11 ms·

Adobe Animate CC, a New Era for Flash Professional

78 points by cpeterso 11y ago

mxfh 11y ago
Regarding the state of web graphic standards for animation, I would like to know where SVG animations[0] are going. With SMIL animations being pushed into deprecation[1] by chrome devs while CSS animations are a inferior replacement, web animations are still a draft[2] and SVG 2 with SMIL 2.1 not being released anytime soon? [0] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG/SVG_animation_with_SMIL https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG/SVG_animati... [1] https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/5o0yiO440LM%5B101-125%5D https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink... [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/web-animations/ http://www.w3.org/TR/web-animations/
- jahewson 11y ago
  The last I heard was that SMIL is due to be removed from SVG 2 and replaced with an Animations spec separate from SVG.
mukundmr 11y ago
It would be nice if Adobe ditched or deprecated SWF in favor of HTML5 / SVG etc. Flash player has been a huge attack vector for malware and the situation hasn't improved. One thing that continues to irritate me is the extra step required to fool websites into thinking that I am accessing their videos from an iPad before they start streaming over HTML. In normal mode, they force you to install Flash and the associated risk.
- giancarlostoro 11y ago
  I think it will happen eventually and the name change might help slightly. Companies will still use flash for advertising in most cases, but hopefully slowly shift out of flash. I usually have flashblock if I have flash installed and noscript setup, really helps block ads as a side effect.
mei0Iesh 11y ago
That's nice, but the word "script" was nowhere on that page. It supports ActionScript? That is what made Flash special, the union of code and art. I'm unaware of a complete authoring environment for artistic coders to produce things like they could with Flash. In Flash it wasn't all graphics, or all code, you could mix and match any way you wanted. You could right-click right on a visual object, and put script directly on it, along with its own more typical video-like animation keyframes, and along with separate complete code documents to control everything at once. It was really powerful. Also, it says CC. I've thus far managed to protest the forced subscription model, which Adobe can only get away with by flexing their near-monopoly position. If it is subscription-only, and especially if it doesn't support ActionScript, I won't be paying them any money.
- deleted 11y ago
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- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- larsiusprime 11y ago
  I doubt they've removed it unless they're splitting animation off into a separate product. A big push in the last year was the create custom export plugins to expand Flash's interactivity base from just SWF files. For instance, you can use Haxe+OpenFL[1] with Flash CC now, and thus maintain an ActionScript-y programming model, but also export your projects (with full swf support) to C++ and HTML5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhE07Y9TUJU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhE07Y9TUJU [1](http://www.openfl.org http://www.openfl.org)
- joe_momma 11y ago
  This is very true, and kinda makes this product already seem obsolete if I can code in my favorite IDE instead starting this massive load of crap up. I don't think HTML5 needs an IDE such as this. Flash was a wonderful way to learn about object oriented programming because you could literally draw an object and add code to it, as you described. However, I think controlling objects appearances with CSS instead of the IDE or direct code that is mixed with other ActionScript is what finally converted me away from Flash. The new CSS3 features were too good to pass up especially if I could use them for free and with any text editor.
aikah 11y ago
TLDR : This is a rebranding of Flash into Animate CC. A bit confusing since another product is called Edge Animate CC. Or will they merge both products ?
- afloatboat 11y ago
  'Note: As of November 2015, Edge Animate is no longer being actively developed.' Source: http://www.adobe.com/be_en/products/edge-animate.html http://www.adobe.com/be_en/products/edge-animate.html Flash has been capable of exporting html animations for quite some time now, so I can't say this is unexpected. This seems like a large step in deprecating the Flash name and player in general.
  - castell 11y ago
    That's sad, because Adobe Edge was an open source web app running in a webkit/blink window. I always thought it would replace Flash IDE.
  - binxbolling 11y ago
    Edge Animate is great, it's really a bummer they're deprecating it. (Who knows, maybe Animate CC will be Edge Animate more-or-less.)
bastionride 11y ago
We know you asked for more support for technology that everybody loves, so yeah! FLASH FLASH FLASH NEVER DIES ALL THE WAY!!11
- rawTruthHurts 11y ago
  Good point, and I completely agree. For cheap 2d traditional cel animation it definitely has some use.
- bastionride 11y ago
  Damn people, ever heard of sarcasm?
  - jcl 11y ago
    I did not vote you down, but your comment doesn't really add much. It's a common sentiment that could have been posted on any article about Flash. And it makes even less sense on this particular article, since, if you read between the lines, Adobe is acknowledging that Flash is a tainted brand and that SWF is on its way out.
- rogeryu 11y ago
  I truly loved Flash for it's amazing animation possibilities. And I still love it for that.
PostThisTooFast 11y ago
More RENTAL junk from Adobe. They can shove it.
drawkbox 11y ago
Good they updated and see the value in the animation side rather than let it languish in uncertainty. They were losing ground to Toon Boom[1] and new tools like Spine 2D[2] that takes into account all formats and mobile dev. As far as animation for shows, Toon Boom really took over that front including most recently Rick & Morty. [1] http://www.toonboom.com/ http://www.toonboom.com/ [2] http://esotericsoftware.com/ http://esotericsoftware.com/
dschiptsov 11y ago
New era of remote exploits.)
PaulHoule 11y ago
One of the strengths Flash had from the beginning was a good GUI for content creation. It is good that they are separating this from the platform, which is hitting end of life.
such_a_casual 11y ago
Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in.
at-fates-hands 11y ago
This has been around since 2011 as part of their Adobe Edge platform. I saw this a few years ago when parallax was still a big deal. It certainly makes it nice and easy to do animations with Animate, but the code it creates is horrific. Here is one of the examples from the Animate page: http://html.adobe.com/edge/animate/showcase/interactive-marquee/ http://html.adobe.com/edge/animate/showcase/interactive-marq... And the underlying code: http://imgur.com/g33rfUy http://imgur.com/g33rfUy

