Flash MX 2004 Professional 26 Mar 2004 05:36 pm
If you could have one new “designer” featue in Flash what would it be?
[Re-posting for more comments]
It’s planning time again and the product team has a lot of great ideas. I’m curious to know what your number one designer-oriented feature for the next version might be. Is there something that Photoshop does that you wish Flash did? What about animation tools? Or video-related features?
I’m not prompting you to vent about bugs or the return of old features, I’m really looking for some new ideas that we may not have thought of.
Your ideas and suggestions are very welcome.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 5:57 pm 1.DevilDude said …
real bluring, as in inside the swf format that could be tweened and scripted, and in the flash editor it would be nice if you could zom in and see a pixelated version like how vectors work in fireworks, that way you would make you’re vectors perfect
on 13 Feb 2004 at 6:03 pm 2.Dominique PERETTI said …
Definitely : customizable, dynamic cast transparent shadows.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 6:06 pm 3.ericd said …
1. radius ruled corners that render properly. try making a 5px radius on a square and you’ll see the rule look jagged.
2. masks with alpha channel… ie. soft edge
3. layer (in this case) mc styles… drop shadow, emboss, bevel, that ilk.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 6:20 pm 4.Guy Watson said …
Perspective Transform. Most definetly worth implementing.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 6:20 pm 5.Mike Downey said …
Have any of you played with the design tools in Freehand MX? Anything in there that you’d like to see moved to Flash?
For example, we have emboss, bevel, etc in Freehand using vectors.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 6:23 pm 6.ericuprick said …
I would like to see the ability to skew/freeform symbols, not just broken apart graphics.
Real vector blurs (like LiveMotion - But vector, if you know what l mean)
SeIect colour & replace
FuIl justification with Dynamic text fields
AII these should aIso be scriptable
on 13 Feb 2004 at 6:27 pm 7.Andy said …
Outlineable text.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 6:37 pm 8.JesterXL said …
Already mentioned, but adding mine: Quads like Director/Skew Transform. If these are additionally added as additional properties to the movie clip, that would be wild. A lot more efficient 3D engines could come about too, therefore preventing the need for the Flash Player (non-Central) to ever get hardware acceleration, although, that’d be nice too.
If sound is not designer’ish, ignore the rest.
Shoutcast support of some sort. If Central doesn’t get it, then at least give us control over whatever memory issue caused it to be a hack by those of us trying to get it to work. Native mp3 streaming is rockin’ in Flashcom; why not just tweak mp3.loadSound some more so it works?
on 13 Feb 2004 at 7:23 pm 9.Jon B said …
Ok, well here goes:
1. HSB/HSL (Hue Saturation Brightness/Lightness) colour effects on any symbols as well as the standard current RGB tint and advanced etc that is already implemented.
2. Proper Bezier curve tools (with handles etc.)
3. Real looking Vector Blur and similar effects like in Adobe Illustrator, SVG, and the forth coming Longhorn rendering engine ‘Avalon’.
4. 3D graphical transformations like in Illustrator, Freehand etc.
5. Better performance when using alpha, tween, gradients, complex script - NO SLOWDOWN DURING PLAYBACK! Make the Flash player a reasonable size of an increased 800-900kb - this would enable the player to feature more processing power and it is still a reasonable download size in todays world. After all, what good are all these fancy effects without a fast player to show them off?
on 13 Feb 2004 at 7:34 pm 10.ericd said …
fhmx effects seem to come into flash as masked bitmaps, etc. so i would say no to that implementation.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 7:42 pm 11.todd said …
More and more freehand functionality….bevel, emboss, enhanced gradient tools…like that of Fireworks. Fireworks gradient tools are easier to use than the Flash gradient tools in my opinion. Continued video enhancements. Great job with the video features to date. Enhancements to 3D tools….ala Swift 3D.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 8:01 pm 12.Mario Klingemann said …
- From my knowledge of the way how flash internally deals with fonts it should be possible to add a kind of minimal Font-Editor in Flash. Actually this would just have to be a kind of simple table structure where I am able to put shapes at the position of each ascii or unicode char.
- I want to be able to read out the RGB value of pixels on screen. A getRGB(x,y) function.
- It would be great to have at least read Actionscript access to the Curve/Line data of shapes.
- native support for cubic bezier curves in the drawing api aka this.curveTo(P1,C1,C2,P2)
- beginBitmapFill() for the drawingApi
on 13 Feb 2004 at 8:27 pm 13.Cort said …
I’d like the timeline to basically show multiple movieclip levels like this in order to make structured animation easier.
http://www.notebookmargins.com/link_from_public/flash8anim_wish.htm
Thanks for asking.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 8:59 pm 14.Hans Omli said …
Full support for style sheets and rich text layout
on 13 Feb 2004 at 9:57 pm 15.Blackmamba said …
One really really simple one…
Make it so I can change the dimensions of a TextField at author time without it scaling.
Currently you can only do this by dragging with the mouse BUT its IMPOSSIBLE to get it to the exact dimension you want with a mouse.
I have spent hours/days/weeks of my life trying to resize text in flash…
on 13 Feb 2004 at 10:56 pm 16.Brian LeRoux said …
1. Fixing the compile times.
2. A wizard for component authoring would rule.
on 13 Feb 2004 at 11:17 pm 17.Oscar Trelles said …
All of above
…however, it would be nice to have proper support of bezier shapes, for editing and rendering, specially when using only lines.
Actually, I’ve heard/read people wishing for FreeHand tools being available within Flash, a number of times. As a matter of fact, some propose to make just one product out of those two. But that is just talking crazy
Talking about text, I’m totally behind ‘Blackmamba’, it is really a pain in the neck trying to give a Texfield exact dimensions without distorting the font’s appearance. Another thing would be being able to justify text to left and right at the same time.
Some else worth having would be all the gradient options available in Fireworks, for example. In the same line, being able to set variable alpha masking would be excellent too, along with soft drop shadows, blurring, bevel, emboss, glow… all with vectors, and available to the drawing API.
on 14 Feb 2004 at 1:34 am 18.vinny timmermans said …
I would like to see the same set of Live Effects (glow, bevel, emboss, blur dropshadow etc.) Fireworks has. Same interface, same features, same everything. Just copy and paste the code!
on 14 Feb 2004 at 2:25 am 19.rob said …
FCurves like in Cinema 4D
on 14 Feb 2004 at 5:07 am 20.aSH said …
>>>Have any of you played with the design tools in Freehand MX? Anything in there that you’d like to see moved to Flash?
-Extrude, Smudge and shadow tools.
-Shadow and glow
-Bevel and emboss
on 14 Feb 2004 at 5:51 am 21.Karel said …
Given that I haven’t drawn nothing except some rectangles in Flash in last year or so, I could not see any benefit from integrating Freehand tools in Flash. I do not know about others, but I prepare my layouts in Freehand, and than import in Flash, dissecting it, adding interactivity, etc.
So from my point of view:
1. *Super* fine and exact importing of Freehand files into Flash, retaining everything: text fields, masks, transparent fills, etc.
2. For people who make theirs layouts in Photoshop, ditto.
3. Proper font handling in Flash, *finally*. I want proper kerning, I want ligatures in OpenType fonts, I want working Shared Fonts. And above all, I want *kerning and script access to kerning* for dynamic fields.
on 14 Feb 2004 at 6:32 am 22.Kim C said …
VERY simple, but one I really miss from Fireworks: Copy and Paste Attributes
on 14 Feb 2004 at 7:02 am 23.steve said …
* rob penner’s easing/tweening equations built-in as a component or timeline effect.
