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Web Programming. Presentation on: Flash. How Flash Came to Be. Created by Jonathan Gay, current VP of Flash and Generator at Macromedia (1993)Started a company called Future Wave
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Web Programming Presentation on: Flash
How Flash Came to Be • Created by Jonathan Gay, current VP of Flash and Generator at Macromedia • (1993)Started a company called Future Wave • Future Wave’s first project, funded by a company by the name of GO, was to develop illustration software that would allow users to physically draw on the screen using “pen computers”.
How Flash Came to Be (cont.) • Down the road, the project was dropped due to heavy use of resources and was very expensive. • All of Future Wave’s work was now worth nothing. • (1995)Software was revamped to work on PC’s and MAC’s as a simple illustration tool, known as “Smart Sketch”
How Flash Came to Be(cont.) • (1995) Received feedback from customers that they should turn it into animation software. • Future Wave is not crazy about idea. • (1996)Internet is growing exponentially. • Future Wave sees a market for 2-D animation software for web designers. • Future Wave develops “Future Splash Animator”.
How Flash Came to Be(cont.) • After doing some major projects for Microsoft and Disney, Future Wave is approached by Macromedia and the rest is history. • In the fall of 1996, Future Splash Animator became Macromedia Flash 1.0 and web content as we knew it, would never be the same.
What Makes Flash Tick? • One company merger and Eight revisions • Still using majority of the code that was used when Future Wave revamped the pen computer software. • However, it is not the interface that makes Flash so popular!
Vector Graphics System • Flash uses what is known as a Vector Graphics system (VGS). • A system that uses simple system to build what you see on the screen out of lines, points, polygons, shapes, etc.
Why is this Important? • Because Flash uses the VGS, it keeps animation file sizes down. • This allows animator to make detailed and lengthy animations. • What does that translate to?
Flash’s Pros and Cons • Pro: Integrated languages like “Action Script”. • Pro: Ease of use • Con: It’s ease of use has caused the creation of many ugly and unusable websites by new users. • Pro: Its ability to work will all kinds of media. • Con: Was designed for creation of web content and is difficult to use if content needs to be updated constantly.
Pros and Cons (cont.) • Pro: Its functionality on the web.
Action Script • Object-Oriented Language that is very similar to JavaScript. • Where JS handles windows, form, etc. Action Script handles media. (i.e. movie clips, sound bytes,etc.) • Gives developer the needed control of all aspects of the animation
ActionScript(cont.) • In the most recent release of flash, Flash MX Pro, AS 2.0 has become a full blown Object Oriented languages that allows things like declaration and inheritance. • These options were limited in the 1.0 release of Action Script.
Ease of Use • A person with no computer experience can sit down and tinker with Flash, create a simple animated movie, and build up from there. • Has been one of Flash’s strengths from the beginning.
Downside of Ease of Use • At the ground level of developing animation, things are simple. • When new users of Flash want to create a detailed and complex animation, things get difficult. • People want to put out a website with a fresh look with cutting edge technology and sites become unusable when they do not know what they are doing.
Flash’s Versatility • Flash’s ability to handle all kinds of media is what separates it from the pack. • Now in its eighth release, Flash has the power to embed images, HTML , streaming sound, and video. • Flash’s capacity to manipulate all of these elements efficiently makes it an all-in-one multimedia stage.
Functionality • Flash’s functionality within a web environment is pretty solid. • Displaying a Flash animation only requires a simple tag that is embedded in HTML. • Does require plug-in and has some control issues. • Macromedia projects that 95% of internet users have some form of they’re Flash plug-in installed (ahead of MSIE,NS,RP).