[zanyterp]

hello! i apologize if this has already been answered, i have searched several times and can't seem to either find the right phrase or it hasn't been discussed yet. . .what is the difference in these programs, esp. flash and fireworks? from what i have read, it appears that freehand is more for general illustration (ala illustrator, or at least in concept of they both are more for original-work creation in vector style, rather than more photo-strength tendency of photosop and bitmaps???) but both flash and fireworks are web animation programs, right? what am i missing in the difference between them? thanks for your help and understanding and explanations!!

nick

[skalie]

Animation wise Fireworks is limited to animated .gifs I believe, whereas with Flash you can do basically anything, movies including video, database interaction etc., etc., etc.,

[drissa]

Essentially, Flash is for interative animations/websites/CD-ROM presentations. Fireworks is an image editor, like a poor man's P/Shop, but with more in the way of vector graphics. And Freehand is, essentially, a DTP and illustration package.

They are suppose to work well together, so you can share projects between them (+ Dreamweaver).

Freehand is a bit of an enigma though - I'm trying to figure out if it will help me produce an annnual report, but finding books/support is tricky.

[godzookie2k]

freehand is wonderful, I stopped using it years ago in favor of illustrator, I like the interface better, but it really doesn't get enough credit. It is a vector illustration app primarily, but its multipage features begin to throw it in the desktop publishing app. It rides a fine line. Its also the best vector drawing app to use if you are bringing things into flash.

flash is a web application and animation development authoring environment. you'd use it to do, as said above, websites, intercative cd roms (only if god curses you and doesn't provide director), vector animation (ie cartoons), and web applications, newsfeeds, konfabulator widgets, etc.

fireworks is macromedias raster image editor, like photoshop but lacking the feature set. its great for web development and graphic creation, but lacks alot of the print features. its something akin to imageready.