* more custom shapes
* built-in vector compression routine such as “optimaze” has to really smash file sizes
* more sophisticated audio editing functions
* wider array of pre-built text effects
on 14 Feb 2004 at 7:28 am 24.aSH said …
Well, after reading Karel’s post, I agree,
“I could not see any benefit from integrating Freehand tools in Flash. I do not know about others, but I prepare my layouts in Freehand, and than import in Flash, dissecting it, adding interactivity, etc.”
aSH
on 14 Feb 2004 at 8:57 am 25.Oscar Trelles said …
I also use Freehand to create artwork, and then import it within Flash, but I do see the importance and use of having FH’s drawing tools and Fireworks set of shapes available inside Flash. As a matter of fact, I wish development teams for all Studio components were more integrated themselves, and offered a more seamless experience to Studio users.
Yes, improving the import of FH files into Flash should top the list on that subject, but I think the ultimate goal is to provide users with many options.
Personally, I use Freehand when I need to create complex vector layouts. If I only need a rounded rectangle, why would a have to draw in FH and then import it in Flash? Before MX 2004 it took a few minutes to draw a 5-point star in Flash, let’s continue on that path.
on 14 Feb 2004 at 9:01 am 26.Cort said …
One more thing comes to mind.
A tool for creating themes, where the user just opens a theme spec sheet that has markers for the splice lines, edits it visually with the tools we have now and saves it.
When it saves, the theme gets sliced into its component parts ala’ fireworks slicing tools.
The contraints would all be contained in the limitations of the spec sheet itself. A designer that just wants to use a rastor fill could just open up the spec sheet. Apply the fills and save it, creating a new theme.
on 14 Feb 2004 at 11:28 am 27.Tristan Celder said …
Better textfields…
if i place a textfield at x:0 i want the text to appear at x:0. I don’t want to have to nudge it a couple of pixels to the left or right depending on the font/size. When I place the font on stage i’d like it to place the field at the baseline rather then the top left corner. In fact… textboxes similar to illustrator… fully scriptable too. Precision kerning, the ability to set the leading to minus figures in AS, and not just by using the IDE. (and ditto that, stretching the text box instead of extending it glitch, if i wanted to do that i’d enclose it in a graphic symbol or something)
*** The abilty to import a shared library via actionscript, or maybe even the ability for all loaded movies to utilise their parents libraries and linkage-ids. ***
Precision rendering… mmmm. I wanna look at something and say “wow, that’s crisp”, or maybe the ability to apply different rendering styles to different vectors… (and not aliased, or anti-aliased, diffrent anti-aliasing algorithms)
you said no fixes? is that why bitmaps are still a bit jumpy… we need fixes.
Despite the tone of this message, i must tell you that I love your product, its created a job for me which can be best described as a hybrid of all my passions. I just can’t wait til its perfect
Be great to have an option in the menu to fire off a product suggestion from right within flash, that could be a goldmine of ideas.
Cheers, good luck with 8.
on 14 Feb 2004 at 12:29 pm 28.Karel said …
> If I only need a rounded rectangle, why would a have to draw in FH and then import it in Flash?
Yes, that’s true — but, I would really rather see Flash dev team focusing on important issues (more than half of the messages here mentions typography issues, as a hint), which we struggle with every day, than on adding some “freehand features”, which would only look good on paper.
You could always copy & paste that rectangle from Freehand/Illustrator, Oscar…
As for me, I would kick out *any* drawing tool from Flash, except line, rectangle and circle. =)
I would really like to see some focus on typography. For now it’s ridiculous.
Also, IMHO: any feature added (eg. HSB color effects and blurs mentioned, which would be sweet) is totally useless without script access to that property.
And thanks for asking, Mike! =)
on 14 Feb 2004 at 3:09 pm 29.Jensa said …
My wishlist:
- Better sound control (i.e. pitch shift with/without time stretch)
- Gradients that follow a path (Not only circular and linear)
I also agree with these wishes mentioned earlier:
- Runtime bitmap editing/constructing through programming
- Masks with alpha channel support (partial visibility)
- Distortion of vectors / Bitmaps
Bitmap effects (Bevel, emboss like in Freehand) are really not interesting at all. They are probably easy to add, but there are already plugins for FMX2004 for doing that stuff. PhotoShop will still be required for avid designers.
J
on 14 Feb 2004 at 4:31 pm 30.John said …
1. AfterEffects-style keyframing and control
2. Masks with alpha control
3. vector blurring
4. and this isn’t so much a designer tool, but much better html support in dynamic textfields. At least give me subscript & superscript
on 14 Feb 2004 at 4:32 pm 31.John said …
5. ….and learn to render those rounded corners correctly.. That is just flat-out annoying and makes the tool useless until its fixed.
on 14 Feb 2004 at 4:44 pm 32.Emory said …
How about a flight simulator like the one that came with MS Excel?
(ducking)
on 14 Feb 2004 at 5:45 pm 33.Jacki said …
Ok well I would like flash to have a built in cash machine, the ability to produce a good beer with a decent head, 24/7 video rental services, cheap petrol prices, oh and how about the ability to automatically provide an orgasm every hour say.
Sorry guys, thanks for giving us (the public) the opportunity to tell you what we want.
It looks like some more vector controls and effects is a prominent request - sounds good to me.
Also HSB colour controls for symbols would be excellent.
The text requests are very worthy too.
As for the timeline effects from robert penner built in etc - well if you just ask (pester) Robert Penner maybe he will make an extension for you - mx 2004 has a wonderful extending feature (jsfl)
Great app, if you make all of the above into the next flash and have it out within a year then I will become the biggest Flash evangelist the world has ever seen.
on 14 Feb 2004 at 9:06 pm 34.Oscar Trelles said …
Actually that’s what I do, most of the time
Thing is, I wasn’t really thinking only about me when writing my comments. I am lucky enough to have Studio and not only Flash, otherwise I would need to import Illustrator files into Flash, which pretty much sucks… (that could be another request?)
So, although I would most probably continue with my current methodology (artwork in FH -> Flash), I do think Flash needs more design-related features, like all the ones mentioned here at Mike’s request.
I guess we will have the oportunity to ask for developer features later…
on 14 Feb 2004 at 10:14 pm 35.ericd said …
im all about the correctly rendered corners.
right now we are going to go with pngs for some of our icons and button art because flash simply cannot render ruled radius corners correctly. thats a shame.
on 14 Feb 2004 at 10:23 pm 36.chopblock said …
1. Blur: It would work just like alpha, set it manually or via script, like applying gaussian blurs to vector shapes in illustrator.
2. Timeline drawing: start recording, make drawing, stop recording. Then tell flash you want that drawing you just made to unfold in X amount of frames. And just like that flash will build that drawing out in x amount of frames, saving hours of time and providing a built in solution to one of those tedious to build effects.
2. Basic Z axis scripting: set a depth of field and allow Z axis transforms to achieve basic scaling and z sorting (for those users who dont want to write their own 3d engines).
