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First Look: Adobe Flash CS3 Professional
We're not in Macromedia anymore, Toto
Flash is one of those rare programs that doesn't really have any equivalent, so there was very little doubt as to what would happen to Flash once Adobe swallowed up Macromedia (read: it was sticking around). What was in question, however, is just what the newly-christened Adobe Flash would look and feel like, and with the announcement of Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, we finally have some answers. Let's take a trip around the block to see what Flash CS3 has in store.
I am Adobe
At first glance, you may not think that the Flash CS3 interface is too terribly different from its predecessors, and for the most part, it isn't (fig. 1). There's still the familiar Stage, Timeline, Actions panel, Library, and everything else long-time Flash users are intimately acquainted with by now.
Figure 1
However, what you'll soon see is the most evident change in Flash CS3: the adoption of the now-familiar CS3 interface Adobe first showed everyone in the Photoshop CS3 Public Beta (fig. 2).
Figure 2
"Real" tabbed panels finally make an appearance, along with the new docking paradigm, as well as the good, old-fashioned floating palettes. You can, of course, mix and match as you see fit, just like in the Photoshop CS3 Beta. In other words, Flash CS3 now feels more like an Adobe product than a Macromedia one.
Meet your new siblings
Speaking of Adobe products, Flash historically hasn't played as well as it could have with Photoshop and Illustrator, but now that all three are under the same roof, the situation today is very different. Check out what happens when you import a Photoshop document (fig. 3):
Figure 3
In case it's not evident from the image, there are now a ton of options available when importing native PSD files:
- Photoshop text can be converted to editable text
- Any layer or layer group can be turned into a named movie clip
- You can set image export quality options on a layer-by-layer basis
- Multiple layers can be selected and merged
- Layers can be imported as either Flash layers or keyframes
- You can choose to have the Stage automatically resize to the size of the Photoshop document's canvas
So Photoshop import is a pretty big deal right off the bat, right along with the tight integration with Illustrator. Again, let's look at what happens when you go to import an Illustrator file (fig. 4):
Figure 4
We've got more of the same: editable text options, Movie Clip designation, etc. But there's more—Flash CS3 solves a slew of problems previously present when working with Illustrator documents:
- Colors will be less likely to display the famous "Flash shift" when bringing in an Illustrator image
- Live effects (drop shadow, blurs, etc.) and blending modes are not only preserved, but converted to Flash's internal equivalents
- Clipping masks are respected
- Pattern strokes and fills make the journey intact
- The Illustrator layer hierarchy translates into Flash layers and folders
Basically, what you see in Illustrator will (more or less) be what you see in Flash. Finally, it's also worth noting that Flash's internal vector drawing tools now more closely resemble those found in Illustrator, complete with identical cursors, keyboard shortcuts, and modifier keys. All this, combined with Illustrator's support of Flash-like Symbols for organization, means that Flash and Illustrator work together especially well in the CS3 suite.
ActionScript 3 in action
With Flash CS3 comes ActionScript 3, the latest version of Flash's scripting language. Hard-core programmers (of which I am decidedly not one) have already been messing with ActionScript 3 for many months now, as tools like Flex Builder coupled with the previous availability of Flash Player 9 have already allowed adventurous souls to create ActionScript 3-based content. This output finally comes to the Flash IDE itself, though for many the addition of ActionScript 3 simply boils down to this: if you use ActionScript 3 and target Flash Player 9, your code will probably execute much faster than in previous versions. If you want an example of what the world of ActionScript 3 has in store, just check out this page. To quote either Neo or Joey Lawrence, "whoa."
Sticking with the scripting theme, some other enhancements to Flash CS3 should be welcome to those who spend a fair amount of time dealing with ActionScript. First, Flash CS3 includes a new debugger, one which is also common to Flex Builder. When you run across a compilation error, Flash CS3 will document the issue, while double-clicking on the error takes you to the correct code in the Actions panel (fig. 5).
Figure 5
Speaking of the Actions panel, you'll find several subtle (but no less welcome) additions, namely the new code folding feature (fig. 6). You can collapse code between braces, which is helpful for getting functions you don't need to look at out of the way, as well as make a selection manually and collapse that.
Figure 6
There are also buttons which help you quickly comment and uncomment large blocks of code, a process which was somewhat tedious in earlier versions (fig. 7).
Figure 7
One last item to mention regarding ActionScript 3 has the potential to be a tremendous time and effort saver: the ability to create keyframe-based animation and convert that animation into ActionScript 3 code (fig. 8).
Figure 8
Those who prefer not to use ActionScript should rest easy in knowing that there's an "analog" equivalent, as Flash CS3 also allows you to copy and paste Tweens in the Timeline for easy reuse. You can copy and paste Motion Tweens wholesale, or select only certain parts of the Tween to paste (fig. 9).
