Courtesy of Adobe.
Flash Professional 8 is the industry’s most advanced authoring environment for creating interactive
websites, digital experiences and mobile content. With Flash Professional 8, creative professionals design
and author interactive content rich with video, graphics, and animation for truly unique, engaging websites,
presentations or mobile content. A major product release for Macromedia, Flash Professional 8 has many
brand new features including: amazing graphic effects, integrated and stand-alone video encoding
complete with support for alpha transparency, high-quality text rendering with advanced anti-aliasing
control, improved text tools, and a new video plug-in to export Flash Video (FLV) files from professional
video products.
websites, digital experiences and mobile content. With Flash Professional 8, creative professionals design
and author interactive content rich with video, graphics, and animation for truly unique, engaging websites,
presentations or mobile content. A major product release for Macromedia, Flash Professional 8 has many
brand new features including: amazing graphic effects, integrated and stand-alone video encoding
complete with support for alpha transparency, high-quality text rendering with advanced anti-aliasing
control, improved text tools, and a new video plug-in to export Flash Video (FLV) files from professional
video products.
Expressiveness
With the release of Flash
Professional 8, interactive
content designers can express
their creativity in incredible
new ways.
Professional 8, interactive
content designers can express
their creativity in incredible
new ways.
Filters
Create more compelling designs with
built-in filter effects like drop shadow,
blur, glow, bevel, gradient bevel, and
color adjust. Filters are visual effects
applied to MovieClips and text fields
and are natively supported and
rendered in real time by Flash Player.
Create more compelling designs with
built-in filter effects like drop shadow,
blur, glow, bevel, gradient bevel, and
color adjust. Filters are visual effects
applied to MovieClips and text fields
and are natively supported and
rendered in real time by Flash Player.
Blend modes
Going well beyond what other design
tools offer, Flash 8 Professional offers
run-time control over blend modes,
allowing graphical effects to be
composited for fully dynamic user
interactivity.
Going well beyond what other design
tools offer, Flash 8 Professional offers
run-time control over blend modes,
allowing graphical effects to be
composited for fully dynamic user
interactivity.
FlashType
A revolutionary new font rendering
engine that provides clear, highestquality
font rendering, FlashType makes
small fonts look amazingly clear and
greatly improves readability. Choose
from several options for font rendering,
each optimized for different use cases.
Optimize font rendering with the new
custom anti-aliasing feature.
A revolutionary new font rendering
engine that provides clear, highestquality
font rendering, FlashType makes
small fonts look amazingly clear and
greatly improves readability. Choose
from several options for font rendering,
each optimized for different use cases.
Optimize font rendering with the new
custom anti-aliasing feature.
Bitmap caching
Supports unneeded re-rendering of
vector objects by simply flagging an
object as a bitmap. Even though the
object gets cached as a bitmap, the
vector data is still maintained so, at any
point, the object can be converted back
into a vector again.
Supports unneeded re-rendering of
vector objects by simply flagging an
object as a bitmap. Even though the
object gets cached as a bitmap, the
vector data is still maintained so, at any
point, the object can be converted back
into a vector again.
Custom easing control
Easily, intuitively, and precisely control
the velocity of animated objects through
an intuitive graph that provides
independent control of position, rotation,
scale, color, and filters.
Easily, intuitively, and precisely control
the velocity of animated objects through
an intuitive graph that provides
independent control of position, rotation,
scale, color, and filters.
Improved text tool
Resize a text field using new, improved
text handles. Text fields can be resized
by grabbing any of the four handles.
Resize a text field using new, improved
text handles. Text fields can be resized
by grabbing any of the four handles.
Enhanced stroke properties
Select from a variety of cap and join
types. Apply a gradient to a stroke as
well as a fill. Render stroke intersections
better with stroke hinting.
Select from a variety of cap and join
types. Apply a gradient to a stroke as
well as a fill. Render stroke intersections
better with stroke hinting.
Advanced gradient control
Tighter control over gradients such as
changing the focal point of a radial
gradient and selecting from different
overflow modes.
Tighter control over gradients such as
changing the focal point of a radial
gradient and selecting from different
overflow modes.
Video and Mobile
Flash Professional 8 offers
continued momentum to the
rapidly expanding Flash video
platform and new functionality
for mobile content developers.
continued momentum to the
rapidly expanding Flash video
platform and new functionality
for mobile content developers.
Higher-quality video codec
Flash Player 8 adds a new, far more
advanced video codec. This codec
provides superior video quality that is
competitive with today's best video
codecs at a much smaller file size.
Flash Player 8 adds a new, far more
advanced video codec. This codec
provides superior video quality that is
competitive with today's best video
codecs at a much smaller file size.
Alpha channel support
Support for a real alpha channel
at run-time. This revolutionary new
capability provides the unique ability
to overlay video composited with a
transparent or semi-transparent alpha
channel over other Flash content.
Create dynamic presentations such
as splashing water, smoke and fire
effects, as well as presenters shot
in front of a blue screen.
Support for a real alpha channel
at run-time. This revolutionary new
capability provides the unique ability
to overlay video composited with a
transparent or semi-transparent alpha
channel over other Flash content.
Create dynamic presentations such
as splashing water, smoke and fire
effects, as well as presenters shot
in front of a blue screen.
Advanced video encoding options
The advanced video encoder, available
within the Flash authoring tool, as a
plugin to professional video editing tools,
or as a stand-alone tool, provides
advanced encoding options that will
allow developers to optimize quality
and file size of video content. The
standalone video encoder also includes
batch-processing capabilities to encode
multiple video files at once.