3. More selection options within in the app: Select like stroke tools, select similar fill, etc…
4. Styles defaults: (stroke and fill defaults) per document and per installation. (could just be a simple pulldown near the color options).
on 14 Feb 2004 at 10:45 pm 37.Daniel Gasienica said …
Thanks Mike & MM for listening to the people who spent their time by using your Product.
I’m still a student, but I watched Flash evolve since v. 4 - I must say Great Job! And you guys are on the right way b/c in Flash hasn’t gotten a lot of *real new* designer features since v. 4…
First of all I agree with all the people who already posted - all these feature request sound pretty reasonable, time-saving and exciting! Especially Cort’s post about the new concept of the timeline.
As for me, I’ve got a tiny-little feature request, which I don’t even know if is considered as ‘designer’-feature?! Make mathematical operators (+ - * / % ^ ) work in the property panel … e.g. I duplicate a movieclip and I want it exactly twice as wide as the original one, I just type ‘107.6 * 2′ instead of calculating 107.6 * 2 = 215.2 … if 107.6 is the width of the original mc. I thought this feature was really useful in Cinema 4D …
… oh and I forgot something … please include a real-time vector skeleton - I heard this is supposed to be *the* feature …
Thanks for reading and have a good one,
yours truly, daniel
on 15 Feb 2004 at 6:01 am 38.Richard Leggett said …
Some intrinsic 3D classes, nothing spectacular, just the framework to allow for plotting of polygons (not transforming other MCs), and Z-Sorting.
Our current custom classes just don’t run quick enough because of the relative low power of the player compared to a native platform app.
on 15 Feb 2004 at 6:32 am 39.Gaspy said …
First, I’d love Flash to be able to use some hardware accelleration via OpenGL maybe so it’s available on all platforms.
Blurs, bevels, dropshadows that can be animated in the timeline (for example a shadow that becomes softer)
More gradient styles… a conical gradient would be easy to add, a mesh gradient like in Corel Draw would be a killer.
The drawing tools as OK, I like them. Very complex stuff can be imported anyway.
Alpha masks would be great - not sure about the impact on the CPU though.
Better shape tweening, often, even with hits it’s still hard to use.
Text on a path - animatable - would be great.
on 15 Feb 2004 at 9:25 am 40.Digiguru said …
I think some more precison in the drawing tools would be useful. I often use other drawing applications for more precise illustrations to be used in Flash, yet I actually prefer to use flash as a whole. I also think repetitive tasks whould be able to be defined more easily, much like actions, that way I just drop a sequence on some objects and it creates the effect. Current effects are lame and while bitching is not part of the thread might I suggest that you remember that most designers would probably not use any of the current effects, because it lacks originality. Self defined sequences would be better. I also think greater control of grabbing objects and moving them on the timeline could be cool, I often have to move alot of frames and objects on a timeline and it’s hard to do acurately.
on 15 Feb 2004 at 11:15 am 41.bob said …
perfect rounded corners
on 15 Feb 2004 at 11:20 am 42.JesterXL said …
Actually, here’s my most important:
- Ability to toggle positioning of elements to half-pixels. So, even if I’m zoomed into 800%, I cannot physically put an element on the screen to a non-whole integer pixel.
This would not only help me, but cut down on the image warping/fuzzy look questions I get all the time on the lists.
on 15 Feb 2004 at 11:20 am 43.vinny timmermans said …
an absolute must for Flash 8 will be an easy to use interface for editing themes and skins. This is one of the greatest misses in Flash MX 2004. Great components, horrible way of editing or creating their skins.
on 15 Feb 2004 at 4:18 pm 44.Oren said …
Animation in flash.
as an animator whose main tool is flash, I wish it had a Parenting (Bones) option that would allow building a character (using symbols and center points) and moving it as if it was a skeleton. (like in 3D software)
like when I am moving the hand of the character, the arm will move accordingly.
on 15 Feb 2004 at 4:30 pm 45.e1 said …
not designer stuff but … dynamic loading of PNG files too (could help with alpha masks also)
filters: invert/lighten/darken… and such for MCs &/or layers
on 15 Feb 2004 at 5:50 pm 46.zeh said …
Damn, I’m late on this. But:
1. better timeline tweening capabilities, akin to Director’s one. Easing 100 to -100 is cool, but a better control would be cool. No, I don’t use timeline tweening anymore.
2. better object transfer modes. Right now, flash supports normal (opacity) transfer modes. It would be good to add advanced transfer modes, possibly customizable one. When I’m talking about transfer modes I’m talking about the way new colors (from new objects) are summed to the colors behind it to produce the final screen. Flash supports normal transfer, but could support other modes - for example, screen (lighten only), multiply (darken only), and other modes appliacations like photoshop or after effects support.
And.. LESS customizable pre-built effects. The ones in MX 2k4 made me cringe. They only produce trash.
on 15 Feb 2004 at 8:51 pm 47.tim said …
I would like to see the visible screen view follow the selection tool as it draws a box out to encompass an area on the screen. Presently, (in a tight view) the tool continues past the viewable area making it impossible to precisely place the corners of the selection box, or box object tool. The view should follow the active corner. Photoshop does it this way and I know Macromedia is smart enough to go one better.
on 15 Feb 2004 at 8:53 pm 48.GriLLo said …
I though that I will already see this here, but what about layer blends ?
multiply / screen / soft light / hard light ?
if it made to work only inside of symbols it already be good, so we can import those things from illustrator/freehand withou have to remake the transparencies in flash.
ah actually I’ve kind of have a blog on flash annoyences in the designer part
http://www.flashannoyances.blogspot.com
I only wish now that I’ve updated it with more stuff before submitting it
on 15 Feb 2004 at 10:20 pm 49.Vijaydev said …
As far as I am working on Flash for more than 3 yrs. from Flash 4 to Flash MX 2004 pro version, macromedia had done a very good works. But one thing I am really missing in Flash MX 2004 pro version is the “Normal Mode” in ActionScript Window.
“Normal Mode” in ActionScript not only helps Designer but alos the programmer Bignners and Intermiate Level.
I wish macromedia could revised this unique feature of putting back “Normal Mode in ActionScript.
on 16 Feb 2004 at 2:40 am 50.bob pardoe said …
1) Some sort of local file access i.e. for RIA’s to transfer files from the local disk to the server
2) Some sort of local file access i.e. for RIA’s to transfer files from the local disk to the server
3) Some sort of local file access i.e. for RIA’s to transfer files from the local disk to the server
on 16 Feb 2004 at 3:24 am 51.Mike Mountain said …
A lot of the above can be accomplished (and already has been) with JSFL, here’s my must haves:
1. Better font handling - most importantly sub/super script in dynamic text boxes, plus support for rollover on text links.
2. Pitch control on imported sound
3. Dynamic PNG support for loading images with transparencies on the fly.
4. Support for HTML tables in HTML text boxes
5. Better ’skinability’ of components, through code or hand editing - you should just be able to change one line of code to point the whole component set at a new skin library.
6. Shared fonts that work.
7. Quads in images (like that’s ever going to happen) for scripted distortion.
8. Imaging actionscript - let me read from/write to embedded images (OK yes it’s Director)
9.Dynamic quality assignment, have some MC’s low quality, other high etc. (not possible I know but would be nice).
10. the ability to keep the background colour of loaded swfs (ie a publish option - publish with background) to save me having to put screen sized rectangles all over the place.
11 the ability to duplicate dynamically loaded images.
