I had been using the open source Flash SDK, and was recently gifted CS4. I was wondering if there are better ways to do things in CS4 for some of the following things:
One of my project is a game with different phases - for phase transition is it better to implement as different frames of the stage?
Any tips in particular?
The main use case for CS4 is static animation.
If you're trying to knock out static prototypes from designed flats, it might be faster to do in CS4.
If you're animating a show for Cartoon Network, that can be done with CS4.
When you add live runtime data, those keyframes cause far more problems than they solve.
If you're building data driven web applications, you're much better off with Flex Builder (soon to be Flash Builder) and the open-source SDK.
If you're comfortable with the command-line, you might want to check out Project Sprouts, an open-source tool set that can improve your workflow using the SDK.