There's something to be said about Flash:
- 99% adoption rate
- Single runtime
- Lightweight development tools
- Flexible architecture
- Powerful code language
- Media support
We know that Flash's high adoption rate is a big strong point, but there are
many reasons why I still develop for Flash.
A single runtime removes the headache of producing a working product that works
half of the time. In almost every case, if it works on my machine, it works on
yours.
FlashDevelop is, in my opinion, one of the best code environments for any
language, ever. If you prefer, there are also many other lightweight or simple
ways to get a SWF compiled.
Flash's architecture is so flexible. What you see is what you get. There's
something to be said about designing your own architecture, however you like
it, and being able to literally copy and paste from After Effects, Illustrator,
Photoshop and other apps and get to tweening or coding in a few minutes.
Actionscript 3 is very powerful, and a joy to work with.
Flash supports all kinds of media. Not every format, but everything you need
for a game or immersive web experience.
HTML/CSS/Javascript runs differently on each browser, and is a pain at times to
convert from designs to a working site. PHP benefits from being the same in
each browser, but must be tested from a server, so the development cycle can
take longer. Silverlight and other plugins are not as easy to use or as
flexible. This may change, but it is common for plugins to use an architecture
like Flex -- components and skinning.
I think Flash has competition on the video front, as HTML5 threatens market
share and Silverlight offers robust DRM and streaming options, and it faces
competition on the interactive front with Unity3D. My hope is that Adobe will
be able to improve the performance of the player, in particular it's 3D and
graphics acceleration performance. It's a bum deal if we need to post system
requirements for accessing certain web content, but its the way things must go.
With OS X and Windows 7 both implementing 3D acceleration in the shell, I hope
that adequate 3D acceleration is becoming more ubiquitous.
I don't mean to communicate that you were speaking against Flash in any way,
but I did feel compelled to describe several reasons why Flash is a major
player in the field, and why I don't believe a plug-in like Silverlight or
workflow like HTML/CSS/PHP/Javascript is going to unseat it. There are
advantages to every approach, but I laugh when people insist that Javascript
can do everything Flash can -- as if it were a full replacement. Not only is
the time investment from a design comp to a live product much faster for most
animated content, I wouldn't begin to consider Javascript as a replacement for
the projects I have which combine Flash video, Box2D physics and Away3D
rendering.
The largest detractors for Flash development have been SEO and mobile
compatibility, but practically every mobile platform (except Apple) is about to
receive Flash 10.1, which means Away3D for the WebOS, Blackberry, Windows
Mobile, Android or Symbian user.
We'll see. Anyway, Flash could stand to run faster, and C++ may be an
interesting source to draw from. I've seen Quake running in Alchemy, so it may
be cool if more features were ported over from legacy C++ or into PixelBender
extensions
On Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:26:25 -0800, delfeld <[email protected]> wrote:
> Rob,
> Flash development works, and Away3D ends up being the best
> implementation for 3D in Flash at this point, since Papervision has
> suffered a programmer breakup.
> I want to mention that all Adobe products will be sharing the same
> code by 2013 - at least, that was the goal. It may help to look to
> PS, AI, and Adobe PDF to see what functionality will be coming down
> the pipe. It might be best to design with an "optimize" flag, or
> "optimizeForFlash", and have separate classes/methods handling what
> happens during a Matrix call, how to create a Vector, etc. That would
> seem to be easier to maintain if/when Adobe shifts it's code again.
> Also, Box2D started in the C++ world, and was ported to Flash AS3. It
> may be an idea to start looking at other programming languages. Apple
> has recently threatened Flash (again) with using HTML5, and Microsoft
> Silverlight is the mainstay of Netflix and other major businesses. It
> is conceivable that the Adobe world will be getting smaller in the
> future. And, fyi, Ton Roosendaal of Blender said that he refuses to
> use Adobe products . . . don't know why, didn't ask; but Blender is
> part of THE free-ware pipe, and it may be good to have conversation
> with him about possible collaboration and the future of interactive
> 3D.
> later,
> N
> On Feb 4, 7:27 pm, Rob Bateman <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Hey Ronen
>> you're right in that Away3D 3.4 doesn't use a lot of Flash 10 only features.
>> However, two of the biggest additions in Flash 10 was the perspective
>> correct texture mapping and shader calculations using pixel bender, of which
>> 3.4 does attempt to take full advantage.
>> Away3D Lite is almost a demonstration of the engine Away3D will become, but
>> as any programmer will know, it is a lot easier (and quicker) to write
>> something for a new player from scratch than it is to adapt what is already
>> there without breaking functionality!
>> We have a lot of plans for the Flash 10 version of Away3D, so i wouldn't
>> expect the lack of Vector use or native Matrix3D methods to be the case for
>> much longer.
>> atb
>> Rob
>> On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 10:54 PM, Michael Iv <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > But Vector data type is used , and Shader class in Dot3BitmapMaterialF10
>> > On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 12:30 AM, Ronen Tsamir
<[email protected]>wrote:
>> >> Hi All
>> >> I just now move from PV3D to Away3D, because the Player 10 version.
>> >> I download the [away3d_3_4_0.zip]
>> >> If I understand correctly this is the Player 10 version. but when I
>> >> look at the AS code, I cant find any use of the Vector3D, Matrix3D or
>> >> drawTriangles.
>> >> so I don't sure if I work with the right Player 10 Version?
>> >> Any Help.....
>> > --
>> > Michael Ivanov ,Programmer
>> > Neurotech Solutions Ltd.
>> > Flex|Flash |Air |Games|OS|
>> > Tel-0526237969
>> > [email protected]
>> > [email protected]
>> --
>> Rob Bateman
>> Flash Development & Consultancy
>> [email protected]
