converting older script to AS3 or html5

[sciencegal]

With the sad news that Flash animations will no longer work on the web in a couple of years I have several questions.

I have 100's of teaching Flash animations on multiple websites. They will be become useless to people who still use real computers. If I want (have) to go through each one, which will take a couple of years, and convert them to AS3 for stupid phones or html5 for the web how could that be possible? How can I recode all of them without redoing all of them from scratch? If they are in older code can I even open them in Animate (or CS5) which I still use.

If I remember correctly with a few animations that were written in AS1 I could open them in AS2 environment (in CS5) and there would be an attempt to convert the code or at least mark places where it needed to be corrected. Would there be any hope of doing this in Animate so I can convert to html5? I still use CS5 so I guess I could try but it does not convert to html5.

Will a Flash animation that has movie clips even convert to html5?

Will 20 years of work simply go down the drain?

[ClayUUID]

There is currently no way to automatically convert between AS2, AS3, and HTML. The timeline structure comes through intact, but all scripting must be manually fixed. The scripting differences vary from minor syntax tweaks to complete rewrite required.

[sciencegal]

If I can just open them I can tweak or rewrite. Can I open a fla that was written in something earlier than AS2 in an AS3 environment? I was going to try to do as much coding as I can in CS5 before I start renting Animate.

[Colin Holgate]

Would you be willing to post the FLA of one of your animations? Or even give a link to a SWF that is currently online? From your description I think your files may convert without too much trouble.

BTW, it's 3 1/2 years until support is stopped, so you would have plenty of time to do the conversions. If you could afford it you could even hire someone who is already familiar with HTML5 Canvas publishing from Animate.

[sciencegal]

Hire someone? To redo animations that are free for people to view. This website of mine www.goatbiology.com has this collection of animations.

I can handle converting them if they will even convert. The little bit of experience I had with html5 animation is that you can only produce very rudimentary animations.

Flash was the most incredible software ever invented. All you hear is how terrible Flash is yet no one has come up with anything better..

[Colin Holgate]

I feel I know more about goats now than I ever wanted to!

I was going to try converting one, to see what would be involved, but you have the SWFs password protected. The part that seems like it might be the hardest is the text input fields, but it would be interesting to try anyway.

If you did have a CC subscription you would be entitled to install Flash Pro CS6 as well as Adobe Animate. CS6 can still make AS2 FLAs. You could open the FLA in both CS6 and Animate (where you would lose the AS2 code), convert the Animate FLA to HTML5 Canvas, which is just one menu selection, then use CS6 to review the code and copy it across to Animate. As you did that you would be changing the code from AS2 to JavaScript.

[sciencegal]

You would have to rent CS6 as well I assume.

I own CS5 which can make AS2 fla. Outside of the text input fields, are the fla's too complex to convert to html5 Canvas? The fla's have movie clips. I don't know if you can use movie clips when creating for html5 Canvas. If you can't then I may have to turn the whole thing into text and static images and hope that in the future there won't be a prejudice against pngs or jpgs (after all they are used in ads)

With all of the new technology it is depressing that we have to go backward in terms of content.

When I first started using computers it was the early days of DOS which came with a game called Gorilla. Two people could use the keyboard and make highly pixelated gorillas throw bananas at each other. Seems like you can't do much better than that now except that they would be higher in resolution.

[Colin Holgate · Accepted solution]

If you have a subscription for Animate, you get to install CS6 as well, there isn't any extra charge for that.

MovieClips work fine in HTML5 Canvas. There are some things you need to watch out for, but in general they work just the same as they would in a SWF. PNGs and JPEGs work too, and Canvas can make use of sprite sheets to help reduce the number of files that have to be downloaded.

Here are a few examples:

CreateJS | A suite of JavaScript libraries and tools designed for working with HTML5

[sciencegal]

Thanks for the link. I investigated html5 Canvas in depth 5 or 6 years ago when trying to find some alternative to Flash since the writing has been on the wall for some time.  I stopped creating swf animations for the web about that time. I found animating for Canvas clumsy and complicated. I would have had to install a local server, then install a console to write the code, then create the graphics in something else, and making sprites - ten times more difficult than just making an animated object in Flash! Maybe it is easier through Animate.

I feel let down by Adobe at this point so I don't know if investing more time, money and effort in something that may become obsolete in a short time is worth it. But, on the other hand I get emails every day from all over the world (one from Slovakia yesterday) thanking me for the animations which have helped them understand these sometimes complex topics. I don't know what to do.