Re: FLASH: CD Rom production - Director is so bogus --how do youdefine the end of this thread?

[Barry Swan]

Hi Laura,


I'm basically a Director guy, I just joined this list because my boss told

me to 'learn' Flash :)


I still think you are somewhat missing Michael's point. From a company view

the return on investment taking into account the price of the software

doesn't make sense. They aren't priced because Flash is for the smaller jobs

while Director is for the larger one, but for their flexibility. Flash does

what it does very well indeed. It's proliferation on the web is a testament

to that.


But it currently is nowhere near Director in terms of flexibility, and hence

why if I need to do something even moderatly tricky (IE some decent coding)

I use Director. Of course I'm biased. But we does use Flash here as well,

and in fact we are moving towards doing Flash in director much more to get

the benefits of both worlds.


For any project you should choose the best tools. Cost IS a factor, but it's

a one off (bar the natural urge to upgrade :) and 'should' be consumed in

the overall profit margin of numerous projects that use it. Your example of

a company buying in the tools makes no sense. To buy the software and use it

only once (as your case implies) would seriously undersell both tools, and

you'd never get anywhere near the potential of either if you picked it up

for just one project. In that case you probably ARE better using Powerpoint

(ack).


If you intend to use it more and really push it, then either piece of

software represents good value for money, and in fact most places I know of

have both anyway.


Thing is, Director is not for larger projects at all, in the same way you

can use Flash for large ones. It's a matter of content. I would not consider

writing an internet game in Flash, for example, and these have to be small

projects. I know some people have, but it seems to me to be a bit of a

torturous exercise to just show how clever you are. Similarly you don't find

many (any?) websites with a Director-based UI.


There are numerous examples of sites using Flash that couldn't be done using

Director, so here's some web examples of my own work that I am reasonably

confident you couldn't do in Flash (as in, no way could you :)


www.theburrow.co.uk/games/lavrace - A 3D shockwave game

www.theburrow.co.uk/t3dtesters/general/resources.htm - A 3D engine written

in lingo.


In general terms, pick the best tools as we've suggested earlier. On the

internet I kind of see a clearer boundary. Flash is more UI, Director is

more content based (I AM aware that Flash can do a lot of stuff, but I am

talking about things like my game above etc.)


And as for MM creating a bit of software that is somewhere between Flash and

Director? I seriously doubt it, because it would not be clearly enough

defined, and so would simply eat into sales of Flash and Director as opposed

to creating a new market.


As it is I am curious as to how MM will go. They've started introducing

vectors into Director, but done som in an extremely limiting fashion to not

undercut Flash. Flash's actionscripts are getting more and more powerful,

but still limited and basically rubbish compared to Lingo to prevent it

undercutting Director. Hasn't anyone else noticed how MM has made the whole

ActionScript thing (in essence, you are writing code) as far removed from

simply typing in code as possible so people don't realise that in fact they

are getting short-changed with a limited and convoluted programming

language? For that is what it is. But while people don't think of it in

those terms they will be happy.


MM is playing a careful game, and I for one will be interested to see how

much more similar Flash 5 and Director 9 are. My guess is they'll try and

head them off in different directions since they are beginning to infringe

on each other's territories as it is.


Barry Swan

gerbiltheburrow [dot] co [dot] uk

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