Flash CS4 from FLASH DEN

In their first full-cycle release since acquiring Macromedia you don’t have to be a detective on CSI Miami to see Adobe’s fingerprints all over Flash CS4. In a live product demonstration broadcast on Adobe TV this morning we got to see a preview of the direction Adobe will be going with Flash and it’s all about seamless integration.

check out the new features from ADOBE here

One of the first things I noticed is how similar the new features compare to AfterEffects. The Motion Editor in AfterEffects is excellent and you’ll see it’s basically identical. Object based animation is also very similar to that in AfterEffects in essence giving each symbol it’s own timeline. Another useful feature straight from AfterEffects will show you a series of dots, each representing frames of your path giving you precise control of your animations.

They lifted a couple pieces from Illustrator as well. Most notably what is known as an object sprayer, a tool used to paint symbols to the stage with varying dimensions and the Deco feature with the ability to quicly create kaleidoscope-like effects and fills. The Spray Brush and Deco should open up new possibilities and produce some cool effects.

Can you believe I’ve waited four paragraphs to mention the Bone Tool? The Bone Tool applies inverse kinematics to any 2D image or shape. This could extremely cool if it means Flash will auto-cut an image where you place the skeleton but I can’t find any information on it so we’ll have to wait and see. Either way, seeing the Bone Tool in action is an absolute treat. Who wants to develop flash communities with life-like movable avatars? Everyone!

Pixel Bender is an amazing way to create custom filters and effects and deserves it’s own article. We’ll spend more time examining uses for it later on.

Motion presets give you the ability to apply a set motion to any object. There are some canned effects such as ‘fly in left’ that you can choose from or you can create your own.


And finally! You can search the Library!!! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked for a search field in the library only to inflame my sad realization that there was no such field. Thank you Adobe! Thank you!!