I question I don't like

[Erik Heyninck]

Well,... I can buy Flash 4 second hand (completely legal), but I'd like to know what, in practice, Flash 5 offers to someone who is not a programmer or script writer (they always insist on that in reviews) that Flash 4 doesn't.

Making websites without Flash is pass

[Erik Heyninck]

Well,... I can buy Flash 4 second hand (completely legal), but I'd like to know what, in practice, Flash 5 offers to someone who is not a programmer or script writer (they always insist on that in reviews) that Flash 4 doesn't.

Making websites without Flash is pass

[Erik Heyninck]

Until March, 31st 2001, you can buy Flash 5 from Macromedia for 299$ instead of 399$. So this answers my question. And Macromedia makes this offer to buyers outside the States too.

[Klaus Nordby]

-or spend 30 bucks and get Swish, which has most of the SWS stuff you need.


k

[ivca]

Klaus .... wanna know what I think?

I think you, like many other creative people, find learning flash on thier own ... a pain in the ass. I say this, 'cause I was there. I cursed and complained through the excruciating learning curve. But ... I stuck with it. I can do basic sites in flash now. It's a kick when your stuff works, but totally discouraging when it doesn't.

No, it's not let's pat Wayne on the back time. It's more a "If a brain dead middle aged man can do it"... anyone can. But who knows, you might not want to know what I think.

Regards, Wayne
BTW - Happy belated Birthday. I turned 39 on the 19 th...

[Erik Heyninck]

I do have Swish, and like it. But it is not Flash. It is good for text effects and some bitmap effects, but not for vector work. Paint Shop Pro is a very good app, but it isn't Photoshop either.

I read that the Flash learning curve is quite steep, but mountaineering can be a pleasure and does not have to be an exercise in masochism. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[pknair]

Well, there are more and more tools becoming available to the public for creating Flash movies, so it shouldn't be too hard to find something that you like. It's more the mindset, I find, that gets confusing. I mean, if you have a programmer's background, it's likely you'll find Flash frustrating, simply because it can't handle a lot of what you want to do. A more natural move, then, would be to go to Director, first, then move to Flash. That will get you into the right mindset for Flash. However, if you're more of a traditional artist, you might want to take the trek from something like Photoshop to Illustrator or Freehand, then move to Flash or LiveMotion. That will get you in the right mindset for illustrating using Flash. Then there are people who are used to working with full-motion video or 3D animation. They might move to something like Premiere before coming to Flash. But it always helps to take your knowledge of something that can be applied to Flash to help your mindset somewhat - and the more of those angles from which you can attack it, the easier it becomes to learn. For me, I had a programmer's background, so Flash was a sea of frustration when I first started...but I was also learning video editing and graphics editing, plus I already had a large background in sound work, so it wasn't too hard to pick up the remaining concepts.

Flash 5 is, in some ways, far beyond Flash 4, even for the non-programmer. The vector graphic tools are much more cohesive as a set, and they are much easier to use, plus there are a lot more options which are familiar to web designers as well as graphics professionals. But there's also a lot more for programmers, or people who found F4's actionscripting to be too primitive. I know a number of video professionals who were disappointed with the changes to the timeline, though (it used to be much easier to work with, in some people's opinions, mine included, before F5), but aside from that, there are significant improvements to almost all aspects of the application.

Anyway, it's free to download a trial - why not check it out and see what it has to offer you? If you like it, buy it, otherwise, just stick with F4 until something comes out which is good for you. Alternately, you might want to have a look at LiveMotion, if that suits your working style. I know...I know...I'm generally not one to plug products - I'm just letting you know the alternatives are out there. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]


hth,
Deep (just a guy)
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Pradeep Kumar Nair, B.Math
Senior Web Designer
http://www.blab.com
ICQ: 39102360
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