Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich Internet applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Although Adobe Inc. discontinued support for Flash Player, it is developed by Zhongcheng in the Chinese market and for the international enterprise market, it is developed by Harman International.
About Flash displays text, vector graphics, and raster graphics to provide animations, video games, and applications. It allows streaming of audio and video, and can capture mouse, keyboard, microphone, and camera input.
Animators may produce Flash graphics and animations using Adobe Animate (formerly known as Adobe Flash Professional). Software developers may produce applications and video games using Adobe Flash Builder, FlashDevelop, Flash Catalyst, or any text editor combined with the Apache Flex SDK. End users view Flash content via Flash Player (for web browsers), Adobe AIR (for desktop or mobile apps), or third-party players such as Scaleform (for video games). Adobe Flash Player (which is available on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux) enables end users to view Flash content using web browsers. Adobe Flash Lite enabled viewing Flash content on older smartphones, but since has been discontinued and superseded by Adobe AIR.
The ActionScript programming language allows the development of interactive animations, video games, web applications, desktop applications, and mobile applications. Programmers can implement Flash software using an IDE such as Adobe Animate, Adobe Flash Builder, Adobe Director, FlashDevelop, and Powerflasher FDT. Adobe AIR enables full-featured desktop and mobile applications to be developed with Flash and published for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch.
Flash was initially used to create fully-interactive websites, but this approach was phased out with the introduction of HTML5. Instead, Flash found a niche as the dominant platform for online multimedia content, particularly for browser games. Following an open letter written by Steve Jobs in 2010 stating that he would not approve the use of Flash on Apple's iOS devices due to numerous security flaws, use of Flash gradually declined as Adobe transitioned to the Adobe AIR platform. The Flash Player was deprecated in 2017 and officially discontinued at the end of 2020 for all users outside mainland China as well as non-enterprise users, with many web browsers and operating systems scheduled to remove the Flash Player software around the same time. Adobe continues to develop Adobe Animate, which supports web standards such as HTML5 instead of the Flash format.AIR Roadmap Update , Chris Campbell, Adobe Blog, July 25, 2017 9:08 AM
Applications
Websites In the early 2000s, the Flash Player was widely installed on desktop computers, and was often used to display interactive web pages and online games, and to play video and audio content. In 2005, YouTube was founded by former PayPal employees, and it used Adobe Flash Player as a means to display compressed video content on the web.
Between 2000 and 2010, numerous businesses used Flash-based websites to launch new products or to create interactive company portals. Notable users include Nike, Hewlett-Packard (now HP Inc.), Nokia, General Electric, World Wildlife Fund, HBO, Cartoon Network, Disney, and Motorola.Looking back at the best Flash sites of 2009 , Adobe Developer Connection, 14 December 2009 After Adobe introduced hardware-accelerated 3D for Flash (Stage3D), Flash websites saw a growth of 3D content for product demonstrations and virtual tours.20 Best 3D Websites , Web Designer Drops, September 15, 2012
In 2007, YouTube offered videos in HTML5 format to support the iPhone and iPad, which did not support Flash Player. After a controversy with Apple, Adobe stopped developing Flash Player for Mobile, focusing its efforts on Adobe AIR applications and HTML5 animation. In 2015, Google introduced Google Swiffy, a tool that converted Flash animation to HTML5, which Google used to automatically convert Flash web ads for mobile devices.Google to automatically convert Flash web ads to HTML5 , IT Pro Magazine, Caroline Preece, 27 Feb 2015 In 2016, Google discontinued Swiffy and its support. In 2015, YouTube switched to HTML5 technology on most devices by default;.YOUTUBE NOW PLAYS HTML5 VIDEO BY DEFAULT, ESCHEWS ADOBE FLASH , Popular Science, Dan Moren, January 28, 2015YouTube ditches Adobe Flash for HTML5 on most browsers, The Inquirer, Chris Merriman, Jan 28 2015So long, Flash! YouTube now defaults to HTML5 on the web , PC World Magazine, Ian Paul, Jan 28, 2015 However, YouTube supported the Flash-based video player for older web browsers and devices until 2017.
Rich Internet Applications
After Flash 5 introduced ActionScript in 2000, developers combined the visual and programming capabilities of Flash to produce interactive experiences and applications for the Web. Such Web-based applications eventually became known as "Rich Internet Applications" and later "Rich Web Applications".
In 2004, Macromedia Flex was released, and specifically targeted the application development market. Flex introduced new user interface components, advanced data visualization components, data remoting, and a modern IDE (Flash Builder). Flex competed with Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) and Microsoft Silverlight during its tenure. Flex was upgraded to support integration with remote data sources, using AMF, BlazeDS, Adobe LiveCycle, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, and others.
