Review: Macromedia Flash MX 2004 — First Impressions

Product Name: Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Company:Macromedia
URL: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash
Category: Commercial Interactive Design Application
Price:
- $499 Flash MX 2004
- $699 Flash MX 2004 Professional
- $199 Upgrade
- $899 in Studio MX 2004
- $999 in Studio MX 2004 with Flash Professional
Requirements:
- Power Macintosh G3 Processor
- Mac OS 10.1.5, 10.2.6
- 96MB of free available system RAM (128MB recommended)
- 1024x768 display
- 110MB Disk Space
Rating: 2 bounces - Lackluster

Flash MX 2004 Box

This might be the hardest review I've ever had to write. I'm an early adopter, and an old-school die-hard Flash user. I've been teaching an interactive design class around Flash for nearly five years, and I'm pretty sure I know how to get around a version of Flash. At least, up until now.

Flash MX 2004 has not made the best first impression, and they say you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Call to Action....

The first thing that struck me when I began using MX 2004 was the revised Actions panel, and how completely shook I was when it opened. ActionScript 2.0 is now standard in MX 2004, and it's very friendly to developers with with Java experience. It's object oriented, and ECMA standards compliant.

It's also terribly intimidating to designers - and students learning interactive design. I also need to interject here that my copy of Studio MX 2004 came with a cute little "manual" that included a few tutorials on the various programs in MX 2004. Of course, I looked through the manual and realized these were all tricks I knew, so I set it aside, and opened Flash.

I immediately started freaking out. Most of the interface remained the same as MX, but a few important details moved around - which takes a little practice to learn to glance in a new place. I shrugged and opened the Actions panel to have a look-see, and my jaw hit the floor.

As I mentioned above, the Actions panel is much more oriented to developers than designers. As a designer, I know enough about code to get along, but I'm all about filling in the blanks instead of hardcore coding. Keep in mind that I've used Flash for a long time, and I even teach this stuff at the collegiate level. I suddenly realized that if I really wanted to use the Actions panel, I was going to have to become a coder. There are no longer dialogs with text fields that make coding simple evaluations and variable programming easy. It's actual programming now, and I couldn't be less happy.

Above: The MX 2004 Actions Panel. Sure, it looks kind of familiar, but where are all the text fields that make it so easy not only to use - but to teach students how this all works...

Above: The MX Actions Panel. Same movie, same actions, same button. Notice the easy to use text fields, and some of these fields actually have drop down menus to make life even easier! (of course, not pictured here, but trust me, they do exist)

So, the Actions panel is now really targeted at programmers. Once again, all the basic actions were re-organized, and I had to spend a lot of time hunting around to find actions I've used for years. Wheee.

For designers, Macromedia did move a lot of common actions into a new palette called "Behaviors" - which brings it right in line with Fireworks and Dreamweaver. It took me a while to get used to going to the Behavior panel for some basic stuff instead of going to the Actions panel - and it's seriously slowed down my workflow. If you are a Flash veteran, be ready to spend some time ramping back up to speed.

I also found the Behaviors panel concept to be a little condescending toward designers - its like telling designers to sit at the card table until they learn to program, then they can use the adult Action panel. I think taking some of the usability out of the Action panel to create a context-sensitive Behavior panel that splits a lot of Actions over two panels is a huge step backwards.

Above: Applying a behavior to a button - I'm not even sure if I need to place the name in quotes or not - this is really frustrating for someone used to a little more control and feedback.

Above: This is the behaviors Panel after adding a movie clip control behavior. You have a cute little drop down menu that allows you to select what activates the button. By the way, actions that are basically the same as behaviors placed in Flash MX do not appear in this panel when buttons or keyframes containing the actions are selected. However, these behaviors do show up in the Actions panel.

From a designer's perspective, now I need two panels for a lot of Actions I use, one is no longer context-sensitive and friendly (and requires me to know a lot more about Action Script) and the other is to some degree, an incomplete tool set. It's annoying, it screwed me up, and I'm seriously unhappy with the entire Action scene in MX 2004. It might have been less of a blow had my version of Studio MX 2004 come with an ActionScript manual, but no - just a book of tutorials.

