Adobe Animate CC & Importing fla files

[michelleUCCF]

I design for eLearning and have made some interactive swf so I am hoping that I do not have to re-create all that I have made when Animate CC is available. Does anyone know if we will be able to import our fla files into Animate CC?

[kglad · Accepted solution]

you can open (file>open) your fla files in animate cc just like you do with flash pro cc.

[aa45940901]

I design for eLearning and have made some interactive swf so I am hoping that I do not have to re-create all that I have made when Animate CC is available.

My question in my mind is this exactly.

my expected answer is this   you can open (file>open) your fla files in animate cc just like you do with flash pro cc. . Thank you

[praveerk94767934]

Hi,
I am absolutely new in adobe action script. we have a .flat file which uses Action Script 2.0 and developed on Adobe Flash Professional CS5.
I have to migrate on Adobe Animate CC 2017. of course, whenever I publish the compiler gives lots of errors( as experts says it does not support AS 2.0)

is there any tool which can automatically convert to AS3.0 ? or how would I learn AS 3.0.
Do I need to write code from scratch?

your help will be appreciable.

Regards,
Praveer

[ClayUUID]

AS2 and AS3 (and HTML5) use fundamentally different APIs, so no, there is no automatic conversion between them.

If you want your content to be accessible on the web on mobile devices (Android, iOS), you can't use AS3. You have to convert your document to HTML5​ Canvas document type.

[praveerk94767934]

@ClayUUID

Thanks for your prompt response.We have a desktop application which uses .swf file(and corresponding .fla file uses AS2.0)

So, I need to stick to Action Script 3.0.

could you please recommend me a book so that I can learn AS3.0.

or is there any fast way to learn it  ?

[ClayUUID]

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of books, websites, and videos dedicated to teaching AS3. Go find ones that are best suited to your skill level. I can't do that for you.

[eslmaxx]

MichelleUCCF,

Hi, how are you?

I am in a similar position.  What I am wondering is, having opened my fla files in animate cc, can I then save them and export them in a format that makes the content accessible to most mobile devices, ie, not swf files?  If I understand correctly, I will be able to, but interactivity will be lost (I am using AS2).  However, it will be possible to rewrite the script in AS3 to create content that is interactive and accessible on mobile devices.  I hope this is the case; otherwise, I'll be looking at a more time consuming and expensive way to get around the problem of swf files pretty much becoming obsolete.

Can anyone confirm that this is the case?  Thanks

[kglad]

you can open all (non-corrupt) fla files in the latest version of animate pro.

opening a fla (created to publish a swf file) and expecting it to work to publish html5 is unlikely to work without, at least, some editing.

[eslmaxx]

Thank you for your reply, kglad.

I expect that lots of editing would be required if I were to convert to html5.  Like maybe I would have to redo everything?  The motion tweens.  The shape tweens.  I wonder how much of what I have built could be preserved. 
Do you think another option would be to import my fla files to animate and rewrite them in AS3 and then publish them as AIR? 
Thank you again for your answer.

[kglad]

you're welcome.

someone marked my answer correct, and i marked colin's replies as helpful so that should cover it.

goto's, stop and play all work in canvas with minimal (the scope 'this' has to be explicitly stated) change.

loading other swf's is going to require some work outside flash pro so you can use addChild to the exportRoot object of the loaded convert-to-canvas secondary swf.

as3 tweens will be converted in canvas without problem.  swfs with as2 and tweens should be added to flash cs6, the as2 commented out (except for non-object applied goto's, stop and play) and published as as3.

[eslmaxx]

Thank you very much kglad and Colin Holgate.  I think I am getting the picture.  My question now is about loading other swfs.  If I want my content accessible on standard browsers on mobile devices, I probably do not want to go with Flash, right?  So then I have to convert every swf in my project I am assuming. 

So if I have a menu made in flash, and that menu is a MovieClip, and within that MovieClip there are 6 MovieClips, each one a single menu item, and inside each one there was a Button (Here I mean double click the MovieClip to get inside and it has been converted into a Button.  I don't mean there is a button on a timeline inside the MovieClip)

Each button has this AS on it:

on(RollOver){ this.gotoAndStop(2);

_root.menu.syllabic_.gotoAndStop(1);

_root.menu.clusters_.gotoAndStop(1);

etc.

