i know a lot of people are not very open to CS4 or don't like it, but i think we all had similar feelings when CS3 came out and now most of us use it. or not... but still. i'm always a sucker for updating my software even if there's no real reason (and i do it the 'easy' way cough cough). but i've been messing with CS4 a little over the past few weeks and i have to say i'm pretty impressed with some of the new features.
i think for the first time adobe has listened to animators and tried to implement some new features that will help us a lot. like the new tweening system. it is similar to after-effects and is much more visually driven. yes, the properties window can get a bit bulky, but it's also important to customize your interface. and these days, most digital animators have dual monitors. in this case i think it would come in REALLY handy. but sometimes you don't even need it - seeing your motion paths and being to edit them -right- on the stage is very handy.
there's also some other neat but probably useless things like the deco and spraypaint tool. oh and let's not forget bones - which i think will produce a lot of great animations, but at the same time increase the amount of stick animations. but hey, at least their limbs will stay together. it could also be used for a lot of really neat mechanical and game-oriented stuff.
long story short i'm really excited to see what comes out of the CS4 department.
and one thing i've tried to do with my website is create a flash wiki full of free resources and tutorials for animators and programmers. since i created it last year it has been accessed over 100,000 times and over 8gb of resources downloaded from it.
however, it is far from complete. there's hardly any AS tutorials on it and the animation tutorials are mostly bits and pieces. but now with CS4 upon us i would like to take this opportunity to ask all of you if you'd like to help out.
flashwiki is dead and gone, and now my project - anipedia - is the only wiki dedicated to flash and animation left. i know there are other tutorial and resource sites out there, but i feel like there has never been one comprehensive site a person could go to and get all the info they could want. that's what i've wanted to build and i'll keep going at it. but it would be impossible for me to do it alone.
if you want to help, it works just like wikipedia. runs on the same software.
as a buildling block, i made this page, which has a layout of a keyboard and a list of all the tools in CS4. from there, they will branch out to other tutorial pages, or simply explain what a tool does. it could be a starting point for people starting with CS4.
if you would like to help, check out an example of what a tutorial should look like on anipedia, and feel free to PM me or add me on aim/msn. i'm also on IRC, server irc.rizon.net, channel #thebackalleys. there's forums dedicated to the project on my site as well.
anyway, thanks for your time, and even if you don't want to help i appreciate those of you who have found use out of anipedia as well.
also here's a screenshot to a "cartoon" that's part of a "collab" . i don't know when it's coming out.
igott
Just the the Dummy book.
rtil
nobody the's dummy books anymore this is the wave of the future get with it