Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) is a multimedia platform used to add animation,

video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements and games.
More recently, it has been positioned as a tool for "Rich Internet Applications" ("RIAs").

Flash manipulates vector and raster graphics to provide animation of text, drawings, and still
images. It supports bidirectional streaming of audio and video, and it can capture user input via
mouse, keyboard, microphone, and camera. Flash contains an Object-oriented language called
ActionScript.

Flash content may be displayed on various computer systems and devices, using Adobe Flash
Player, which is available free of charge for common web browsers, some mobile phones and a
few other electronic devices (using Flash Lite).

Release Year Description FutureSplash Animator 1996 Initial version of Flash with basic
editing tools and a timeline Macromedia Flash 1 1996 A re-branded version of the FutureSplash
Animator Macromedia Flash 2 1997 Released with Flash Player 2, new features included: the
object library Macromedia Flash 3 1998 Released with Flash Player 3, new features included:
the movieclip element, JavaScript plug-in integration, transparency and an external stand alone
player Macromedia Flash 4 1999 Released with Flash Player 4, new features included: internal
variables, an input field, advanced ActionScript, and streaming MP3 Macromedia Flash 5 2000
Released with Flash Player 5, new features included: ActionScript 1.0 (based on ECMAScript,
making it very similar to JavaScript in syntax), XML support, Smartclips (the precursor to
components in Flash), HTML text formatting added for dynamic text Macromedia Flash
MX(6) 2002 Released with Flash Player 6, new features included: a video codec (Sorenson
Spark), Unicode, v1 UI Components, compression, ActionScript vector drawing API
Macromedia Flash MX 2004(7) 2003 Released with Flash Player 7, new features included:
Actionscript 2.0 (which enabled an object-oriented programming model for Flash, although it
lacked the Script assist function of other versions, meaning Actionscript could only be typed out
manually), behaviors, extensibility layer (JSAPI), alias text support, timeline effects.
Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 included all Flash MX 2004 features, plus: Screens
(forms for non-linear state-based development and slides for organizing content in a linear slide
format like PowerPoint), web services integration, video import wizard, Media Playback
components (which encapsulate a complete MP3 and/or FLV player in a component that may be
placed in an SWF), Data components (DataSet, XMLConnector, WebServicesConnector,
XUpdateResolver, etc.) and data binding APIs, the Project Panel, v2 UI components, and
Transition class libraries. Macromedia Flash 8 2005 Macromedia Flash Basic 8, a less feature-
rich version of the Flash authoring tool[citation needed] targeted at new users who only want to do basic
drawing, animation and interactivity. Released with Flash Player 8, this version of the product
has limited support for video and advanced graphical and animation effects. Macromedia Flash
Professional 8 added features focused on expressiveness, quality, video, and mobile authoring.
New features included Filters and blend modes, easing control for animation, enhanced stroke
properties (caps and joins), object-based drawing mode, run-time bitmap caching, FlashType
advanced anti-aliasing for text, On2 VP6 advanced video codec, support for alpha transparency
in video, a stand-alone encoder and advanced video importer, cue point support in FLV files, an
advanced video playback component, and an interactive mobile device emulator. Adobe Flash
CS3(9) Professional 2007 Flash CS3 is the first version of Flash released under the Adobe
name. CS3 features full support for ActionScript 3.0, allows entire applications to be converted
into ActionScript, adds better integration with other Adobe products such as Adobe Photoshop,
and also provides better Vector drawing behavior, becoming more like Adobe Illustrator and
Adobe Fireworks. Adobe Flash CS4(10) Professional 2008 Contains inverse kinematics
(bones), basic 3D object manipulation, object-based animation, a text engine, and further
expansions to ActionScript 3.0. CS4 allows the developer to create animations with many
features absent in previous versions. Adobe Flash Professional CS5(11) 2010 Flash CS5 was
released on April 12, 2010 and launched for trialling and normal buying on April 30, 2010. Flash
CS5 Professional includes support for publishing iPhone applications.[14] However, on April 8,
2010 Apple changed the terms of its Developer License to effectively ban the use of the Flash-to-
iPhone compiler[15] and on April 20, 2010 Adobe announced that they will be making no
additional investments in targeting the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5.[16]

Other features of Flash CS5 are a new text engine (TLF), further improvement to inverse
kinematics, and the Code Snippets panel. [17]

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Autodesk Corporation's Maya is a 3D Modeling and Rendering program, similar to Lightwave,

3DMax, Pixar's Renderman, and other professional 3D programs. Along with Renderman, it is
considered one of the top programs in its class in the world, and arguably THE top program in its
class in the world. Many pictures have received Academy Awards for Visual Effects because
their artists used Maya for the film. One of the most recent examples is the Oscar winning "The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - it used Maya for its visual effects throughout the picture.
King Kong was also the beneficiary of effects created by Maya.

In addition to 3D work, Maya is also used for Matte painting. Matte paintings are typically used
in digital work for backgrounds.

Many special effects companies use Maya. More notable examples are Lucasfilm's Industrial
Light and Magic, and Matte World Digital.

Autodesk has won a total of 5 Oscars itself from the Academy for significant contibutions to the
Motion Picture industry. Last year, it won the Scientific and Technical Oscar for Maya's new
Fluid Effects, which allow graphic artists to realistically design better fluid and gas effects on
film.

Autodesk's achievements with Maya are not limited to movies - it has also received many awards
from the Television and Broadcasting industries. As another person here pointed out, it is also
used in the Gaming Industry for 3D game modeling and effects.

Maya is not on the list of cheap programs, even if you're a student. The full version runs close to
$2000 or more depending on the version and what you get with it. However, you can download a
trial version from the Autodesk site.
Simply put though, it is not for the beginner or casual user. It is for those who are professional
artists, working at the top of their craft. The same can be said for Renderman, as it has been used
by Pixar Animation to create its Oscar winning movies over the years. Many people don't realize
that Pixar was originally a Computer company started by George Lucas.

