For those interested: I just found out about Friction, which seems on the verge of becoming an intriguing alternative to Animate and even (somewhat) to After Effects for web animations. I've been testing it, and Friction already feels reasonably mature for web animations.   Multiple scenes and timelines are supported, vector and bitmap animation, a proper graph editor, export to animated SVG, expressions, and more. It is about to hit release 1 status for Windows, Mac, and Linux.   https://friction.graphics/   Remarkably enough this is an open source project. One to watch, in my opinion. ... View more

You can find Krita for Android here.   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.krita&hl=en-US ... View more

@SpiritsofRuin You asked the same question before: https://community.adobe.com/t5/animate-discussions/closest-alternative-to-adobe-animate-flash/td-p/15642889   The answer remains the same. 🙂 ... View more

I always find it odd that someone would record a "first impressions" video without having at least spent a few weeks of deepdiving in it and working with it. And it seems that in the video that was the first time ever that you opened and used Tahoma2D?    That's not a criticism: it is in the nature of people to want to compare something new with their old stuff that they've known and worked with for years. It does introduce a lot of bias and cognitive friction, of course. And false assumptions... 😉   Yeah, it was frustrating to watch you first experience with OT / Tahoma2D. But also expected, since you are playing with the program for the first time, AND recording AND explaining at the same time which means your brain is not paying 100% attention to what you are attempting to achieve.    That said, the timeline functionality in OT/Tahoma2D always behaved a little differently compared to Animate, and is more comparable to ToonBoom. But this has changed since Tahoma2D release 1.5 last July (see below).   Also, some things just work differently from Animate/Flash... Perhaps it is because I also work a lot with Davinci Resolve and music apps which require the same workflow, but I very much prefer the project oriented approach. Working in the sandbox is not a great idea - good for quick testing the app, or for beginners to test the waters, but that's it. And OT/Tahoma2D are version control friendly, which is awesome. The apps instill a sense that it is important to organize your animations properly - something that was often an issue with many Flash animators is my experience.   One more important workflow difference to be aware of that OT/Tahoma2D differentiates between the timeline keys and the timeline keys' contents: drawings are treated as a separate thing. That may be strange starting out, but it actually opens up a lot of flexibility in reusing one's drawings. If we need to replace a frame with a specific drawing we simply alt-drag the drawing on that cell. Or we can select a range of drawing and drag those somewhere in the timeline. Multiple timelines can reference the same drawings.   All those drawings are saved as PLI files that are accessible via the built-in file browser. Very simple to reuse these in any timeline by simply dragging into a new timeline level.   All of your major criticisms have been fixed in Tahoma2D 1.5. [1] the tiny drag bars are gone - simply move cells and columns by click-dragging like any other animation app. [2] cells behaviour is now auto-hold, which pretty much resolves your issues with exposing frames. It just works automatically. No more unexpected empty frames between keys. It can be turned off in the preferences.   And you will like the new folders option for the timeline - something long overdue! Levels can be organized in folders (grouped) and nested now.   https://tahoma2d.org/whats_new.html   I am unsure about the pressure sensitivity issues that you have experienced - the developer of Tahoma2D mentions these issues for Windows users in the Welcome tips dialog in the latest version and how to resolve them.   As for exposing additional frames: just use the small grabber widget next time... It was indeed painful to watch you stumbling around that much trying to achieve such a simple thing. 😄   Btw, the reason for that FPS slider that you deem a waste of space: while previewing the animation we can easily speed up and slow down the preview play speed in loop mode to check the animation for timing issues and such. I use it often. So that slider is not meant to set the FPS (it can be used for that) but more as an alternative method for previewing purposes. 🙂 ... View more

Have you tried the uninstaller/cleaner utility?   https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/apps/troubleshoot/diagnostics-repair-tools/run-creative-cloud-cleaner-tool.html   ... View more

