Feb 21
Synfig – The Linux replacement for Flash
My recent changeover to Ubuntu Linux has had me searching for easy replacements for all of my Windows programs. The Linux community has made this a pretty easy task, especially with Ubuntu. Ubuntu provides you with Gimp (Photoshop), Firefox (Internet Explorer), Thunderbird (Outlook Express), and the OpenOffice Suite (Microsoft Office Suite). One thing they do not provide you with, however, is an easy replacement for Adobe Flash. Adobe Flash was one of my commonly used programs on Windows, because I do a lot of intro movies for my youth group. Not having a replacement for it was a major downfall for Linux.
Seeing this problem, for about two weeks I searched around for a good replacement for it. I ran across programs such as Flash-4-Linux and OpenLazlo. I heard good things about both of these programs, but found that the install was a bit difficult for a Linux newbie. Then I ran across a program called Synfig. It looked like it had good documentation, and a pretty easy install. All you had to do to install was open up a terminal and put in:
sudo aptitude install synfigstudio
After installing Synfig and opening it (Applications > Graphics > Synfig Studio), I found that I really liked the interface. The synfig interface is broken up into multiple windows, much like that of GIMP. This makes it very easy for me to customize it to my specific needs and project. I also noticed that it had a very easy tool selection menu. Choosing a brush, color, and all the other properties of the brush is very simple.
One of the main features I found in synfig that I have come to love is the different keyframe setup from Adobe Flash. Instead of having the keyframes, time, motion tweens, and everything else all bunched up onto a single window like Adobe Flash, synfig seperates all of these components. This means that creating keyframes is a much simpler process, and is much easier to get them at the precise moment you want.
The only downfall, however, is that Synfig is not made to do intense visual editing. Synfig only allows you to go about as complex as creating a simple gradient. Anything greater than that, such as opacity, blending, or even just adding text is not implemented. This means that if you want to make a very nice looking flash movie, you’ve got to couple Synfig with GIMP.
I would say that, if you are a fan of Adobe Flash, you should definately give Synfig a try. It is a great alternative for Linux, it’s got plenty of documentation, and the interface is very simple. Check out the website to get started, or use the terminal command above.
February 21st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Sounds like an interesting program. I know one of the big complaints from developers on Ubuntu is the lack of Flash IDEs. I’ve heard the Flash4Linux name before, but never tried it nor Synfig. It’s interesting that you commend the multi-window interface; that seems to be a turn-off for many GIMP users. A few questions:
– Are the movies it creates in the same format as those from Adobe Flash? That is, are they compatible anywhere where Flash is, or would the user need a separate application/plugin to view it?
– I’ve heard that ActionScript has gotten much better in the latest iteration of Flash. I assume that Synfig has some support for actionscript, but how does it compare? Does the IDE have useful features such as syntax highlighting and debugging?
As far as ActionScript goes, I believe there is also a plugin for Eclipse for edit and even compile your ActionScript code. (Although I’m not sure if it’s compatible with Eclipse 3.2 distributed with Ubuntu– anyone?)
February 21st, 2008 at 6:34 pm
There are a lot of different file formats that Synfig to render to. It dosen’t appear that you can make them into .fla (I believe thats the file format for adobe flash), but you can make them into a .mpg. If you’re talking about making movies and editing them on a seperate windows box, I don’t believe that’s currently available.
I forgot to say in the blog, actionscript is another missing feature in Synfig. I believe that Synfig is more about just making simple movies, rather than interactive, complex stuff. I do miss having the availability of actionscript, but for me personally, I guess I never really used it all that much.