Adobe Flash is a hot
multimedia technology. Using Flash animation & programming,
graphics and interactivity can be added to a site or used to
create the whole site. Flash is a browser plug-in that boasts
a 96% installation base.
The design experts at Computer eCommerce can offer complete
sites designed in Flash but we tend to advise against this.
Having a more traditionally designed page with occasional
elements of Flash is usually a better option since you can
still then get across keywords, etc. to the search engines
which you wouldn't be able to do to the same extent with a
solely Flash-based site. The Computer eCommerce multimedia
team is composed of seasoned professionals with in-depth
Macromedia Flash experience.
What is it?
With Flash, we
create small 'movies' which are embedded into HTML pages.
Because Flash movies use vector graphics, the animations tend
to be very smooth and, if implemented correctly, should load
very quickly. In fact if done correctly, Flash panels often
load faster than their JPEG counterparts.
How does Flash work?
Flash works differently than HTML in your browser. Here is
what it consists of:
A virtual machine. This interprets and executes bytecode for
ActionScript, Flash’s scripting language. As with any managed
environment, the system uses a garbage collected memory
manager. The VM’s execution engine can be fairly slow – more
on how to work around this later in the paper.
A hierarchical frame-advancing visual object model. Flash
maintains a hierarchy of MovieClip objects (and Graphic and
Button, but those are less useful) in a layered display list,
where each object has its own frame-subdivided timeline, and
layers map onto z-order. The clips can be laid out in the IDE,
or created and rearranged from code based on exported symbols
in the library. Each has a parent, which eventually goes out
to _root.
MovieClips can also be loaded dynamically from external SWF’s
into anywhere in the hierarchy. Using media
decoders. Flash can decode and play back multiple streams of
compressed audio and video simultaneously. It has decoders for
ADPCM, MP3, and NellyMoser (for voice). For video it supports
Sorenson H.263 and Sorenson Spark.
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Because of the ubiquity of
Flash on the web, and the quality of Spark, many sites such as
Amazon are starting to use Flash for video playback instead of
the traditional Real, Windows Media, or QuickTime players.
Rendering algorithms. Flash has a set of fairly advanced
algorithms for rendering vector graphics, including lines,
splines, gradients, and antialiased, filtered bitmap fills.
Flash is a vector engine, but its support of bitmap fills
means it’s also a bitmap engine – when a bitmap is dragged
onto the stage, Flash actually creates a four-sided shape then
attaches a bitmap fill with an identity texture transform
matrix. Each shape fill can have a texture transform as well
as a simple shader for playing with the color and alpha of
texels as they are rasterized. There are many examples online
using Flash to render simple 3D objects in this way.
A framework library. Much of this is just the standard library
we would expect from any JavaScript implementation – basic
string functions, arrays, sorting, math, etc. Flash also adds
support for TCP communications (no UDP unfortunately),
asynchronous loading, XML, and more.
The File Format
The Flash file format is known as SWF (from Shockwave Flash,
pronounced “swiff”), which has gone through many revisions
over the years. SWF is a tag-based binary format designed for
streaming, with zlib compression on top to keep it small. It’s
important not to confuse Flash with SWF – while the Flash
environment has a closed FLA document format (more on this
later), and the Player is closed source code, SWF as a file
format is free and open – the spec is complete.
What can we do for you and how do we do it?
Our staff can make your ideas come to life with Flash. We can
do everything from small, simple animations, to complex
ActionScript based applications. Our multitalented team of
medical writers, illustrators, designers, and programmers is
highly skilled in all facets of print, Web design, and
animation. We combine our boundless creativity with
cutting-edge technology to humanize health information through
a host of visual mediums.
Flash has become a cornerstone of interactive web development.
We've all seen the animated intros that lead into so many
sites these days, but flash can be used for much more. Contact
us today about your next concept.
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