just bought a generator book....damn. Love, J_red
P.S. how do I get that 'new member' title off my name so I can look a teeny bit credible? I've been a member for a year almost, I guess it's # of posts then...too bad for the quiet guy...
Love,J_red
Yes, title is based on posts.
Generator is/was a program that could be used to make dynamical Flash sites.
Director won't be integrated with Flash. MM would make much more money if they wouldn't. Flash is vector based, and mend for fast download movies.
And yeah, the explosion isn't viewable...:(
hey is the explosion white-on-white? (j/k, I just can't see it either) Generator seems pretty tight to me;making a template and then having it update on-the-fly is pretty cool...maybe I'm just not clear on how MX will allow a user to create database-driven .swfs...Am I clueless here or what? Help me out. Love, J_red http://www.sgtri.com
just my notes about "uselessness" of generator. here are just several examples which are best done (or the only option) using some generator software than flash client alone (even if it's mx):
- you need to generate 100 movies from one template, what do you do? you need generator.
- you need to produce static .swfs which will work without any server and still can be customized by various parameters. you need generator.
- you need to create for example some news ticker. news are updated say once a hour. the best way is to generate it once an hour, not to download them from the client everytime the movie is requested! you need generator. the same is applied everytime you need to have something dynamic but cannot do it in a client for various reasons: retrieving the content is costly, it's on different server, it needs some processing/filtering first, you don't want to reveal the source of information etc.
- you need to be able to load not only color non-progressive jpegs into your movie, but also: gifs, pngs, grayscale jpegs, progressive jpegs and may be other types of images. you need some generator.
- you don't want/don't have time/cannot do complex actionscripting in your movie. you need generator, there are generator objects ready to be used.
- you want to split text into individual shapes and manipulate them to do some text effects, but you need this text to be dynamic, for example entered by an user or queried from DB etc. you need generator.
- you are designer and NOT a programmer. you don't think in terms of actionscript or are not very comfortable in it. the generator is probably best for you.
Generator is too much money for too much BS that for the most part can in fact, with a little brainpower & creativity, be done using Flash 5 (even just about everything mentioned by skavish). As it has been said by many designers before, actionscript is a necessary evil of Flash. It's not that hard to figure out either. Take the time to learn some ActionScript and what you thought was a need for generator has decreased by at least 85%! A little ASP helps, but that's not even necessary to make some killer dynamic flash. -If you're not afraid of a little code of course.
The explosion should be viewable but it is only short so you may need to refresh the page in case you missed it("control R" for Windows). Try downloading the latest version of shockwave from the link I have there.
Can anyone see it:}, please let me know?
_greg
greg777:
Nope, I see no link.
grayczyk:
We have a round table here, and we have a polemic. What next? I do agree on your point of view about AS... :)
skavish:
It's pretty visible you are an advanced user in things Generator... :)
there are several free or partially free generatorsQuote:
Originally posted by grayczyk
Generator is too much money for too much BS that for the most part can in fact,
almost everything I mentioned cannot be done without some generator or better to be done using it.Quote:
with a little brainpower & creativity, be done using Flash 5 (even just about everything mentioned by skavish).
yes actionscript (if you know it) can substitute some generator functionality but not everything. another thing is that for example to create some preloader and to create some charts in actionscript require very different level of proficiency. a designer which knows some actionscript and can do a preloader may not be able to create complex and customizable chart even after learning actionscript very well .Quote:
As it has been said by many designers before, actionscript is a necessary evil of Flash. It's not that hard to figure out either. Take the time to learn some ActionScript and what you thought was a need for generator has decreased by at least 85%! A little ASP helps, but that's not even necessary to make some killer dynamic flash. -If you're not afraid of a little code of course.
you want to split text into individual shapes and manipulate them to do some text effects, but you need this text to be dynamic, for example entered by an user or queried from DB etc. you need generator.
Do you mean, that you can have broken apart text (vector shape) added by generator?
If you mean text on a shape, like letters moving, thats just as easy dynamic, you just have to make it load the sentence then do the norm (dice it up, make a movieclip for each letter, animate them ect..)
What do you mean about the charts?
Hi,
may I add slightly to skavish's point of view: you can make good use of some generator for many tasks
My favourite is ming - it is all code, and it comes with a full programming language (like php or perl) that you can use to create the dynamic content. There is an example - ostscript / eps conversion to swf at http://www.neuralust.com/~mingdocs for those interested. (Please dont tell me that flash can import eps - it refused to handle _these_ files) You can even have the programming language generate actionscript on the fly.
To comment on some of the points: customizing a movie, like adding text to an e-card, can be done with plain php or perl script
newsticker: unless you want the news to show up in nice text, a lain script could just retrieve the data and send them to a text file - I dont think generator does a good news digest on its own anyway
other image formats: imagemagick costs exactly 0.00
text effects: have a look at the vinyl cutter at http://www.fontimages.org.uk
Admittedly, generator might be best in the hands of designers
Musicman
Sorry for the confusion, I meant to write ...Just about everything can be done using Flash 5...Quote:
Originally posted by grayczyk
...with a little brainpower & creativity, be done using Flash 5...
So, there is an end for Generator in sight...Quote:
from http://www.flashpro.nl
Macromedia will be delivering a new set of solutions to make rich client application development with Macromedia Flash more flexible and powerful. As we move towards this vision, later this year we will transition from Macromedia Generator to this new product architecture and will provide a path for existing Macromedia Generator customers. In moving to this new generation of server products, we will be ceasing further feature development on Macromedia Generator, though we will continue to provide support and maintenance
yes but Flash MX doesn't use Actionscript as I understand. It uses true ECMAscript. I understand AS is based on it but they even say on the MM site that developers will have to throw out almost all they learned new in 5.
nope. it's actionscript . some things have changed, but only for certain objects/methods/etc.
"Macromedia Flash MX also supports industry standards such as ECMAScript"
DOH, I misread it, glad to hear it doesn't toss most of the new stuff
no, you can in fact write in F5 AS, it's backward compatible. you can save as F5 or FMX
Well no, I figured that, but I thought they changed the language. I love the new UI too. Now I gotta scrounge up another 199 for the upgrade. Do you know if it can interact directly with databases such as MySQL?
new UI? f5 is almost two years old!! I have a feeling MX is much better.
I've heard rumors about direct access to java objects, so you should be able to grab your DB straight up. better xml support. there just might be a way
MX has the new UI I was referring too. :D
I agree that Flash MX rocks, I was on the beta list and had a hard time keeping my mouth shut about features. However since it doesn't support real-time 3D it can't touch Director when it comes to 3D. For example look at this set of simple interactive 3D instructions we built.
http://www.forgefx.com/demos/swing-popup.htm
I never realised Director was so easy, I thought you HAD to know Lingo. Cool! Nice Work!!!