Fixing Things from Flash 5.5 Days

Not example a "fix," more of a "restore."
The original Flash 5.5 files had become unstable - mainly a font issue - so this was reworked into a collection of about 2000 jpegs and then re-edited in a contemporary video editor, rather than rely on the space hogging (and poor resolution) files within the Flash software itself.  Not sure it's worth all the effort, but it's one less thing on the bucket list, and there is "time" these days....

Not for the Squeamish - or perhaps, for those in need of a bit of squeam...

Naturally, once the jpgs were mastered, the software deleted all the color layer files... but, after all, that's why Thursdays were invented....

(cc) 2020 The Animating Apothecary

Software used: Flash CS5, Sony Vegas V15

SFX and music bed from Animating Apothecary library

Coffee Playtime - Experiments in Animated GIF to mp4

Version 1 - Rough animatic (animated gif format)

Version 2 - checking timing (mp4 render in Vegas)

Version 3 - with video effects added (again, mp4, again Vegas)

Version 4 - with music edit added (mp4, Vegas)

Version 5 - just an ever-so-slight adjustment with two keyframes - this is why you make exposure sheets, kids, even for short experimental pieces....the difference is barely perceptible.

Animation using Flash CS5, output as a jpg series, imported into Vegas for edit and adjustment.

A "production note" - the background was from a quick acrylic painting of some 8 years past, quickly photographed and placed into the Flash library, before being converted to a symbol and then given an alpha adjustment. The original imported image was fairly large, even after conversion once introduced to the Flash environment.  As a result, animating even this brief piece became a challenge due to memory restrictions - things slowed down and the system crashed frequently (the laptop being used having only 8megs of RAM).  I ended up deleting the background file until everything was completed, then put it in place for the two sequences where it appears (after the explosion, I darkened it slightly and knocked it askew).
Everything was still exported as a series of about 225 jpgs, then imported as individual frames to the Sony Vegas software (now called MAGIX - Version 15 is used here, since version 16 is a real estate hog on the hard drive).

Flawed Animated GIF - version 1, then 2, and finally 3

Yep, those mislabeled layers can be pretty darned pesky.....

Pesky, pesky layers.....

So let's try version 2:

And version 3 (interlaced and smoothed colors via Flash CS4):

...ok...have to remember THAT one!