Digital Workshop

Adobe are moving closer towards to Javascript with their latest release of Flash, and ActionScript 3. Also many features have been added that should make it easier Flash to do Opus stuff.

Is there any plans on improving Flash export on Opus, it looks like this feature hasn't been added to for a while.

Over the coming years technology will move from CD/DVD -> Download Exe -> Online Web Media. This is already happening and I want to see Opus doing more online web stuff with Flash.

This has become the most important determinant of whether I continue to bother with Opus. I'm gradually giving up on producing Windows only exe's. With the likely dominance of Adobe AIR, Opus could be an excellent way of generating Flash material for AIR to give us genuinely cross-platform Opus publications... but it needs some development sharpish.

Where are the votes for:

Don't use Flash;

Not interested in Flash

I totally agree. Flash export is very important for my work and my customers.

The Flash export possibilities that Opus already has, were a major reason why I have bought it.

I would very appreciate every improvement of the oppurtunities in this field. I even would be glad to pay for it

T.

Like all other companies, DW has limited resources that can be applied to Opus, so there is a limit on what it can do.
It already covers a wider range of functionality than any other application I use.

If flash is really important to anyones work then it is possible that they might be using the wrong application for some of their projects.
It is risky to depend on one application for all types of development projects.

Paul

IMO Paul is right. We have a supplement to Flash and we do not currently intend to try to produce a Flash replacement. Flash already has its second tier competitor in Swish. Our aim is to provide an all round product which for some users and for some uses, is more cost-effective than Flash/Toolbook/Powerpoint. Yet in some circumstances Opus will be beaten by those applications (though increasingly fewer actually).

I also think it would be a mistake to write off Windows .exe. There are still benefits to a standalone product over Flash. Furthermore, functionality is being squeezed into Flash to try to take advantage of Air but it's ancestry as a simple web animation package will show if it isn't already. Try programming a simple button in Flash and compare that to Opus, or create an interface. Even with Air, it will become increasingly more costly (comparatively) to develop in Flash at a time when business will be feeling the pinch and look at all opportunities to save money.

Having said all of that, we obviously don't intend to ignore our customers so now we're finishing the revisions to SCORM, we will be looking at Flash support next.

So, please can those who want improvements to Flash post their specific requirements here so we can discuss them and see which people really think are important. Let's exclude video support - that's a given. But what else "needs some development sharpish".

Thanks.

Paul

One experience that I made is that customers want to use their publications online and they do not! want to install any plugins more than the Flash plugin.

Please think of users who do not speak english too. I'ts simply not possible to explain them that they have to download a "strange" unknown plugin from an english web site.

In bigger companies the admins simply say No! Then you can think about using Opus-Flex although (with some restrictions) or using another tool.

I do not see Swish as a rival to Opus too because Swish is only a less expensive (and less powerful) tool than Flash but needs a lot of programming knowledge if you want to do a little bit more than nice preloader screens and twirling text effects.

T.

First off, I would say it has to suppose at the very least the next to latest version of the Flash engine.

I would like to see Flash filter support for things like drop shadow, glows, blurs, etc.

I would like to see bullet support, variable text, hypertext, and the ability for text input.

I would like to see as many transitions as possible.

I would like to see multi-frame support.

I would like to see ActionScript 2.0 support, or as much as can reasonably possible.

I accept that I am strange, so let me get that out at the start!

I bought Opus to use as Opus, and it does an excellent job. I did not buy it at a substitute for Flash, or PowerPoint, or any other presentation-type software.

There are many things that I do that Opus does not do. I accept that. I have dozens of other specialist programs that produce the elements that Opus cannot produce, but Opus is so flexible that I have not yet found any of these elements that I cannot assimilate into and use with Opus.

There are a couple of features which I could not produce in Opus, and for which I could not find an alternative application. I simply discarded those features (and there were very few of them) and got on with my life.

Some functions might nicely meld with Opus. Others won't. I suggest that none of us users has the intimate knowledge to decide what will add to Opus and what won't. It takes people like Paul and Duncan to make decisions like that.

We all have the right, through The Wishlist, to request additions. But, for heavens sake people, please accept the umpires' practical/commercial decisions and stop flogging your personal dead horses.

