Re: FLASH: OT: Flash 6 aka DirectFlash!

[John Dowdell]

At 10:53 AM 8/7/0, Dave Broz wrote:

> I know this is a little earlier for a Flash 6 discussion

> considering Flash 5 is not out yet....


Actually, now is a very good time to start considering how you'd like

Macromedia Flash to change beyond the 5.0 version. Granted, the dev team

has to finish this version in all its various forms (commercial, academic,

English, localized, authoring, players, etc), but after a little break

they'll be starting right back in on a development cycle.


As hard as it is on you, the quicker after release you can get your

feedback and further desires in, then the better chance it has of making

the next development cycle, thanks.



> I have been wondering what is going to happen in Director when

> Flash 5 comes out.


With each new version, the area of overlap changes. The Macromedia Flash

and Shockwave Players, and Macromedia Generator, all can solve some classes

of problems. Each of those can uniquely solve other classes of problems.

When any of these tools change, the area of overlap changes.


With Flash, the prime considerations are making a fast and universal way of

designing predictable interfaces. Player size must remain small so that

nearly every computer has it. The movement this year is also towards

non-computer devices... the Flash Player must be easily ported and embedded

into portable connectivity devices.


The Shockwave Player doesn't have to be as small or portable. It can take

better advantage of desktop computers. It has a much faster display engine,

far more media abilities, extensibility such as with the recently announced

Shockwave 3D engine... Shockwave can do more because it specializes in

destinations for desktop computers.



> does anyone know if there are intentions of a new Flash Asset

> Xtra...?? MM??


Yes, you hit the nail on the head... the Shockwave Player will be able to

auto-update its Flash Asset Xtra. This is already in development but I

haven't heard an estimated date of completion yet. Once it passes all

testing they'll be able to flip the switch at the website, and it will take

about a month for all Shockwave Players to be updated.



> I make some pretty weird stuff quite often using Flash Sprites

> (sometimes not made by me) that were originaly built for the web

> and then implemented in Director....


yikes. I would strongly encourage you to "test early, test often, test on

all your target machines"... if you're developing for web browsers then

test in web browsers, but if you're developing for other hosts, then test

in those hosts as you go along!


(Background: When making Flash for a browser everything has to be stuffed

in a single file. When making Flash for Director, though, you can use

*multiple* SWF sprites together. Don't stuff bitmaps and sounds inside

Flash sprites which load movies! Make everything a first-class citizen in

Director instead. Flatter hierarchies of simpler sprites are easier to

manage.)



> anyway there doesn't seem to be anything said at MM that tackles this

> issue..


I dunno... I type all the above a few times each week.... ;-)




> Sorry if  this may seem like a Director rant.. but it should be heard

> on the Flasher side of things as well ...we are all growing up fast....


The way I think of it is that we're all in this new field of rapidly and

economically delivering messages to people around the world. The tools

themselves are incidental, so learning what others in similar situations

find important is very useful.


jd









John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US

Search technotes: http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/

Offlist email risks capture by the spam filters. I may not see your

email if it's not on the list. Private one-on-one email options are

available via Priority Access: http://www.macromedia.com/support/




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Full flasher archive now available online at:

 http://www.chinwag.com/flasher/archive.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

http://www.chinwag.com/flasher or email

helpchinwag [dot] com