RE: FLASH: ANN: Generator 2 (is: Gen intro)

[John Dowdell]

At 5:14 AM 5/23/0, Jefferis wrote:

> John,  can you give me an example of how this would work exactly with

> Flash? Do you have 3 Flash.swfs that are interchangeable like rotating

> banner ads, or what? Or does it create brand new Flash graphics... I

> don't understand how any program could do that...


Actually, it's indeed closer to the latter... Macromedia Generator creates

customized Flash files and other images on demand.


Have you ever used a mail-merge program in a word-processor? You start out

with a letter as your template, and you identify the name and address and

such as variable fields. Then you feed in some type of data source, such as

a list of addresses. The mail-merge program then prints a bunch of

individual letters, each time applying a new set of data to the template.


This is similar to what Macromedia Generator does. You create templates in

the Macromedia Flash authoring tool, identifying replaceable text variables

with curly braces ("Hello, {firstName} {lastName}, how are you today?" eg).

You choose a data source to use with this template, such as user input, or

a cookie value, or a database query, or some type of computed value. When

the file is requested this data is merged into the template, producing a

customized graphic.


Text is one variable, but you can set graphics as variables, or sounds,

color transforms, movie clips... these can all be changed by the runtime

data. In addition to replacing variables in the template, you can insert

new clips under data-driven control, or create arrays of clips, or plot

graphs, or make custom lists, or transform clips, more. And in addition to

generating data-fed SWFs on demand, you can also create customized GIFs,

JPEGs, PNG and QuickTime files.



Now, some of this you can do in the Macromedia Flash authoring environment

itself... you can make a movie that pulls data with "LoadVariables" and

configures itself accordingly. That would be a client-side pull operation,

and it certainly addresses some design needs. Macromedia Generator is a

server-push technology, and it has more flexibility in data input, in

creation operations, and in output format. It also tends to be faster to

deliver to the visitor, and easier to develop for the designer. Client-side

"pull" generation and server-side "push" generation overlap a bit, but each

also has unique areas of use.



In some ways Macromedia Generator is a gnarly concept -- it seems

unbelievable that customized graphics can be created so quickly on request.

It's also abstract, and can be hard to realize from words alone. If this

area could be profitable for you, then please do take some time to explore

the Generator Gallery on the Macromedia site, and download the free

authoring extensions so you can create your own template files. Seeing it

is easier than listening to me type.... ;-)


The free 30-day trial of the Developer Edition is a good way to show

clients how their sites can be *both* personalized and pretty... if you're

already working with ColdFusion or ASP or other solutions then you can

apply the same personalization to graphics that you're already doing to

text.


The Developer Edition can also be useful even if it's never installed on a

server... it can be used as an automation tool for regular Flash design,

where you need to merge data into files in a quick and easy way.


Could be a couple of ways to use this new set of abilities... I hope the

above background is of use in your work.



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...

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

World Animation Celebration - Big Internet Animation Pow Wow Discount Offer


Register before May 25 mention flasher and save 25%!! www.wacfest.com


Be discovered, get a job or have your web series picked up.  A big talent search for Shockwave

and Flash animators is happening May 30-June 4 in Hollywood.  Featuring Rob Burgess, Matt

Groening, Brad Bird and more.   www.wacfest.com

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

To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

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

helpchinwag [dot] com