Convert ".FLC" (Autodesk Animator Pro-created animation video) to MP4 & then edit in Adobe

[ladyofla]

I recently inherited a twenty-year-old video game suite (4 games). The games are educational, extremely useful, and beautifully designed. I want to keep the games alive and perhaps port to additional platforms. Games currently run on Windows 10 as well as earlier versions of Windows. Animations that belong to the games reside in Autodesk’s Animator Pro-created “.FLC” files. I’m looking for modern animation software that can be used to edit the “.FLC” files or for software that can convert the “.FLC” files into a format that can be edited by Adobe Flash Professional, Adobe Premiere Pro or some other modern animation software. It looks like I have found free software that can convert “.FLC” files to MP3, MP4, AVI, WMV, FLV, or MOV. I can get access to CS6. The first question is which video format should I choose? I’m thinking MP4. And the last question is which program would be best for editing the resulting converted animation Adobe Flash Professional or Premiere Pro or some other program. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Colin Holgate]

A piece of trivia for you: One of the QuickTime team was Chris Flick, and he added FLC support to QuickTime just because the codec sounded like his name.

QuickTime should still be able to open FLC and export MP4. MP4 is just the file format though, the codec you ought to use is H.264.

Is there an example file somewhere that I can try to make sure QuickTime still reads it ok?

If you're only trying to convert an older FLC  file to a modern video file, you wouldn't need either Adobe Animate or Premiere.

[ladyofla]

Colin. Thanks for your rapid response. Trivia is always good! I knew that QT Pro had flc support, but I didn't know where to download it. You've inspired me and I've now found my QT 7 dmg and my registration code. And I was intending to use H.264, so we're on the same wavelength here. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to edit the files. And I'm not with them at the moment. The animations are rather simple. So, I'm wondering what software would be best for editing them. I want to keep the vintage look. Which video editor would you suggest? (I'll let you know if QT can get me to MP4 once I'm back with my files.) Thanks again for the help.

[Colin Holgate]

Depending on the nature of the editing, you could do it all in QuickTime Player 7. Or use any video editor, including Premiere.

[ladyofla]

Since my files must be edited from time to time, I'm going to want to find a modern video editor i.e. Apple no longer sells or supports QT. Assuming that QT Pro gets me out of flc into MP4, my goal is finding a modern, simple video editor. Premiere seems like a  complicated tool for a really simple task, and I have more experience with Flash. Nevertheless, I want to use the best tool for the job. What do you think of Flash as a video editor?

[Colin Holgate]

iMovie might do then. Or any one of the free or cheap video editors.

Flash Pro or Animate wouldn't be of use as a video editor.

[ClayUUID]

When you say you want to "edit" these files, do mean actually change the animations? Or do you just mean to chop them up as flat, static video sequences?