Question : The Best Drawing Tools

Hi everyone,

I was wondering what's the best drawing tool software that i can use with Macromedia Flash MX, co'z the drawing tools available in flash are not that sophisticated. There are limitations on stuff that you wanted to do on how your images would look like. I also used photoshop 7.0 to create my images but when i import it to Flash's library it does not look good in fact it looks really bad.

I want to creat My Own icons, navigation bars and other images by drawing it by my self. Just like the ones in http://www.liquidgeneration.com as you can see their navigational bar, the images where drawn but i dont know what they used to make their cartoon images sharp and very clear in Flash.

Any advise or help will surely be appreciated.

Thanks/Regards
Sidney

Answer : The Best Drawing Tools

"I attribute this to his own lack of experience with handling raster images in Flash."

You know nothing about me.... so don't try to blab on about my lack of experience... Sure I lack it... as do most of us, and I never claim to be the best expert on these boards...  quote me if I ever said that in my posts.

"Here are some programs that work with the Wacom tablet: Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, Painter, PowerPoint, Word, Explorer, Minesweeper, Notepad... shall I go on?"

- you forgot Adobe Illustrator, Freehand(which I hate), and Corel Draw


from SidneyF's original post:

"I also used photoshop 7.0 to create my images but when i import it to Flash's library it does not look good in fact it looks really bad."

s/he even said that they used photoshop and did not get good results...  so I said not to use it, and to use Illustrator...


"A simple example that you might be able to wrap your mind around might be a slideshow.  Those really aren't "most uncommon," are they?"

these are images for display, and have nothing to do with  drawing...  Sydney is not looking to display such images, s/he is looking to make his/her own images to use in Flash.  they are not even part of the GUI of the application... I am sure you could have come up with a better example, but you seem like you are getting a little hot under that collar, and that would skew your judgement.


"spent three hours soliciting for your precious points, which speaks to your sole incentive for participating here."

call it what you will, but I was able to single handedly close about 20 abandoned questions.  And stoke the fire on a few more... This is a service that few experts even attempt, because they are too busy trying to make more points from new question because they themselves have abandoned the old ones...  Clean up is a huge issue on this site, and I was paying my dues...  So you can call me a point hound all you want, but the service I provided is Greatly appriciated by the EE Administrators and Community.


"Performing a trace bitmap (you do know what that is, right? because I'm starting to wonder) can produce extremely heavy vectors, both performance and storage-wise."

tell you the truth, I don't really know what that is...


"where you claim to adhere strongly to industry wide practices."

the industry speaks for me on this one:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/quick_tips.htm
http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/optimizing_actionscript.htm
http://www.virtual-fx.net/tutorials/html/optimize.htm
http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/flashcompression.html#bitmaps
http://www.kirupa.com/developer/flash5/filesize.htm
http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Tips_And_Techniques/Image_Op-Michael_-562/index.php
http://www.workz.com/cgi-bin/gt/tpl_page.html,template=1&content=2065&nav1=1&
http://www.webslimmer.com/art20.htm


I think some of these articles are repeats, but they are posted on other industry web sites that support the content...


"If you're using a machine incapable of rendering the 2advanced site at a decent clip, then I must assume you have outdated hardware... not good for a professional Flash developer."  

A professional developer will make sure that their development and testing environments mirror that of the average computer user...  You can never assume that your audience is running anything close to the top of the line, and you should probably assume just the opposite!


"The difference between "showing off" and "helping" is that showing off is not useful.  I feel the information I've provided is useful.  Maybe not directly to SidneyF, but to the community."

If you believe that the information was not directly useful to Sidney, then why would you disrespect HIS question by providing unnecessary information...  It just muddies the water...


"Are you sure you're not an AVP?"

what is an AVP?  


"forum right here devoted to Flash?"

this forum is not for discussing flash issue, it is to find quick solutions to immediate problems...  Unless the person specifically asks for lengthy opinions and concerns, you should give the a straight forward answer...


And yes I was eager to shut you down, because you did not support an industry know fact... and instead you gave support on the contrary.


Again, I am not trying to Flame you as a person or professional, I just don't think your comments were helping out the immediate situation.  And my angst got the better of me... and I should have responded to your first post more politely...

I respect you as a developer, and hope that we can collaborate on other topics in this forum in the future...


rp