12 the ability to take a snapshot from a webcam without FCS as a new MC (not to save out but just for apllication purposes)
…and I;’m sure I’ll think of more
on 16 Feb 2004 at 5:26 am 52.hardcastle said …
Where to start…
1. Different alpha transfer modes, e.g. screen, multiply, overlay, hue, saturation etc… This has been mentioned already, but not nearly enough. This would create so many more possibilities in photographic and vector work…
2. Effects, this is a bit of a bad word at the moment, i don’t mean to be nasty, but the effects in 2004 were, well a bit cringy worthy. Maybe have a look at (dare I say it) the effects in illustrator, as these update themsleves properly each time the movieclip is changed, and can be easily edited again. Blurring, Rounded corners, pixelation etc. These effects can then be layered up upon each other in a changeable order. These could also be keyframe (possibly like the drop down After Effects effects style) so that the animation is not actually set by typing in how many frames you want it to change over…. I’m babbling
3. Proper full on robot chubbie type controls.. you’ve read that already in here I think…
4. distortion tools that can be scripted…
5. get RGB values of specific pixels on the screen…
6. proper alpha masks that can animate, multiple objects in the masking layer aswell??
7. make it work properly on a mac aswell… too many glitches
8. keep up the good work!
i’ll hopefully be back with more…
on 16 Feb 2004 at 5:28 am 53.hardcastle said …
>> 6. proper alpha masks that can animate, multiple objects in the masking layer aswell??
i meant greayscale masking, aka photshop styleee
on 16 Feb 2004 at 11:05 am 54.magicfred said …
to work in CMYK whith Flash
on 16 Feb 2004 at 12:01 pm 55.vicspec said …
Layer Parenting.
After Effects has this ability to parent layers to others. It’s very useful for Character Animation e.g. legs are parented to the body etc. Perhaps this could be done in Flash by making layer folders “parentable”.
on 16 Feb 2004 at 12:23 pm 56.thehiatus said …
I’ve always wanted to be able to center text vertically in a text box.
That and get rid of the bug where text fields wrap spaces when you mess with them in Actionscript.
on 16 Feb 2004 at 12:46 pm 57.duncan said …
how about this, no new features, just get the ones currently in the application to work properly, increase the responsiveness and performance back to flash 4/5 levels and eliminate half of the copious number of bugs.
i will gladly pay for a new flash that is just a much needed qualitative upgrade than yet another quantitative upgrade.
on 16 Feb 2004 at 5:00 pm 58.Ralph said …
Lots of great features and ideas but I’ll add my two cents worth…I’d like to be able to make some perspective transformations for a simple 3D look, not just a rotation and stretch but differential stretching to the sides for a retangle under AS control.
Thanks for asking!
on 16 Feb 2004 at 5:15 pm 59.vince said …
-it would be nice if any font looked very sharp, not just pixelfonts. i want to use those helvetica’s in flash…
-some good antialiasing, some diagonal lines aren’t sharp.
-maybe support to load realplayer files dynamically into flash…
-actionscriptable blur would be nice
that’s all folks
(for me)
ciao
on 16 Feb 2004 at 5:27 pm 60.khan said …
- swap multiple instances on the stage to the same symbol
- change the propety of multiple images in the library.
- Quads in images
- duplicate dynamically loaded images.
- masks with alpha channel
- copy and paste properties
on 16 Feb 2004 at 10:06 pm 61.Luc said …
JPEG2000 support for greater image quality for less kb.
http://www.luratech.com
on 17 Feb 2004 at 2:24 am 62.onno said …
a) fix all textfield bugs. the thing is pointless addition.
b) make textfields ‘linked’ (so people can start writing a proper rich textedit (with images, and everything else). This so people can select across 2 linked textfields.
c) do NOT include html tables in textfields.
d) make it actually crossplatform, i spent most of my time making it work on mac. (getTextExtent eg).
e) optimize existing code
f) (crucial) alpha layers, not just masks.
g) different ink modes (the rest is slow so why not allow this).
h) manipulation using vertices (not just the quad). That’s easy peasy.
I’d like to state that i know how hard it is to make things like vector graphics fast using software. In fact is one of the fastest i’ve seen so i do not expect much improvement there. Good job.
i) non-interpolated (ie direct copy) of all image types.
j)png loading would be cool!.
k) allow finding length of video / mp3 streams.
l) make simpler components, they are just too bloated
m) allow playing of movie (WITH submovies) inside the editor. Crucial for structured animation.
on 17 Feb 2004 at 2:50 am 63.Matthew Vincent said …
Example
I have a movieClip that is going to be loaded by some means (button, frame) into my main movie.
But in order to edit this loaded clip I will have to load the other fla and then edit, update and the go back to the loader clip and see Ctrl-Enter to see the changes..
It would be great if I could “Edit in Place” the loaded clip..so in the authroing enviroment, I would see a ghosted image of the loaded clip and be able to click and edit live…
Of course it may be complicated to get something like that to work and prolly only under certain circumstance like the .fla being in the same path as the loader clip…
But hey it can be done! Do put your mind to it and dont accept defeat!
on 17 Feb 2004 at 3:49 am 64.helge fredrich said …
mathML integration is necessary for producing eLearning Content in engineering science.
on 17 Feb 2004 at 11:22 am 65.Martin Heidegger said …
1. Correct displayed Images (removed Bugs in the borderpixels)
2. Full transparent dynamic Masks.
3. ActionScript Access to the Library ?!
4. MovieClip applying to an Layer (without using Attach or DuplicateMovieclip)
5. Preferences for _all_ Objects if they are painted antialiased or not.
6. Jpeg 2000 Support
7. Better support for Projectors (for CD’s)
8. Fix Resolution Property, so that even if scaled or not, the Flash Plugin uses 700×700px to render.
9. Dynamic Brushed (even with ActionScript Support)
10. Sketch FreeForm Sybols
12. Dynamic Access/Fast Effects to the Outlines of any MovieClip
13. Access to the System Mouse Cursor.
14. Alpha Channels should look with 16bit the same like with 32bit.
15. Support for Progressive Jpgs !!!!
And all of above.
on 17 Feb 2004 at 2:42 pm 66.JJ said …
Gradient masks, gradient masks, gradient masks!!!!
That’s all I want
on 17 Feb 2004 at 2:55 pm 67.SideKick said …
1) I would like more 3D vector capabilites, much like Swiff3D, but integrated into Flash UI. Erain licenses their technology, why not integrate it?
2) Vector Blur Effects applied to objects and tweens.
3) Better font support, less blurry, other than pixel fonts.
