Hi, gang:

I have a couple of choice communities that I frequent nowadays, and this, being one of them, I beg all answers to the following questions:

Do any of you have experience with Macromedia/Adobe Flash?

If so, is the learning curve terrifically steep?

How is it sold? Is it going to be part of any Adobe bundles that you know of? What is the rock bottom price? (... and etc.)

Is it, as it appears to be, a very good way of presenting material that cannot just be swiped by right-click or by robbing it from code? This would include audio, video and even text that I seek to safeguard.

Thanks to all of you for your time.

Flash is easy to learn for simple animations, flash is also relatively easy to learn for basic action-scripting.
If you're going to get into making websites you're most likely going to have to use some actionscript. Getting a good book to teach u the ropes will probably be one of the most wise things to do if you really wanna learn flash and actionscript.

If you're looking to make dynamic websites connected to d-bases, xml feeds or you want to use css, get ready for a bunch of headaches. Flash's seemingly object-oriented nature can be deceitfull as it's anything from perfect when it comes to handling instances.

Also be aware that flash is NOT friendly when it comes to search engine indexing.

It's sold at adobe, seperately as well as in bundles. for more information on pricing and bundles i suggest looking at the adobe website.

Safeguarding content on the net is impossible. Text can be made selectable in flash if you want to, though u can also turn the selectability off. Still one could just type it over.... As for images there's printscreen apps to steal your images. Best way to safeguard images is by applying a watermark.
Audio can be tapped easily by recording the sound output of your computer, this can be done with simple softwares that are easy to get your hands on. Same goes for video, there's plenty of ways to capture it.

Thanks, Rayraz. Good information. Just what I need.

There's a 30-day demo available at adobe, no limited features in it I'm told so you can get a pretty good idea of what the learning curve will be like, how easy it is to use, etc.  It is sold separately and part of a bundle that includes dreamweaver, maybe also coldfusion and I dunno what else but you can see that at Adobe's product info page too.

I'm no expert at it, but with knowing Photoshop, illustrator, keyframing and similar, I had a shot at it with no manuals, and got pretty functional in it long before I had to look anything up.
Can't help you much with pricing, I sprang for a whole dreamweaver, fireworks etc bundle...

As for pricing in general, I gather that OEM software is legal: http://top-oem-software.com/oem-macromedia-software.html  although, for my own business use, I'm unconvinced and have stayed away from it. It appears to fall in the gray area... Maybe someone else knows more and can give a better explanation?

Thanks for these tips, too, you two. :)

I will definitely see about that trial version.

Meanwhile, about the familiarity with the softwares talked about, besides key framing, whereas I know what it is, and that's about all, I have many of the same familiarities. I hope they serve me well.

Now to block out some time to try it out in earnest...

Thanks again, all.

Quote - ...Is it, as it appears to be, a very good way of presenting material that cannot just be swiped by right-click or by robbing it from code? This would include audio, video and even text that I seek to safeguard.

Thanks to all of you for your time.

Not at all. If anything, you're making it easier to get all that content you stuffed it with because they only have to steal 1 file.

Now, if you did it the proper way, you COULD link to images and sound file dynamically... Outside of the flash file... But still, someone can 'print screen' and take the images displayed within the flash on the webpage or simply rip the streaming audio or steal the .swf file and look at your action scripting to see where your linking to and then get the image/audio files from there.. so on and so forth.

ow ow ow, do i read dynamic flash pages? I predict headaches for those suckers. Tried it once, succeeded, but with lotsa headache.

Quote - Flash is easy to learn for simple animations, flash is also relatively easy to learn for basic action-scripting.
If you're going to get into making websites you're most likely going to have to use some actionscript. Getting a good book to teach u the ropes will probably be one of the most wise things to do if you really wanna learn flash and actionscript.

If you're looking to make dynamic websites connected to d-bases, xml feeds or you want to use css, get ready for a bunch of headaches. Flash's seemingly object-oriented nature can be deceitfull as it's anything from perfect when it comes to handling instances.

Also be aware that flash is NOT friendly when it comes to search engine indexing.

It's sold at adobe, seperately as well as in bundles. for more information on pricing and bundles i suggest looking at the adobe website.

Safeguarding content on the net is impossible. Text can be made selectable in flash if you want to, though u can also turn the selectability off. Still one could just type it over.... As for images there's printscreen apps to steal your images. Best way to safeguard images is by applying a watermark.
Audio can be tapped easily by recording the sound output of your computer, this can be done with simple softwares that are easy to get your hands on. Same goes for video, there's plenty of ways to capture it.

One thing that wasn't noted is there are HUNDREDS of "flash rippers/flash decrypters" that will take an SWF compiled code and convert it back into FLA editable format. This means even the source code to your flash movies can be downloaded and accessible in under 30 seconds if the person really wanted your stuff.