i applied to company and they want me to make 1 set of character animation (idle, run, jump, attack) and save in in .swf format.

what application should i use to make that ?

i am sorry if this question sound stupid.

i applied to company and they want me to make 1 set of character animation (idle, run, jump, attack) and save in in .swf format.

I assume it's because they want to preview the animation and not because they think that somehow ripping the animation from a .swf file is better than using Sprite sheets or bone animations.

So .swf is the same as most movie outputs, most animation tools can make them and online there are many converters to convert a movie to .swf. So either get the flash exporter for your software or convert your movies, this is the fast way if you don't have flash tools to do it.

The other way would be to go online find what of the hundreds of free flash tools and flash game editors you like ,and use that one to make a flash file.

.swf is like a mix between a movie and a .exe(oversimplified), if the company wants you to provide the animations as .swf files to use as animation for a game they are asking you to make each animation 5-6 times bigger so they can work harder to use it.

If this is what they are asking and not just to preview you should explain to them that sprite sheets and bone animations are a better option.

SWF is the runtime file format for Adobe Flash. You can Use Adobe Animate CC (previously Adobe Flash Professional) or any other tool that exports to that format. Such as ToonBoomStudio, and so on.

I am in disagreement with the post above which suggests "explaining" to a potential employer what they should use for their pipeline without even knowing the reasons behind why they use a certain format, or that it is inefficient or what not. Their asset pipeline may be offline-baking SWF files to rip the vector data and convert it to a more friendly runtime format for their engine, etc. Who knows?

If they asked for a swf, simply provide the swf.

I am in disagreement with the post above which suggests "explaining" to a potential employer what they should use for their pipeline without even knowing the reasons behind why they use a certain format,

You are free to disagree but my words come from experience. :)

Lets say you deliver the assets as .swf files and the client rips any kind of data from it but the tool used for ripping fails to translate all the data. The client notices the error and instead of thinking that it was the riper they use, the artist gets blamed.

They contact you informing you there is a mistake in the animation and don't bother to upload a image showing it, now you look like incompetent, because you can't find the mistake.

Even when working with professional game developers you will quickly realize how little they know about art assets, when something goes wrong the artist will be blamed first. You already have very limited control over a asset once it is uploaded, adding a lot of extra variables is not a good idea.

A other problem is with size, the average 2D game when completed is about 250 mb with most of data being sound and images. The master files for such a project ranges anywhere from 500mb - 800mb, that is without a insufficient padding of all the animations;

Optimization of all assets is a problem the artist has to deal with, you see this often in indie games where the indie game runs lower than 30 fps when AAA games have more than double the content. The huge scenes you see in AAA games is thanks to the hard work of professional artist and programmers, doing what ever optimization they can.

The worst is when you noticed the developer making a huge mistake in using the art assets, then not mentioning it because you don't have the backbone and don't want to lose the job, only for the problem to snowball to a point where it destroys the project.

Now all your hard work means nothing, you have a black spot in your portfolio where you have to explain that the game you worked on was a failure. A mad developer who is blaming everyone and everything, who has to give you a letter of recommendation.

Everyone feels bad after a project like that, it only gets worse when you know you could have prevented it when the project first started. :unsure:

i applied to company and they want me to make 1 set of character animation (idle, run, jump, attack) and save in in .swf format.

I assume it's because they want to preview the animation and not because they think that somehow ripping the animation from a .swf file is better than using Sprite sheets or bone animations.

So .swf is the same as most movie outputs, most animation tools can make them and online there are many converters to convert a movie to .swf. So either get the flash exporter for your software or convert your movies, this is the fast way if you don't have flash tools to do it.

The other way would be to go online find what of the hundreds of free flash tools and flash game editors you like ,and use that one to make a flash file.

.swf is like a mix between a movie and a .exe(oversimplified), if the company wants you to provide the animations as .swf files to use as animation for a game they are asking you to make each animation 5-6 times bigger so they can work harder to use it.

If this is what they are asking and not just to preview you should explain to them that sprite sheets and bone animations are a better option.

SWF is the runtime file format for Adobe Flash. You can Use Adobe Animate CC (previously Adobe Flash Professional) or any other tool that exports to that format. Such as ToonBoomStudio, and so on.

I am in disagreement with the post above which suggests "explaining" to a potential employer what they should use for their pipeline without even knowing the reasons behind why they use a certain format, or that it is inefficient or what not. Their asset pipeline may be offline-baking SWF files to rip the vector data and convert it to a more friendly runtime format for their engine, etc. Who knows?

If they asked for a swf, simply provide the swf.

i am sorry if i dont explained my question really well.

its for 2d animation.

i am sorry if i dont explained my question really well. its for 2d animation.

What I mean is that a .swf is a kind of final product file, like a movie or a gif; it isn't a good file format for using to make games even if you plan on making flash games.

It's not that it can't be done it's just using .swf will be harder than using the raw data.