Adobe Fireworks was a 32-bit Intel Mac app, and MacOS on Apple Silicon machines (such as your M4 MacBook Air) requires a minimum of a 64-bit Intel Mac executable. Sadly, this means Fireworks is not compatible with your snazzy new M4 Mac.   You can, however, keep on using it on your older Windows laptop.   Fireworks may also function on your new Mac using CrossOver ($74 per month) or perhaps Whisky. Or it may not work. Whisky is free and open source.   The problem is getting your hands on Fireworks - as a Mac user you can no longer download it via Adobe CC. Adobe removed all public links to Fireworks installation files. And even if you do find it, you will run into licensing server issues, as many have experienced here on these forums.   Good luck! ... View more

For professional animation work there's already OpenToonz or its offshoot Tahoma2D. Open source, free, and much more capable than Flash/Animate.  ... View more

While I appreciate the tutorial for what it is (a space shot created and rendered in After Effects) and the skills involved, in my opinion the final result render quality resembles that of an 3D space game from the early 2000s. The bloom merely serves to hide the render deficiences, and the highlights are overexposed. The final result is lacklustre if one is aiming for a semi-realistic looking animation...    This would work for previz, but never for a final deliverable.    Why not do this properly in a 3D animation app with proper rendering tech such as Blender, Cinema4D, Maya, Houdini, LightWave,... ? Then import in After Effects for compositing, if necessary. That's how everyone else is doing it. Use the right tool for the right job. ... View more

I agree with Nancy here. WordPress (or another popular content management system) is probably the best way to go within your @Gone Hang Gliding 's context. Easy to collaborate with multiple people. Most classic webhost providers feature a cPanel, and this includes easy installation of tons of open source PHP apps, including WordPress. Three clicks, and presto: a copy of WordPress is running on your host.   The theme that rvhpa.org is running is called 2017. You can find more information here: https://wordpress.org/themes/twentyseventeen/   In essence you install WP on your server/host, then install the 2017 theme. Done. Then begin adding content. 🙂    On a side note: GoDaddy is a horrible host. Horrible, terrible, atrocious. Avoid, avoid, avoid.  ... View more

That... I agree with wholeheartedly. The GUi design in Figma is (in my opinion) atrocious. Nothing can be customized to suit my preference of GUI setup. I cannot understand why a company that created the standard in UX/GUI prototyping gets away with such a half-baked GUI. ... View more

Note that I didn't write a complete code rewrite. Nor did I state that that rewrite should take place all of a sudden in a short amount of time.    Blender has had two rewrites and because of those Blender has catapulted into the stratosphere, turning it into a market leader (even if it is open source!). Cinema 4D had its core updated over a number of years (which did lead to a slowdown of new features introduced). PhotoLine was restructured and its core sped up over the last decade, new core features added, and the GUI completely overhauled.   I mean: Photoshop hasn't even seen any core improvements in how it deals with 16 bit images (the so-called 16 bit mode that actually is a 15 bit +1 bit mode) since when it was first introduced way back in 1991(!), still no layer support in indexed mode or 1bit mode, the max image size limit of 300,000px, still only one layer mask and vector mask per layer, no layer instancing, only one image mode option in Curves and Levels and other colour adjustments, still no additional procedural noises and patterns (clouds still have no adjustable parameters, sigh), and so on and so forth.   It took the dev team --what?-- 10 years or so to add a Curves window that is scalable! And sadly the Curves dialog and functionality could have had tons of real functional improvements...   And there are so many more things that can be improved in Photoshop's core design. The layer stack is looking old in the teeth. The 3D features were removed, never to be seen again.    Still waiting after 30 years for some improvements in any of these areas.   Ah well, I will shut up now. It is what it is. Sorry for the rant. ... View more