Thanks for listening
on 17 Feb 2004 at 5:09 pm 68.azz_kicker said …
Integrated 3D vector modeling/animation would be bootie woopin! This would REALLY assist with design, ambient animations and real world 3D apps. What more could the savy Flash Designer ask for
on 17 Feb 2004 at 7:07 pm 69.Glenn said …
Extra button states such as disabled, checked up, checked down, checked over, checked hit & checked disabled. Even better would be the ability to add your own button states and logic behind how they’re activated/used!
on 17 Feb 2004 at 7:48 pm 70.shrinkwrapped said …
-Skew and distort for graphic and movie clips
-Ability to use bones to make skeletions for animated characters and something kind of like the channel box in Maya to control them
-Zooming so it keeps your line weight
-Better onionskinning
-airbrush tool
-More upgrades to the video features 2004 is a just a start
on 17 Feb 2004 at 8:02 pm 71.Feets said …
Simple 3D modeling environment that allowed for frame-based animation but also allowed the application of pre-built effects that could be done through an automated action script conversion so you could also generate dynamically drawn 3D.
on 18 Feb 2004 at 5:18 am 72.Andreas H said …
I´d like to have some little digits beneath the timeline right next to the “fps” or “seconds-display” that shows me, how many frames i have selected in the timeline. so that i dont have to count the frames myself!
on 18 Feb 2004 at 8:54 am 73.baxter said …
i wish a possibility to receive MIDI data from a midi-interface. just like in director with the midi io xtra.
the goal would be, to trigger some parameters of a movieclip with for example a electronic drumset….!
on 18 Feb 2004 at 11:53 am 74.anonym said …
How about having a version on linux platform?
on 18 Feb 2004 at 1:00 pm 75.dwrider said …
I’d like to see the scale&rotate tools go back to the way they were in MX, where you could precisely change the size using percentages. now, the only option is to use the free transform tool, and it is now impossible to re-size a shape to a precise size and/or rotation.
Also, would LOVE to see Freehand tools such as bevel, emboss, etc.
on 18 Feb 2004 at 5:38 pm 76.rcoopman said …
-Allow me to dynamically load PROGRESSIVE JPG’s and PNG’s.
This is #1 for me.
-Truly HTML compliant textfields (ok, no Iframes or Layers or whatnot, but at least get all the basic tags right, allow images and tables. And please, use standard or rather than having the for 12 pixel fonts. In other words, better CSS and HTML rendering and standardization with browsers. (not sure how much of this is already in place, haven’t checked for a while… but it would be great to be able to load and create at least simple html layouts in flash without slaughtering the code)
- Alpha masks and layer blending effects would be nice, but only if they perform really well.
- This is a little odd, but, how about an option when duplicating movieclips to “duplicate all children” … thus, if I have a movie clip with five child clips that each have three child clips, it creates a new set of 21 new movie clips all following a specific naming convention. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to duplicate and swap, duplicate and swap… you get the picture.
on 18 Feb 2004 at 5:42 pm 77.rcoopman said …
ACK… my reguest about textfields looks like it was written by Dubya ;-)… I accidentally cut something and didn’t paste it! Anyways, you get the gist… better HTML and CSS standardization… nuff said…
on 18 Feb 2004 at 7:35 pm 78.duncan said …
I’m not prompting you to vent about bugs or the return of old features, I’m really looking for some new ideas that we may not have thought of.
btw this comment seems wholly irresponsible and indicative of the slipshod nature of most software companies these days. it’s effectively saying yeah we know we have bugs, but we need to sell you something in 12 months so what will you pay for… we know you won’t pay for us to fix things that we should have done correctly in the first place, so what kind of gee whiz thing can we do to con you out of another $200.
you guys need to slow way the hell down and start releasing solid products again.
on 18 Feb 2004 at 11:31 pm 79.Mike Downey said …
Well, Duncan, I wholly disagree.
With this post *I* was only looking for one piece of information so I made my question very clear. I only want to know about new designer features that the community is interested in. I know there are bugs and, believe me, I’ve been involved in many other forums that address those issues.
In this post I’m not interested in addressing that topic. I have to be clear in the questions I ask or else the comments section will grow cluttered with all kinds of feedback. And I’m not a big fan of forum rants that pull everyone off topic.
Finally, this is my weblog, not the product team’s. I provide feedback to the product team based on what I hear from our customers.
So far thread has been excellent. Thank you so much to everyone for your thoughtful feedback. I have forwarded the link throughout the product team so everyone can benefit from your insights.
Thanks again,
MD
on 19 Feb 2004 at 2:35 am 80.salat said …
kerning, kerning, kerning, kerning, kerning!!
And a ‘protect from import’-function that is actually working and isn’t cracked after some two weeks.
..would be swell.
on 19 Feb 2004 at 12:59 pm 81.lance said …
i work with mx but mx pro may have this:
export qt mov with alpha channel
on 19 Feb 2004 at 3:32 pm 82.john cooper said …
how about patterned lines, you only get a couple at hte moment - dotted, dashed etc… how about allowing us to define the ‘brush’
infact a whole review of the painting tools
on 20 Feb 2004 at 4:06 am 83.Jonnie said …
The possibility to set the default Stroke color to NO COLOR when selecting the Rectangle and Oval tools. I mean how often do you really want a stroke-color.
It´s so annoying to have to reset it to No color everytime you select either of the above tools. I spend at least five minutes every day setting the Stroke color to No Color.
on 20 Feb 2004 at 4:13 am 84.Jonnie said …
Bigger workspace!!!
Now there are limitations to the workspace that sometimes makes it impossible to position graphical objects accurately.
You have to make a guess, preview, make a new guess, make a preview and maybe after 5 or 6 guesses get the object to position right.
on 20 Feb 2004 at 4:40 am 85.RoLoDoOm said …
More support for video files. MPEG, REAL, WMV…
on 20 Feb 2004 at 10:00 am 86.jensen said …
- Fixed Textfield-Shift by exchange files between MAC & PC, in the moment there is possibility for cross-plattform working
- curves from vectors must set to 0.5 pixel to get good visual results in the player
- support more css-features
- better sound-editor (after editing your sounds…sometimes you’ll hear some “snaps”)
- better sound control
- support for joysticks etc
- right-mouse-click support
- working with vectors like in freehand
- better flashplayer for mac
- gradiant mask
on 21 Feb 2004 at 6:16 am 87.Numit said …
Yeeeahd, it’s csool
on 21 Feb 2004 at 8:12 am 88.Aviran Revach said …
-I’d like to drag and drop stuff directrly into the library, without the whole import drill. the thing is the library window disappear when i activate another window (i know its like that in the Mx, donno about the 2004).
- i’d like the option to zoom in to the cursur point, using ctrl+/- (what we have now is zooming into the center of what is selected, that is really annoying)
- i really think there should be a sketch layer, for sketching with a pencil like tool (pencil like in painter and opencanvas, not the flash pencil), that would really help us animators who sketch the characters and than trace it with the brush…. pleeease….
- in flash 5 i could select several frames and tween them all together, and let them the same ease… but since flashMx that was disabled… why?? its very hard to make a whole body layers of a character tween together if the layers are not one above the other.
- right-to-left text and font enabled… quite impossible to write in languages other than english… (explained in http://www.the-right-to-flash.com )
thanks…!
on 21 Feb 2004 at 7:10 pm 89.Mathieu Anthoine said …
return of the Flash MX relative undo/redo
on 22 Feb 2004 at 7:08 am 90.Thorsten said …
in Flash:
would be great if we could have a PREVIEW before iIMPORTING SOUNDS and PICTURES.
(like usually in all graphic prgs)
BETTER SECURITY against SWF Crackers..
better compiler
crypt?
on 22 Feb 2004 at 6:21 pm 91.Chris said …
Hi,
please bring back the expert and normal mode in the action panel.
with regards and thank you
on 23 Feb 2004 at 4:50 am 92.kareneliot said …
1. Selection tools - so you can select all fills, or all fills in a certain colour, etc. (as in the Illustrator). I believe this may be possible using JSFL - and I’m looking into it.
