Very stoopid questions from a beginner

[jansar]

Hi!

I guess this questions is kind of stoopid but i'd still like to know

Is there anything on Flash 8 that would make it easier for beginners / newbies?

The thing is that i have bought the Flash MX but since it was hard to use i haven't used it much.

I've played around with different tutorials but the actionscripts usually kills me

I mean i can get "somewhere" with the scripts but got worried when there is too much script. Since i don't usually understand the actionscript part it feels like too much risk taking...

Because of that i've used Swishmax for the page design and used Flash MX for some of the things that aren't possible to do with Swishmax (usually import video to Flash MX > export as SWF > loaded into Swishmax movieclip).

The video improvements seem to be great and also some of the filters.

The most i'd like to be able to do is:

1. Easy preloaders (For external movieclips also. Something i've been unable to accomplish. Also ability to re-use with different projects would help)
2. Easy animation (Some visual effects. Biggest reason for me using Swishmax)
3. Flash video (Well, i guess that's not a problem)
4. Flash-player detection (Something i haven't used at all )
5. Sharp text with masking effects

Really basic things but still a problem. Are any of these easier to achieve with the yet to be released Flash 8?

I also started (will start after posting this) a thread about Xtivity (www.tivity.com) and would like to hear your comments about that!

Thanks!

(Posted to the coffee lounge. Topic: Xtivity? (the good the bad) )

[gSOLO_01]

Is there anything on Flash 8 that would make it easier for beginners / newbies?

Normal Mode is back in the form of Script Assist. Normal mode is back, only it's much better. Script assist provides a visual user interface for editing scripts that includes automatic syntax completion as well as descriptions for the parameters of any given action.

-Easy preloaders
Nothing new for Flash 8, but combining the Loader and ProgressBar Components can accomplish this pretty well. There's also the MovieClipLoader.

-Easy animation
There are timeline effects and plugins that help automating of simple animations. The transition manager and Tween classes to help do things programmatically.

-Flash video
Some pretty good video features in this release

-Plash-player detection
There's detection kits out there and it has been updated for F8. Added to that is the Express Install that makes updating the player pretty smooth.

-Sharp text with masking effects
Check out some of the Expressiveness features. Sharper text all able to be filtered &c

[jansar]

Thank you very much for your answer!

Some of the changes sound inspiring. Especially the video part...

Just noticed a funny thing while playing around with Flash MX 2004 trial. All the time i've spent away from Flash has helped me to understand the program better. It feels more familiar.

Eventhough there are differences between the Flash MX and Flash MX 2004 i noticed that i was able to move inside the program better than before.

Weird but nice

[gSOLO_01]

Eventhough there are differences between the Flash MX and Flash MX 2004 i noticed that i was able to move inside the program better than before.

There are some pretty nice improvements in the IDE this release that can help with your workflow. Panel grouping is one of those quality of life issues that has been missing from Flash for some time now...