Many people who aren't familiar with 3D techniques start out with Autodesk's 3DMax, a good
program in its own right. While not as powerful as Maya, it does prepare users for the jump to
the more complex Maya program.

While Maya isn't for beginners, there are many good training programs available if you're not
going to get it in college. One of the better courses is at Lynda.com, which has online courses for
most of the top media programs, including Adobe, Autodesk, Macromedia (before the merger -
they still have the old courses available) and many programming language courses as well.
Annual subscription runs about $400. So if you can swing the cash for Maya, training is
accessible. Lynda.com now offers certification in each course completed as well.

Maya also needs pretty powerful equipment to run. Most notebooks or other systems with
common ATI Radeon or NVIDIA GeForce chipsets aren't recommended for the 3D processing
capability that Maya requires. The Autodesk site has specific requirements for systems to run
Maya, and while they're not that steep, they're not that cheap either.

Answer
Maya is a very powerful and very expensive 3D imaging software program that is used mainly
for special effects in movies and modeling objects and characters in video games.

Answer
"I think it is a software that has ability to do anything in animation world."

Answer
Maya is a design software, you can use it make 3D imagine, and I am learning it right now, if
you need one, you can go to www.downallsoftware.com to get a cheap one, so cheap and safe,
enjoy

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Maya#ixzz19hwX35LU

….

Features
Further information: Comparison of raster graphics editors#Features

Photoshop has ties with other Adobe software for media editing, animation, and authoring. The
.PSD (Photoshop Document), Photoshop's native format, stores an image with support for most
imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, color spaces, ICC
profiles, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colors, clipping paths, and duotone settings.
This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g. .EPS or .GIF) that restrict content to provide
streamlined, predictable functionality.

Photoshop's popularity means that the .PSD format is widely used, and it is supported to some
extent by most competing software. The .PSD file format can be exported to and from Adobe
Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, and After Effects, to make professional standard DVDs and
provide non-linear editing and special effects services, such as backgrounds, textures, and so on,
for television, film, and the Web. Photoshop is a pixel-based image editor, unlike programs such
as Macromedia FreeHand (now defunct), Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape or CorelDraw, which are
vector-based image editors.

Photoshop uses color models RGB, lab, CMYK, grayscale, binary bitmap, and duotone.
Photoshop has the ability to read and write raster and vector image formats such as .EPS, .PNG,
.GIF, .JPEG, and Adobe Fireworks.

[edit] CS3

Smart Layers display the filter without altering the original image (here on Mac OS X)

New productivity features include a streamlined interface, improved Camera RAW support,
better control over print options, enhanced PDF support, and better management with Adobe
Bridge. Editing tools new to CS3 are the Clone Source palette and nondestructive Smart Filters,
and other features such as the brightness and contrast adjustment and Vanishing Point module
were enhanced. The Black and White adjustment option improves control over manual grayscale
conversions with a dialog box similar to that of Channel Mixer. Compositing is assisted with
Photoshop's new Quick Selection and Refine Edge tools and improved image stitching
technology.[6]
CS3 Extended contains all features of CS3 plus tools for editing and importing some 3D graphics
file formats, enhancing video, and comprehensive image analysis tools, utilizing MATLAB
integration and DICOM file support.[7]

[edit] CS4

Photoshop CS4 features a new 3D engine allowing painting directly on 3D models, wrapping 2D
images around 3D shapes, converting gradient maps to 3D objects, adding depth to layers and
text, getting print-quality output with the new ray-tracing rendering engine. It supports common
3D formats; the new Adjustment and Mask Panels; Content-aware scaling (seam carving[8]);
Fluid Canvas Rotation and File display options.[9] On 30 April, Adobe released Photoshop CS4
Extended, which includes all the same features of Adobe Photoshop CS4 with the addition of
capabilities for scientific imaging, 3D, and high end film and video users. The successor to
Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS4 is the first 64-bit Photoshop on consumer computers (only on
Windows – the OS X version is still 32-bit only.)[10]

[edit] CS5

Photoshop CS5 was launched on April 12, 2010.[11] In a video posted on its official Facebook
page, the development team revealed the new technologies under development, including three
dimensional brushes and warping tools.[12]

A version of Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended was used for a Prerelease Beta. A large group of
selected Photoshop users were invited to beta test in mid-February 2010.

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Adobe Dreamweaver (formerly Macromedia Dreamweaver) is a web development

application originally created by Macromedia, and is now developed by Adobe Systems, which
acquired Macromedia in 2005.

Dreamweaver is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems. Recent versions have
incorporated support for web technologies such as CSS, JavaScript, and various server-side
scripting languages and frameworks including ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP.

Features
Dreamweaver allows users to preview websites in locally installed web browsers. It provides
transfer and synchronization features, the ability to find and replace lines of text or code by
search terms and regular expressions across the entire site, and a templating feature that allows
single-source update of shared code and layout across entire sites without server-side includes or
scripting. The behaviours panel also enables use of basic JavaScript without any coding
knowledge, and integration with Adobe's Spry Ajax framework offers easy access to
dynamically-generated content and interfaces.
Dreamweaver can use third-party "Extensions" to extend core functionality of the application,
which any web developer can write (largely in HTML and JavaScript). Dreamweaver is
supported by a large community of extension developers who make extensions available (both
commercial and free) for most web development tasks from simple rollover effects to full-
featured shopping carts.

Dreamweaver, like other HTML editors, edits files locally then uploads them to the remote web
server using FTP, SFTP, or WebDAV. Dreamweaver CS4 now supports the Subversion (SVN)
version control system.