Tuesday, May 22, 2012

An open letter to Adobe Flash users

I have been using Flash since 2008, version CS3. Last year I upgraded to the CS5.5 Master Collection. Having the entire Flash family together, along with recent events has made me think about the future of Flash. What should Adobe do with Flash moving forward and how should the program be marketed?

Researching the history of Flash, it’s easy to see how far it’s come from the days when it was called Future Splash. It started as a way to get “rich media” on the internet with little overhead. When Future Splash was originally conceived the primary mode of accessing the internet was via a dial up modem with at best a connection speed of 56 kbps. So every bit of data was important, especially when running animation. As Future Splash became Flash and the programmers took precedence it moved away from it’s animation roots. However, enterprising animators continued to use it for its original intent. They developed techniques and workarounds that they could use to overcome the program’s shortcomings as a dedicated animation tool. By the time Flash 8 rolled around Macromedia had included a title-safe template that could be used to aid in the creation of broadcast animation. This template mysteriously disappeared when Adobe took control of development for the program. Nevertheless both internet and broadcast animators continued to use Flash solely as an animation tool. It created a phenomena known as the “Flash look” and allowed many would-be animators to create animation for little more than the price of the program. Of course 90% of the content created wasn’t worth watching. But it did democratize animation for the masses. And remember, especially with Flash, it’s not the tool it’s the artist. Garbage in, garbage out.

However, even with all of the stalwarts in the animation community using the program to create varying levels of quality animation, Macromedia and then Adobe, put most of their efforts into the programming side of the application. Meanwhile other companies such as Smith Micro and especially Toon Boom developed more animator-friendly programs such as Anime Studio, Toon Boom Studio, and eventually Toon Boom Animate.

Last year Adobe announced that it would stop developing Flash for mobile applications. Some said that this would be the death-nail for the format. To a certain extent it seems that they are right. The format itself is on the way out. However, Flash is not just a technology or a platform, it is a content creation program. And as such it is time to reevaluate the PROGRAM as a separate entity from the PLATFORM.

I use flash primarily as an animation tool, and secondarily to create internet games. It seems that with Adobe’s new push for HTML 5 creation that the game programming will shift more and more toward the company’s new program called “Edge”. But no one should abandon Flash. In fact now is the time that Adobe should rebrand Flash Professional as primarily a production quality animation tool. There are several improvements that could be made that would pull it away from the development market and push it into broadcast and film animation. For the past decade inventive animators have pushed Flash to enable them to create animation for TV even though it has been marketed for so long as an internet and mobile-only content application.

Animated Series and Specials Produced in Flash

  • Metalocalypse
  • Squidbillies
  • China, IL
  • Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
  • Superjail
  • Total Drama series
  • Home Movies (Seasons 2-4)
  • Stroker and Hoop
  • Mucha Lucha
  • Ugly Americans
  • Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends
  • Jacob Two-Two
  • Bob’s Burgers
  • The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!
  • Almost Naked Animals
  • Atomic Betty
  • Freaknik
  • Kick Buttowski
  • Johnny Test
  • Venture Brothers (pilot)