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fyi, I am looking for some feedback on Flash 2004.
http://www.markme.com/mesh/archives/003360.cfm
If you respond here, please also post your response at the URL above (so we can have them all in one place).
Thanks...
mike chambers
mesh@macromedia.com
Stickying this.
Honestly I havent really had much time to really check it out yet, but on a first impression I have to say wow! I've read more about the new features than hands on like i said, but I'm pretty excited about it!!! nice to see css support and the new snap to object-thingie is such a relief... Wish I had some more time... It's next on my list!!!
I'm sure you all worked hard on it... Well done, and thank you and all your team over there!
-
J
Love the snap to object. Aligning was annoying in MX. Still not as good as Illustrator, but much better.
ActionScript 2.0 - finally, OOP-ish. Improved timeline as well... looking like a keeper thus far.
The history panel (I expect Adobe will be suing Macromedia as usual)and the find/replace functions are excellent.
Didn't that only happen once? They more than likely got it cleared before pushing it into Flash. And I agree, with it and JSFL it's a powerful tool.Quote:
Originally posted by phantomflanflinger
I expect Adobe will be suing Macromedia as usual
I haven't had too much time to play, which leads me to my only real complaint.
Migrating from MX to MX2004.
Both my content, and my skills. A lot has changed, and I just don't have time to get up on it on my own.
Are there going to be instructor-led Breeze Live presentations? That would be fantastic. A 2 day deep dive.
I wouldn't say a lot has changed. We got it today and we're having no trouble.
One thing I'm surprised at is Macromedia's ingenious new license management system, which means one crack blows the locks off all MX 2004 apps. They must be barmy.
Bring back the previous 'non-linear' undo system or
incorporate the history list to work with it.
This is by far my most hated 'feature'. I don't mind the list
but making it entirely linear is not what's best for Flash.
Maybe Adobe will sue again and I'll get my wish. :)
Flash is all about animation, not static images, and the
new system doesn't work with animation.
Say I'm working on a large animation on the main timeline
and I have clips A,B,C which also have nested animations.
As an animator you need to go in and out of each clip
making adjustments as you see how they all work together.
Undoing changes to ANY of the clips without effecting the others.
You can't do this now and there is no work around. :mad:
Even Mike Downey at MM thought this was a 'really cool' feature
and had to eat crow when he realized he was using MX and
not MX2004. :eek:
Chris
Just installed the trial and havent got to try everything out yet, but its not as bad as everyone made it out to be.
Pro:
[list=1][*]ActionScript 2.0 - much faster (10 times by my initial tests), cleaner, stronger[*]New components structure - havent messed around much yet but they seem a lot more compact and dont spam the library; the downside being you cant seem to edit them anymore...[*]ContextMenu class - excellent addition, but can you customize the style of the context menu?[*]Integrated Help panel[*]The new object snapping.[/list=1]
Against:
- Linear Undo
- Timeline effects - tacky and pointless, unless some companies come up with some really nice additions
Neutral
- Behaviors - not me for, but perhaps others
What they should have added:
- Curve editor for animating - Im not an animator but I cant believe Flash doesnt have a curve editor yet
There is the Subselection Tool (A)... maybe not what you meanQuote:
Originally posted by Covenent
[*]Curve editor for animating - Im not an animator but I cant believe Flash doesnt have a curve editor yet
but it does allow editing curves at the node level.
On that subject...I would like them to add a feature to prevent
Flash from auto-inserting and auto-removing nodes.
Chris
Some careful Keyframing and tweening leads to the same effect, but a curve editor would be handy...Quote:
Originally posted by Covenent
Curve editor for animating - Im not an animator but I cant believe Flash doesnt have a curve editor yet
Im not referring to able to edit bezier curves, what I am referring to is a curve editor for adjusting the easing of a tween as seen in programs like 3DMax. In Flash at the moment you can only do a linear ease in or out per tween, but with a curve editor you could setup 1 tween and have it ease in and out multiple times at different speeds and different times.Quote:
Originally posted by FPChris
There is the Subselection Tool (A)... maybe not what you mean
but it does allow editing curves at the node level.
On that subject...I would like them to add a feature to prevent
Flash from auto-inserting and auto-removing nodes.
Chris
Yes you can get a similar effect by using several keyframes, but you have no where near as much control and if you decide to change the flow of the animation you have to do most of it from scratch again.
Ok gotcha... Yes that would be useful.
I dont have any plans in even trying flash mx 2004.But flash mx 2004 pro in the other hand is great. But they ignored my request about the edit toolbar, the one like in fireworks where you can mirror flip objects without going to the dropdown.
And I wanted collapsable {} in the code editor, they ignored that to.
Customizing and changing the v2 components...usability didnt make it to this party.
hmmm, if only i hadn't bought the student versions of dreamweaver mx and flash mx a few months ago, i would be interested...
:)
Wow, this is the first I've heard of MX2004! Sounds great to me, I'll have to get it as soon as possible !
I thought I was being smart by holding out to by the educational license of MX 2004 insetad of ending up in the same boat as poor Evert-Jan. I was WRONG!!!
I am one of those unlucky people cursed with Windows ME on their machines and for the first time ever Macromedia have completely dropped support for this OS. So £175 and two weeks later I have still not experienced MX 2004 and am about to go through the risky process of upgrading to XP on my aging but able laptop.
I've emailed Macromedia support to ask why they didn't bother with win ME this time (they still support 98SE) and their response was:
"The studio MX was not tested on Win ME and is not unfortunately
compatible on this OS."
That makes no sense!!!
Anyone else a bit miffed with this, or were you all fortunate enough not to be bundled Win ME with your computers!!
A great update.
My only comment is regarding the two versions (Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Pro 2004).
Macromedia should give us the Full version and that's it.