After several minor tweaks, Flash Professional 8 is the next big leap in Adobe’s Web video and animation creation program. Version 8 offers aficionados significant improvements in graphical effects, web-video, and creating media for 3G phones.

Perhaps most importantly, Flash Professional 8 has been widely reported as much more stable than previous versions with better text handling, advanced vector graphic capabilities and video manipulation features. As video continues to be a big driver of internet traffic, Flash 8 pays special attention to embedding videos in web content in Flash’s FLV (Flash Video) format (as seen on YouTube). The encoder quickly and seamlessly converts multiple video formats into FLV files for use on websites with few, if any, audio or synchronisation problems. Flash Professional 8 dramatically streamlines mobile content development, potentially reducing time to market from months to weeks. New features accelerate content development even more. Flash includes authoring templates to help developers get started. Templates are available in three categories: global phones, Japanese phones, and other devices.

For those that are script shy, a new feature called Script Assist allows you to create scripts with an easy-to-use interface and even offers you advice on where your scripting may have gone wrong.

If you’re an advanced designer then Flash Professional 8 will delight you with its range of options and powerful rendering. Those that are less advanced should think twice before upgrading because the new features will take some getting used but for those considering serious video work, its worth the effort..