I recently downloaded the trial version of Macromedia’s Flash 4, and was so impressed with it’s capabilities that I went out and bought the full retail version. Here’s what I liked and the few things I didn’t like so much.

Intro\Summary
By now, most of you have probably already seen a Flash 4 animation and don’t even know it. They have been featured on such prestigious sites as Nike.com, theNorthFace.com, and NationalGeographic.com. But what is truly great about Flash 4 is that not only can professionals make spectacular animations, introductions and interactive menus, but people like me and you can also make professional looking animations with a relatively small amount of work. This, along with it’s versatility and compatibility make it today’s leading Web Page media software. Although there are some minor downsides to the product which I will explain, it really is the only software out there that can do this kind of stuff.

In case you don’t know, Flash 4 is Web Design software developed by Macromedia. It is essentially a stripped down version of Director, the program used to create the popular shockwave games, and such. It uses a mix of Java and CGI scripts, and embeds them into a HTML file. It can be viewed by anyone who has the free easy to download Flash plug in. Flash 4 is mostly used for making intros or animations for a web page.

The Good

Ease of Use
As I have mentioned, one of the best things about Flash 4 is how easy it is to use. It is literally an oasis from today's complex web design tools. I definitely would not call myself an expert web designer, or for that matter even an intermediate level web designer. I know very little HTML, and almost nothing else. However with just a few days of work and reading, I was able to start making some pretty amazing animations.(You can check out a project I am currently working on for a friend at http://www.geocities.com/hiphopmp3_420/intro.html) My interest in learning Flash 4 was enough to keep me hooked and keep me reading simple tutorials on Macromedia’s home page so that I could learn a lot about the program and how to use it. In case I have not drilled this enough, Flash 4 is incredibly easy to learn and use For anyone who is acquainted with computers and the internet, I guarantee it will be as easy as it was for me to learn.

Compatibility
For anyone who knows anything about web design or 3D-Graphics design, they know how frustrating compatibility issues can be. Macromedia also seems to have a clear understanding of this problem, and have equipped Flash 4 accordingly. It has support for many of today’s formats including, Adobe Illustrator, and the popular PNG file. I have not had any compatibility issues with Flash 4, although I tend to use many different programs, Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Freehand, and others.

Support
Another great thing about Flash 4 is the support and information that Macromedia provides. Totally for free, on their web site, one can access tons of source code, lots of clip art and sound clips for use with animations and such, and lots of tutorials on various tips, tricks, and extras, to give your animation a truly professional edge. In addition, Macromedia customer support has been nothing but wonderful help, and has sped up my learning process immensely.

Small File Size
Possibly one of the single biggest factors in Flash 4’s success is it’s ability to create quality animations with sounds at a relatively low file size, thus speeding up the animation and cutting down on long waits. Macromedia has developed extensive compression techniques in order to keep awesome animations under 100K most of the time. Also, the compression methods can be fully customizable to your needs. This is a very important part of Flash, because if animations were made that requires extensive download times, it would not be very feasible for internet use.

Powerful
To think something with all these great attributes, but still able to create some of the most professional looking web pages out there. Flash 4 is truly changing the face of the web, and making it more life like for everyone.

The Bad (If Any)

Too Many Layers
Although I would like to give Flash 4 the easiest ease f use option, I don’t think that it would be fair. It can be a little confusing at first. Simple animations often require many layers, for no apparent reason. Movies often get crowded with over 25 or 30 layers. This was one of the things I spent the most time trying to figure out. But now that I’ve gone through it myself, I can save you the trouble. If you are trying to make something move, and it just isn’t working, try creating a new layer and putting the object on that. Now try it, it should work fine this way.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to let me know.
--dick112112@aol.com--



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