Hello Adobe
(I'll apologize in advance for being long winded).
I'm a .Net developer who is trying to mend my evil ways and learn the Adobe development cycle--so if this a really obtuse question--please forgive me. I was once a graphic artist and I am very familiar with some Adobe products. I am having trouble understanding the workflow as it pertains to creating custom controls, or even reskinning controls and then using them in Flash builder. I haven't really dug into Catalyst, but I am comfortable in Flash Professional and I would like to believe I could take designs from my employers graphic artists, created in Illustrator, and bring the artwork into Flash professional and create custom components, or more likely skinned components, in Flash and export them for use in Flash Builder.
Our goal is to allow designers to create vector graphics skins for controls and applications in Illustrator (or possibly Fireworks) and to be able to apply those skins to controls and custom components in Flash Builder for deployment to the web or the desktop in an Adobe Air application. Ideally the designer would be able to update the designs easily at a later point.
Flash allows for skinning to be done fairly easily within the Flash application, but I have had some problems exporting controls or even implimenting them in Flash builder. The only "video" on that workflow used a movie clip from Flash and set it's "isButton" property to true in Flash Builder...so if a designer built a simple button and designed the states in Flash, I would have to convert it to a movieclip?
If I start with a Flex ready component from the "AeonGraphical" library, and apply a new skin, how do I successfully import that into Flash Builder?
Here are some of the issues I have encountered...
• MX skins can be created in Illustrator and Fireworks and imported into Flash Builder however the format is obsolete and the designs rasterizes and are unacceptable even before scaling.
• Illustrator files can be saved in FXG format and dropped into an assets package in Flash Builder. These images can then be easily used in FB; however mapping them to a control requires each state to be a separate image and to be manually wired to the states of a skin. This is method of skinning is feasible but not ideal...Am I missing a step or improperly importing the files?
• Illustrator files can be saved as an FXG file and imported into Catalyst. In catalyst the artwork can be associated with a control type and the states of the control can be edited in using illustrator. The catalyst file (FXP) can then be imported into Flash Builder as a project which will provide a skin for that type of control. Remaining problems include scaling (skin doesn’t stretch) and referencing the skin outside the project.
So that leaves me with Flash Professional as the seemingly most competent tool for creating & skinning custom controls.
Using the very detailed and helpful online documentation on customizing controls (found here) I can create custom skins and have no problems implementing artwork from Illustrator--for an application authored in Flash Professional (not so much for Flash Builder).Catalyst can let you create "one off" costum controls easily, but creating one custom skin for several buttons (for example) is not so intuative and pulling it into Flash builder yeilds mixed results...
Flash is in and of itself a rich IDE and could be used to create an event driven application for AIR, but its not really geared to that user triggered, event-driven development model. I have been able to adjust my mindset to create successful prototypes of form based/even driven application that take advantage of Flash's powerful features, but some of my coworkers are having trouble adjusting their Microsoft Mindset (despite exposure to the remarkably "derivitaive" Expression studio) and strongly prefer the Flash builder coding environment.
Are there any resources; web pages with examples or step by step walk throughs, or videos which follow a process of taking a design from a grapjics application and using it to create a custom skin--and applying it in Flash Builder? The process is fairly straitforwards in Flash Professional--but my team and I are having less success in Flash Builder.
As a longtime user of Adobe products, I have by nature of that association become the inhouse Adobe Evangelist and not only have I taken the position seriously--I have managed to convince upper management to abandon WPF and Pyxus (for mobile applications) and develop AIR applications which will span platforms and lend elements to mobile AIR applications. They have even initiated a program which will likely result in our delivering Andriod based tablets to our dealer networks preloaded with AIR applications for business.
While I know know this is all "do-able" I am working double overtime to become competent enough to make this happen...but the workflow between Flash Builder and Flash is only sparringly covered online and the information lacks details...
I have found that browsing the online videos sometimes turns up better results than searching (doing "Google Gymnastics")--for example Flash Downunder series has great stuff that doesn't always show up when searching Google...And we joined Lynda.com, and while they have lots of great stuff, they need to develop more stuff on CS5 specifically...
Where can I find information on creating/applying custom skins from Ai to Flash Builder and all points between? (I'll buy any recommended books as well...) Of course we have agressive deadlines and unfortunately there is no experienced Flex/Air developer on our staff (yet)...
The "Classroom in a Book" series on Flash and Catalyst have only just started shipping...is that where I should look? Are there any online resources that address both skinning and creating custom components for AIR applications in Flash and/or Catalyst?Thanks in advance for any direction given...
Thanks in advance for any direction given...
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