2. Batch change of symbols. If you have 50 symbols on the stage - all the same (like many cities on a map), then you currently have to do them one by one.
3. Normal mode in the action panel!
on 23 Feb 2004 at 7:32 am 93.Potter System said …
1.- A panel that you can use for do faster and easier LoadVars(); for PHP, ASP, etc.
2.- Link layers as Photoshop
3.- A ‘Photoshop mask style’…
on 23 Feb 2004 at 9:45 am 94.Ryuichi Matsuse said …
[Change Workflow]
Now: timeline - Scene
But, many TV/Movie Animation & Cinema is not this workflow.
New: Making infomation - timeline - Cut - Scene
- Making infomation:
Conte(Story bord), time sheet etc…
- Cut
The conventional “scene”
- Scene
The thing which consists of cuts etc.
Like a Toon Boom Studio, Retas
In Japan, Web animation is also regarded as TV/Movie animation equivalent.
If a professional is aimed at, manufacture environment equivalent to TV/Movie animation is required.
However, as for the function of animation, evolution has stopped at Flash3.
This is a serious obstacle to evolution of Web animation.
[Cut Symbol]
The conventional “Scene”.
support edit, input, output.
The purpose that reuse is first.
[Scene Editorl]
The conventional “Scene” + Cut.
In addition to the conventional material(Symbol, Sound etc…), a cut can also be arranged.
A filter can also be hung on a cut.
By applying this, creation of a flashback etc. is attained simply.
[Example]
1.make Cut.
2.put Cut on Scene
3.select Cut.
4.select Filter “Sepia color”
support edit, input, output.
[Camera]
XY move, Z zoom up/down control
Like a Toon Boom Studio, Retas
[Stage Control]
- Extend Stage size
Stage Size = Infinite
- Rotate Stage
[Sound]
- The numerical input in a keyboard.(Sound Editor)
point time (envelope point time)
L/R balance(L 53%, R 25% etc…)
- more Sound Effects
Like a SoundEdit.
and support other audio software plug-in.
- set L/R pan(Property inspector)
Easy pan sound.(motion toween)
[Motion Symbol]
Reusable motion tween.
Like a behavior.
[Motion Editor]
make and Edit Motion Symbol.
input: preset Motion(Like a Motion Tween)
Mouse
Tablet
JoyStick
Motion Capture data
etc…
output: Motion Symbol file.
Motion Capture data
edit: Waveform edit.
1.make Motion Symbol.
2.attach Motion Symbol
[Input/Output]
- Digital Animation data Direct input
Toon Boom Studio, Retas, STYLOS etc…
- QuickTime/AVI output
Now: Frame Animation only
New:All Animation & All Script Animation
- DV output
direct output -> Firewire etc…
on 25 Feb 2004 at 6:52 am 95.Mountain/ \Ash said …
We have a real need for a glow effect (currently we have to resort to imported .pngs). This would need to work on text.
It would also be cool to import .gif and .png at run-time (with loadMovie) like you currently can wiht .jpg
on 26 Feb 2004 at 8:10 pm 96.Caseyc said …
I would like to see a few issues in 2004 “fixed” namely:
1. Not being able to free transform around the anchor point of an object(mc, graphic, etc), it worked in mx but 2004 seems to only allow free transforms from the exact center or one of the sides of an object.
2. The panels to work properly. they should remember where they were when you exit the app and be in the same places when you launch it. There are also some bugs (on my win box) where the library wont dock properly or show up next to the stage. It requires a restart of flash to fix.
3. The Color Mixer panel does not update properly when selecting objects, it will maintain the last fill color/style that was used in drawing a shape and will not switch to the currently selected objects fill, you
have to eyedropper the shape to get it.
Those are the three regular pains in the neck for me, otherwise it’s a wonderful release! Thanks!
on 27 Feb 2004 at 12:32 pm 97.JR said …
Vector Noise Filters — or for that matter a Vector Filter Tool that would allow to create filters that modify vector shape and line elements in realtime — think : create a box shape, apply “vector filter - sine”, becomes a box with wavy sides, modify amount, wavelength, etc via sliders. THAT WOULD BE SOOO COOL. Oh yeah and masks with 8 to 24 bit masking capabilities would rock (ie. PNGs or Symbol Alpha driven.
on 27 Feb 2004 at 1:39 pm 98.Roman said …
I’m fairly new to flash, but I haven’t been able to find plain old tables. I’d like those, not for layout or design, but for tabular data.
on 28 Feb 2004 at 6:23 pm 99.Holger said …
- Real alpha in masks.
- Load GIFs with Actionscript like JPEGs (and support their “alpha color”). That stupid patent must be expired by now…
- Apply an anti aliasing filter for MP3 compression. Every other MP3 encoder on the planet does this! Ask a sound engineer on this one if you don’t know what I mean.
- Cache objects at compile time so you don’t have to wait for all the MP3s and images when you want to do a quick test.
- Make the HTML templates XHTML compliant and make sure they pass the W3C validator.
- Make an auto-install plugin for Mozilla. Auto-install works great in Internet Explorer on Windows and it should work the same way with an .xpi and Mozilla Firefox. As an extra bonus: Make it work with Safari!
- Make the Flash player faster! Not with Actionscript but with simple graphics and alpha images.
- Make Flash faster! Not the plugin but the authoring application (just look at Flash on OS X).
Oh, and while we’re at it: Fix the old bugs! There are enough left…
on 01 Mar 2004 at 3:36 pm 100.Morten Marius said …
I would like transparancy and gradients on masks - please.
on 08 Mar 2004 at 4:59 pm 101.Steve-o said …
I would like to see some I/O functionality. It may not be a traditional “designer” feature but where I am from, users are dying for app-like functionality. I could really bust out some cool applications if I had interaction with the file system (eg. reading/writing files). What does this have to do with “design?” Not all applications are built by programmers!
Text fields need a lot of help too!
on 19 Mar 2004 at 12:29 pm 102.Jesse Lowe said …
test
on 26 Mar 2004 at 2:39 pm 103.Carlos Rovira said …
- built in features like-screenweaver or flash studio pro (no need to go to third party extensions)
- vector blur
- 3d native support (with hardware aceleration)
on 27 Mar 2004 at 2:25 pm 104.chall3ng3r said …
READ THIS MAIL Carefully:
http://www24.brinkster.com/chall3ng3r/flashmx/Mail_to_MM_24Nov02.txt
ALSO check these imaginations i was expecting in fmx2004 but wasn’t implemented.
http://www24.brinkster.com/chall3ng3r/flashmx/
(this link have flash_mx2005 named images which are really important to view)
if mm selects me as beta tester for MM flash next version, i’ll be really glad. and also try to give more ideas.
this mail is now quite old, i’ve more ideas, which i’ll send to mm whenever i get some time.
TIA.
hope MM reads my this post.
on 28 Mar 2004 at 8:55 am 105.Brian Lesser said …
Easier precision text layout and more flexible image embedding in text.
Placing text that lines up with other elements pricely on the stage takes too much trial and error. Images embedded inside text fields can only float to be flush left or right. You should also be able to embed an image between text characters and have it stay within a line and in between the text characters. For example smilies in chat text.
Yours truly,
-Brian
on 30 Mar 2004 at 4:24 am 106.Gothic said …
Damn… seems I’m a bit late. After taking the time to read the other posts, there’s noting new I’d like to add. I know some of the requests are not possible (and some are useless or beyond the scope of the program) but most of them are certainly worth it.
