Could Flash Catalyst Replace the Flash IDE?
Flash Catalyst isn’t even in public beta yet, but based on the potential I see with the preview release handed out at Adobe MAX, I could see Flash Catalyst replace the Flash IDE eventually.
Now currently, FC is being billed as a tool for interation designers for creating UI mockups to use for wireframing, adding interactivity to your AI, PSD or FW files, getting client sign-off and handing off to your developer. The big goal is that behind the scenes, FC is built on Eclipse and actually is building a Flex Project file (FXP actually) to take into Flex Builder and wire up to live data. Talking this idea over with others, I’ve heard some same that isn’t the focus of Flash Catalyst or its not intended for that, yada yada. But when FutureSplash hit the market, who thought we’d be building web applications with it eventually?
Looking very briefly at both Flash CS4 and Flash Catalyst while wearing the “designer hat” , in both tools I can draw, import from existing Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fireworks files, animate using the more intuitive After Effects-like timeline , add interactivity via built-in features/behaviours and even go “behind the scenes” and add more advanced interactivity via ActionScript. I can easily see users looking at FC to build what they currently use Flash IDE for. Even Adobe’s own marketing on the FC site states “Flash Catalyst can output a finished Flash SWF or AIR application that’s ready to publish on the web.”
Ok. so Flash Catalyst 1.0 won’t kill off Flash CS4, but given a bit of work and some tools we haven’t seen yet, and the desire by Adobe, I could easily see FC 1.5 or 2.0 replace the Flash IDE and for the record, I see that as a good thing. Here are the PRO’s for killing off the Flash IDE in favor of Flash Catalyst 2.0
- The Flash IDE has a horrible ActionScript editor. We complain about it all the time, and I’m not convinced that Adobe wants to fix it. Seems like a lot of Flashers jump into Flex for the code editor first, and then play with the Flex SDK later on.
- No longer held back by the Flash .FLA file type. The .FLA blows. Every new version of Flash creates a new FLA that isn’t backwards compatible. Its not efficient when working with a team who uses SVN (can’t be diffed).
- Finally on a level playing field with the “Flex guys”. Under the hood, we’d be using the same tool, same code base, same components and would have a shared project file. No longer feeling slighted because one or the other got tools that the other didn’t.
So for this to happen, a lot of work would need to happen to Flash Catalyst to make it compete with the Flash IDE. First off, we’d need more drawing tools. The preview release of Flash Catalyst from Adobe MAX only had the bare minimum of tools, and I would image Adobe is hard at work on a lot more drawing tools. We’d also need a Motion Editor for Flash Catalyst, along with the 3d and IK tools that the Flash IDE has. There are more items that would be required but those are the essentials to bring Flash Catalyst on par with the current Flash IDE. Its something that I think is very achievable by Adobe. And maybe… its something they are planning as well.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Heya,
Not sure if I follow you here?
First of all – “FC is built on Eclipse” – it’s not. I have the preview copy of Catalyst on my machine and if this thing is built on Eclipse, they’ve done a solid job of hiding it. There’s not a single bit of the UI that has anything to do with Eclipse and I don’t think the Eclipse license would allow something like that. It reads and writes the Flex Builder project files, but that’s about all it has to do with Flex.
Second – why would Adobe kill a cash cow? Flash makes Adobe much more money than Flex does. Flash CS4 now reads the metadata in Actionscript classes and so it’s already possible to work fairly efficient with Flash and Flex. Flash CS5 will get full FXG support that will enable a even better workflow.
Third – Catalyst is for a different market. Flash is and will always be an animation tool. It can deliver all the things the Flash Player can, but it’s – as you say – not very suited for coding. The editor truly sucks. Catalyst on the other hand is for the UX designers that want to make prototypes of their applications. It will never become an animation tool, but will be a serious RAD tool for designers working with programmers.
Sorry. I don’t agree here
J
February 24th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Jensa -
Flash Catalyst is actually built on top of Eclipse. It was mentioned at MAX. Adobe has done a great job of building a very non-Eclipse looking tool. Eclipse will also be the platform for the next generation Coldfusion IDE as well. Adobe is definitely embracing Eclipse in a big way.
As for killing off a cash cow.. Flash is part of every suite. I don’t have any numbers to back it, but willing to bet a large percentage of owners aren’t buying just Flash but instead getting it part of a suite. As for the workflow between Flash and Flex –> its not all that great. Its good and it works, but lacking. FXG in Flash CS5, who knows. Might happen, might not. I don’t see why they would invest the resources to add it. FXG is a graphics exchange markup language and very few people (I’m one of them) actually design in Flash but instead pull assets from other tools like Illustrator or Photoshop. And anyone who really wants to target Flex will most likely jump to Flash Catalyst and skip Flash all together.
As for Flash Catalyst is in a “different market”. I think FC can bring a lot to the table. Even in the preview release from MAX, you can do a large majority of what Flash IDE can do. And I would have to imagine that Adobe will be adding more to make Flash Catalyst a more robust UX tool. With a little work, it could replace 99% of what current Flashers use it for and based on the work I did for few years for marketing group in Vegas, it would work.
Ultimately, I think the question of Flash Catalyst and its future comes down to how Adobe sells FC. If its included with Flex Builder only, then maybe it won’t ever be an issue. However, if its part of the Creative Suite, or priced very reasonable, then I believe that even if Adobe doesn’t obsolete Flash IDE with Flash Catalyst, the users eventually will.
.. Just my opinion though and anything can happen between now and the Flash Catalyst 1.0 release.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
You are right, FC is built on Eclipse. Eclipse is open-source and there exists a myriad of apps built on Eclispe, no licensing issue there.
