Adobe Animate CC

For nearly two decades, Flash Professional has been the standard for producing rich animations on the web. Because of the emergence of HTML5 and demand for animations that leverage web standards, we completely rewrote the tool over the past few years to incorporate native HTML5 Canvas and WebGL support. To more accurately represent its position as the premier animation tool for the web and beyond, Flash Professional will be renamed Adobe Animate CC, starting with the next release in early 2016.

— http://blogs.adobe.com/flashpro/welcome-adobe-animate-cc-a-new-era-for-flash-professional

Welp… and they announced this less than a day after I’d unveiled my new site and had a massive load taken off my shoulders.

The good news is that, fundamentally, Animate CC will still be the same animation tool I’ve used and loved for the past 12 years (!), and the SWF format isn’t going away yet (Animate CC will continue supporting Flash (SWF) and AIR formats as first-class citizens.) — Flash as we know it hasn’t been radicalized, much less “killed off” as so many media outlets and Flash haters (fueled by media sensationalism, no less) have put it.

SWF may be well on its way to legacy status, but it will take a while yet. Call me when you find a tool that offers equal or superior authoring capabilities and ease of use. Until then, even if I stop making Flash movies and games, I will continue using it for digital art for the foreseeable future.