Friday, March 29, 2024

Adobe Muse & Animate Review: Updated Features

One of the major things about this update is that Flash Professional has been rebranded as Animate with the software fully updated and reconfigured to match HTML5 standards while still allowing users to use animation techniques from Flash.

Adobe’s rebranding to Animate brings the software in line with current HTML5 standards and avoids the stigma associated with Flash. Essentially, Animate is a vector based animation tools which makes use of a timeline and is designed to create interactive content for any platform. Sound familiar?

animate-interface.png

So it’s worth noting that…

  • HTML5 is now the dominant standard
  • One-third of the content produced in Flash Professional is HTML5.

In addition, Animate updates include…

  • Vector art brushes and new drawing tools
  • Custom export options, including 4K video
  • OAM packaging to use Animate CC projects in other Adobe Creative Cloud tools like Muse, Dreamweaver and InDesign
  • Improvements to pencil and art brushes
  • Tagged Swatches
  • Custom templates for HTML5 Canvas documents
  • Stage scaling
  • Rotate your stage
  • Video export to multiple resolutions
  • HTML5 Canvas improvements
  • Animate supports Flash (SWF) and AIR formats. In addition, it can output animations to virtually any format (including SVG)
  • The frames based timeline allows full control over all the aspects of an animation
  • You can use ActionScript and JavaScript within the Actions panel

One of the most important parts of an animation program is the timeline, which gives you control over the various elements. With the timeline, you can do amazing things and one of these is to make use of Inverse Kinematics.

animate-interface.png

This is a way of animating objects using bones chained into linear or branched armatures in parent-child relationships. When one bone moves, those connected to it move with it and vise-versa.

Inverse kinematics will allow you to create a more natural motion and define limits. That said some animators prefer not to use it and to set up that type of animation manually. According to an Adobe source, some of these animators feel it gives them more control.

There’s a lot more you can do with this version of Animate. A complete list of updates is available here: https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/release-note/releasenotes-2015-1.html

 

Adobe Muse

Adobe Muse was created for the person who wants to build a website without the need for coding. If you want a site which is built as a standalone and doesn’t use WordPress, this is a good option. One of the benefits of building a Muse site is it’s far less vulnerable to hacking, unlike a WordPress site. One caveat, if you build a site with Muse, you won’t be able to use it as a template for WordPress.

If you want to integrate a WordPress site into Muse, there are a couple of ways you can do it. First, off, you would need to install WordPress on your hosting account. Next, you need to capture the embed code and insert it into Muse by going to Object: Insert HTML. This tutorial https://helpx.adobe.com/muse/how-to/add-blog-widget.html  will show you how. Another option is to use free/paid widgets. You can get those here: http://resources.muse.adobe.com/collections/widgets

muse

New features in Muse are:

  • Free-flow responsive design
  • Integration with Creative Sync technology, CC Libraries and Adobe Stock
  • Improvements to SVG support
  • Animated state transitions

Muse is compatible with the following browsers:

  • Firefox 11 for Mac OS and Windows
  • Internet Explorer 8 and later for Windows
  • Apple Safari 5 for Mac OS
  • Chrome for Mac OS and Windows

To get more information on what you can do with Muse, visit: https://helpx.adobe.com/muse/using/whats-new.html

To find out how to create and update responsive sites, visit: https://helpx.adobe.com/content/help/en/muse/using/create-responsive-sites.html

Here are some responsive design templates: https://helpx.adobe.com/content/help/en/muse/using/create-responsive-sites.html#main-pars_header_11

 

Common Questions

One question asked by users is if you can export data from Muse to an HTML editor. While the answer is “Yes,” that’s not the primary purposed of Muse. According to Adobe, it’s best to build the site within Muse, unless one has a specific reason for wanting to build it elsewhere.

When you create a Muse site, it automatically creates a sitemap. That said, you may want to update the settings. To do so, visit this page: https://my.adobeconnect.com/p1im2m8uxw7?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

There are many widgets available for Muse. To learn how to create your own, visit Github http://adobe-muse.github.io/MuCowDocs/

One common feature which users want is parallax. You can also add scroll effects to Adobe Edge animations and slideshows. More information is available here: https://helpx.adobe.com/muse/how-to/add-scroll-effects.html

Forms can be created and customized using built-in widgets. These are located in the Forms folder in the Widget Library. More information can be found in this tutorial: https://helpx.adobe.com/muse/faq.html

 

For More Information

All new features are now available in Creative Cloud at www.adobe.com/creativecloud.html

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