Macromedia Flash is one of those interesting programs in that it doesn't have one real specific purpose. Well, that's not true. You could say that its purpose is 'graphic design.' But that's kind of like saying a computer's purpose is 'computation,' or a knife's purpose is 'sharp, pointy object.' Its true, its that there's just so much more.
Most of the time, we see Flash used to make movies and games. AddictingGames.com, Newgrounds.com, these are all really good examples of these.
But I've recently discovered that Flash can be used to make some slick images:
THE ORIGINAL
THE FLASHED
^Anyone else reminded of "Waking Life"?
I present to you the glorious CHUCKIE ANVIL, a band formed by two friends of mine, Akio aka AK (the guy on the left) and Nick (the guy on the right). Photograph taken by Akio's ma, who's an awesome photo-er person.
The first thing I learned when I was making these images is that the pen tool in Flash is unbefuckinggodlievably unwieldly to use. It might be because I've been spoiled by using the pen tool in Photoshop so damned much, but hell, in comparison to Photoshop, the pen tool in Flash is just so...unintuitive. For example in Photoshop, Ctrl gets you the arrow outline which allows you to move the point around and adjust both bezier handles at the same time, Alt gets you the pointer which adjusts individual bezier handles, and right click gives you the option of tracing or filling the path, or deleting the point or the whole path.
No such luck in Flash. I'm sure its something I just have to learn, but for now, godSAKES its bothersome.
Other than that, it took me a short while but I managed to figure out a relatively fast way to work with the color pools that Flash uses. Thus far, I've only been working in one layer...the only thing that's not in the one layer that everything else is stuck in is the circular gleam coming off of AK's guitar.
But hey, I've got a lot to learn. I've only used Flash all of two times before this.
It's going to take me more than three uses to get a handle on a versatile little bastard like this.
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