Re: FLASH: FlashForward review

[william chamberlin]

on 4/1/00 10:24 PM, Tom Green at

tgreen17home [dot] com

 wrote:


> I saw a few of the initial posts regarding FlashForward and it made me

> wonder if I had beamed into another plane of of existence.

> 

> As a guy that has to continue building a solid multimedia school, just

> the sheer breadth and depth of the work shown and the talent presenting

> and attending scared the "beejeebbers" out of me. This is a good thing

> because I can now rationalize the ratcheting up of the intensity level

> among the faculty and the students. I have circulated, for instance, the

> links of the Festival award winners to the faculty and the students with

> a reminder of where we have to be � Fast .

> 

> Only one session , sound, went down the toilet simply because the

> presenters didn't have a clue regarding their audience. Mind you,

> watching the "flower child" walk to the front of the stage, turn his

> back on the audience and just stare at his site while is confrere

> stumbled through his patter was simply hilarious. The session was saved

> when someone came out of the audience and bailed out Linda, who was

> trying (and failing) to get things back on track. So much for

> friendship, huh Linda?

> 

> The guy that ranted about the 3-D session missed the point. The

> presenter showed his work using the tools and it turns out that Swift3D

> kicks out a better quality product. As for the observation that he was a

> "shill" for the Swift3D guys, I don't see how that could be when he only

> got into it for the last five or six minutes of his 45 minute

> presentation. I will agree it was weak ( Tell you what, you walk out in

> front of an audience of that size and see how "slick" you are. I've done

> it. It ain't a breeze.)  but it was the first time I have ever seen the

> tools placed up against each other.

> 

> The double ramp out of Flash 5 ( Conference and Party) was quite well

> done. The introduction of a pen tool, with real handles, the move

> towards palettes and collapsible windows on the PeeCee were nice

> additions, to name a few. I, for one, was blown away by the introduction

> of widgets. It surprised me how many people just didn't see the profound

> implications of these "applets". I suspect hat very shortly after the

> release of V5 a ton of these gems are going to be available on a lot of

> sites. They are simply too elegant to ignore or, as some have done on

> this list, trivialize. Macromedia is right on target with these but then

> again, that shouldn't be to surprising. Their marketing and product

> development gets slicker with every new release. Mind you I didn't have

> the heart to ask the Macromedians if they were going to turn out a V5

> manual that didn't suck.

> 

> As an educator, the conference gave me a unique opportunity to meet some

> of the top minds in the business and ask them how they did it. I picked

> up a ton of techniques and contacts that can only serve to further the

> quality of my students and to challenge their creativity. The few

> minutes I spent off in a corner with Jeff Stein after he won his award

> were worth the price of admission. Todd's presentation on interface

> design has me taking a serious look at Freehand 9. David B.'s session on

> Optimization will be showing up in my classes this week. Josh Ulm's talk

> about his Remedi Site gave me a great insight into how he works. I also

> liked how he sorta follows what I have been teaching for years- the best

> way to manage complexity is from a position of simplicity. Hillman's

> chat regarding his work was quite succinct and focussed on the why and

> not the "whizzy" stuff.

> 

> Hated the RealAudio session. The guy must have been injecting triple

> caffeinated quadruple espressos directly into his carotid. Adobe has a

> neat product but what really struck me was not the product's features

> but Adobe's inability to articulate just where it fit into the scheme of

> things. Is it another tool that produces  Flash assets ? Is it a stand

> alone product? I expected more and they didn't deliver.

> 

> As for the crowd, I would tend to agree with JD's observation about the

> energy. It was infectious and I suspect it is this energy that drives

> the work in the business. Being a smoker I got to hang out in the

> "Cancer ward" and watch the serious amount of networking and recruiting

> that was going on.

> 

> The funniest event that occurred was on Monday night. Adobe was handing

> out copies of Go Live and the mothership had a sign offering the DW3/FW3

> package to anyone wishing to trade in their Adobe software. You should

> have been there watching the conference organizers go ballistic and

> attempting to push through the crowd to rip down the mothership's sign.

> Quite amusing.

> 

> Finally, I am not an apologist for Linda.com but you should cut her some

> slack. This was first and even the guys from Macromedia were blown away

> by the fact over 2,500 people showed up. I believe it was Burgess who

> commented that they average only 1,500 for UCON. I don't think anyone

> who showed up, from organizers and  presenters to attendees expected

> those kinds of numbers. As for the individual who whined about the lack

> of trade booths , I am willing to bet there are a serious number of

> companies who are just kicking themselves that they weren't there. You

> can be damn sure, based on the numbers at this one, they will be there

> in force at future shows.

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> flasher is generously supported by...

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> flashforward2000 and The Flash Film Festival

> "The World�s Premier Flash Solutions Conference and Expo"

> March 27-29, Nob Hill Masonic Center, San Francisco, California

> 

> -Register before Feb 25 and save $200!!-- www.flashforward2000.com

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

>

http://www.chinwag.com/flasher or email helpchinwag [dot] com

> 

> 

I couldn't have said it better myself

I was so embarased by the sound men that I had to leave.

I know it was the first show but someone should have reviewed

the structure of the lessons. It was borderline absurd.

cheers!

---

���

---

bil

http://www.bilchamberlin.com/

williamchamberlinearthlink [dot] net (mailto:williamchamberlinearthlink [dot] net)

flasher is generously supported by...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     flashforward2000 and The Flash Film Festival

  "The World�s Premier Flash Solutions Conference and Expo"

 March 27-29, Nob Hill Masonic Center, San Francisco, California


-Register before Feb 25 and save $200!!-- www.flashforward2000.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

http://www.chinwag.com/flasher or email

helpchinwag [dot] com