This is the fifth in a series of reviews that will cover what is contained in the Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) Master Collection. When Adobe released CS4 this past fall, they not only released single version products, but also six separate suites of products. They are Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, and Master Collection. You can go online to compare what is contained in each version. The goal of this series it to define what each product does and provide information of what the new version brings to the table.
What do you need to run Adobe Flash CS4? On PC you need an 1GHz or faster processor, Windows XP SP2 or Vista, and Mac users will need a PowerPC G5 or multicore Intel processor, Mac OS X v10.4.11 – 10.5.4 (Leopard). Both will need 1GB RAM, 1280x800 display with 16-bit video card, 4GB hard drive space for installation and DVD-ROM drive.
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional is the multimedia authoring program that can be used to create Web applications, games, movies, as well as content for mobile phones and other embedded devices. Originally developed and distributed by Macromedia and acquired by Adobe in 2005, Flash has a player client that is available in most common Web browsers. It features support for raster as well as vector graphics, a scripting language known as ActionScript, and the ability of bi-directional streaming of both audio and video.
Flash was first introduced in 1996 and since then Flash technology has become popular for adding animation and interactivity to Web pages. Flash files, often called movies, have a .swf extension and can exist as an object in a Web page or played in a Flash Player. Flash video files have a .flv extension and are utilized from within a .swf file.
Now Adobe Flash CS4 Professional is touted to contain a completely renewed focus on ease of use. By using an object-based animation model, Adobe wants to make working with Flash more approachable, as well as more productive. Adding more powerful design tools, Flash CS4 is attempting to remain unrivaled as an interactive design tool.
So what is new with Flash CS4?
• Object-based animation model means that motion tweens are applied directly to objects instead of keyframes. In previous versions, creating an animation on the Timeline involved a myriad of keystrokes and commands involving symbol creation, manual placement of keyframes, and manual tween adjustments on the Timeline itself. Add to this the time consuming editing process when you had to modify your animation. By using the object-based approach, Flash CS4 becomes more approachable for new users while making advanced users more productive as well as being in greater control of individual attributes. Now all you have to do is right-click on an object, choose "Create Motion Tween," and then move the object and you have created the animation. You can then click on the motion path and drag it to change the path of the curve.
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