latest Flash MX news

[jtibbles]

Wow, what a response. Cheers to all who are responding to my original message, keep em coming.
It seems there is a clear divide between the price. I would like to add that my main complaint was that Macromedia originally were asking for $400, then they released the beta version they realised that it proved popular so they said "f*ck it, we'll up the price by $100" so they can cover their own asses.
Also, can the people who are members of large companies, or those who do not work, please stop *****ing about me complaining about the price - you have no idea what it's like when you have a 0 profit margin.. Also the upgrade price , I have been informed, will be nearer $300, than the $200 someone mentioned earlier

Non-commercially the price is good, because the educational version is quite cheap, but commercially, small companies will, yet again have to struggle to stay in the mainstream of the multimedia market.
Why am I reminded of the Microsoft Internet Explorer fiasco?
hmm...

[SuperCyrusCT]

I know i might take some heat for this, but I think Adobe Livemotion 2 has been overlooked.

Flash MX seems to have a superior script editor. It also has the shared library feature.

LiveMotion 2 has a superior timeline (a hand me down After Effects time line). LiveMotion seperates each animateable (is that a word?) attribute, so you can easily edit the rotation of an object without disturbing a color tint, scale change, and a anchor point move... for example.
I worked with Director 8 a while back, and it seems to be quite similar.

LiveMotion only costs $199, or $99 dollars with goLive! from any journeyEd. I thought I'd mention that after ready some penny pinching posts.

~Peter Wong

[hexagone]

well i couldn't find the price thanks for telling me
If you ca'nt afford it get a cracked version (haha)
There's a guy who advertises cracked versions of everything in the Loot paper for 30 quid!!!!
Off cousre I'm going to buy my copy for my small
company. Anyway its even more expensive for large
companies because its only a single USER license
per copy so,large companies will/should need multiple
copies anyway
[Edited by hexagone on 03-06-2002 at 09:28 AM]

[sylkro]

We had some guy come from Adobe come down to our university a couple of months ago and i asked him if Live Motion 2 would have any scripting in it... he said yeah... up to flash 5 capability.

Livemotion's timeline is actually time based not frame based... and with some scripting, you can create animation via script on a time-base in Flash as you all know.

i mean ... if you still want to wait for livemotion that's down to you but other than a funky swirly thing it does i wouldn't hold my breath too much. much rather get FMX to take SWF's to the next level... after all, it's the SWF that counts more than the FLA.

[ad_mtk2]

Grrr.
i had to frigin turn all the footers off just to access this darn thread!!! so now i'm here, all i see is misery and hatred about FMX. i wasn't around for flash 3, or flash 4. i started my life on flash 5, so of course, i don't fully understand the sympathy that you people are trying to gain. but i do agree that 500 megaroonies are a lot depending on the purchaser. i, myself am a flash hobit. (someone who uses flash as a hobby, just made that word up - nothing to do with JRR by the way )
so yes, i will not be taking this baby home this decade, as much as i'd like to, so i am another one of those unfortunate members who will not benefit from this beauty they call 'FMX'. but there we go! Enough of my blabber! I'm just bored at college, and have been looking at these darn forums for hours now. so i had better go and teach myself some more flash i suppose.
ciao for now
oh yes, constructive critisism for anything i do will be accepted as i am crap at flash and need help.
oh yes, and well done Macromedia.

[Ed Mack]

Okay, back to serious (By the way, we had ot perfrom an exercision on my cat after it attacked me wanting MX).

Really, $500 isn't that bad. Yeah, its not the cheapest thing ever, but its about the same as 5 good designer books. Think of how many good books you've bought (that were expensive, ie. Friends of Ed (which I quite like)) and then think 5 less (well, about) = Flash MX

I could probably scrap enough for the student version out of my bank, though that would prohitit me from commercial (ie. freelance) work wouldn't it?? I may/am probably wrong, so pelase fill me in.

Also, did someone else mention a student upgrade for cheaper? That really is getting ridiculous in money saving, but I think they did.

But, Macromedia is an A* company, listening to customers and also having an informative website. And I'm sure MX will follow the tradition.

[felix_man]

Well after reading this post, you guys have changed my mind. I think $500 is too much for MX and the upgrade price (whatever price that will be) is too much! As a matter of fact I think MM should give everyone FREE copies.(notice I made FREE all caps, corprate marketing has penetrated my inner creativity). Even better MM should pay me for using their product, I think they can just put add banners all over their site and use those profits to keep the company running... oh wait, my bad banners are bad too (ref. posts on ign.com).

Oh Balls to all this companies should be skewerd for making money crap. I can do one freelance job and.. kablowee, MX is paid for. If you don't want to buy software upgrades approx. every 6 months... Your in the wrong business (or hobby, for all those whining about the price of their "hobby... get a new hobby, try collecting fingernail clippings, it's cheaper!).

No one can touch MM when itcomes to flash, Adobe live motion is living proof. MM is the best at what they do.

My 2¢

p.s. I love each and every one of you

[jayhawk]

Originally posted by felix_man
Well after reading this post, you guys have changed my mind. I think $500 is too much for MX and the upgrade price (whatever price that will be) is too much! As a matter of fact I think MM should give everyone FREE copies.(notice I made FREE all caps, corprate marketing has penetrated my inner creativity). Even better MM should pay me for using their product

while i don't think $500 is bad for this upgrade, i have no clue what you are trying to lend to the debate by using extreme sarcasm and representing those with whom you disagree incorrectly. nobody asked for free. i think many people would be happy to keep the current flash 5 price for flash mx.

personally, flash mx will mean that i no longer have to purchase director for the things i do. that means a huge savings for the mac AND the pc versions. so, flash mx is now free each time director upgrades. ;-)

whahoo.