Good job, mm! (and the same to Mike!)
on 31 Mar 2004 at 3:20 pm 107.CL said …
Motion blur is a very popular effect in the entertainment business and I believe it would be possible to pull off in Flash. Currently, I blur a graphic in Fireworks/Photoshop and import it into Flash. I believe it would be a great feature to have internally.
Better bitmap scaling should also be added to the priority list. Currently we still find heavy pixellation when bitmaps are scaled, something that can be resolved with incremental smoothing; I have a feeling that if an engine to manage bitmap effects were in place, the motion blur and bitmap handling could both be addressed, along with many other cool, After Effects-style effects.
on 31 Mar 2004 at 10:58 pm 108.sim_irv said …
Compare with the current animation editors existed in various professional motion tools (After Effects, Maya for example), Flash is a toy. Please come up with anything better than the helpless ease in/out control, for serious motion graphics.
Thank you for remembering us
sim_irv
on 01 Apr 2004 at 10:23 am 109.Frank said …
Personally if it could somehow be integrated so that a separate program didn’t need to be downloaded, that would be great. (and probably impossible).
on 03 Apr 2004 at 7:02 am 110.mani said …
As you’re specifically asking for >design< features, one fundamental issue would be a COMPLETE overhaul of the way that the color palette and mixing works. Here are some details:
- when mixing new gradients, it’s way too easy to accidentally overwrite existing mixes: i ocassionally want a darker or lighter version of a custom gradient that i’ve made, and unwittingly destroy an earlier gradient that may have been painstakingly mixed
- should be possible to color-pick a solid color WITHIN a gradient: that is, sometimes in a drawing i want say, a green that is halfway in a nice yellow-blue gradient i’ve mixed - should be possible to hold say, the alt key and eyedrop it. But that just picks up the whole gradient instead. Right now you have to use the mixer, insert an intermediate arrow, then copy-paste the hex number. Way hard work!
- when choosing colors PLEASE PLEASE make it possible to choose NO COLOR as a default setting for outline: this is something that has to be reset 1000 times when you are making graphics.
- also, when choosing a mass of objects on stage, it is possible to set the same fill and outline for all the objects - but NOT set NO outline! This makes no sense. I recently inherited a timeline project where about 100 items had outlines through about 20 or 30 keyframes. I had to individually select those outlines about 2000 times in order to delete them. TOTALLY useless UI.
- obviously the drawing tools in Flash are completely inadequate - i always draw in Illus and import. But it would be nice if the tools didn’t completely ruin the curves if small things have to be changed - try importing a sweet curve, then tweeking it slightly with any of Flash’s internal tools: i’ve never found a way that doesn’t totally destroy a graceful curve.
- more control in blends - like the gradient mesh tool in Illus
- related to the above: maybe some way of free-transforming gradients - so that a gradient could twist and turn to follow a shape for instance
- someone else mentioned the fact that selecting an object no longer updates the mixer palette: don’t know if this is a bug or a ‘feature’, but it sucks that you have to eyedrop all the time
- it seems impossible to transform objects properly now: often if i want to enter figures in the Transform palette, it just ‘refuses’ my values, so that the transform has to be done manually (i guess this is a bug).
Sure i could think of a million other things - so i’ll be back…
on 04 Apr 2004 at 7:14 am 111.mani said …
OK - couple more things that just came up when i was working this morning (please note: i obviously mean that all these features apply to the author environment, NOT runtime):
- when you use a partially transparent white in a textfield, when entering text in that field the text acually completely disappears - this can’t even be fixed by selecting ‘outline’ mode on that layer. Only way to remedy is to choose solid white, then tweek the alpha after the text is entered. But this is sometimes really inconvenient).
- related to the above, whenever a textfield is selected to enter type, the entire textfield is highlighted in a totally opaque white. Very often, it’d be useful to be able to see through to the underlying design
- when movieclips have nothing in their first frame (except a ’stop’ command that is), then identifying, selecting and even positioning them becomes very difficult (there can sometimes be a hundred of these empty first-frame clips on stage at the same time). To remedy this, i’d like:
1. to have small labels attached to the little dots that signify ‘empty first-frame’ movie-clips on the stage (these could activate as a tool-tip, or when a layer is selected in the timeline, for example. Or there could be a little toggle “Identify MovieClips” button).
2. Should be possible to have some sort of ’see into MovieClip’ function on the main timeline - this could be as simple as a Guide layer whose visibility could be toggled on/off FROM THE MAIN TIMELINE. That way objects could be positioned without the trouble of identifying, selecting and opening a MC, just to make sure you are moving the right one 3 pixels up, down or left…
- there should be an easy way to identify if a textfield has embedded characters: when making a site with an embedded font in all textfields, it’s all too easy to miss embedding in some fields. Of course, because you have the font on YOUR OWN computer, you never spot this mistake. Only other people see the ugly mess. How about a little symbol in one of the corners of the textfield in the authoring environment to show fonts are embedded in just THAT field?
on 06 Apr 2004 at 1:43 pm 112.M. Scott Sheridan said …
The ability to create fully immersive panoramas in a fashion similar to QTVR or PTViewer. Maybe a Flash 8 component that could take a equirectangular photograph and then wrap it to a cube/sphere? Create links to other panoramas or images, video transitions, interactive elements all through Actionscript.
I hate the fact that I have to rely on either a Java applet or the less-than-ubiquitous QuickTime plug-in to reach an audience. Actionscript interactivity would also offer some real advantages to the fallbacks of Applescript or Livestage scripting. Director MX has much of this going for it but I’m not going to buy that package for this one thing and then have to rely on the shockwave plug-in.
Too much of a thing to ask for? Maybe it’s a better idea for a future DRK?
on 08 Apr 2004 at 1:58 am 113.Ticean Bennett said …
1. A robust set of layer blending modes. Having all modes available in Photoshop would be nice (multiply, screen, difference, etc.)
2. HSB based color effects and tinting.
3. Ability to set stroke to a default of none. It always resets to a stroke color. I second the notion that it is EXTREMELY tedious to continually remember to turn it off when drawing graphics.
These three things alone would make me happy.
on 08 Apr 2004 at 2:05 am 114.Ticean Bennett said …
Oh, one more thing to make me really happy:
When moving an item on the stage via the arrow keys, please create a standard increment by which the item moves. Currently, the increment is different depending on the zoom level.
It makes things confusing when moving items a set count of keystrokes (for example, laying out a quick grid array of graphical items) while zooming.
I’d really rather not move something .8 pixels.
on 08 Apr 2004 at 4:33 am 115.Blu_Matt said …
A File object (and local FS support in the player) so that files can be uploaded to a remote filesystem using LoadVars, etc.
on 08 Apr 2004 at 9:28 am 116.Steven Lyons said …
1) Better type rendering and control of kerning and anti-aliasing. Type control in Flash is very primitive and sloppy. This is my biggest complaint as a designer using Flash. The rendering of small circular letterforms and shapes is particularly egregious (clips the top and bottom of the circle). I am often forced to render small circles in Fireworks and import them as jpegs or gifs.
