An Experiment in Flash MX

[coleslaw]

Ladies and gents, play around with this (http://atlas.spaceports.com/~coleslaw/synthesis) for a while and let me know what you think...


BTW, it's ~4MB, so please give it some time to load.

This is an experiment in user interaction, intuitiveness and video implementation in Flash MX, so let me know if the effort has succeeded.

Thanks! :)

[joe52985]

uber sweet...how in the hell u do that...im still working on getting plain old movies perfect, that was amazing

[latingirl]

Okay, I despararely need DSL. Been trying for the longest, but I'm too deep in the "hood"...it's not available here. I guess they figger with the great digital divide an all, us ethnic people wouldn't even know what the internet IS!!!!

I got stuck so I don't get what it's supposed to do. But it looks cool. I REALLY want to take a flash class.

[GraingerGuy]

Wow...that was really cool! Good job!

[eSDee]

Anyone who knows something about digital art knows that sometimes a piece either has too much technology and not enough art, or too much art and not enough technology. This is a great example of having a good balance between the two.

Bravo, coleslaw :cheers:

[Freelance Superhero]

so is that you making the various facial expressions?

[tweeteresa]

wow...nifty. nice work!! :)

[CluelessSi]

very cool, what is the defference b/t flash and flash MX? hey got any tips or tutorial sites that might help us make stuff like that? I have used director and flash but never made much except a cartoon and some greetings...

[Burzhui]

very very cool dude

[ribitch]

impressive. i like it. whos that dude making the faces in it? is that you?

[coleslaw]

Originally posted by ribitch
impressive. i like it. whos that dude making the faces in it? is that you?No, not me, but a friend - the dirty Greek. :P



Flash MX is the latest version of Flash, so it is basically Flash 6 but Macromedia decided to go with a trendy name. It is part of the new Macromedia MX studio that allows for more robust applications. As you can see, the ability to mix video is now made somewhat easier in Flash MX.



For those who have yet to figure out how to use this application, I will give a short explanation:

Basically, begin with the "base pairs", which are video clips that can be placed into the two blank rows below.

Once you have filled the two rows, you can proceed to adding effects in the catalyst group. The three effects that can be modified are alpha, tint and mask. I'd recommend using an alpha of around 5-6 in the first block and then add in some tint or a mask in a block or two. By the way, all of these blocks do not need to be filled.

Next, move on to the sound in the secondary structure, adding sound clips where desired.

Lastly, you can select a music track in the SO2 group.

After you have completed your chain, you can then "synthesize" to watch your creation.

Enjoy! :)

[ChahSiuBow]

Originally posted by CluelessSi
very cool, what is the defference b/t flash and flash MX? hey got any tips or tutorial sites that might help us make stuff like that? I have used director and flash but never made much except a cartoon and some greetings...

Flash MX is just the name for the latest version. They started to attach MX at the end of all their products now as part of their naming scheme.

[sho.gun]

whoa that is schweeeet!!! Teach me pweeeasee!! :(

[hang10wannabe]

Originally posted by coleslaw
No, not me, but a friend - the dirty Greek. :P



Flash MX is the latest version of Flash, so it is basically Flash 6 but Macromedia decided to go with a trendy name. It is part of the new Macromedia MX studio that allows for more robust applications. As you can see, the ability to mix video is now made somewhat easier in Flash MX.



For those who have yet to figure out how to use this application, I will give a short explanation:

Basically, begin with the "base pairs", which are video clips that can be placed into the two blank rows below.

Once you have filled the two rows, you can proceed to adding effects in the catalyst group. The three effects that can be modified are alpha, tint and mask. I'd recommend using an alpha of around 5-6 in the first block and then add in some tint or a mask in a block or two. By the way, all of these blocks do not need to be filled.

Next, move on to the sound in the secondary structure, adding sound clips where desired.

Lastly, you can select a music track in the SO2 group.

After you have completed your chain, you can then "synthesize" to watch your creation.

Enjoy! :)

thank god... note to self... read all of forum before trying to use applications ^_^ spent like 10 minutes b4 shogun referred me here ^_^

[coleslaw]

Originally posted by hang10wannabe
thank god... note to self... read all of forum before trying to use applications ^_^ spent like 10 minutes b4 shogun referred me here ^_^ So basically what you're saying is that the application is not intuitive enough to figure out?

