New features summary - 2014

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | February 2015 Release

The February 2015 update to Flash Professional CC 2014 Release offers you the capability to package 64-bit binaries to comply with the mandatory requirement of Apple® starting February 1, 2015. The AIR 16.0 for iOS allows you to generate 64-bit binaries using the Enable Faster Packaging option under the Deployment tab of AIR for iOS Setting dialog, which is enabled by default.

Note: Since AIR 16.0 has not been released for Android yet, shared runtime is not available for the version. You can use the embedded AIR runtime for Android applications.

For more information on packaging AIR for iOS, see Packaging applications for AIR for IOS.

HTML5 Canvas optimizations

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | February 2015 Release

This release helps you optimize the HTML5 Canvas document type output by not exporting the unused media assets such as sound and bitmaps present in the library. This setting is on by default, which means that any unused media without linkages are not exported and only the media items (sound, bitmaps) that are used on the stage are included in the output. This results in large savings in the output size, particularly if you had a large number of such media items in the library that were unused.

Flash Professional CC does not export the following items in your HTML5 Canvas library:

• All unused library-items such as symbols, sounds, and bitmaps with no linkages
• Assets on guide layers
• Assets on the hidden layer, if ‘Include hidden layers’ not selected in Publish Settings
  
• Assets on unused frames of graphic symbols  

If your content has assets that fall into any of the above-mentioned categories, Flash Professional optimizes the size of your published output by leaving out all unused and hidden assets.

For more information about this feature, see Creating and publishing an HTML5 Canvas document.

Audio splitting

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | February 2015 Release

You can split the stream audio embedded on the timeline using the Split Audio context menu. Split Audio enables you to pause the audio when it is necessary and then resume the audio playback from the point it was stopped at a later frame on the timeline.

To split an audio clip on your timeline:

1. Select File > Import > Import to library. 
2. Select the audio clip and import it to library. 
3. Create a new layer on your timeline and add the clip to the layer. 
4. Under Properties > Sound, select the Sync type as Streaming.
5. Right-click on the frame at which you want to split the audio and click Split Audio.  

Masking support in Custom Platform Support SDK

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | February 2015 Release

This release supports masking in the IFrameCommandGenerator service. The new interface ITimelineBuilder2 that is from the existing ITimelineBuilder interface contains the functions that the plugin has to implement to make this feature work. 

Download the CustomPlatformSupport_Eshwar_M04.zip file from the downloads section to work with the latest custom platform support SDK and sample plugin.

For more information about using the custom platform support SDK, see Enabling support for custom platforms.

Adobe Flash Professional CC 2014 | October Release

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | October Release

Flash Professional CC 2014 October Release offers you the Custom Platform Support development kit that will help you extend the capabilities of the poweful Flash platform to custom formats that are not natively supported by Flash. The Custom Platform Support APIs and the sample code in the development kit allow you to create plugins for new formats and distribute them through the Adobe Add-ons website. Users can download the appropriate plugin for their publishing requirements from the Adobe Add-ons page, install the plugin with Flash Professional CC 2014, and start creating and publishing creative assets. 

For more information on Custom Platform Support see Custom Platform Support.

To learn how to build a plugin using the Custom Platform Support development kit, see Enabling Support for Custom Platforms.

For instructons to download, install and use custom platform support plugins, see Working with Custom Platform Support Plugins. 

For complete reference documentation for the custom platform support APIs. see Custom Platform Support API Reference.

Animation Guide

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | October Release

The animation guide in Adobe Flash Professional CC now helps you enhance the animation you create by defining a path for the objects you animate. This is particularly helpful when you are working on an animation that follows a path that is not a straight line. This process requires two layers to carry out an animation. One layer containing the object that you are about to animate, and the other defining the path, which the object is supposed to follow during the animation. Animation guide works only on Classic Tweens. 

For more information on Animation Guide and examples, see Animation Guide.

Custom Brush

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | October Release

The Brush Tool (B) in Adobe Flash Professional CC allows you to custom-define a brush by setting parameters of the brush such as shape and angle. This enables you to create natural artwork in your projects by customizing the brush tool to suit your drawing needs. You can create a custom brush in Flash Professional by selecting the Brush tool in the toolbox of the Property Inspector.

For more information on creating and modifying custom brushes, see Custom Brushes.

Audio and scripting support in WebGL documents

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | October Release

The WebGL document type has been enhanced with the following features:

Audio: The WebGL document type in Flash Professional now supports audio playback. You can import and embed audio into your WebGL document, control the playback via different sync settings (event, start and stop) and play the timeline audio at runtime.

Scripting: You can now write Javascript code in the Actions panel, which will be executed on the player enters the frame. The 'this' variable in the context of frame scripts refers to the instance of the MovieClip it belongs to. In addition, frame scripts can access Javascript functions and variables declared in the container HTML file. When you copy a frame or layer from an ActionScript document and paste it in a WebGL document, the scripts will be commented out.

Code hinting: The WebGL document type now comes with code hinting support, which eases WebGL coding with contextual code suggestions.

Performance: The optimized publishing process for WebGL enables faster publishing. This release also includes several performance enhancements to the WebGL documents that help them run faster on devices.

For more information on creating and publishing interactive WebGL documents, see Creating and publishing a WebGL document.

