Re: FLASH: The Benefits of Freehand?

[John Dowdell]

FreeHand complements Flash in many ways. I'm not sure what you're looking

for in particular, but here are quick notes:


--  FreeHand is a general design tool for multiple output formats. The more

design work you do in FreeHand, the greater the flexibility you have in

eventual destination.


--  Multiple pages enable things like quick comps of web sites. You can

drag pages on the pasteboard, resize them, print as-is, export to HTML,

send elements as SWF, take elements into a print tool like Photoshop, etc.

    Multiple pages are a key differentiating factor from other design

tools. They let you do things you can't do otherwise.


--  For some types of drawing, Bezier tools help. Flash's own drawing is

often much faster, and many people are hobbled by a Bezier-only mindset.

But the snapping and precision drawing of a Bezier Pen can complement the

drawing you do in Flash already.


--  The special effects can help in Flash work. The live perspective grids

in FreeHand 9 can be particularly useful for Flash work... there's nothing

else like this. Mirroring, graphics hose, sketch filters, graphics-on-path,

live envelopes... the special effects complement what you can already do in

Flash.


--  The automation functions can also help in some Flash work. Aside from a

Symbol Library, and the real updateable Styles, the graphic

search'n'replace can aid in changing large sets of assets quickly. (The

text functions are also very intensive, which can help when you're

multipublishing to HTML, PDF/print.)


--  Autotracing is best-of-breed. You can magicwand certain areas to trace

in a variety of ways. "Simplify" can relax a curve in manner complementary

to Flash's own "Optimize Curves" command.


--  The SWF export is on its third generation. Now it includes interactive

SWF export, printing control and direct transfer of symbol libraries, as

well as the previous symbol recognition, gradient recognition, "Release to

Layers" and the rest. The animation effects are particularly interesting...

builds and trails are very easy to achieve.


The key benefit is that multiple pages and multiple exports give you great

speed and flexibility in general design. You don't need to tweak the final

deliverable files until late in the design process.



It's great that Illustrator 9 is following the example of FreeHand 7

here... I was a bit concerned last year when they were denying and ignoring

the SWF format*, but am glad they added the FlashWriter features to their

new release themselves. FreeHand 9 gives Adobe a lot more, ah,

"inspiration" to catch up on in future releases. ;-)

*

<http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/199901/19990118.sho

wcase.html>




jd








John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US

Search technotes: http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/

Offlist email risks capture by the spam filters. I may not see your

email if it's not on the list. Private one-on-one email options are

available via Priority Access: http://www.macromedia.com/support/




flasher is generously supported by...

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

 the new Flasher list books section, check it out

   at http://www.chinwag.com/flasher/books.shtml

 send suggestions for inclusions to

helpchinwag [dot] com

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

To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

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

helpchinwag [dot] com