Figure 9
Video marches on
We don't have an entirely new codec or anything quite as groundbreaking to talk about as we did in Flash 8, but several notable video enhancements are included in Flash CS3. A couple of small but important features in the encoding process are the inclusion of deinterlacing (fig. 10, bottom) and the ability to save encoding profiles in both the Import wizard as well as the standalone Flash Video Encoder (fig. 10, top).
Figure 10
Flash CS3 also includes many more options for affecting the look of your playback widgets. On the simple end, you now have the ability to select a background color for your playback bar when importing video (fig. 11, top). For many, that alone is good enough, but if you're one to push on, you're covered also. Overall, Flash CS3 makes skinning interface Components almost trivial (more on that in a moment), but in the specific case of FLV playback elements, changing the look is easy. Simply drag a widget out of the Component Library, double-click, and you'll find nested and fully editable Movie Clips under the surface (fig. 11, bottom).
Figure 11
Two other small items of note as far as FLV playback is concerned are the inclusion of a Full Screen toggle for video (available when using the latest FLV Playback Component in tandem with the 9.0.28 version of the Flash Player), and the ability to caption video content.
Rounding out the video topic is a feature designed to turn Flash content into video and not the other way around: the much improved QuickTime export capabilities (fig 12). Previous Flash versions didn't take nested Movie Clips or ActionScripted motion into account, but Flash CS3 fixes those oversights by rendering your movie exactly as it displays in the Flash Player. Throw in the ability to generate an alpha channel by ignoring the Stage, and Flash is now a first-rate animation generation tool regardless of how you've set up your various Timelines.
Figure 12
Miscellany
As for features that don't quite fit into the overarching categories I've arbitrarily assigned thus far, let's start with the addition of primitive shapes (fig. 13). The Rectangle Primitive tool makes rounded rectangles a snap, while the Oval Primitive tool allows for circular shapes with customizable segment lengths and inner radii.
Figure 13
Forging ahead, fans of 9-slice scaling (AKA Scale-9) will be pleased to know that Flash CS3 now offers up live previews of Scale-9-enabled Movie Clips directly on the Stage (fig. 14). Not much else to say about that, other than the obvious fact that having an accurate representation of Scale-9 objects is better than not having it.
Figure 14
Moving on, for those of you who have an allergic reaction to hearing the word "Eolas," Adobe feels your pain. Without belaboring the circumstances, let me just say that Web content based around plug-ins (like Flash) has to now be "activated" via an extra click before displaying properly in Internet Explorer, so Flash CS3 now publishes HTML documents with an accompanying JavaScript file in order to auto-activate Flash content in IE.
As for the new interface widgets mentioned a while back, suffice it to say that the new and easier Component customization that the FLV playback widgets boast also extends to the other interface Components in Flash CS3. In fact, things like buttons and progress bars are even easier to skin than the playback Components, if you can believe it. Again, we're talking a drag from the Component Library and a double-click to enter editing mode, where you'll be greeted with clearly labeled widget states that are primed and ready for tweaking (fig. 15).
Figure 15
Finally, we've gotten this far without addressing the not one, but two elephants in the room: First, there are no longer two versions of Flash. Flash CS3 simply comes as Flash CS3 Professional—no more Basic version. And second, Flash CS3 Professional is a Universal Binary build which will run natively on Intel Macs as well as PowerPC ones. And yes, Flash CS3 is also fully Vista-ready. Once again, I find myself in the somewhat awkward position of not really having any additional comments on a particular item, so let's quit while we're ahead here.
To sum up...
So, there you have it. Flash 8 was a watershed moment for Flash, and while the CS3 incarnation doesn't quite break as much new ground, it does include some long-overdue and thoughtful features that should make it a worthwhile upgrade. Flash CS3 Professional is expected to ship at some point in April, and there are myriad ways to get your hands on it:
- As a standalone product ($699 new or $199 upgrade from Flash MX or later)
- As part of the following suites:
- CS3 Web Standard ($999 new, $799 upgrade from Flash MX or later, or $399 upgrade from Macromedia Studio MX or later)
- CS3 Web Premium ($1599 new, $1399 upgrade from Flash MX or later, or $499 upgrade from Macromedia Studio MX or later)
- CS3 Design Premium ($1799 new, $1599 upgrade from Flash MX or later, or $599 upgrade from Macromedia Studio MX or later)
- CS3 Production Premium ($1699 new, $1199 upgrade from Flash MX or later)
- CS3 Master Collection ($2499 new or $1999 upgrade from Macromedia Studio MX or later)
Of course, I urge you to visit Adobe's Web site for the full product offering and upgrade pricing matrices. And naturally, we'll check back in after the various CS3 suites ship with a full review of the actual released product, so stay tuned.
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