Several weeks ago I ponied up for Adobe CS3 Web Premium. The programs I wanted were Illustrator, Photoshop, and Flash. I also use Fireworks and Dreamweaver but am not as enamored with either.

I really appreciate the ability to buy these applications in a package. Before, I had to purchase the Macromedia applications (Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks) separately from Adobe’s (Photoshop and Illustrator).

A big bonus is compatibility across applications, as all the the interfaces are more unified and you can now import files across applications more easily.

The package includes a full DVD of video tutorials to recognize the new features in the programs.

Anyhow, let me go over what I’ve noticed so far working in Flash CS3. I’ll move to the other programs as I begin using them.

Palettes

All the palettes and panels can be shoved off to the right side of the screen, represented by small icons that when clicked, reveal the palette. This allows for a way more organized workspace. You can even shove the properties bar and all the ActionScript panels into this right icon area. You can resize the right panel so it shows little text descriptions next to the icons, or even tear off individual tabbed panels and stick them to the right of the little icon panel, resulting in some amusing configurations. And of course, you can save whatever customization you have as a workspace.

Importing Files

Importing Illustrator files works as advertised, with the ability to assign the different vectors to different layers in Flash or all as one object. You can even single out specific objects and have them import as a movie clip, even defining the instance name.

I’ll just say I really appreciate this since I prefer to draw stuff in Illustrator (as do other graphic designers). You can also import Photoshop files and retain the layers.

Tools

But wait, the Pen tool in Flash now works like the Illustrator tool. Meaning, you get the nice Bezier curves and the key commands are just like Illustrator. I thank the heavens above for this.

ActionScript 3.0

ActionScript has undergone a large overhaul. From what I can gather, it’s more programmer friendly, especially if you’re used to object-oriented languages. But at first, for those of us steeped in ActionScript 2.0, it initially seems more complicated.

For example, here’s ActionScript 2.0 code for a movie clip named “powerBtn” that says “hello world” when clicked:

powerBtn.OnRelease = function(){

trace(”hello world”);

};

…and in ActionScript 3.0:

import flash.events.MouseEvent;

powerBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, powerClick);

function powerClick(event:MouseEvent):void {

trace(”hello world”);

}

… yeah. For some reason I think Java gurus are jumping up and down with glee. Anyhow, what else is new?

• Better objects for XML parsing and audio handling.
• Underscores before attributes are toast - so “movieclip._x” is now just “movieclip.x”.
• Alpha is also on a scale from 0 to 1 rather than 0 to 100.
• There is a comment block of code button. I was just scrambling for this in the previous version of Flash the other day, as I was getting sick of typing /* */.
• Ability to collapse code.

So there’s certainly a learning curve as far as I’m concerned, and I need to get busy, starting by recoding some ActionScript 2.0 projects in ActionScript 3.0. Supposedly the end result is cleaner code that runs faster.

Lastly, I was also pleased to find my current include of choice, mcTween is moving towards an ActionScript 3.0 verison.

Categories: General, Technology :: Tags: :: Trackback URL
Front Page
Previous Post: Flash Project: Fanpop Widget
Next Post: If You Spill Water On Your MacBook…
Related Posts: Adobe CS3 Notes: Video Workshop And Workflow Guide :: Time For Some Meat: Adobe CS3, Apollo, Silverlight :: Adobe Photoshop CS4 User Interface Changes :: Adobe’s Photshop CS3 Public Beta: Tomorrow ::