I have a question for a niche group of people.
The question is for people who have used Flash or Animate to make 2D animations.
Have you found alternative software that has the same overall user experience as old school Flash?
If yes, what is it?
Please note I am aware of a lot of animation packages out there & I know a lot of them are great, but I have a LOT of experience in Flash & if I can ditch Animate but keep the overall experience that would be perfect.
Thanks.
Please note I am aware of a lot of animation packages out there
Are you aware of any open-source animation packages that do even a half-arsed job of doing what Flash could do in the late '90s (simple vector drawing, keyframe-based animations)? Ideally ones that can export to something viewable in a browser.
I miss Flash.
@david_chisnall Friction2D fits your particular list, but I have never opened Flash.
@david_chisnall @eclectech I don't know how https://friction.graphics compares to Flash or Animate as I've not used Flash in the last two decades and have never used Animate. I rarely do animation work, but have dabbled with Friction on occasion. It's pretty feature rich, but documentation could be better.
@eLearningTechie I'll add that to the ones to take a peek at, ta.
btw Krita looked possible in the first instance @david_chisnall but the vector element seemed lacking for animation tweening.
I just tried Krita for five minutes. I could not work out how to draw two shapes with a line connecting them. That's the thing I do most often in a vector-drawing tool. OmniGraffle 3 had a really nice magnet model, 6 made it worse but still okay.
@david_chisnall For vector drawing Inkscape is my go to tool.
@eLearningTechie The best I can say about Inkscape is that it works, but the UI is incredibly clunky and I spend so much time fighting it that I can't focus on what I'm trying to draw.
@david_chisnall The nice easy manipulation of vectors is one of the things I'm struggling to find, but I am on a mission, so will let you know if I find anything.
@eclectech I have a similar issue with non-animated drawing programs. I have been using OnmiGraffle since it came bundled with the first Mac I bought and it's great, but they're increasingly moving to the 'pro' market.
I paid $25 to upgrade to OmniGraffle 3. I'm not. Now the new versions are $75 (upgrade pricing, $150 full price). Except they've moved a bunch of features I use to the Pro version, which is $125 ($250 full price). Oh, there's also a $125/year subscription option, but since I bought OmniGraffle 6 in 2014 and 7 is the latest version, that's a lot more expensive (it does come with the iOS version, but I have zero desire to use an app that is nice on a 43" monitor and a bit of a struggle on a 16" one on my iPad).
And that's just silly money for a thing I use as infrequently as I use it. I tried InkScape, but I cannot overstate how much rage the UI induced.
