Nice presentation. I've got the pre-release versions of Catalyst and Gumbo and have ben a bit intimidated to get started with Catalyst but this screen cast was really helpful.

Thanks!

Thanks.

Hope it helps you jump into the programs a bit. They are really moving in a great direction.

Great screencast. Good content. The Flash media player you guys are using however, is not great. No UI controls in fullscreen view? No duration/playhead position info?

@Chad Thanks.

I made the video player and I am working on the next version. This would be 0.1 alpha release :)

Very nice presentation Garth. Great overview of the software that we're all salivating for.

Unfortunately, Flex hasn't yet caught up to XAML in the designer-developer workflow. Then again, MS did have the advantage of hindsight.

@Justin very good point. I won't claim to be a XAML workflow expert, especially with the latest announcements. From my limited understanding I think Adobe's main advantage with Flash Catalyst at this point is the round tripping ability with the Creative Suite applications. Since they controller the design applications I think this will remain their advantage. At the same time the main disadvantage Adobe has is that Microsoft's tools are already released in beta.

I'm hoping this will be a healthy competition that pushes both sides. Maybe it will help us get our hands on a public beta sooner.

Hi,
I'm kind of sceptical about the whole Flash Catalyst workflow thing. It sounds good for prototyping but could be a nightmare in the wrong hands. I'd like to rty it when it gets out though!
I wrote a post that touches on the subject: http://arielsommeria.com/blog/2009/03/03/team-workflow-working-with-a-designer/

Great post Ariel. I'm glad more people are making this a priority in conversations on interactive design and development. As far as Flash Catalyst is concerned I think getting you hands on it will really help you decide which side of the fence you are on. FC is not going to work with every workflow or development style. I am working on another screencast for InsideRIA that will go through taking the FC file and moving it to the developer stage.

I agree with you that FC will be a powerful prototyping tool, but I think even if the code isn't factored in the fashion you would use, it is nice to see working code. You can still start from scratch in FB and just use the code from FC as a reference. Either way a FC file with compiled swf is much more useful to a developer than an illustrator file with instructions on interaction.

Hi Garth,
thanks! I agree, it is nice to see working code, but it can have some nasty side effects. Try to explain to customer that this customer is just a prototype and that it can't be used for production and yes there is still a lot of work to be done... I guess it's not only the tool, it's also the culture and the usage that determines its impact. If you want a beta tester let me know... I'm the reactionary late adopter on the bleeding edge kind of tester. :-)
Ariel

Garth,
the serial numbers for thr Max preview of Flash Catalyst have expired as of the end of March, are there updated ones available yet?

there is also a whisper that Gumbo will play nicely with Flash CS4 for Actionscript development.

Any idea where I might find my details on that?

Stephen

Adobe mentioned a public beta at MAX. I would keep you eye on labs.adobe.com for that.
As for AS3 development in Flex Builder - check out Lee Brimelow's FAQ for details on how he does it with FB3. Again, we'll have to wait on a public beta to know exactly how Gumbo will handle AS3 development.

Lee's FAQ post