Adobe Flash CS3 Professional

FAQ

Product information

What is Adobe Flash CS3 Professional?

Adobe® Flash® CS3 Professional software is the industry-standard tool for creating interactive content. Whether you are creating interactive websites, advertising, games, or mobile content, Flash CS3 Professional provides the tools you need to deliver an engaging user experience.

What are the key new features and benefits of Adobe Flash CS3 Professional?

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional delivers tight integration with Adobe's leading creative professional applications, timesaving drawing and programming tools, and an enhanced user interface, making your design and development work flow fast. New features include:

Native Adobe Photoshop® and Illustrator® import
Ability to convert animation to ActionScript™ 3.0 language
Common Adobe Creative Suite® 3 user interface
ActionScript 3.0 development with advanced debugger
Adobe Device Central CS3
New drawing tools
New optimized and easily skinned UI components for ActionScript 3.0
Advanced QuickTime export
Sophisticated video encoding
Timesaving programming tools

Who should use Adobe Flash CS3 Professional?

Flash CS3 Professional is designed for interactive content creators working on either Windows® or Macintosh systems. Whether designing interactive web experiences and advertising for a global marketing campaign, creating training content for first responders in the field, or engaging children with educational games, Flash CS3 Professional is the tool of choice for creating interactive content.

How does Adobe Flash CS3 Professional integrate with other Adobe products?

Adobe Flash CS3 is integrated throughout Adobe Creative Suite 3 to provide efficient workflows for design, development, video, web, and mobile projects. Key points of integration include:

Import Photoshop and Illustrator files into Flash CS3 Professional

The Paste dialog box makes it possible to preserve functionality and structure when simply copying and pasting from Photoshop or Illustrator into Flash. For an even higher level of functionality, you can import native Photoshop (PSD) and Illustrator (AI) files directly into your Flash CS3 projects. The Import dialog box lists each layer so you can specify how each one will be handled within Flash. For example, you can specify the text to remain editable, convert layers to movie clips, and even specify publish settings. What's more, Layer Effects applied in Photoshop are preserved with complete fidelity.

Integrate with video workflows

Use Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium software to encode video and audio for Flash projects and web playback with direct export to FLV. Export markers from Adobe After Effects® software as cue points recognized in Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. Ensure your content reaches the largest Internet audience with content viewable by more than 96% of Internet-enabled desktops through the Adobe Flash Player.

Deliver SWF files from Encore DVD

Export your DVD and Blu-ray Disc projects to SWF from Adobe Encore® DVD software. Deliver DVD-style menus, interactivity, and content for playback on more than 700 million computers and devices through Adobe Flash Player.

Easily work between After Effects CS3 and Flash CS3 Professional

Enhance the interactive potential of the animations you create. Export cue points from After Effects CS3 software for integration into Flash projects. Generate cue points from keyframes, and import those into Flash CS3 projects. FLV files can be batch-rendered and even created simultaneously with other types of output, thanks to the ability to add multiple Output Modules. These files can also contain alpha channels, so that color keying or other transparency data that you generate in After Effects can be put to full use in Flash. After Effects also allows you to continuously rasterize vector shapes and to preserve alpha channels from Flash, just as you would with Photoshop and Illustrator files — a huge boon to character animators who work in both applications.

Integrate Adobe Bridge CS3 assets into Flash CS3

Adobe Bridge CS3 can now be launched from the File > Browse menu, and assets can be dragged directly from Bridge into Flash. Preview your FLV and SWF files directly in Adobe Bridge CS3 before adding them to your project. Flash CS3 Professional also adds ExtendScript and BridgeTalk support for cross-application scripting. Bridge Home, a new destination in Adobe Bridge CS3, provides up-to-date information on your components in one convenient location. Visit Bridge Home to watch the latest video tutorials, listen to podcast interviews with leading designers, or learn about the next training event in your community. Discover the tips and resources that will help you work faster and smarter, making the most of your Adobe products.

Easily work between common Creative Suite 3 applications

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional now features the same enhanced interface as that in Illustrator CS3 and Photoshop CS3. Common tools, familiar icons, and customizable workspaces enable you to move smoothly between Flash and other Adobe software you use. Even if you're new to Flash, you already know how to use numerous Flash tools, including most of the tools in the Flash toolbar, as well as the Layers, Swatches, Align, Library, Info panels, and more.

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional integrates Adobe Device Central CS3

Preview and test your mobile designs, including sophisticated Adobe Flash Lite™ emulation, using device profiles of dozens of mobile and consumer devices.

What is the relationship between Flash CS3 Professional and Apollo?

Apollo is the code name for a cross-operating system application runtime that allows web developers to leverage their existing skills in HTML, JavaScript, and Ajax, as well as Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex™ software, to build and deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the desktop. The Apollo SDK can be used with Flash CS3 to build applications targeting the Apollo runtime.