Between 2006 and 2016, the Speedtest.net web service conducted over 9.0 billion speed tests with a utility built with Adobe Flash.What are the requirements to use Speedtest.net? , Speedtest.net In 2016, the service shifted to HTML5 due to the decreasing availability of Adobe Flash Player on PCs.The world's most popular internet speed test finally drops Adobe Flash , The Next Web, Owen Williams, 7 December 2015
Developers could create rich Internet applications and browser plugin-based applets in ActionScript 3.0 programming language with IDEs, including Adobe Flash Builder, FlashDevelop, and Powerflasher FDT. Flex applications were typically built using Flex frameworks such as PureMVC.
Video games
Flash video games were popular on the Internet, with portals like Newgrounds, Kongregate, and Armor Games dedicated to hosting Flash-based games. Many Flash games were developed by individuals or groups of friends due to the simplicity of the software. Popular Flash games include Farmville, Alien Hominid, QWOP, Club Penguin, and Dofus.
Adobe introduced various technologies to help build video games, including Adobe AIR (to release games for desktop or mobile platforms), Adobe Scout (to improve performance), CrossBridge (to convert C++-based games to run in Flash), and Stage3D (to support GPU-accelerated video games). 3D frameworks like Away3D and Flare3D simplified creation of 3D content for Flash.
Adobe AIR allows the creation of Flash-based mobile games, which may be published to the Google Play and Apple app stores.
Flash is also used to build interfaces and HUDs for 3D video games using Scaleform GFx, a technology that renders Flash content within non-Flash video games. Scaleform is supported by more than 10 major video game engines, including Unreal Engine 3, CryEngine, and PhyreEngine, and has been used to provide 3D interfaces for more than 150 major video game titles since its launch in 2003.
Film and animation
Notable users of Flash include DHX Media Vancouver for productions including Pound Puppies, Littlest Pet Shop and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Fresh TV for Total Drama, Nelvana for 6teen, Williams Street for Metalocalypse and Squidbillies, Nickelodeon Animation Studio for El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Starz Media for Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, Ankama Animation for Wakfu: The Animated Series, among others.
History
FutureWave The precursor to Flash was SmartSketch, a product published by FutureWave Software in 1993. The company was founded by Charlie Jackson, Jonathan Gay, and Michelle Alsip-Welsh.Grandmasters of Flash: An Interview with the Creators of Flash , Cold Hard FlashMACROMEDIA FLASH BACK , Digital ArchaeologyPC Graphics & Video, Volume 6, Issues 1–6, Advanstar Communications, 1997Personal Computer Magazine, PC Communications Corporation, 1995 SmartSketch was a vector drawing application for pen computers running the PenPoint OS. When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.The History of Flash: Back to Graphics
As the Internet became more popular, FutureWave realized the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might challenge Macromedia Shockwave technology. In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and released this new product as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC.The History of Flash: The Dawn of Web Animation
FutureWave approached Adobe Systems with an offer to sell them FutureSplash in 1995, but Adobe turned down the offer at that time. Microsoft wanted to create an "online TV network" (MSN 2.0) and adopted FutureSplash animated content as a central part of it. Disney Online used FutureSplash animations for their subscription-based service Disney's Daily Blast. Fox Broadcasting Company launched The Simpsons using FutureSplash.
Macromedia In December 1996, FutureSplash was acquired by Macromedia, and Macromedia re-branded and released FutureSplash Animator as Macromedia Flash 1.0. Flash was a two-part system, a graphics and animation editor known as Macromedia Flash, and a player known as Macromedia Flash Player.
FutureSplash Animator was an animation tool originally developed for pen-based computing devices. Due to the small size of the FutureSplash Viewer, it was particularly suited for download on the Web. Macromedia distributed Flash Player as a free browser plugin to quickly gain market share. By 2005, more computers worldwide had Flash Player installed than any other Web media format, including Java Media Framework, QuickTime, RealMedia, and Windows Media.
Macromedia upgraded the Flash system between 1996 and 1999, adding MovieClips, Actions (the precursor to ActionScript), Alpha transparency, and other features. As Flash matured, Macromedia's focus shifted from marketing it as a graphics and media tool to promoting it as a Web application platform, adding scripting and data access capabilities to the player while attempting to retain its small footprint. After Stephen Elop joined Macromedia, he made flash become a successful rich media platform in 2000s, including ActionScript and Flash Video features.
In 2000, the first major version of ActionScript was developed and released with Flash 5. ActionScript 2.0 was released with Flash MX 2004 and supported object-oriented programming, improved UI components, and other programming features. The last version of Flash released by Macromedia was Flash 8, which focused on graphical upgrades such as filters (blur, drop shadow, etc.), blend modes (similar to Adobe Photoshop), and advanced features for FLV video.
Release Year Icon Description FutureSplash Animator 1996 Initial version of Flash was released in May 1996 with basic editing tools and a timeline. Macromedia Flash 1 1996 A re-branded version of the FutureSplash Animator, released on December 18, 1996, under the name Macromedia Flash 1.0. The name "Flash" was created by blending the words Future and Splash. Macromedia