Ask HN: Does it still make sense to learn Flash?

[bhughes]

My little brother is interested in getting into digital animation, and once upon a time Adobe Flash would have been the obvious route. These days, though, it seems like things are tipping towards straight HTML 5.

Does it still make sense for him to learn Flash? And if not, what tools should I be steering him towards instead?

[ronyeh]

When you say "learn Flash" I interpret it as "learn how to make animations in Adobe Flash Professional, the product with the timelines and keyframes."

If your bro wants to make fun animated cartoons, I think it's a great way to start. He can also learn little bits of scripting, using ActionScript 3.

The other interpretation of "should I learn Flash" is "should I learn ActionScript 3 & Flash Builder (Eclipse)?" You can use AS3 and Flash Builder to make web apps, along with really intricate animations or video games. This is a tougher question, because many people are moving toward HTML5 nowadays.

However, if he wants to make simple videogames, I still think of AS3 as a good way to learn programming! In syntax, AS3 is very similar to JS. However, AS3 also includes a static/strong type system, which is a nice way to ease into "scarier" languages like Java and C++ and Objective C.

AS3 has a nice method for loading & animate sprites. It also has many 3rd party libraries. AS3/Flash also handles sound effects for game audio pretty well. If he wants to distribute his game to his friends, he usually doesn't have to worry about cross-browser issues. :-)

[benologist]

I think it still makes sense for two reasons:

1) As a platform Flash may yet survive the web, Adobe has real potential transforming it into a publishing tool rather than publishing + consumption.

2) Adobe themselves are likely to keep their throne in the tools scenario and they probably won't deviate far from the methods they and Macromedia have spent 2 decades discovering / implementing / selling / training people to understand in Flash.

The best although short-lived reason is Flash is a very rewarding platform to work on, there are eleventy billion tutorials and your brother will probably have some simple animations working on day one and that sense of accomplishment is invaluable.

[fractallyte]

While it's probably correct to say that Flash will hang on a while longer (especially in corporate settings, in the form of Flex), Adobe itself can't be relied upon for anything Flash-related.

Their 'open-sourced' tools haven't been updated for the last few years. The most recent Flash 'roadmap' doesn't actually lead anywhere. Finally, Adobe's Thibault Imbert admits that Adobe is now focused on javascript and HTML5: http://www.bytearray.org/?p=5197#comments

Basically, Adobe has quietly abandoned Flash, leaving behind a bunch of bitter developers.

[michaelbuddy]

I'd consider not learning Flash and looking at Toonboom Animate or Manga / Anime Studio.

There are also a few inexpensive Html5 animation tools such as Sencha Animator, A5 and there are a couple others you can search for. I tried Adobe Edge animate and I didn't like the folder structure it generated, but that's just me probably.

My view is the Creative Cloud subscription model is a mistake and I don't plan on buying into it.

[zachlatta]

Absolutely! At the game studio I work at our artist/animator uses Flash almost exclusively. He'll export each frame as an image and we'll feed them into our custom pipeline to get his animations in the game. From talking to him, it's the best animation tool available on the market. He made it clear that he'd never try to make a website or similar with it though.

[nfriedly]

Flash is still going to be easier to work with than HTML 5, so for animation it's an ok choice to start with. I wouldn't recommend staying there though. Learn some flash and then branch out to other technologies (both HTML and higher-end animation software).

[romeonova]

Learning Flash can help him grasp the basics of timeline and keyframe animation. If he's more interested in character animation/making animated films, I'd recommend looking into Maya or 3Ds Max, which will also expose him to modeling and lighting..etc.

[tangue]

He should try Edge animate, clearly Flash Successor. The UI looks more like After FX which could be a bonus if your brother later jumps into video. (and Edge animate is free)

[courier]

Are you SURE it's free?

Here's a link, and all I see is an offer for a 30 day trial: http://html.adobe.com/edge/animate/

The word "trial" is not something I associate with "free".

And before you mention Adobe's Creative Cloud product, let's try to be pragmatic about what "the cloud" really is. It's not something you ever really own, because nothing in "the cloud" is ever really "yours". You never honestly have control over something when it's on someone else's server, and they're paying the power bill. And truthfully, if you have to pay for an always-on internet connection, in order to take advantage of a software-as-a-service, the main drawback is that's the software is only as reliable as your internet connection, but not only that. There is also the demand that every system between you and the server hosting the SaaS must also function flawlessly, or you risk losing your work.

Not to mention the nature of secrecy and intellectual property rights, and "stolen" artwork or "ideas", regarding "the cloud".

[tangue]

I did'nt plan to mention creative cloud. It was free with CS6. I didn't follow the CC update.

[boneheadmed]

If he's interested in HTML5 game programming, checkout impactjs. It does cost $99 last I checked, but its a very nice tool for making HTML5 games with JavaScript.