I don't entirely disagree with you @D Fosse , but there are instances when Photoshop gobbles up memory like there is no tomorrow and other image editors use far less memory compared.   For example, I have three images: a 16bit greyscale image an 8bit RGB image an 8 bit normal map image All are 32.000 by 16.000 pixels   Photoshop The 8bit image is loaded first. The 16bit grey image is placed as a smart object. So is the normal map. Memory usage Private Bytes 24,811,532K  |  Working Set 16,818,216K   PhotoLine All images are loaded as-is, with the 8bit RGB file loaded first. PhotoLine doesn't require smart objects to maintain each layer's bit depth, resolution, colour space, image mode, etc. All data are maintained by default on a per-layer basis. Memory usage Private Bytes 9,144,004K  |  Working Set 8,522,088K   With the same layer stack, images, effects, and adjustment layer mask, PhotoLine draws on average 50% less memory than Photoshop. The developers of PhotoLine are known to optimize their app in this regard.   Affinity takes up as much memory as Photoshop with this task. More, actually. In short, both Photoshop and Affinity could be optimized further in how they utilize memory.   As far as batch processing is concerned: Photoshop is slow --dead slow-- compared to other options (including PhotoLine). It can take ages for a batch to complete when other apps finish in a 10th of the time, mainly because Photoshop wants to open each image in the view. This could be radically optimized in my opinion.   What is also frustrating at times is that Photoshop refuses to release memory when files are closed. You @D Fosse already mentioned this. Affinity shares this (at times) inconvenient behaviour with Photoshop. PhotoLine just releases its memory nicely. Well, at least it is possible to force Photoshop to release memory by holding down ALT and then choose the Help-->About option... 😉   Lastly, Photoshop does take up an inordinate amount of memory just for the base application in my opinion.  I suppose the legacy libraries and developer addons throughout the years have turned it into memory pacman 😄 The balance between functionality vs memory usage seems inbalanced towards the latter.   Even Blender 5, which features FAR more functionality as a whole than Photoshop, takes up 800MB working set memory (that's with many addons loaded!). PhotoLine's executable asks for a mere 437MB. Compare with Photoshop's 3,6GB and I start wondering why so much memory is required for the base application, because its feature set is good, but it's still an image editor.  Affinity takes up as much memory for its core app, but that can be explained away since it combines three apps in one.   Sure, PhotoLine misses the AI functions (I hear you crying out loud); yet Krita, which offers a similar feature set, and has a good AI plugin, combined asks for around 510GB of memory...    I know, I know: comparing apples and pears and oranges. Still, Photoshop strikes me as an app that could benefit from a code cleanup. Possibly a rewrite from scratch. We all know that its core contains legacy outdated functionality (16bit mode, destructive masking/channel operations, limited layer masks, limited image dimensions, etc) which haven't kept up with the times.    All that said, context remains important. Loading those three images in Blender's compositor leads to it devouring 39GB of memory... Photoshop looks alright compared 😄  ... View more

Here, let me ask my Magic Ball   Chances that Adobe will open source Animate, based on historic past behaviour?     ... View more

We'll probably never know why exactly Adobe stopped developing XD for certain, unless someone at Adobe management shares the reasons behind dropping XD.    Adobe XD was sort-of an experiment, and in my opinion when Figma became the winner in the prototyping software race, Adobe management attempted a buyout which failed. After that failure Adobe's management might have reasoned that XD had too few users to justify continued investment. To avoid the sunken cost fallacy and all that jazz.   Animate, Character Animator, Aero, Dreamweaver, Air, Brackets, Fireworks, etc.... All abandoned or on dev hiatus. Adobe XD is merely one of many apps that Adobe cancelled.  ... View more

Figma is not the only option out there. I use PenPot for my personal work and when I do not need to collab with others in Figma projects.   It's a great Adobe XD replacement. And free! Self hosting is possible, so no reliance on a third-party cloud service.   Comparison with XD: https://penpot.app/penpot-vs-adobexd ... View more

