AGI Dynamic Learning: What's New in Adobe Flash CS3?
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ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 9

ActionScript is the built-in programming language that extends Flash's capabilities beyond fancy animation and cool effects. ActionScript is the powerful, behind-the-scenes technology that makes buttons work, controls the playback of movies, captures user information in forms, connects Flash content to databases, and builds controls necessary for games and serious interactivity.

The newest versions of ActionScript and the Flash Player are designed to better work together, speeding up your workflow and improving your movies' performance.

The all-new ActionScript Virtual Machine 2 (AVM2) is dedicated to running ActionScript 3.0, making performance for demanding animations and scripting up to 10 times faster. If you've worked with previous versions of ActionScript, don't worry-ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0 are still supported through a second ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM1), which runs side-by-side with the existing AVM2 to provide full backwards compatibility for movies built in previous versions of Flash.

Developers will also appreciate improved error reporting and debugging when troubleshooting ActionScript code.

The improved debugging panel is designed to make troubleshooting more intuitive.

Adobe Device Central

Now you can more easily design interactive Flash content for mobile devices with Adobe Device Central, a new component integrated with various editions of Adobe Creative Suite 3. Adobe Device Central includes skins and profiles that emulate most popular mobile devices, so that you can see how your Flash content will actually look and perform. Device Central keeps you in the loop as new devices are released into the market. Adobe plans to release new skins and profiles on a quarterly basis.

Adobe Device Central allows you to preview your Flash content on specific mobile devices.

Common Adobe Creative Suite 3 interface

The new CS3 interface allows you to minimize panels, maximizing your screen space.

Flash CS3 Professional features the slick new Adobe Creative Suite 3 interface, an intuitive space designed to give you all the screen space you need. The new Tools panel toggles between single- and double-column views, and you can collapse the panels into Icon view to access them easily and use very little screen space. This new common interface creates a better workflow and helps you transition easily between multiple CS3 applications.

 

And, you're off!

Now that you've had a glimpse of the new and improved Flash CS3 features, it's time to see them in action. Head now to Lesson 12, "Flash CS3 Jumpstart," where you'll dive right in and start working in Flash CS3 Professional. You can find more specific information about each of these capabilities throughout the lessons in this book.

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