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For media artists, there is little middle ground with Adobe Flash - usually you either know it or you don't. Unlike a program such as Adobe Illustrator, which is easy to jump in as needed without mastering it, Flash is a complex program that has long roots based on an unorthodox animation interface. It works unlike any other program you may know. Time learning it is well spent, because the program has an impressive array of powerful features, including an entire scripting language. But is the new version, Flash CS3 Professional, more accessible for film and video producers? We'll look at it from that angle and focus on the new video options. (Flash CS3 Professional is currently available within the following Creative Suite 3 packages: Design Premium, Web Standard, Web Premium, Production Premium, and Master Collection.)
One of the best parts of Flash is the separate video encoder called Adobe Flash CS3 Video Encoder. Here, you can pull in a batch of videos, and the program will churn out high-quality, optimized FLV files that are ready to be incorporated into a Flash project or directly posted on the Web. There is a slight catch with the encoder: The higher-quality encoding options typically require a higher version of the Flash Player. Time marches on, and it's good to see the advancements; however, not everyone out there will be able to enjoy the new Flash-based features you include in your FLV files. You really need to look at your target market to get a sense for the version of Flash they likely have and how aggressively they upgrade.
As of this writing, we are on Flash Player 9. Last year, when a new version of Flash arrived, a new codec was introduced called On2 VP6, which worked with Flash 8 but not Flash 7. Flash 7 was more widespread last year, so back then, I throttled down and encoded files using the older and more compatible Sorenson Spark encoder preset for maximum compatibility. Now Flash 8 is dominant, so it's a safer bet to use the stronger On2 VP6 encoder. Just as an example, I recently converted some QuickTime (QT) video files that all started around the 80MB range for a...