A client has asked me to produce some fairly simple Flash animations to demonstrate a piece of software in use. Normally I would sub this out to one of several freelancers I occasionally work with but this is for a very special client and I'd like to keep it in house if I can. However, I have very weak Flash skills, as opposed to strong NLE skills (Vegas) and reasonable competency in AE. I am also looking for justification for upgrading to CS4.

So, my question:

Knowing that you can export a swf from AE, would the filesize be significantly greater than if I had created the animation from scratch in Flash? The source material in both cases would be stills, screenshots and some backgrounds.

Basically, I don't want to have to skill up in Flash if I can either:
- create & render the animation in Vegas, import into AE then export as SWF
or
- create the animation in AE and export to swf.

Any other reasons why this would be best done directly in Flash?

Advice welcomed.

Thanks,

Ian . . .

I wish I had a great answer for you but I don't. I am in a similar situation on a regular basis. Weak Flash skills but strong NLE and AE skills.

I have created .swf files from projects in AE and Adobe Encore, and while they worked, they seemed to be larger than expected.

There is no doubt in my mind that similar files created directly in Flash would be smaller, more polished and definitely more efficient. Having said that I can't actually create the content I want in Flash so I am stuck using alternative methods until I have time to get up to speed in Flash.

I have done some very simple things in flash but honestly, the interface to me, coming form NLE background, is just wonky! I cannot wrap my head around it and I usually get this stuff pretty quick.

Good Luck.

Well, at the very least, I'm glad I'm not alone - that's exactly how I feel!

I'm sure it's relatively straightforward (I managed to get my head around the differences between After Effects and Vegas, for instance) but Flash kinda leaves me stumped!

Anyone able to help us out - are we making overlarge files?

Ian, check out Flash CS4. Coming from AE as well, I've often found Flash to be a pain. But in this new version, they've worked towards 'object oriented animation'. What it comes down to is that animating in Flash is now a lot more like working in the AE timeline.

There are a couple of introductory videos on the Adobe web site, some available through the product page and some through Adobe TV. See if that'll work for you.

I'll take your advice, Eric, thanks. I know I should really get at least a basic understanding of Flash - it's just that it's yet another application to learn and I wonder if I'm trying to learn it all rather than focus on a couple of tools. But yes, I'll check out some tutorials for sure. Thanks again.

Still wondering about that file size question!