Not to rain on your parade here - but both Animate and Character Animator are no longer in active development. Adobe remains silent on the matter.    Instead of investing your time and money in defunct animation software, I would suggest that you look for alternatives that are actually still actively supported and developed.   Free options are OpenToonz or Tahoma 2D (easier version of OpenToonz) and Blender (also does great 2D animation). Both are more feature-rich than Animate for animation work. Krita is nice for frame-by-frame drawn animation. All open source and free! 🙂 Facial motion capture is also possible in Blender - look for tutorials on YouTube. Commercial options: Moho Pro (they've got a BlackFriday deal going on now) which has awesome bone-rigging for 2d puppets, Toonboom, CelAction2d, Clip Studio Paint, and TVPaint. ... View more

Meh, I started ranting a bit. My bad - sorry. Wishing you the best of luck with the petition.   I agree that Figma's ever increasing upkeep and monopolist market dominance is worrying. They've learned from the best in this regard (looking at you, Adobe!)... I've switched to a selfhosted PenPot last year, and I like it a lot. More features than XD, not as feature-rich as Figma, but more than good enough, and at no cost (aside from server space or running it on your own machine). ... View more

Addendum: I just discovered that the latest release of Moho Pro adds animation export (fully rigged!!!) for characters and animations in to Godot, Blender, Unity, and Unreal.  Now to update my R13 to R14... 🙂 And they are having a Black Friday sale till the 30th. Nice.   https://youtu.be/NOS5VdiCBu4?si=pTYrTNGtO6djoY8F     ... View more

The bone tool in Animate is a broken and half-baked mess. Just avoid using it, because it is not worth the frustration.   Either install the Flanimate plugin to access good FK/IK bone animation tools in Animate, or switch to an alternative, such as Moho Pro.   https://flash-powertools.com/   https://moho.lostmarble.com/   ... View more

Well, there's Blender, OpenToonz, and Krita... Seems to work for them! 🙂 ... View more

A free open-source focus stacking tool that produces as good results as Helicon is found here:   https://github.com/PetteriAimonen/focus-stack   Good options as well. The only drawback (if one can call it a drawback) is that it is command line only. Available for all major platforms. ... View more

Yes, ACES 1.3 and 2.0 were added as defaults. I still prefer AgX myself - there are still issues with ACES that are resolved better in AgX (and even in Filmic). I work on a wide gamut P3 monitor, and R5 adds that option to select P3 compatible displays too. HDR screens are supported as well.   I find that a nodal compositing approach, while initially more complex looking, is preferable to a layer-based workflow for this type of work. ... View more

The about to be released R5 version of Blender has a number of quality of life improvements in the compositor. Recommended. ... View more

Why not convert the EXR to a smart object first, then convert the image to 16bit while retaining the layers (and avoid flattening the 32bit smart object layer)? Followed by assigning the Camera Raw effect as a live plugin to the smart object.   If need be, add the exposure and gamma to the 32bit version in the smart object.   Sidenote: Be aware that Photoshop doesn't convert to a full range 16 bit file. It converts (silently) to a 15bit +1bit range instead which means you will lose half the potential values of a full range 16 bit conversion. Strictly speaking: 0-32767 + 1 = 0 - 32768 values. Any other image editor with 16bit support supports a range of 0-65535 values.   Photoshop turns a full range 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9--etc to 0-0-2-2-4-4-6-6-8-8---, which can be an issue depending on what the file is supposed to be used for.   For photographic renders generally not an issue, but for HDR work, medical imaging work, and displacement mapping (for example) it could turn ugly.   If you need a full range 16bit file the 32bit conversion will need to be done outside of Photoshop. ... View more

In the meantime, while figuring out the licensing issue(s), consider as a fallback PhotoPea. It's pretty much an online Photoshop clone and requires no account. ... View more

@davescm Can you remove the link that was posted? ... View more

I would remove those links immediately... ... View more

There is no need to conjure up conspiracy theories here.   What you should be concerned about is that if you installed a cracked version there is a good chance that other malware may have been installed on your machine. Stop doing any essential business on that machine (such as online banking, insurance stuff, etc.) and first check with a good anti-malware utiility if your computer isn't compromised. ... View more