Archive for CS3
June 5, 2007 at 4:20 pm · Filed under Actionscript 3, Adobe, Apple, CS3, Design Inspiration, Flash
Ben Pritchard of the Pittsburgh Flash Users Group recently posted a cool add-in: Kuler Panel for Flash CS3. The extension adds a new panel to Flash which interfaces with Adobe's Kuler, allowing you to browse the color combinations from within Flash CS3. The best part, though, is that selecting a color scheme creates a layer with that scheme's name and then puts that scheme's swatches on the new layer. This makes using the schemes trivial, and is a great addition to the tool.
For more information, check out Ben's post on the panel, or download it here.
[Updated to reflect updated version of the panel, released June 7th, 2007]
May 24, 2007 at 1:21 pm · Filed under Adobe, Apple, CS3
The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a hilarious post about someone who changed every icon in their OSX doc to match the Adobe CS3 branded icons. A full photo can be found here, and the article (which has some guesses at which icons are for which programs) is located here.
For more background on the subject of Adobe's CS3 icons, be sure to check out my prior post.
May 10, 2007 at 10:59 am · Filed under Adobe, CS3, Flash, Video
One of the features I am most excited about in Flash CS3 is the full support for exporting to a QuickTime movie. Timelines no longer need to be built specifically for QuickTime export, and you can animate through code, use ActionScript 'til your heart is content, and it all outputs cleanly to a QuickTime MOV file.
Well, in theory, at least. Over the past few days I have been trying to export a project to QuickTime, specifically the "Did You Know" video we are working on at XPLANE, and the progress bar always stalls at the very end. We tried letting it sit for an hour, a few hours, and even overnight -- all to no avail. We still haven't figured out what could be causing the issue, but I did manage to get it to work by setting the QuickTime export preferences to record for a length of time, rather than "When last frame is reached":
So if the progress bar freezes while exporting, try changing the setting to "After time elapsed". You can easily get the correct length in seconds by taking the total number of frames and dividing by the frame rate. It may be helpful to note that Flash CS3 itself never froze -- we could always hit the cancel button and it would stop the process immediately. In fact, every system we tested it on had the exact same issue and showed no signs of any processor or memory spiking problems.
Hope this helps others who may encounter the same issue!
May 8, 2007 at 1:25 pm · Filed under Adobe, CS3, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator
I had previously posted about the CS3 trials not being available, and according to Google Analytics, it is one of the most popular posts. So I thought I would let those coming from Google and MXNA know that it looks like the wait is finally over! Adobe CS3 package trials are now available for download on Adobe.com (http://www.adobe.com/products/#creativesuite_family). This includes Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, InDesign, etc. Enjoy!
April 21, 2007 at 8:10 pm · Filed under Actionscript 3, Adobe, CS3, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator
I have been spending a lot of time on Adobe's website going through their treasure trove of tutorials, videos, and white papers on CS3 while I impatiently await shipping of my Web Premium CDs (I knew I should have gone with the download edition!).
In particular, Adobe has put a lot of effort into a short, topical video training series, and then put the videos out there free for all of us. In the past I always found the articles on their website lacking relevance or just plain outdated. These short videos are about one particular topic and there are almost 300 of them, so chances are that the feature you want more details on is covered. It is also worth noting that Lynda.com produced the videos. Thanks, Adobe - you hit a home run with this one.
When I was at Via I ended up taking on the role of "early adopter", which usually resulted in me being the knowledge holder for the likes of Studio/Flash 8 and other new software at the time. I've tried to continue in that role at XPLANE as much as time allows. That said, a lot of friends and colleagues have been asking me about CS3, knowing that I actively pursued becoming a beta tester and placed my order the day it was released. So I've compiled a list of the CS3 (mostly Flash-oriented) articles and videos I have been reading and viewing over the past few weeks:
+ Article: Migrating from Flash 8 to Flash CS3 Professional, by Jen deHaan
This is a great writeup giving you an overview of the major new features in Flash CS3. It is written for those who use Flash on a day-to-day basis, so the write-up is a bit long (8 pages), but you'll enjoy the details of each new feature followed by a short how-to.
+ Video: Importing Illustrator Files into Flash, by Mordy Golding
Mordy has his own great video podcast, so he knows what he is doing when it comes to a short training video.
+ Video: Using Symbols Effectively Between Illustrator and Flash, by Matthew Richmond
With about 90% of the design files coming to me at XPLANE as Illustrator files, finding the best workflow between Illustrator and Flash is essential. Learning about symbols and when to use them in Illustrator should help to reduce the amount of time I spend converting graphics for use in Flash.
+ Video: Exporting QuickTime Files (from Flash), by Abbas Rizvi
At XPLANE one of the projects we're currently working on is a new version of the wildly popular "Did You Know" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. In addition to updating the content and graphics, we're taking what was a PowerPoint presentation and turning it into a video. With CS3 the designers can hand me Illustrator files (which I can now import flawlessly) and then I can work my animation magic (on the timeline or through code) and output to QuickTime with ease, without any nasty Flash 5 workarounds.
+ Video: Understanding the Fireworks and Flash Workflow, by Alan Musselman
Fireworks is now a great design comp tool complete with multiple "pages" and a shared component set with Flash and Flex. This video shows you how to take the best advantage of the more integrated apps.
+ Video: Copying and Pasting ActionScript from an Animation, by Chris Georgenes
Now a designer can animate on the timeline and developers can copy it to and for use in ActionScript 3 code!
+ Adobe Flash Design Center
Don't forget this page with links to some additional helpful tutorials, articles and launching points to additional materials.
Like I noted above, there are almost 300 videos in the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop, so I suggest you dive in and find the ones most relevant to your daily work flow. The interface makes it a breeze to sort and find the videos that best suit each user, and taking advantage of the tool nets some interesting topics that you might not have known about.
I'm interested to hear what your favorites are as well - I'm sure I am missing some good ones with all the choices - so comment on what you've found!
March 27, 2007 at 8:16 pm · Filed under Adobe, CS3, Flash
Back in December I posted about the new Adobe product icons and the "controversy" regarding their design. At the time there were a lot of people blogging about how they didn't like the new icons, and I said I would reserve judgment until CS3 came out. Since the CS3 suite was released today (and a friend actually remembered to ask my opinion), I thought I would post regarding the new icons and packaging design.
After working with a few of the icons for the past few months, I'm actually quite fond of them. I thought it would make finding particular applications harder, but it is actually much eaiser. The CS2 icons have no significance -- a feather doesn't really equate to Photoshop, for instance -- but the elemental look of the CS3 icons allows users to quickly scan their dock and find the first letter or main color of the application they are searching for and launch it quickly. Kudos to MetaDesign whom suggested the elemental idea (see the comments on the blog post I referenced above), and to (apparently) the Adobe internal design team for implementing the idea well.
In terms of packaging, I think Adobe hit another home run. While the designs have no significance to the products within, other than the colors, I'm quite okay with that. Hopefully the box does at least have a product listing on it, because apparently Microsoft started a trend of offering several packages/versions with Vista, and Adobe picked up on it with their six different versions. Anyways, it is refreshing to see great thought being put into software product packaging, especially in a day when most people download the software instead of buying a box.
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