Usability enhancements

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | October

This release contains the following usability enhancements:

• The Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical options have been added to the Transform Panel.
• The context menu has been enhanced by adding the missing options such as Transform, Arrange, and Align.
• The Motion Editor context menu now contains the Flip option that helps you flip the motion property curves.
  

Publish applications for Intel x86-based Android devices

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | October

This release of Flash Professional allows application developers to package their AIR applications in captive as well as shared runtime modes for Intel x86-based Android devices.

Publish AIR applications with shared runtime

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | October

Starting with this release, application developers can use the shared runtime option for packaging their AIR applications. Shared runtime helps reduce the size of the application as compared to captive runtime, which bundles AIR. When you select the shared runtime option while publishing, the installer downloads the runtime from a specified location during installation.

Import SWF files

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | October

You can now import SWF files into Flash Professional. The SWF import feature has been one of the most-requested functionalities among the Flash Professional user community. This will help bring assets in a primitive form into Flash Professional for further modifications.

However, since SWF is a rendered file, many types of data such as sound, tweens, layering details, and motion paths cannot be reimported into Flash.

Adobe Flash Professional CC 2014 | July Release

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | July  

Flash Professional CC July 2014 offers you the Web Graphics Library (WebGL) runtime API library. The API allows you to modify the elements in a scene and control the playback in the GPU-accelerated animations that you create in the WebGL document format.

For more information on the WebGL runtime API, WebGL Runtime API Reference - Index.

Follow the steps described in the Getting Started with WebGL Animation page to learn how to create an interactive WebGL animation.

New and improved Motion Editor

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | June

Flash Professional CC June 2014 reintroduces the Motion Editor in a highly intuitive and streamlined form. The new Motion Editor is designed to provide a smoother experience when refining Motion Tweens. Besides being easily accessible from within the Timeline, the Motion Editor has been greatly improved to facilitate simpler and focused editing of Property curves. With the new Motion Editor you can create complex and engaging tweens in simple steps to emulate real world behavior of objects.

For more information, see Editing Motion Tweens using Motion Editor.

Creating and publishing WebGL content

 New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | June

Flash Professional CC offers native support for Web Graphics Library (WebGL) format. You can now create and publish WebGL content from within Flash Professional CC. The latest update, adds a new WebGL (preview) document type that contains preset document and publish settings. You can now work with the familiar Timeline, Workspace, Tools, and other functionalities of Flash Pro, and produce WebGL content.

Flash Professional CC leverages the GPU accelerated usage of processing and rendering of WebGL content, which is integrated with most modern-day browsers.

For more information, see Creating and publishing a WebGL document.

NOTE: The WebGL document type is an experimental feature only available as Preview, and includes limited support for interactivity.

Exporting to SVG format

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | June

Flash Professional CC allows you to export artwork to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. SVG is an open web standard for creating and publishing vector graphics. With SVG, you can create and easily embed high quality artwork within most web pages.

Common image formats such as JPEG, PNG, BMP, and GIF offer low resolution artwork and are generally bulky, affecting load-times of web pages. With SVG support, Flash Professional CC allows you to produce graphics of superior quality that do not rasterize on scaling (resolution-independent).

For more information, see Exporting to SVG format.

Enhancing strokes using Variable Width Tool

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | June

Enhance strokes using the Variable Width Tool in Flash Professional CC. The Width tool allows you to add widths of varying forms and thickness to drawings on Stage. By adding variable width, simple strokes can be easily transformed into rich artwork. Flash Professional CC allows you to create and save Width profiles, which can be used to apply variable width to drawings on stage.

For more information, see Enhancing strokes using the Width tool.

Tweening strokes with Variable Width

You can now shape-tween strokes with Variable Width. Earlier, Flash Pro only allowed tweening of Solid Strokes. However, you can now tween fancy strokes created using the Variable Width Tool. Flash Pro also allows you to tween solid strokes that are associated with default or custom Width Profiles.

For more information, see Shape tweening strokes with Variable Width.

Kuler Panel

New in Flash Professional CC 2014 | June

Flash Professional CC is now integrated with Kuler panel, a cloud-based application to create color themes using iPhone or desktop browser. With Kuler panel, you can sync your color inspirations right to Flash Professional CC via Creative Cloud. To create color themes using Kuler, visit this link.

For more information, see Working with Kuler Panel.

Creating HTML5 extensions for Flash Professional CC

Enhanced in Flash Professional CC 2014 | June

You can extend Flash Professional CC using HTML extensions. Earlier, Flash Professional CC could only be integrated with SWF extensions packaged using Adobe Extension Builder. However, with Adobe Extension Builder 3 you can create and package HTML extensions that can be submitted to Adobe Exchange. Flash Professional CC has been enhanced to leverage HTML extensions packaged using Extension Builder 3. These extensions can be downloaded using Adobe Exchange and managed using Adobe Extension Manager from within Flash Professional CC.

For more information, see Creating HTML Extensions.

Synchronizing Workspaces with Adobe Creative Cloud

 Enhanced in Flash Professional CC 2014 | June

You can now sync the Flash Professional CC Workspace settings with Creative Cloud. You can customize the workspace to suit your design needs, and via Creative Cloud, you can replicate the customizations across multiple machines. 

For more information, see Sync Flash Professional Preferences with Creative Cloud.

Other key enhancements

System Requirements

See the system requirements for Adobe Flash Professional CC 2014 at System Requirements | Flash Professional.