Poll: Is Flash Still Top Dog?
Sunday January 11, 2009
In a recent discussion, we bandied about speculation about internet media, animation - and whether Adobe Flash is still the tool of choice for publishing animation to the web. My argument was that Flash is still the vehicle of publication; we use SWFs and FLVs to publish content to the web, but don't necessarily produce that content in Flash. Instead animators, especially freelancers and hobbyists, are starting to seek less complicated animation programs that not only cater more to the traditional animator, but also cost less, have more flexibility in style and drawing options, and don't release so many pricey upgrades so often. Most professional studios don't even use Flash. Others posit that Flash is still the way to go, and still the top choice of the average animator. It's definitely still a large part of the market, and for good reason; Flash makes it easy for anyone to create and share animated content without painstakingly drawing every last frame. What do you think?
Is Flash Still Top Dog?
- A. Flash is still definitely the way to go, and the tool I use; it won't go out of style.
- B. I use other animation tools for actual animation, but publish it in Flash format.
- C. I use other animation tools, but only because Flash is too expensive.
- D. I use other animation tools, but only because Flash is too difficult / complicated.
- E. Both C and D.
- F. I use Flash and like it, but only because I pirate it to avoid the costs.
- G. I prefer to use other tools because they better suit my style or have more animation-related features.
- H. I prefer to use other tools because professional studios use them.
- I. Both G and H.
- J. Other / will explain in comments.


Comments
I use Flash because I do different things with Flash: Non-linear animation, Video/FLV on the internet, interactive flash, etc. I use it like I would a swiss army knife (may not be the best tool for one specific job, but able to do a lot of things).
I only use Flash because, as a student, I can purchase it for a very reduced price, but the frequency of Adobe version updates (on all their products) is making me crazy because, even at student prices, keeping current really adds up fast.
That’s one perspective I hadn’t even thought of, annamanna (guess I’ve been out of school too long). Thanks for bringing that up.
Interesting but we have yet to see what Silverlight can do.