Re: FLASH: Flash 5/6 aka DirectFlash! Some suggestions

[Sohrab Pirayesh]

I've always wanted to be able to export flash with alpha channels. Like a

gif with transperancies.  The ability to make the background in flash

invisible.


This would be a huge help to those of us creating hybrid sites.


-sohrab



----- Original Message -----

From: "Damien Morton" <

mortondennisinter [dot] com

>

To: <

flasherchinwag [dot] com

>

Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 2:44 PM

Subject: FLASH: Flash 5/6 aka DirectFlash! Some suggestions



> Heres a couple of suggestions for Flash 6:

>

> Ive been looking at Branden Hall's sprung.swf Flash 5 demo. A 1-spring, 2

> body system consumes 50-60% of my 600MHz CPU. Now Branden is a smart guy,

so

> I cant really imagine that hes implemented that demo too shabbily. If this

> is anything like what we can expect, then the performance of ActionScript5

> leaves a lot to be desired. Suggestion: Make ActionScript byte code

> interpretation much much faster. For games, for anything requiring a

modicum

> of physical simulation or computation, a faster interpreter is needed.

>

> Ive been looking at Moho from lostmarble.com. They have a lovely tool,

> oriented around the concept of 'bones' and how 'bones' cause shapes to

> morph. Unfortunately, it looks like the output filesizes of their tool are

> going to be huge because bones arent supported by they Flash file format.

> Morph shapes would be great if, rather than interpolating the control

points

> along linear paths, the control points were interpolated along curves.

> Suggestion: add a Morph Shape tag/command that supports interpolation of

> control points along curves rather than lines. A better suggestion: Buy

> lostmarble and incorporate their animation technology into Flash 6.

Another

> suggestion: Fully integrate the bones feature into flash and make it

> programmable/accessible through actionscript. Something like this would

help

> us escape the stiff animations we now create, while maintaining a small

> filesize.

>

> Flash really falters when it comes to video. I know there are a lot of

> competing video technologies out there, but, going forward, video sprites

> are pretty much a must-have feature. Suggestion: Pick a video compression

> technology and go with it. Even a proprietary tech would be perfectly

> acceptable, although implementing a single Quicktime codec (e.g. sorenson

or

> somesuch) or MPEG1/2 might make more sense.

>

> Alpha channels - It would be lovely to be able to retain alpha channels in

> lossless compressed images. Import as PNG/TIFF/RGBA, output as

> JPEG(ish)/RGBA. Also, JPEG2000 is just around the corner, and the

> compression ratios possible with JPEG2000 are way beyond what is possible

> with JPEG. Lets have the very best possible compression tech implemented

in

> Flash, so that we can keep our file sizes really small while extending our

> ability to use photographs freely.

>

>

> > -----Original Message-----

>

> From: ownerchinwag [dot] com [ownerchinwag [dot] com]On">mailto:ownerchinwag [dot] com]On Behalf Of John

> > Dowdell

> > Sent: Monday, August 07, 2000 4:18 PM

>

> To: flasherchinwag [dot] com

> > Subject: Re: FLASH: OT: Flash 6 aka DirectFlash!

> >

> >

> > 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

>

>

>

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