Opus does what it does, and those factors are widely publicised before we buy the product. Over the years many good suggestions have been made on The Wishlist, along with some ideas that could have come from fantasy land. Some of the better, commercially viable suggestions have been added. The others haven't.

Please bear this in mind: Opus is a great product that (generally) works very well. Don't stuff it up with (i) things that can be done better outside Opus; and (ii) things which if added will cause program bloat and almost inevitably lead inefficiency and even ineffectiveness.

I did not post this so as to offend anyone, and I am sorry if I did. I just feel that some things just go on and on without being productive.

Good.

Here are some of my wanted improvements, some of which were already mentioned by bwpatrick. Copied from what Flex can't do, but what I want it to do:

Effects:
Blend Alpha Effect
Flare Effect
Texture Effect
Shadow Effect

Transitions:
3D Transitions (for page) -
Although the help file says the 3d transitions doesn't work for pages, it doesn't perform well for objects (frames, images, etc.) like it does when compiled for exe. Tried to make some Flash Flip Cards and wasn't really happy with the results.

Triggers:
Synchronisation triggers

Actions :
Print action
Show next object action
Move object to cursor action
Count words/lines actions
Clock actions
MultiFrame actions

Would like to see improvements in Triggers and Actions before Effects and Transitions.

(Did I mention Print Action?)

Edited to Add: Input Text - how did I forget about that one?

... I do not really understand what you want to tell us. This is a wish! list and not a "things that I am happy with"-list.

IMHO it is very important for every software developer to know what the customers wish! to do with the product. So what's wrong with telling it in a wish! list?

DW will decide what they will realise in future versions. We all will accept that, but please don't restrict our wishes before that.

T.

a few things I would like to do with Opus using flex-

mimic the fantastic page-turn book simulations widely used in flash pubs. I believe their action script to do this is freely available.
The ability to build a customised album which draws external images from the web-folder in which it resides, so if I have an album which displays img01.jpg img02.jpg img03.jpg... I want to be able to replace say img02.jpg in my web folder and have that change in the album, with re-publishing a flex publication.
The same ability to invoke other media files, like .mp3, which reside outside the Opus pub, but without needing a database interface or re-compilation.

Hi

Having used both Opus Flex and SwishMax2 for Flash generation, I often turn to Flex finding it easier to use and highly functional.

One feature that I found available in Swish and not in Flex is a shared object (so). The little experience I've had trying it tells me that it is a form of storing variables/values on the user's machine via the Flash player.

While other Forum colleagues have already identified new features to upgrade Flex that I would be quite happy to see implemented, IMHO, this shared object capability would be a very valuable addition.

Please consider it.

Kind Regards,

Just a word about Presto - used in combination with Opus Flex - it may be useful to people whilst DW are working on Flex improvements. AS 1.0 in Presto supports enables dynamic loading/unloading of movie clips/sprites/images- shared objects - XML etc. Exports to Flash player 5,6 and 7. I don't know if it supports AS 2.0 - the fact it can export to Flash 7 suggests that it might! Perhaps DW could advise.

Looking back over the thread, a few more comments

AIR is a runtime like .Net and Java, its still in Beta, the expected download is expected to be around 6 meg . Flash content will not run in AIR without some tinkering. AIR content will not run in the Flash player at all. Hence Abobe have a potential distribution problem with the AIR runtime - Microsoft are clearly not going to help (as they did with the the Flash player) AIR is in direct competition with .Net and Silverlight. Based on a totally unrepresentative sample of two IT depts - there are also some security concerns about the depth of the AIR sandbox being expressed - they would not allow installation as it stands - however it is still in beta. Same IT depts were quite happy with Silverlight.

I'm open to correction on this - I recall that scripted actions on multi-frames work in Flex publications.

Swish Max 2 (its only been available a short while) is IMHO a serious contender to Flash. AS 3.0 scripting, components, video encoding (not the best) - its true there are more time saving and production tools in Flash proper but for most people Max 2 will have more than enough power.

Cheers

Ken

Hi

If anyone is interested in the "shared object" or "so" feature in Flash, here's a link:

http://www.adobe.com/go/tn_16194

If DW can add this "shared object" feature to Flex, it would allow storing of persistent data, a valuable addition that can increase functionality.

Kind Regards,