I wrote this response on a blog page today and thought I'd publish it here on my blog.... Basically people were "slating" ;) Flash as a technology, and saying why do I care if its supported in my Ipad browser...
I replied....
Dont blame the toolbox, blame the craftsmen. You're comparing a web-browser with a programming toolkit - they aren't the same. A browser is designed to show a multitude of content types - thats it. If one manufacturer decides to restrict this, then you have to consider the commercial reasons why. The reality of all this is a hidden agenda. Its down to money and app sales. Apple get a hell of a lot of money in aftersales from its devices via the appstore. Why would anyone buy an app if they can go on a web-page and use a free Flash based one. Thats what all this Flash issue is actually about.
Being a Flash developer I have a broader experience of using Flash commercially - so I'm uniquely positioned to comment. You should have your opinion, but I think you need to consider the bigger picture - hopefully after reading this, you and others might see it a little differently.
People forget that Flash is a broad programming platform - not just something that you create banner ads with, and such implementations for advertising and rubbish music intro pages are only a small part of its overall capabilities and a very poor way of using the technology.
Its a software tool like any other - It can be used fullscreen as an app, or for small components on a normal web-page. Its main strength is its amazing array of rich media support. If you want to build a lush usable interface brimming with streaming HD video, animation, artwork, mp3 playback - nothing beats it for ease of development - thats why its so popular.
Try making a browser based game or rich content application with all that using PHP and HTML 5 utilising webcam functionality, HD video, animations and the sort of high quality typographical design that you'd see in a conventional magazine - very hard with other programming toolkits, but all possible with Flash to do yourself.
If you use anything else you'll be rebuilding the wheel all the time and need a massive team of people. Similarly you could also try Java, .Net or Silverlight and after you've built your web multimedia super app - but it would look like a web app like all the others with no professional design finess.
Then try the same thing in Flash - you'll soon see why its a world beater - you'll build it in a fraction of the time -And you have pixel perfect (and even fraction of a pixel accuracy on your creation) thats why its used by so many people.
I've never had Flash apps crash on me - I've been building them commercially for 10 years now - such things are always down to bad programming - or unstable hardware in a machine - or too many badly designed (written) Flash applications running on the same web page on a machine without much Ram.
So if you want to make your perfect home automation Ipad app yourself - good luck using Apple's programming kit - I know I'd rather build it in Flash in a fraction of the time and then wait for a decent tablet with full PC functionality and a proper browser that shows ALL web content Flash or otherwise. Which lets face it will happen over the next 6 months in the same way the Iphone reinvigorated the touchscreen phone market.
So putting a ban on Flash content is like saying "we won't allow you to watch .wmv videos." "divx" or worse "jpegs are not allowed".
Technology is about opening boundaries for displaying content to everyone, which is what a real fully featured web browser should do. It shouldn't matter whatever tools they wish to use to create their content.
Its like digital "free speech", why shouldn't you be able to see ALL web content - Java, Silverlight, Flash, Video, Pictures everything. I don't want companies forcing me to see and buy their stuff only.
This unfortunately is something Apple won't ever allow to happen, which in the long run is why they'll fail, because after the masses buy it, they'll get fed up with seeing "plugin not available" on their favourite websites and start liking the whole form factor of a tablet, and decide to go buy a more open PC or Mac based tablet instead in a couple of years.
About Me
- derekcfoley
- Derek lives in Wall Street, Lee-Over-Sands, St Osyth. A mobile and event software/product designer by trade - and is keen to improve things for all the local residents - and has lived in this idyllic location since 2009.
Friday, 29 January 2010
Monday, 4 January 2010
FreeSpin3D for Flash CS3 & CS4
During a R&D session today I've been looking into something I discovered over the christmas 2009 break while being forced to watch parental TV choices - Having used computers and video games since the age of 12 I find passive TV as entertainment rots my brain after a while. Thank god for laptops and an empty mind numbed by TV, which started over the xmas break to make work seem appealing in terms of stimulation.
Once of the more interesting things I researched was a nice 3d plugin for Flash, which promises no more number crunching with tough 3d tools like Papervision, and having to produce raw objects with code... which to the layman is basically like pulling teeth to make a basic wheel, or making a human being after first having to mess about designing all the DNA first, rather than just animating a clay figure.
FreeSpin3d is a cool plugin to extend Flash with real 3d game object capabilities that even enables import of standard 3DStudio .3ds files (with a 4000 polygon limit of course). So the theory is that you can build your models, then import them for use, it can even do tweens on the timeline for more simple animations, or of course the more attractive feature I'd be using - proper Actionscript scripted control for game & interface UI interactivity... which in my industry is exactly what I've been after - having been stuck with previous plugins like Flashloaded's 3DEnvironment, which wasn't real 3d, just a collection of flat flash movieclips rotating in a psuedo3d environment (like Doom almost). You can see an example of my experiments with this here on my website http://www.derekfoley.com
At the moment I'm just reading about FreeSpin3D. Seems promising so far, but like FlashLoaded's documentation the lack of Actionscript examples for the features they provide in the simplistic component parameters as usual like 3dEnvironment really lets it down - meaning it potentially could be a tough learning curve - and a risk for me to get our company Red Digital to invest in as a tool to use.
But what other alternatives are around? Papervision3D, whilst being very good requires a computer science and mathematics degree to operate past the most basic examples, so this could be good for us. Like most plugins, its going to be hard to make it work with client requests e.g. "can you make it do this".
The only other alternative is to build my own raw 3d code with pure maths... so this is definately attractive as its a big time saver and could lead us to provide some nice interactive menus and interfaces in a real 3d interface for a change rather than how I've done it before for our "Du" and "Nakheel" Holopro interfaces.
Once of the more interesting things I researched was a nice 3d plugin for Flash, which promises no more number crunching with tough 3d tools like Papervision, and having to produce raw objects with code... which to the layman is basically like pulling teeth to make a basic wheel, or making a human being after first having to mess about designing all the DNA first, rather than just animating a clay figure.
FreeSpin3d is a cool plugin to extend Flash with real 3d game object capabilities that even enables import of standard 3DStudio .3ds files (with a 4000 polygon limit of course). So the theory is that you can build your models, then import them for use, it can even do tweens on the timeline for more simple animations, or of course the more attractive feature I'd be using - proper Actionscript scripted control for game & interface UI interactivity... which in my industry is exactly what I've been after - having been stuck with previous plugins like Flashloaded's 3DEnvironment, which wasn't real 3d, just a collection of flat flash movieclips rotating in a psuedo3d environment (like Doom almost). You can see an example of my experiments with this here on my website http://www.derekfoley.com
At the moment I'm just reading about FreeSpin3D. Seems promising so far, but like FlashLoaded's documentation the lack of Actionscript examples for the features they provide in the simplistic component parameters as usual like 3dEnvironment really lets it down - meaning it potentially could be a tough learning curve - and a risk for me to get our company Red Digital to invest in as a tool to use.
But what other alternatives are around? Papervision3D, whilst being very good requires a computer science and mathematics degree to operate past the most basic examples, so this could be good for us. Like most plugins, its going to be hard to make it work with client requests e.g. "can you make it do this".
The only other alternative is to build my own raw 3d code with pure maths... so this is definately attractive as its a big time saver and could lead us to provide some nice interactive menus and interfaces in a real 3d interface for a change rather than how I've done it before for our "Du" and "Nakheel" Holopro interfaces.
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