78 points by cpeterso 11y ago

mxfh 11y ago

Regarding the state of web graphic standards for animation, I would like to know where SVG animations[0] are going. With SMIL animations being pushed into deprecation[1] by chrome devs while CSS animations are a inferior replacement, web animations are still a draft[2] and SVG 2 with SMIL 2.1 not being released anytime soon? [0] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG/SVG_animation_with_SMIL https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/SVG/SVG_animati... [1] https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/5o0yiO440LM%5B101-125%5D https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink... [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/web-animations/ http://www.w3.org/TR/web-animations/

jahewson 11y ago
The last I heard was that SMIL is due to be removed from SVG 2 and replaced with an Animations spec separate from SVG.

mukundmr 11y ago

It would be nice if Adobe ditched or deprecated SWF in favor of HTML5 / SVG etc. Flash player has been a huge attack vector for malware and the situation hasn't improved. One thing that continues to irritate me is the extra step required to fool websites into thinking that I am accessing their videos from an iPad before they start streaming over HTML. In normal mode, they force you to install Flash and the associated risk.

giancarlostoro 11y ago
I think it will happen eventually and the name change might help slightly. Companies will still use flash for advertising in most cases, but hopefully slowly shift out of flash. I usually have flashblock if I have flash installed and noscript setup, really helps block ads as a side effect.