2) Fix the Pen and other drawing tools to make them consistent with other drawing apps. Every time I introduce a design student to Flash, the reaction is always the same…’why don’t the drawing tools work like other programs?’ All my students at CCA in SF learn Illustrator (face it, design schools don’t teach Freehand) before Flash and then have to unlearn everything about the drawing tools. It makes for great entertainment, but is ultimately a major time waster.
Specific drawing tool changes:
• Better Stroke Control (ability to turn them off and keep them off; more stroke options including endcaps, full dash control ala Illustrator)
• Eliminate the automatic Knockout and Join shape ‘features’ and create a ‘pathfinder’ style palette to control this stuff.
• Fix the stacking order controls so that when you create a new shape it stays on top of the stack (instead of disappearing to the bottom the minute you let go of the tool). Try explaining that one to a first-time Flash student who just spent 20 minutes drawing a complex shape…’WTF? where did it go?”
3)Layer-based blending modes and transparency.
on 21 Apr 2004 at 10:22 am 117.JGMoore said …
A camera componet. Like Flashfilmmakers.
Since Flash has become the tool of choice of primetime animation ( Home Movies, This Just In, most pilots pitches…
Not to mention stuff like Homestarunner.
MM NEEDS to add some real animation functionality to Flash!!!! You guys MUST do this. Half of the people using Flash are animators.
A camera (pan and zoom) and TV field guides would be very simple to include in flash or as a MM (componet, movieclip set) download.
These are things (camera and tv field guides) that could be done ASAP and the newer versions could be included in the next release of Flash. Other people are trying to do this, but MM is the only real source who can get this done.
on 29 Apr 2004 at 9:29 pm 118.lin said …
nothing special
on 09 Jun 2004 at 6:54 am 119.gnaneshwar.m said …
there must be an option in the “Lybrary Panel” , whare we can update all the “bitmap images” at once.
This will greatly minimise the time to updat each image in the lybrary.
Suppose say we have to regularly update 50 images from the lybrary window, we need to take the repeated pain to replace it.
This option i have been looking from MX version and still not got.
I feel this will greatly benifit the regular updates of the bitmaps for the flash designers and developers who are in big scale of flash production.
Will be greatful if i see in the new version.
thank u
gnaneshwar.m
India, bangalore
gnanesh_madhu@rediffmail.com
on 06 Jul 2004 at 1:59 am 120.dvd said …
Mercy de la
on 08 Sep 2004 at 4:35 pm 121.Lili Chin said …
Hi Mike! - I recently sent you an email.
On our weblog are some feature suggestions submitted by Flash animators & designers who work in TV broadcast animation:
http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=fwak&tab=weblogs&uid=130664522
(I will be adding to this list as I speak with more animators)
on 24 Sep 2004 at 3:20 am 122.pong said …
As a digital artist / multi media designer in hongkong… i intensively use flash as tools to creat static motion. Using AS to developed sophisticated action scripted art piece for theatre perforamance and concert projection……i personnally think that 1/increase in I/O capabilitites e.g can “listen” midi device .children toy maker will love MM
2/spectrum analyse of MP3 file
3/SVG style filter
4/url anchor component as MX now have anchor sys. by means of anchor naming in the frame….. but how about dynamic site with dynamic data….and page..we a now all achieve that by extra help of PHP asp.
5/better Draw API.
6/the curve drawing tool can be more advance like the one i find in Illustrator
two control point control/
7/mean while flash can only listen microphone volume….. better can listen pitch also.can detect income R/L input is much much better
///
on 30 Sep 2004 at 2:23 pm 123.sanvex said …
I would like to be able to disable the windows default hotkeys such as the Windows Key, CTRL + L, and ALT + Tab from within Flash when making .exe movies.
I also sould like to be able to change the Flash projector window to my own customizable skin, and change the flash movie Icon for that .exe
on 29 Nov 2004 at 4:14 pm 124.MaTT said …
Better workgroup management, the exisiting solution is confusing and mickey mouse, the fact that you need something like vss for vc sucks, take a note from versioncue, maybe macromedia should invest in a bespoke system, shipped with studio prof or something, a movie explorer for all open dox, ie a site, to make global changes and with sites getting bigger, a sitemap tool showing relationships based on movie explorer. something like dreamweavers but more interactive, and publishable to send to clients, also shows relationships with say xml files/video files, their attributes. As for Photoshop, I’m alpha so I’m nda’ed:) Actually, I have many more ideas as I go, but forget them, I should make notes.
MaTT
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on 27 Mar 2005 at 2:03 am 128.Mushon Zer-Aviv said …
We want the Right to Flash,
it is more importent than any emboss or blur-effect. Macromedia, please make the web “What the web can be”:
http://www.the-right-to-flash.com
on 05 Apr 2005 at 7:43 am 129.elliot said …
Dont forget… dynamic drop shadows would be wonderful but if they are simply duplicating movie clips and using drawing api to expand the shadow, it simply wont be efficient enough. Whatever they create must be able break apart complicated movie clips and trace their outlines then and only then used drawing api to extend that shadow.
Besides blur effects, more text control! Its a shame macromedia hasn’t allowed more text control! Especially dynamic and imput text!
on 17 May 2005 at 7:29 am 130.Anon said …
Multiply, Screen, etc.
on 29 Jun 2005 at 8:02 am 131.Joel said …
PLEASE INCLUDE:
dynamic *.PNG loading as someone has stated before.
Let us have transparent backgrounds!
allow dynamic text fields to be vertical or any rotation for that matter.
3d/Perspective drawing tools would be nice.
Please improve the garbage collection of videos that you delete from a movie, I have found that if you delete a peice of video from an *.fla file the file size still remains quite large.
Just a few suggestions. Keep up the good work.
on 09 Jul 2005 at 3:29 am 132.Brad said …
Shape tweening that can tween even BASIC inbetweens reliably. I mean, come on. Even minor changes don’t work reliably. And shape hints work horribly. Whoever sent this feature into the market should be fired. Not even close to being useful or evening functioning. It’s a fucking joke! Flash can hardly be called an animation tool. It’s more of a “move sprites around” tool. Beyond that, it has light years to go before it’s useful. Maybe Adobe will teach you guys how to make tools that actually work.
on 28 Jul 2005 at 4:40 am 133.Aaron Eden said …
Perspective grids like the ones in freehand. When trying to illustrate believable 3D graphics it goes a LONG way.
on 14 Nov 2005 at 11:06 am 134.Brandon Flowers said …
So I guess this now relates to wishes for Flash 9 now ;-D
I was looking up something in Help today and would like to see a number beside View comments on LiveDocs which would tell me if there are any comments.
For instance, there was a great fix posted by Jen DeHaan on the “an example using styles with html” which I almost missed…
Also I had a great workshop with Grant Skinner on the weekend and he mentioned that we could email Macromedia about our wishes for Flash… he said the email address was something like “wishflash@macromedia.com” … is that right?
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on 06 May 2006 at 6:59 am 136.Glen said …
Can you make an easy to import xml data window? I would love to be able to have Flash look at the nodes and then I could just select the one or ones I want.
on 14 Aug 2007 at 3:23 pm 137.Jay said …
Mike,
i’ve scoured the net to find information about Text blurring or stretching when changing the text box size for more content on a Dynamic Text box, has the new version or any post been made available to solve this problem?
I’m running Flash MX 2004?
J
on 02 Nov 2007 at 12:37 pm 138.Daniel said …
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article featue in Flash what would it be?, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.