RE: FLASH: Flash3, Toy or serious designer tool?

[Judy Miller]

Hey Dave,

I am just getting back onto Flash, so I have a lot of catch up to do.

Knowing very well that other programs are much stronger intheir capabilities

for drawing, the case is that a tool always is best off used in its' native

environment. To be able to do all the drawing, fills and such in Flash would

be a major improvement. I have a heck of a time importing, or even

copy/paste and retaining the looks I get from other programs.

I downloaded the new Illustrator. The mesh tool is cool,  but I would prefer

to be able to draw a path that would spray the colour like an airbrush as in

Fireworks.

You can come pretty close to airbrush in Flash 3 by playing with your

gradients and having them fade to transparent and manipulating the shape of

the area and the fill after you place it, but you would need to layer and

futz, it is a lot of work but it can be done and it can be done well. But

the key is time and it takes a long time to make a small object look they

way you want it to. Fractal Expression has some beauty tools in it. I tried

to play with importing stuff from there, but all I got was an ugly mess.


On the other hand Dave, I have seen sites that use bitmaps not only

effectively but absolutely beautifully in Flash. I also think that a lot of

artists could do a lot with the brush tools and a drawing tablet as far as

creating a mood. I can't remember the guys name, but there is someone on

this list who used Flash in a purely artistic sense. Most of his work is

using the brush tool and solid fills and I thought the work was incredible,

even with Flash's limitations. Because he is such a talented artist to start

with, he wasn't limited by Flash's limitations.


I personally would like to see the same things as you, but from the

viewpoint that I know my limitations as an artist. In my traditional

painting, I strive on blending and brushing colour onto my paintings that

fade to nothing, so the Flash world to me, is going to be many many hours

infront of my monitor with my drawing tablet, learning to adapt to these

tools. At the moment, I am pretty useless with it compared to a lot that I

have seen. I also prefer the more natural look so this whole arena is very

difficult for me to adapt to. My tool of choice for digital is Painter so

that says it all, I guess.


As far as chrome effects and stuff like that goes, you can do pretty good

playing with gradients. If you know a bit about colour theory and relected

light , and form..as far as how form is created on basic shapes and how to

use shadows and light to enhance form, then you should be able to create

some pretty good effects. By the way, how can you save your gradients, so

that if your computer crashes, when you reboot they are still on your

system. I absolutely HATE spending lots of time creating complex gradients

that will dissapear when my computer crashes, and by God, it does. I mean

after all I am using Windows 98.


I know that in a big way, I am yapping where I shouldn't because I haven't

had the time to devote to using this prog, and what I have done isn't worth

really mentioning as far as being unique or creative, but this is a sense of

what I am getting from what I see in other people's work and where I am

hoping to go myself.


I hope that this long note of nonsense doesn't make you regret asking the

question,

Sincerely,

Judy

Fall River Decorative Arts

http://fallriver.ns.ca

judyfallriver [dot] ns [dot] ca (mailto:judyfallriver [dot] ns [dot] ca)

> Another main problem is the limitations of gradients in FLash3's tools.

> THis is one of its major downfalls and keeps it very limited for

> the designer.

> With only Linear and radial gradients, Flash is greatly limited

> and is starting

> to

> become the "newbie" cartoon proggy for the net, instead of a

> serious interfae

> creator.

>

> Most Flash sites that take advantage of gradients tend to be

> ether, Square or

> round,

> i.e. the eye sore 3D ball or Cube. Without more gradient power,

> i.e. Airbrush

> like

> tool that directs the soft edges, we will see more of these

> "havent I been here"

> sites.

>

> Also without 3D support, Flash will be in contention to battle

> larger company

> products

> that have bigger budgets to push them to the forefront. "Chrome

> effects" come to

>

> mind from Microsoft. 3D is in big demand an would greatly improve

> Flash's future

>

> existence.

>

> Flash3 has some nice powerful new features, but only in the interactive

> implement

> area. The "Tool" area is still very limited to the artist and

> tends to mirror

> shareware,

> dimpy graphic proggys. Ive seen more options in Win95 paint.

>

> And 98% of Flash sites you see will still remain to look the

> same, until the

> "Tool" area

> is revised.




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