Electric Dog Flanimate Power Tools v.7.0.0 is a major stable release

EDAP Tools v.7 is another important milestone in the evolution of our toolset and the history of Flash Animation.

It introduces powerful new features such as TransPoser, Visibility Switches, RC Sliders, Transformers and Sound Sync as well as many enhancements to SMR and other existing tools.

The TransPoser workflow revolutionizes head rigging, streamlines facial animation and provides polished tools for dynamic pose reuse in all contexts of character animation.

See the highlights here.

Change log

1. Structural changes:

• Professional-grade facial rigging and workflow-enhancing tools (TransPoser), available as a premium feature
• Optimized internal architecture
• Countless UX improvements

2. New tools:

• New major feature: TransPoser*
• New major feature: RC Sliders and Visibility Switches
• New major feature: Transformers* (Inspired by Anastasia Spruill. Thanks, Stasia!)
• New Panel: TransPoser panel*
• New Panel: Sound Sync panel*
• New Command: Create And Manage RC Sliders
• New Command: Create TransPoser Objects*
• New Command: Create Motion Guide
• New Command: Create Frame Range
• New Command: Find And Replace Fills
• New Command: Smart Layer Lock
• SMR IK: Braces are now functional*
• New EDAPT Objects: RC Sliders and Visibility Switch
• New EDAPT Objects: Transformers*
• New EDAPT Object: T‑point*
• New EDAPT Object: Pose Anchor*
• New diagnostic tool: System Events Manager in EDAPT Control Panel > Miscellaneous

3. Added features:

• KineFlex: now can move and rotate non-SMR Symbols
• KineFlex: now can Symbol Scrub (Set First Frame) in SMR
• KineFlex: now can Squash & Stretch symbols in SMR*
• KineFlex: now transforms welded elements, masks and masked even when they appear on locked layers (Inspired by Josh Spencer Green. Thanks, Josh!)
• KineFlex: improved performance in Animate and Flash 8
• FreeStyle Rigging tool: now can be used to trim symbol's bounding box
• FreeStyle Rigging tool: now allows rig editing (Refine MT position mode)
• FreeStyle Rigging tool: now can show a visual representation of the rig's structure
• SGC panel: UI improvements – Single Frame, Loop, Play Once are now tabs
• SPC panel: does not skip guided layers any more
• SPC panel: now has an option to skip Tagged Colors (on by default)
• EDAPT Commands panel: redesigned with much improved UX
• Create And Manage IK Objects (SMR): now pops a dialog*
• SMR Helpers: new buttons* (Transformers, RC Sliders, T‑point, Pose Anchor, KineFlex switch, etc.)
• SMR Helpers: now separators can be added and buttons can be hidden by dragging them away
• Element Welder: now can create hard-welded duplicates
• Enter Or Punch Current Frame has a new mode: exit and set current frame
• Smart Magnet Joint: Pose Anchor snaps over T‑point*
• Layer Outlines Or Guide Toggle: now also incorporates the old Layer Color command functionality
• Smart Transform: now unlocks layers and selects the elements that belong to a Transformer or RC Slider Group
• Convert To Keyframe Advanced: now creates keyframes for the elements that belong to a Transformer Group*
• IK Clean Up: now can properly handle appendages/patches*
• IK Clean Up: now can work with multiple selected Effectors*
• Move / Solve: now can resolve the IK chain, based on a selected SMR element beyond the chain*
• EDAPT Shortcuts: updated
• EDAPT Help: now is web-based

4. Many bug fixes

* Entries above marked with an asterisk are premium features

It is highly recommended that all users upgrade to take advantage of the latest changes.

New articles, videos and help entries

• New in-depth article on TransPoser Workflow
• Help entries for all the new tools
• More than 4 hours of new video material

Updated articles, reflecting all recent changes

• Types of EDAPT Objects
• Comprehensive Magnet Snapping
• SMR Inverse Kinematics
• and more

Important note about shortcuts

We strongly encourage our users to switch to EDAPT Shortcuts to get the full EADP Tools experience!

We understand that as our set diverges more and more radically from Macromedia/Adobe defaults, transition can be frustrating at first and requires a few days.
But the benefits to the user would be huge as all EDAPT shortcuts have been assigned with animation/design workflow usability in mind. As you get used to them you will realize how much time and hand movement they will save you.

If you need to modify the EDAPT set to better suit your needs, in Animate just use the Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts… dialog. Flash 8 and CS users, please, refer to this article.

General recommendations

To our users in 2024 we continue to recommend working with Flash Professional CS6 for character animation whenever possible. It is the most rigid, stable, bug-free and best performing version to date.

Supported versions of Flash and Animate

Since Adobe moved to a subscription-based model with more frequent updates, Animate versions are not a finished stable product any more. It has become a perpetual work in progress – much more prone to bugs and regressions. Because of that and the huge abundance of versions we had to limit support and only test on the 4 most recent versions of Animate.

For a full list of supported versions, please check this article.

Known Issues

For a detailed and up-to-date list of all known issues, please visit this link.