To make a .swf file you will need to use either loose images, a sprite sheet or vector data, in other words the same things you need to make animations for games. Like with a movie when storing the animation data in a .swf you are placing it in a shell that makes it harder to get the raw data out again.

So making images to use in the animation -> using the images to make a .swf file -> send .swf file to client -> ripping the images from the .swf file -> using the images to make the game animation.

Where you could make the images -> send to client -> use the images to make game animation.

Using a .swf file for anything but previewing the animation is redundant.

edit: If the company wants you to provide easy to use files for a flash tool like adobe, they will want the .fla files(Most flash tools save as this.) not the .swf files, as .swf are compiled files not meant to be edited.

I am in disagreement with the post above which suggests "explaining" to a potential employer what they should use for their pipeline without even knowing the reasons behind why they use a certain format,

You are free to disagree but my words come from experience. :)

Lets say you deliver the assets as .swf files and the client rips any kind of data from it but the tool used for ripping fails to translate all the data. The client notices the error and instead of thinking that it was the riper they use, the artist gets blamed.

They contact you informing you there is a mistake in the animation and don't bother to upload a image showing it, now you look like incompetent, because you can't find the mistake.

Even when working with professional game developers you will quickly realize how little they know about art assets, when something goes wrong the artist will be blamed first. You already have very limited control over a asset once it is uploaded, adding a lot of extra variables is not a good idea.

A other problem is with size, the average 2D game when completed is about 250 mb with most of data being sound and images. The master files for such a project ranges anywhere from 500mb - 800mb, that is without a insufficient padding of all the animations;

Optimization of all assets is a problem the artist has to deal with, you see this often in indie games where the indie game runs lower than 30 fps when AAA games have more than double the content. The huge scenes you see in AAA games is thanks to the hard work of professional artist and programmers, doing what ever optimization they can.

The worst is when you noticed the developer making a huge mistake in using the art assets, then not mentioning it because you don't have the backbone and don't want to lose the job, only for the problem to snowball to a point where it destroys the project.

Now all your hard work means nothing, you have a black spot in your portfolio where you have to explain that the game you worked on was a failure. A mad developer who is blaming everyone and everything, who has to give you a letter of recommendation.

Everyone feels bad after a project like that, it only gets worse when you know you could have prevented it when the project first started. :unsure:

Even if that is the case, you still never tell a company that you are hoping will hire you why what they are doing is wrong and why what they are using isn't good. That might be part of the test, to see what you can do within the parameters that they have set, even if you are going to be a team player and do as requested, or if you're going to be a hot head and tell them that you know better.

When submitted you can mention that you don't ordinarily use this software and that you were happy to have the opportunity to experiment with it. And if you are worried that something might go wrong with the data translation, then you can be an over achiever and submit two files. One if the format you're comfortable with, and one in the format that they request. And you mention you submitted both to cover your bases or whatever.

I would say after you land the job and are building up a good reputation there, then you can then ask why they use certain software and then voice your opinion as to what you find to be particularly good to use. But doing this in the interview phase is a great way of ensuring that you don't get the job. UNLESS they ask you what you think about the software....at that point you can be honest and explain. But otherwise, you follow the instructions that they outlined to you.

That might be part of the test, to see what you can do within the parameters that they have set, even if you are going to be a team player and do as requested,

By the same logic it could have been a test to see how professional the artist is, as most professional artist would sabotage there own work by handing it over in a inferior format.

Also that describes a drone not a team player. :)

Don't get me wrong I appreciate people that keep to the work, however communication between artist and client is important. If your client revokes the contract because you pointed out that they are using a deficient file format, then just be glad you dodged that bullet.

The only time it's better to just sit back and watch a project burn is when you are getting payed more than double the standard rates, and you know for a fact that there is no way that the failed project could harm your reputation.

A artist lives and dies by there reputation.

That might be part of the test, to see what you can do within the parameters that they have set, even if you are going to be a team player and do as requested,

By the same logic it could have been a test to see how professional the artist is, as most professional artist would sabotage there own work by handing it over in a inferior format.

Also that describes a drone not a team player. :)

Don't get me wrong I appreciate people that keep to the work, however communication between artist and client is important. If your client revokes the contract because you pointed out that they are using a deficient file format, then just be glad you dodged that bullet.

The only time it's better to just sit back and watch a project burn is when you are getting payed more than double the standard rates, and you know for a fact that there is no way that the failed project could harm your reputation.

A artist lives and dies by there reputation.

I don't think anyone was suggesting to watch the project burn. The suggestion was to do as was requested and to mention that another format might serve the needs of the project better, but to still follow the application instructions. This isn't being a drone, it's doing as requested in a job application format. Again, that doesn't mean you can't mention other ways to accomplish this task, but you also don't blatantly dismiss their request and go in with a "I know better than you" mentality.

You're right, reputation is everything. And no one would want to hire someone who can't follow simple instructions. I think often showing that you are flexible and easy to work with, while also willing to put in helpful ideas (aka "this would be a better format for your project") goes a longer way than merely assuming the employer doesn't understand the project and the needs of the project as well as you do.