FC and FlashIDE target much different markets. FC is not meant for general web content, it is for the developement of RIAs. It attempts to solve the Flex skinning and CSS hell that exists now. I only agree that FC will cut in on Flash for RIA work, but that is all. All content that FC does and will manipulate will use Flex. A ‘hello world’ app in Flex ( I think ) is around 200k+. A robust Flash site can be done in much less than that.
FC really can’t do any of what Flash does, and vice-versa. The ‘animations’ that FC does are really just Flex’s transitioning states – nothing like the bitmap/vector manipulation of a timeline tween. When ‘animating’ in FC the user is affecting components, which Flash certainly cannot do.
I have the opinion that FC will be somewhat of a bust. FC is just a ‘Dreamwaver’ for Flex. I hope the auto generated code is going to be tolerable.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Flash wasn’t meant for developing applications either when it was first introduced, but that definitely didn’t stop anyone. Just saying that it can and could do what Flash IDE does right now. If all you see is a UX tool that does state transitions, than it will only be that tool for you. However, what is animation, but a transition of state anyhow? Now… is Flash Catalyst in its current incarnation a competitive tool for the Flash IDE? Heck no.. not right now. but it can be.
As a side note, even Adobes own marketing material on their Labs Flash Catalyst site says “…Flash Catalyst can output a finished Flash SWF or AIR application that’s ready to publish on the web.”
@Alan – regarding file size, I really think that is becoming less of an issue, and going forward, 200k is nothing unless you’re doing flash ad banners where you have a size restriction. However, it is definitely within Adobe’s capabilities to publish more streamlined SWFs when excess framework code isn’t required. It just takes a smarter compiler.
Regarding Flash Catalyst becoming a bust due to auto-generated code. Its a real risk.. probably even more important that Adobe makes FC more than just a UX/skinning tool.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I can tell you that Flash Catalyst will definitely not replace Flash Professional. Flash Professional has a really great market and is also very valuable as a tool for designers or developers that want to completely control the Flash experience and create complex animations or games.
One thing that I think will dissuade Flash Professional users away from Flash Catalyst is the Flex Framework, which some AS3 developers find too heavy.
And the “missing” things you mentioned like inverse kinematics, and the motion editor aren’t at all on the roadmap for Flash Catalyst.
I think instead what you’re going to see is a MUCH improved workflow between the two tools so you can actually switch between them during the design process. That’s our plan for the long term.
=Ryan
ryan@adobe.com
February 25th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Even tough Ryan, laid it down pretty good. I would like to clarify a bit:
When I referred to ’state transitions’ I was being specific. Flex has a UI component called “State” and it as another component named ‘Transition”. To move from one state to another you wrap your state component within a transition component. This is nothing like Flash Professional at all.
As Ryan mentioned, the Flex framework is HUGE, and only getting bigger. A smarter compiler isn’t the issue when it comes to Flex’s size. It’s that so much dependancy exists across it’s classes. If you try to pull out any kind of binding logic, your going to pull in the resource manager – which in turns pulls in….
February 25th, 2009 at 8:51 am
@Alan – The State and Transition classes are hidden from the user and your designer isn’t going to go digging through the code. That’s the whole point of Flash Catalyst. Give the designer the “easy” design tool to take their comp files (.ai or .psd), and work out the entire user experience (animations, transitions, etc), without having to use code. At least, that’s what we’re being told.
I’ll end with this … My feeling/opinion is that while currently not intended, Flash Catalyst can and will probably will be used to create the entire SWF by some designers, without ever bothering to launch Flash IDE or Flex. And while limited right now compared to the Flash IDE, one must assume that Flash Catalyst will need to gain those extra tools (IK, 3d, motion editor, etc) to be successfully used to design the user experience. If ultimately Flash Catalyst can’t do what I need to demonstrate to the client or developer exactly what I have in my mind and I’m forced to go back to Flash IDE, then why start with Flash Catalyst in the first place? Unless its purpose is just to be a skinning tool .. and I hope not, but that is a waste of a great tool that has a lot of potential. I’m a Flash guy that has grown up alongside of Flash. I use Flex from time to time, but still use Flash for some projects as well. Flash Catalyst will be a part of my future workflow, however, its my opinion, that with some more work by Adobe, that it could replace the Flash IDE for me and others. Maybe not for everyone, but for a lot of people, and I know I can’t be the only person who thinks this.
Side note: my prior job was designer for a company making Windows applications and using WPF. I was using Expression Designer and Express Blend initially. Blend is basically the tool that Flash Catalyst is modeled after. The two things that always was frustrating to use was that a) Blend could allow you to do the entire app from within Blend yet MS handicapped Blend by not putting in Intellisense (my guess is to ensure that we used Visual Studio) and b) the auto-generated code was considered “crap” by the developers. So in the end, the tool frustrated me, and developers just wanted the XAML anyhow. So I started doing my designs in Fireworks and used the Infragistics FW-to-XAML Exporter and never touched Blend again on a regular basis.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
“I’ll end with this … My feeling/opinion is that while currently not intended, Flash Catalyst can and will probably will be used to create the entire SWF by some designers, without ever bothering to launch Flash IDE or Flex.”
This part is definitely the case. We’re hoping that designers who primarily use Photoshop and Illustrator can instantly jump in and start creating “complete” SWF content with Flash Catalyst. So hopefully designers can create some pretty cool stuff with Catalyst.
But I’m selfish, and I like revenue, so for me the ideal is that from Flash Catalyst they need to branch out into the other Flash Platform tools like Flash Professional or Flex Builder to create “better” applications/experiences.
Really good discussion though, thanks for the post John.
=Ryan
ryan@adobe.com
February 25th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
@Jensa @Alan @Ryan – Thanks for your feedback and opinions.