When it comes to using Adobe Animate at a professional level, it can be used for a variety of applications, for a variety of professions. From 2D animation to education, to creating small-scale 2D games, to browser games, Adobe Animate is a capable piece of software in the right hands. With regards to how and whether Adobe Animate is used professionally, or by professionals – here is a quick-fire answer that may help you.
Adobe Animate is used by professionals in the gaming and creative industries to make anything from games to 2D animations. As a tool, Adobe Animate is a professional content, multi-media, and animation authoring program that comes as part of the Adobe Create Suite, aka Creative Cloud. Creative Cloud is used by a large portion of creative professionals. With Adobe Animate, you can use this tool to create frame-by-frame animations, such as sprite sheets. It can also be used to create professional quality browser-based HTML5 games.
Adobe Animate is still used by professionals to create game content and animations. It is a versatile piece of software that can create polished game content, and animations or work in conjunction with your game creation pipeline. Whether as a standalone piece of software or alongside other 2D game creation software or game engines.
It should be noted that although Adobe Animate is used by professionals, it is no longer the only motion tool used for 2D game creation or animation. Neither is it the mainstay for making indie games.
Read on if you want to know more as to whether Adobe Animate is used professionally. This topic goes into greater depth around the topic and there are some things you should know if you are considering using Adobe Animate as part of your toolset.
“I first started to use Adobe Animate, which was known as Flash, 23 years ago!”
Is Adobe Animate used professionally? | In Depth
Adobe Animate is used professionally in various creative fields. This is in most part due to it coming as part of the Adobe Creative Suite and having a longstanding history of being used by hobbyists and creative professionals.
Before Adobe Animate became known as Adobe Animate, it was formerly called Adobe Flash, or just ‘Flash’. Flash was used professionally in the late 1990s, 2000s to 2010s to create games, animations, and rich media web content … browser games!
I can personally vouch that Flash was indeed a professional and popular tool used by myself and other multi-media professionals. I used Adobe Animate for both commercial projects and personal projects. I created viral mini-games, desktop applications, and rich media for the web. I also used Adobe to create an E-learning game as my final year major back in 2007.
You read more on the E-learning story here, on my design blog
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Despite Adobe Animate and its dodgy history of being integral with Flash Player, Adobe Animate is still used professionally as either a standalone project, for educational purposes, or to create HTML5 games. You can check this post here on where you can distribute HTML5 games if interested.
If you’d like to know more about why Flash Player fell out of favour, you can read more here -.
11 reasons to avoid Flash Player.
Or.
Should I use Flash player for my project?
In terms of where Adobe Animate is used professionally, for paid work, there are various websites and job boards you can check in order to see if there are any paying roles. However, it should be noted that Adobe Animate as a standalone tool for creating games is much less common in the professional market these days. But it still exists as a capable authoring tool for creating HTML5 games.
Website types for professional Adobe Animate jobs | Research
To delve further into whether Adobe Animate is used professionally, here is a very short list of where you can find professional job offerings using Adobe Animate. ( UK )
- Jobs sites such as indeed
- Freelance job boards such as Creativepool.com
- Freelance bidding websites
HTML5 Web animation will potentially bear more fruit from a commercial or professional standpoint.
Adobe Animate is still used professionally. But it is often used in conjunction with or next to other tools such as Adobe After Effects.
Although the software is still used by professionals, it no longer takes the lion’s share in making games. Both professionally or by hobbyists. If job boards are anything to go by – and based on first-hand experience in the jobs market. Dedicated game engines tend to be used for professional game development.
What is the appeal of Adobe Animate now to professionals?
Adobe animate still has appeal and use in the professional market. This, I believe is mostly due to familiarity among older professionals, and the program being readily distributed as part of the Adobe Creative Suite.
Adobe Animate is used for creating professional frame-by-frame animations ( and tweens ) and browser-based games by professionals and hobbyists. You can create GIFs too with Adobe Animate which are rendered by most browsers.
Why is Adobe Animate no longer ‘the only’ tool used professionally for games?
When Adobe Animate was first released as Macromedia Flash ( actually as FutureSplash Animator, pre-Macromedia ), it was the go-to tool for making 2D browser-based computer games. It was incredibly popular among budding indie gamers and creative professionals.
Both computer games and technology have advanced considerably in the past 20 years. New and emerging technologies have, by far, surpassed the capabilities of what Adobe Animate could achieve for making games. Adobe Animate is no longer the only tool for creating games online. There are a whole range of game engines and programs now to choose from for making both 2D and 3D games – to a professional and modern standard.
The demise of Flash Player is another contributing factor to many game developers gravitating towards other game-making software.
Is Adobe Animate used professionally? My story
To further affirm that Adobe Animate can be used professionally, I wanted to share my own story about how I’ve used Animate throughout my career.
I first started to use Adobe Animate, which was known as Flash, 23 years ago!
I used it mostly to create mini-flash games with my friends.
Long story short, I went on to study graphic design, then Multi-media & design, which relied heavily on using Flash to create a 2D game as part of my final major project. I then used Flash for varying projects throughout the earlier stages of my career. Take note… “earlier”.
As the years have passed my use for Flash waned. This is in part due to demand, and favouring newer technologies.
It should also be noted that in turn, as I use Flash less, and Flash Player becoming obsolete, Action Script 3 too fell by the wayside. I have not looked at a line of Action Script 3 or 2 since 2018.
Although I found the demand for professional Flash ( Adobe Animate, – technically, Flash doesn’t exist anymore! ) services has certainly slowed, it has not vanished altogether. It evolved instead.
For me, although I use Adobe Animate much less on a professional level, I do still use it from time to time.
I have now started to create a couple of HTML5 games myself, but much more attention is being given to Unity and other engines.
Is Adobe Animate used professionally? Yes, sometimes… with me at least.