}

so that each menu item would advance to the second frame of its MovieClip's timeline when a user rolled over that menu, and on that second frame, on the stage, there were several MovieClips, each of them containing an animation (a timeline with a motion tween) and a button that read:

on(release){totoAndPlay(2);

_root.menu.menuitem_.one_.gotoAndStop(1);

_root.menu.menuitem_.two_.gotoAndStop(1);

etc.

}

would it be possible to use these animations by importing them into animation cc and converting them into an HTML5 Canvas and then rewriting the code as Javascript?

As it stands now, I have 8 or so main swfs, each with a menu as described above.  And each menu has MovieClips inside that contain buttons, some of which call swfs from other folders.  In some cases I have action script on a frame that reads something like loadMovie("o_aw.swf",sides); where 'sides' refers to a MovieClip on the stage.

So, is it possible to convert these fla files but rewrite the interactivity with Javascript?  If so, then what am I converting these separate swfs to so that they can be loaded to the users screen and unloaded depending on which buttons that person is clicking?
Sorry, this probably makes no sense without looking at an example of what I am talking about.  The bottom line is I want to understand if I can use all of these animations in separate swf files through some some process of import to animate, convert to HTML5 Canvas and rewrite in Javascript.  If so, it's definitely a path worth pursuing.

[Colin Holgate]

There isn't quite the same as load movie, though you can do multiple canvases, but that would get difficult.

A simpler solution might be to use window.location. With that you could change the URL to go to another createjs page, maybe in an iframe. Then you could have regular HTML buttons in the top of the page, and an iframe below, and the buttons would change the location the iframe is showing, to go to another one of your examples.

[Colin Holgate]

Animate cannot read AS2, so those scripts would be lost. Once you have the FLA open you can choose Commands/Convert To Other Document Formats, and you can pick HTML5 Canvas. Once you have the canvas version you would then write in Javascript to reproduce the original AS2.

[eslmaxx]

Colin Holgate,

Thank you for your reply.  Do you mean that I simply have to have someone write Javascript (since it is way beyond me) to maintain the interactivity of the original swfs?  Clicking on a button would play an animation?  Clicking on another button would call another animation to the page, etc?

The way it is right now I have several buttons on a page, and each of them call a different swf to the page, and each of these swfs is an animation that has its own button to play start the animation - for example, one button calls a swf that includes a button that when pressed plays a simple animation of a side view of a mouth and shows the tongue and mouth move to demonstrate an m sound.  Clicking another button calls a different swf to the page, this one with a similar button that when pressed starts an animation that demonstrates an n sound.

Can this sort of action be preserved using html5 and Javascript?   I don't know much at all about html5 at all, but I had thought that going that route would necessitate my having to redo everything. 
Alternatively, what about importing my fla files into animate, rewriting all the scripts in AS3 and then publishing the files as AIR?  Do you think that's a feasible way around the AS2 and incompatibility with mobile devices and also with standard browsers issue?
Thank you again for taking your time to help me.

[Colin Holgate]

AS2 scripts are going to get lost, in either an AS3 or HTML5 Canvas FLA. You could download and install CS6, then you would be able to refer to the AS2 scripts.

The Javascript used to code HTML5 Canvas FLAs is very similar to AS3, you ought to be able to figure it out. It's certainly easier to go from AS2 to Javascript than it is from AS2 to AS3.

What you describe sounds like it should be easy enough to do as HTML5 Canvas.

[eslmaxx]

Yeah, I have pretty much resigned myself to abandoning the AS2 scripts.  In fact, I've only used a small variety of scripts.  Most have been of the simple gotoAndPlay, loadsound, loadMovie variety.  There are many, but if I can use all the material I have made and have someone rewrite the scripts in Javascript on an HTML5 Canvas, it would be great.
I'm just curious, is there any reason why someone would go with AS3 and AIR instead? 

[eslmaxx]

I thought I could click 'correct' under answers, but I can't even see 'correct' under any answers.  Maybe because it's not my original post.  But thank you kglad and Colin Holgate for your replies

[Colin Holgate]

AIR is for making applications, either desktop or mobile. It's wouldn't be involved at all if you are making things to play in browsers.