The plan was to create something similiar to the experiement that was done in a poor third-world country: a computer monitor was mounted behind a hole in a wall in a city with a track ball (I believe) and people that had never seen or used a computer before were able to eventually figure out general tasks.

Either the application failed or you guys were over-estimated! :P

[hang10wannabe]

Originally posted by coleslaw
So basically what you're saying is that the application is not intuitive enough to figure out?

The plan was to create something similiar to the experiement that was done in a poor third-world country: a computer monitor was mounted behind a hole in a wall in a city with a track ball (I believe) and people that had never seen or used a computer before were able to eventually figure out general tasks.

Either the application failed or you guys were over-estimated! :P

o no no... its not that... its just that im stupid u see... ive learned to deal with it and everyone else seemed to understand it... some things i just cant grasp... like... latingirl... women in general ^_^ hehe im so cynical :bandit:

[coleslaw]

Originally posted by hang10wannabe
o no no... its not that... its just that im stupid u see... ive learned to deal with it and everyone else seemed to understand it...OK, well, as long as you admit to being stupid, I won't have to make any accusations myself. :)

[CluelessSi]

so using flash to do these things what would u say director has to offer that flash doesn't? which is preferable or what is the pro and cons of each?

[hang10wannabe]

Originally posted by coleslaw
OK, well, as long as you admit to being stupid, I won't have to make any accusations myself. :)


ok! :heh:

[coleslaw]

Originally posted by CluelessSi
so using flash to do these things what would u say director has to offer that flash doesn't? which is preferable or what is the pro and cons of each? I admit that Director would have been the obvious choice when undertaking a video project such as this. However, the experiment was to see how feasible a project of this complexity would be in Flash.

As far as Flash vs. Director, I'll briefly explain what I think the true differences are between the two:

Flash is geared more towards vector graphics for internet usage only. For on-the-fly implementation of Flash on the web, there really should be no noticable loading time. Yeah, you see all of those really dumb cartoons made by people that have no idea how to use Flash that take a while to load, but "true" Flash applications should not be distinguishable from normal HTML web surfing. Flash should be used to create web navigation interfaces and other interactive web applications. The authoring environment of Flash is, in my opinion, not as user-friendly as that of Director, but it is improving. The code behind Flash is ActionScript, which has limited power, while Director is driven by Lingo, which is a VERY powerful programming language.

Director is geared more towards CD-ROM, multimedia kiosk, interactive environments and graphics-heavy gaming applications. Director is not based on vector graphics, but rather "bitmap" images and it more readily allows various video formats, as well as Flash files, to be imported into a project. With the new 3D support, 3D games are made much easier to author in Director.

I'd say that Director is probably easier to learn than Flash, but more than likely harder to master due to the complexity of Lingo. As evidenced, Director and Flash each have their own niche applications.

[ribitch]

i owuld love to learn flash, but i need to learn some maya or lightwave first.

[coleslaw]

Originally posted by ribitch
i owuld love to learn flash, but i need to learn some maya or lightwave first. Flash is infinitely easier to learn than Maya or Lightwave. Maya is so utterly complex for someone trying to learn it on their own. I'd suggest picking up a book or two before delving into Maya. Oh, and make sure that you have a mouse with at least 3 or 4 buttons to make life in Maya easier.

[ribitch]

Originally posted by coleslaw
Flash is infinitely easier to learn than Maya or Lightwave. Maya is so utterly complex for someone trying to learn it on their own. I'd suggest picking up a book or two before delving into Maya. Oh, and make sure that you have a mouse with at least 3 or 4 buttons to make life in Maya easier.

yep, have a 3 button mouse already, a cd of a book on maya, and some macworld demos on doing things in maya. I can make a rocket launch in maya and thats it so far. I have tried to make a cow blow up in lightwave, but the tutorial was version 6, and i had version 7. som ethings were different between the two, so i ended up giving up.

i may try to learn some flash. it would be cool to do something in it. I lack artisticness, which kinda makes it hard on me though.