4 Replies Latest reply: Mar 5, 2013 1:33 PM by Sanctum1972 RSS

    CS5 Actionscript or other coding language help?

    Sanctum1972 Community Member

      I'm an illustrator/graphic designer and have used CS5 in the past. I'm wondering if an illustrator would need to know code to use some Actionscript on Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, or Flash? Is Actionscript the de-facto coding language in most Adobe applications? I'm aware of Dreamweaver's web coding languages but I don't design websites so it's not something I'm into. I'd like to learn some code as a beginner to have more control on some features. But I'm not sure if Actionscript is limited to just Adobe Flash.

       

      I'm using Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on an Intel Core i3 iMac.

       

      Any suggestions on what books or tutorials I can find?

       

      Thanks,

       

      -Adam

        • 1. Re: CS5 Actionscript or other coding language help?
          Steve Werner CommunityMVP

          ActionScript, as I understand it, is Flash's scripting language. It is NOT usable in Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign. None of them have a code-writing window, not would they have any way to use ActionScript.

           

          Also be aware that Flash is contracting and dying. It is no longer as widely used as it was before (partially for security reasons), and is being replaced by the use of HTML5, CSS and JavaScript programming. I'm not an expert in this area, but Adobe has definitely been pulling back on the deployment of Flash.

          • 2. Re: CS5 Actionscript or other coding language help?
            Sanctum1972 Community Member

            Steve,

             

            Thanks for the clarification on this and yes, I'm aware of the situation that Flash is under that is being used less often these days; or supported for that matter. But I've been so curious because when I used Photoshop, I see the Script option on the File menu. Or InDesign's Utilities -----> Scripts menu. Or Scripts in Adobe Illustrator.

             

            Just what language were these scripts written in? It sounds like one would have to create a script and save it as a plug-in from an outside source or scripting application?

             

            Now, if Flash is being diminished or less supported, does it mean Actionscript will not be used at all? I know that web designers need to know some code ranging from HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc. But for a 2-D or 3-D designer, especially with 3D modelling, I have to venture a guess that some code or scripting language is used in some complicated case studies. In fact, I think some scripting is also used in video editing or for animation? I know that there are other animation apps such as Toon Boom Studio that competes against Flash, or Anime Studio but those, I think, have scripting languages. They might have a code terminal window built-in or requiring an outside source to plug-in the files.

             

            I'm only asking out of curiosity.

             

            Thanks!

             

            A

            • 3. Re: CS5 Actionscript or other coding language help?
              Steve Werner CommunityMVP

              InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop supports JavaScript, which is cross-platform. Also AppleScript (Mac only) and Visual Basic (Windows only).

               

              Here's a link to the Adobe Scripting Center. It may have some resources that would help:

               

              http://www.adobe.com/devnet/scripting.edu.html

              • 4. Re: CS5 Actionscript or other coding language help?
                Sanctum1972 Community Member

                Beautiful! This is exactly what I was looking for.

                 

                Thanks!

                 

                -A