[gerbick]

jayhawk, it's not $500.00 for the upgrade. $199.00 for the upgrade.

[SuperCyrusCT]

Originally posted by sylkro
We had some guy come from Adobe come down to our university a couple of months ago and i asked him if Live Motion 2 would have any scripting in it... he said yeah... up to flash 5 capability.

Livemotion's timeline is actually time based not frame based... and with some scripting, you can create animation via script on a time-base in Flash as you all know.

i mean ... if you still want to wait for livemotion that's down to you but other than a funky swirly thing it does i wouldn't hold my breath too much. much rather get FMX to take SWF's to the next level... after all, it's the SWF that counts more than the FLA.

Isn't it hard to keep track or modify the different transformations applied to an object in Flash 5/MX. I worked with Flash 5 and i thought it was hell trying to fade something as it moved.

Ex. I wanted text to tint red from black over a 10 frames. At the same time I wanted this text to move left to right so many pixels for 25 frames. I would have to add a seperate key frame in it for the red tint. And if i wanted to change that or add a another transformation (rotation, opacity change, etc) I would have to start over.

I loved Director, like LiveMotion and After Effects, because it seperated all the transformations on a seperate timeline with its on keyframes and what not. Is there a way to do this in flash 5 (or MX) that I'm missing.

I've been debating the importance of scripting. LiveMotion has the Flash 5 action scripting, but is there more additions to action scripting to Flash MX. A main feature that I saw for flash MX is dynamic import of JPG's and MP3's. Is this a new function in the Action Script? What other additions have been made to the Action Script Language in the new flash mx?

~Peter Wong

[felix_man]

Sorry I grew up watching Flying circus, sarcasm is the epicenter of my sense of humor.

I think if you look at how much generator used to sell for (can't remember exactly but it was crazy expensive!), and realize that MX includes the ability to import jpg's (the main reason to use Gen)it has paid for it self several times over on the first use of this new dynamic feature.

Another way to look at it: Dodge makes the stealth and the viper... you want the horse power, it's going to cost more. Macromedia has just (IMHO) changed the way the www will look, sound, interact and function. Flash has become so much more than the cute web toon builder, find another product that is such a diverse authoring tool (web or not) for anywhere near the price.

Again sorry bout the sarcasm, the little monster is always ready to make my words more... colorful.

[j_red]

live motion has flash 5 actionscript...so does flash 5. They had it 2 years ago....

[skeksis]

Ex. I wanted text to tint red from black over a 10 frames. At the same time I wanted this text to move left to right so many pixels for 25 frames. I would have to add a seperate key frame in it for the red tint. And if i wanted to change that or add a another transformation (rotation, opacity change, etc) I would have to start over.
-----------------------------------------------------------


You're right. In many ways having to create several keyframes for one block animation to complete several visual tasks can be a pain. Specially since often with flash your tween easing will break if you place new keyframes into an exisiting tween.

I would, however, rather contend with that then with the rather messy (and outdated) timeline that LiveMotion and AfterEffects employ.

I think it comes down to the fact that programs with such high levels of complexity always have some cons when it comes down to GUI.

My recommendation would be to use flash religiously like many of us do. You'll slowly learn the little quirks and ways to work around them. It'll also establish that bond between user and program which makes good flash animators/programmers great.

Ben

[Abelius]

Originally posted by skeksis
I think it comes down to the fact that programs with such high levels of complexity always have some cons when it comes down to GUI.

My recommendation would be to use flash religiously like many of us do. You'll slowly learn the little quirks and ways to work around them. It'll also establish that bond between user and program which makes good flash animators/programmers great.

Ben

That is correct, Perl's known "TIMTOWDI" (there is more than one way to do it) does not apply here if you REALLY want to follow in the steps of great Flash programmers...

[SuperCyrusCT]

Originally posted by j_red
live motion has flash 5 actionscript...so does flash 5. They had it 2 years ago....

I'm not saying that flash 5 didn't have actionscript. I'm saying that LiveMotion 2 has flash 5 actionscript.

I'm woundering if there has been additions to the flash 5 actionscript language that are contained in the new flash 6(mx)?

~Peter Wong

[scootercalvin]

i think anything is worth what you make it....i remember when html 4 was the new thing...i remember when i would type my dos prompt commands to go onto a bbs... i was only 13 at the time and was on an old ibm...sitting there amazed with the thought behind the old ansci pics and games...im only 23 now but 500 dollars is nothing compared to what we will do with it in terms of advanced interaction with our websights...im in a band and do alot of music management and promotion and im a newbie at flash...but with computers being so affordable and so powerful nowadays...and if broadband gets cheaper and the standard we will be at the forefront of a revolution in media and everyday entertainment...
my guitar $900
band rehersal and cd production $2500
finding an easy way to bring my music to a huge target audience
priceless.

[Peter G]

anyone want a hundred bucks off Flash MX?
this is funny... http://www.macromedia.com/support/se...ts/upgrade.htm

so....just buy flash 5 from a store today, maybe even find it on sale. then, free upgrade!

it costs the same as F5 now. so, please stop complaining about the price already.

[jtibbles]

Excellent Peter G, that's fantastic

Cheers

[ad_mtk2]

so what they're trying to say is, if i buy flash 5 now, another...however much it is, which i already have, then i am eligable for a free upgrade to FMX???

In which case, does anybody know where i can get a cheap copy of Flash 5??????

[jtibbles]

nah, it seems you have to have bought Flash 5 , the full version, a t a certain time, i.e. when it was first released in 2000, to be eligible for a free upgrade