Like the Flash Player browser plug-in and Flash Projectors, Apollo provides Flash developers with both a way to deploy applications and an engine for running the applications. Apollo applications are downloaded and installed like other desktop applications. In addition to all the Flash Player capabilities, the Apollo runtime provides an HTML engine and PDF support, along with enhanced desktop integration through features like file access, drag-and-drop, and support for offline use.

What is the difference between Adobe Flash CS3 Professional and Adobe Flash Player 9?

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional software is the industry's most advanced authoring environment for creating interactive websites, digital experiences, and mobile content. It is the industry's choice for designing and developing advanced interactive content, rich with animation, graphics, text, video, and audio.

Adobe Flash Player 9 is the ubiquitous rich client runtime that enables users to play Flash content. Adobe Flash Player interprets Flash CS3 instructions and executes them at runtime, ensuring the highest quality content is delivered at the smallest file size possible. The Adobe Flash Player is installed on more than 700 million devices and more than 96% of the world's Internet-connected desktops. For more information on Adobe Flash Player, visit the Flash Player website.

Where can I get more information about Flash for mobile devices?

You can find more information on Flash for mobile devices and Flash Lite at the Flash and Mobile site.

How can I learn more about creating content for mobile devices?

To get the most out of Adobe Device Central CS3 and to connect with the mobile community, visit the Mobile Authoring web page. You can also visit the Adobe Mobile and Devices Developer Center, which provides extensive online resources and information on Flash Lite mobile development, tips and tricks, and samples. Adobe offers a free Mobile Developer Program with information and resources on Adobe mobile technologies and solutions, newsletters, events, advance notification of device profile updates, discussion forums, and technical support (for an annual fee).

What is Flash Lite?

Flash Lite is the Flash technology specifically developed for mobile phones and consumer electronics devices. Flash Lite dramatically accelerates the delivery of rich content and browsing, and customized user interfaces. Designers and developers now have a new level of expressiveness, efficiency, and interactivity for content creation.

What versions of Flash does Flash Lite support?

Flash Lite 3 supports most Flash 8 content.

Which operators does Adobe work with?

We are working with many operators worldwide to provide Flash enabled phones and services.

Learn more

Pricing and availability

Visit the Adobe Store online.

Support information

In what languages will Adobe Flash CS3 Professional be available?

In addition to Universal English, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional will be available in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish. The Windows version of Flash CS3 will be available in Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, and Korean.

WinSoft is also expected to release Czech, Polish, Russian, and Turkish versions of Illustrator CS3. For more details, visit the WinSoft website.

What is product activation?

Product activation is an interactive interpretation of the licensing agreement that has always existed between Adobe and its customers. The activation process authenticates licensed users without hindering their ability to use the software the way they have always done. It requires a series of simple, quick, anonymous steps upon product installation or within the grace period set by Adobe. Just as creative professionals use watermarks to protect their intellectual property, Adobe is using activation as a way to curtail unlicensed copying of its products.

Adobe’s activation process is required on both Mac OS and Windows systems for all editions of Adobe Creative Suite 3 and related standalone products. For more information about activation, visit the Adobe software activation web page.

Do Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications run on Intel based Mac computers?

Yes, every edition of Adobe Creative Suite 3 — including Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium, and Master Collection — and all the standalone Creative Suite 3 applications fully support the new Intel® based Mac computers. For complete system requirements, visit the homepage for the product you are interested in.

Do Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications still run on legacy PowerPC based Mac computers?

Many of the Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications are universal binary versions, which means that they fully support both legacy PowerPC® based computers, as well as the new Intel based Mac computers. However, we are introducing three applications on the Mac platform — Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, Encore CS3, and Soundbooth™ CS3 — that will run only on the new Intel based Mac computers. Adobe Premiere Pro and Encore were previously only available on Windows, and Soundbooth is a brand-new offering. In bringing these applications to the Mac, and considering the hardware needs of most video professionals, it did not make sense to continue supporting an older computer architecture that Apple no longer sells or supports. This means that Creative Suite 3 Production Premium and Master Collection — both of which integrate Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, Encore CS3, and Soundbooth CS3 — claim support for only Intel based Mac computers, even though components of each are universal binary applications.

Do Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications fully support the new Windows Vista operating system?

Yes, every edition of Adobe Creative Suite 3 and all of the individual applications, such as Adobe Illustrator CS3, After Effects CS3 Professional, and Dreamweaver CS3, fully support the Windows Vista™ operating system. They are designed to run on four editions of Windows Vista: Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise (certified for 32-bit editions).

Why don't Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications support the Starter and Home Basic editions of Windows Vista?

The Starter and Home Basic editions of Windows Vista are entry-level operating systems for the casual user. They do not offer the level of support that Adobe's professional creative products require. However, some Adobe products designed for the more casual user, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0, do run on Windows Vista Starter and Home Basic editions.

Do Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications run on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista?

While Adobe Creative Suite 3 software is natively 32 bit, these applications will run on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista. For an in-depth overview of 64-bit computing and its value, see this blog from Scott Byer, Adobe Photoshop software architect.