mei0Iesh 11y ago

That's nice, but the word "script" was nowhere on that page. It supports ActionScript? That is what made Flash special, the union of code and art. I'm unaware of a complete authoring environment for artistic coders to produce things like they could with Flash. In Flash it wasn't all graphics, or all code, you could mix and match any way you wanted. You could right-click right on a visual object, and put script directly on it, along with its own more typical video-like animation keyframes, and along with separate complete code documents to control everything at once. It was really powerful. Also, it says CC. I've thus far managed to protest the forced subscription model, which Adobe can only get away with by flexing their near-monopoly position. If it is subscription-only, and especially if it doesn't support ActionScript, I won't be paying them any money.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
larsiusprime 11y ago
I doubt they've removed it unless they're splitting animation off into a separate product. A big push in the last year was the create custom export plugins to expand Flash's interactivity base from just SWF files. For instance, you can use Haxe+OpenFL[1] with Flash CC now, and thus maintain an ActionScript-y programming model, but also export your projects (with full swf support) to C++ and HTML5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhE07Y9TUJU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhE07Y9TUJU [1](http://www.openfl.org http://www.openfl.org)
joe_momma 11y ago
This is very true, and kinda makes this product already seem obsolete if I can code in my favorite IDE instead starting this massive load of crap up. I don't think HTML5 needs an IDE such as this. Flash was a wonderful way to learn about object oriented programming because you could literally draw an object and add code to it, as you described. However, I think controlling objects appearances with CSS instead of the IDE or direct code that is mixed with other ActionScript is what finally converted me away from Flash. The new CSS3 features were too good to pass up especially if I could use them for free and with any text editor.

aikah 11y ago

TLDR : This is a rebranding of Flash into Animate CC. A bit confusing since another product is called Edge Animate CC. Or will they merge both products ?

afloatboat 11y ago
'Note: As of November 2015, Edge Animate is no longer being actively developed.' Source: http://www.adobe.com/be_en/products/edge-animate.html http://www.adobe.com/be_en/products/edge-animate.html Flash has been capable of exporting html animations for quite some time now, so I can't say this is unexpected. This seems like a large step in deprecating the Flash name and player in general.
- castell 11y ago
  That's sad, because Adobe Edge was an open source web app running in a webkit/blink window. I always thought it would replace Flash IDE.
- binxbolling 11y ago
  Edge Animate is great, it's really a bummer they're deprecating it. (Who knows, maybe Animate CC will be Edge Animate more-or-less.)

bastionride 11y ago

We know you asked for more support for technology that everybody loves, so yeah! FLASH FLASH FLASH NEVER DIES ALL THE WAY!!11

rawTruthHurts 11y ago
Good point, and I completely agree. For cheap 2d traditional cel animation it definitely has some use.
bastionride 11y ago
Damn people, ever heard of sarcasm?
- jcl 11y ago
  I did not vote you down, but your comment doesn't really add much. It's a common sentiment that could have been posted on any article about Flash. And it makes even less sense on this particular article, since, if you read between the lines, Adobe is acknowledging that Flash is a tainted brand and that SWF is on its way out.
rogeryu 11y ago
I truly loved Flash for it's amazing animation possibilities. And I still love it for that.

PostThisTooFast 11y ago

More RENTAL junk from Adobe. They can shove it.

drawkbox 11y ago

Good they updated and see the value in the animation side rather than let it languish in uncertainty. They were losing ground to Toon Boom[1] and new tools like Spine 2D[2] that takes into account all formats and mobile dev. As far as animation for shows, Toon Boom really took over that front including most recently Rick & Morty. [1] http://www.toonboom.com/ http://www.toonboom.com/ [2] http://esotericsoftware.com/ http://esotericsoftware.com/

dschiptsov 11y ago

New era of remote exploits.)

PaulHoule 11y ago

One of the strengths Flash had from the beginning was a good GUI for content creation. It is good that they are separating this from the platform, which is hitting end of life.

such_a_casual 11y ago

Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in.

at-fates-hands 11y ago

This has been around since 2011 as part of their Adobe Edge platform. I saw this a few years ago when parallax was still a big deal. It certainly makes it nice and easy to do animations with Animate, but the code it creates is horrific. Here is one of the examples from the Animate page: http://html.adobe.com/edge/animate/showcase/interactive-marquee/ http://html.adobe.com/edge/animate/showcase/interactive-marq... And the underlying code: http://imgur.com/g33rfUy http://imgur.com/g33rfUy