Granted, some things that helped usability remain in the Actions panel, such as the target finder and it does have code hints that make life easier, but for the most part, designers are going to find that their productivity is going to take a massive hit right out of the gate.

Note to Macromedia: In the next release, please put this back. Maybe there is some magic way to reset this - but without a manual, I can't figure it out.

On a More Positive Note...

Aside from the Actions panel, the rest of Flash MX 2004 has proved to be an excellent upgrade.

There are new Timeline effects hanging out under the Insert menu that quickly apply effects such as expand, explode, blur and drop shadow to symbols or shapes. Some of the effects are a little on the silly side (read: explode), but some are flat-out handy. Distribute Duplicate builds several duplicates of a shape or symbol, and using horizontal and vertical offsets, rotation, linear or exponential scaling, alpha and color changes and varying the number of duplicates can result in some subtle and pleasing effects (depending on what shape you wish to duplicate). However, goofing around with Flash, I did manage to totally freak it out by making too many duplicates of a complicated symbol, so I'd recommend taking things slowly and saving often.

The Transition and Transform effects are fairly straightforward methods for making simple transitions (wipes and fades) and transformations by using the same dialog window that all the effects share. Users can play with settings, update the preview, tweak their settings and then build animations without much effort. Personally, I think its just as easy to build transformations and transitions directly in the timeline using tweens, but the timeline effects should make some things easier for new users.

I have to admit, while some of these effects are interesting, there is about to be an explosion of exploding logos, duplicating logos and various other tacky uses of timeline effects hitting a computer screen near you.

Drawing, Graphics and Layout

The drawing tools are slightly updated, with the addition of a slick little Polystar tool. The Polystar is simple to use, just change the radius (or point size) and the number of sides, and you get a sweet little star or polygon on the stage. With a little practice, you can make some pretty interesting shapes, like my hairy stop stop, which brings me to my next point.

Above: new stroke effects are easy to make - this is a sign to let everyone know the furry hat thing is over.

Above: cool guides that pop up around a selected object as you drag it around - making alignment a snap.

The stroke engine in MX 2004 is revamped and excellent, allowing custom strokes to be made quickly and easily. The hatched effect is quite lovely, and can make for some lovely animations with a little patience.

There are also some extremely helpful enhancements to "snapping" which makes alignment and layout a much more pleasant experience. Guides pop around shapes and aid you in snapping bits and pieces together. I was shocked to see them pop up when goofing around with my stop sign, and wildly surprised and delighted to see them when revising an old project. Whoever added that feature deserves a medal.

Now, the real sweet feature in MX 2004 is the PDF and Illustrator import capabilities. Out of all the PDFs, EPS files and native AI format files I imported, only one failed, and granted, that was a locked PDF I swiped from a press CD (from another developer). This is the one feature that has been missing for a good long time in Flash, and it's a very welcome new addition.

It even has some interesting methods for handling complex Illustrator effects - converting fun things like meshes into instant PNG files in the library. I'm quite impressed with the import capabilities of MX 2004, and if it wasn't for the Action panel fiasco, I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.

Summary

So, is MX 2004 worth an upgrade? Honestly, I'm not sure. The EPS import is nice (actually, superb), but I'm seriously not thrilled with the changes to the Action panel and the new Behaviors panel. Although some workflow is going to take a boost from the import capabilities and the slick new guides, I'm having a rough time adjusting to creating new Actions. (and remember, some folks consider me good at this...)

So, I think my present judgment is as follows: if you are a designer, you might want to seriously consider waiting on the upgrade. If coding is not your cup of tea, and you are already comfortable in a Flash 5 or MX environment, hold off on the upgrade for awhile.

On the other hand, it does seem to be a good developer's tool now - robust scripting support is definitely a nice addition for coder types.

I'm going to give Flash MX 2004 a 3 bounce rating - and that third bounce is almost entirely due to the new import capabilites. Without this new feature, and the fact that it works on pretty much every file I tested - I would have given Flash MX 2004 2 bounces without thinking twice.

Maybe the rating will be changed due to the enhanced video support in MX 2004 - which I'll examine thoroughly in another article coming soon. Until then, I'd like to hear your thoughts in the forum...

- Joel Davies

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