The advanced video encoder, available
within the Flash authoring tool, as a
plugin to professional video editing tools,
or as a stand-alone tool, provides
advanced encoding options that will
allow developers to optimize quality
and file size of video content. The
standalone video encoder also includes
batch-processing capabilities to encode
multiple video files at once.
Video Encoder plug-in for
professional video editing tools
Export video directly to Flash from
leading professional video-editing
and encoding tools such as Avid
Xpress ®/Media Composer ®, Apple
Final Cut Pro ®, Discreet ® Cleaner ®,
and Anystream ® Agility ®.
professional video editing tools
Export video directly to Flash from
leading professional video-editing
and encoding tools such as Avid
Xpress ®/Media Composer ®, Apple
Final Cut Pro ®, Discreet ® Cleaner ®,
and Anystream ® Agility ®.
Interactive mobile device emulator
Build content once and test it on a wide
variety of devices using preset profiles
for every mobile device that supports
Flash Lite™. Configure the testing profile
to include multiple devices. Filter the
supported device list by target content
type to easily determine which handsets
support screen savers, wallpapers, inbrowser
content, stand-alone player,
and so on. Reduce development time
and simplify planning for delivery.
Build content once and test it on a wide
variety of devices using preset profiles
for every mobile device that supports
Flash Lite™. Configure the testing profile
to include multiple devices. Filter the
supported device list by target content
type to easily determine which handsets
support screen savers, wallpapers, inbrowser
content, stand-alone player,
and so on. Reduce development time
and simplify planning for delivery.
Improved actions panel
By combining the new script assist
feature with the new target language
drop down in the actions panel, it is
now far simpler to use different versions
of the ActionScript language. For
understanding the syntax used by Flash
Lite 1.1 better, the new Script Assist
feature will do most of the work for you.
These improvements add up to a far
better development experience for
mobile content developers new to
Flash Lite.
By combining the new script assist
feature with the new target language
drop down in the actions panel, it is
now far simpler to use different versions
of the ActionScript language. For
understanding the syntax used by Flash
Lite 1.1 better, the new Script Assist
feature will do most of the work for you.
These improvements add up to a far
better development experience for
mobile content developers new to
Flash Lite.
User Experience
Flash Professional 8 includes
a major focus on usability
enhancements so developers
can work more efficiently without
the application getting in the way.
a major focus on usability
enhancements so developers
can work more efficiently without
the application getting in the way.
Script Assist (formerly Normal Mode)
Normal Mode is back, only it’s much
better. Script Assist provides a visual
user interface for editing scripts that
includes automatic syntax completion
as well as descriptions for the
parameters of any given action.
Normal Mode is back, only it’s much
better. Script Assist provides a visual
user interface for editing scripts that
includes automatic syntax completion
as well as descriptions for the
parameters of any given action.
Advanced library
With multiple files open, the library for
each open file will be consolidated into
a single panel that acts like all other
panels in Flash-it stays where it's put.
Navigate between open libraries more
easily using the new drop-down list at
the top of the library to access any other
open library.
With multiple files open, the library for
each open file will be consolidated into
a single panel that acts like all other
panels in Flash-it stays where it's put.
Navigate between open libraries more
easily using the new drop-down list at
the top of the library to access any other
open library.
Object drawing model
Visualize shapes as objects by toggling
a new object drawing mode to represent
shapes as objects, along the lines
of vector drawing tools such as
Macromedia FreeHand.
Visualize shapes as objects by toggling
a new object drawing mode to represent
shapes as objects, along the lines
of vector drawing tools such as
Macromedia FreeHand.
Improved panel management
Improved panel management optimizes
workspace as the user sees fit. Group
panels together in tabbed-panel sets,
ala Dreamweaver ® and Fireworks™.
Reduce on-screen clutter by grouping
most commonly-used panels together.
Improved panel management optimizes
workspace as the user sees fit. Group
panels together in tabbed-panel sets,
ala Dreamweaver ® and Fireworks™.
Reduce on-screen clutter by grouping
most commonly-used panels together.
Stage pasteboard expansion
For projects that require large graphics
that extend far beyond the size of the
stage in Flash, view objects much
further off-stage. To expand the size of
the pasteboard, just drag an object
close to the edge and the pasteboard
will automatically grow to fit.
For projects that require large graphics
that extend far beyond the size of the
stage in Flash, view objects much
further off-stage. To expand the size of
the pasteboard, just drag an object
close to the edge and the pasteboard
will automatically grow to fit.
Undo/redo options
Switch between “object-level undo”
and “document-level undo.”
Switch between “object-level undo”
and “document-level undo.”
System Requirements
Windows ®
At least 800 MHz Intel ® Pentium ® III processor (or
equivalent), Windows ® 2000, Windows XP, 256 MB
RAM (1 GB recommended to run more than one Studio
8 product simultaneously), 1024 x 768, 16-bit display
(32-bit recommended), 710 MB available disk space
At least 800 MHz Intel ® Pentium ® III processor (or
equivalent), Windows ® 2000, Windows XP, 256 MB
RAM (1 GB recommended to run more than one Studio
8 product simultaneously), 1024 x 768, 16-bit display
(32-bit recommended), 710 MB available disk space
Macintosh ®
At least 600 MHz PowerPC ® G3, Mac OS ® X 10.3, 10.4,
256 MB RAM (1 GB recommended to run more than
one Studio 8 product simultaneously), 1024 x 768,
thousands of colors display (millions of colors
recommended), 360 MB available disk space
At least 600 MHz PowerPC ® G3, Mac OS ® X 10.3, 10.4,
256 MB RAM (1 GB recommended to run more than
one Studio 8 product simultaneously), 1024 x 768,
thousands of colors display (millions of colors
recommended), 360 MB available disk space
Sections: Technology
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