[Released] GAF Pro: Flash to Unity - Playback of any 2D animation created in the Adobe Flash Pro

GAF Pro: Flash to Unity​

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GAF stands for Generic Animation Format. GAF Converter enables the conversion of 2D animations from an Adobe Flash SWF file into .gaf format. GAF: Flash to Unity plug-in ensures that gaf animations are seamlessly integrated into Unity. It comes with full Unity editor integration and sources.

GAF Pro: Flash to Unity on the Asset Store for $95
If you want to try it before purchase, you can use FREE GAF: Flash to Unity.
Official GAF Media website with FAQs, Forum and contact us form

Pay attention:
"GAF Pro: Flash to Unity" plug-in doesn't provide any additional functionality for GAF Converter in Unity3d or GAF Standalone Converter.
To unlock more GAF Converter settings you need to get Studio or Enterprise license.

With "GAF Pro: Flash to Unity" plug-in, placing the GAF Media logo on the loading screen is not mandatory.

Important:
Before importing this version, please delete the previous one in your project!
Also, you will need to recreate (NOT RECONVERT) your animation game objects.
This (4.0) version doesn't support WinPhone. We are working to support it in the future versions.

Features:

• GAF data import
• Unity Mecanim Animation System support (without blending)
• Extended animation cutomization and resource management
• Editor animation playback
• Flash dynamic filters
• Stencil masks
• Custom animation color
• And more

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To convert your animations:
Video tutorial
Convert your animation directly from Unity with no additional applications to install!
Just place your SWF files into your project’s Asset folder and the converter window with the animations list will appear.
You can as well use drag and drop to upload SWF files into the Unity Converter window.

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To open the Unity Converter window click the Converter item in the GAF menu.

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Or you can download GAF Standalone Converter application (view GAF quick start guide here). Also, here is a video with GAF Standalone Converter.

Here is Webplayer demo that contains SWF animations converted with GAF

GAF Pro: Flash to Unity

Spoiler: Tutorial screenshots

Step #1:


Step #2:

GAF Movie Clip properties in Unity:

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• Play automatically

Should the animation be played automatically when starting the scene?
(Defines whether the animation should be played automatically when starting the scene)​

• Ignore time scale

Animation will be played even if timescale == 0.​

• Perfect timing (possible frame skip)

Additional precision for proper animation duration.​

• Play in background

Animation will still be playing even if the application loses focus (for example minimize)​

• Decompose Flash transform

If turned on, animation parts will change their postiton\rotation\scale by using unity transform. If turned off, animation parts will change their postiton\rotation\scale by using geometry changing​

• Has individual material

Ability to set indivudial material to your animation​

• Animation color

Abitily to change animation color​

• Animation color offset

Abitily to change animation color offset​

• Stencil value

Possibility to render animation only if value in stencil buffer is equal to this value​

• Wrap mode

loop - the animation will loop when it finishes playing.
once - the animation will be stopped when it finishes playing.​

• Target FPS

Target FPS of your animation.​

• Sorting layer

The layer used to define this animation’s overlay priority during rendering.​

• Sorting layer order

The overlay priority of this animation within its layer. Lower numbers are rendered first and subsequent numbers overlay those below.​

• Pixels per unit

Ability to scale animation by changing the size of the mesh.​

• Texture atlas scale

Ability to change animation’s scale if you convert your animation with at least two scales. [float value]​

• Content scale factor (CSF)

Ability to use bigger textures in the same mesh if you convert your animation with two scale factors (for example 1 and 2 for non retina and retina). [integer value]​

• Pivot offset X

Animation pivot point offset X​

• Pivot offset Y

Animation pivot point offset Y​

• Z Layer scale

Multiplier for distance between subobjects​

• Sequence

You can use frame labels to define different parts of animations (in your *.fla). Than you can select corresponding sequence to play it.​

Requirements:
Unity 4.6.3 or higher
OS X or Windows® XP/7/8
Adobe® Flash® CS3 (9.0) or above (only for animations creation\correction)
Adobe® Air® runtime (only for GAF Standalone Converter)

Current version: 4.0

 

Hello!

It's been almost a year since the launch of the GAF Plug-in. We would like to thank all our GAF users who have been part of the GAF Unity community and contributed to its development.

Thanks to your feedback we were able to improve performance and usability of GAF: Flash to Unity plug-in. The latest big announcement, GAF Pro: Flash to Unity, was made a few days ago (main feature : Integration with Unity3d animator and resources management) and we are glad to show you the roadmap of the plug-in evolution.

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Hello guys!

We are trying really hard to make GAF the most functional and well-performing solution for exporting Adobe Flash animations to Unity3d available. You ideas, suggestions, and questions help us to improve GAF even faster and they are all very much appreciated.

Post them right here and we’ll be glad to join the discussion.

Also, if you like what we are doing and you believe in GAF, review the Pro version on the Asset Store. It is very important for us to know your feedback.

 

I use free version of gaf and imported an FLV file in flash and convert it so SWF, but whn I GAF to convert the SWF, It is not playing.. The warning is missing resources. Looking to the sample it has texture and material cause it was made a sprite animation in flash.

 

Hello

Could you please provide us with additional information about your problem:
1. FLA and SWF of your animation;
2. Screenshot of your problem.

Did you click on "Build resources" button in the inspector window?

Thanks.

 

Hello!

GAF Pro: Flash to Unity Plug-in Update!

Version 1.2:
1) Extended animation customization: Added ability to select the custom region.
2) Converter improvements.
3) Bugs fixes.

 

I'm confused with this asset. The website has the standalone converter for like $995 annually whereas this one is only $95. Do you have to purchase both to use this Unity asset or is just the $95 asset enough to get the full functionality?

 

I'm wondering about this myself. Last time I tried this product, it was a bait and switch to sign up for a membership service in order to use anything.

 

Yeah if what I'm thinking is correct then you are limited to the "Free" tier of their membership service even if you pay for this "Pro" version of their asset. Very misleading product and it should definitely mention this in the asset store production description.

It's funny you have to get the extremely limited features and a forced GAF splash screen even after paying $95 for this asset, otherwise you will have to pay $995 a year (which is more than getting a subscription to Unity Pro!).

 

I'm assuming this Flash -> Unity solution does not support streaming FLV files, correct?

 

I really wanted to purchase this with it being on sale. But with all this talk of it needing a membership to their website and the owner of this product not weighing in to clarify the situation, I just can not justify wasting the money even if it is on sale. Too Bad ... I use to work a lot with Flash and this would have been nice for an upcoming 2D game.

 

whats the performance of this vs regular frame anim or skeletal?

 

+1 : $95 or $995 ???
The sale was attractive but...
6R

 

I just bought it. I came to this thread to see how to use the animator portion. I was surprised/concerned to see these questions. I am going to assume that the additional licensing fees only apply to the standalone convertor.
The copy on the asset store page says:

It says you can use GAF converter for "faster" conversion. Since I didn't download the converter, and am just doing it through the Unity panel, the licensing on their site doesn't apply. The store page says it lets you play flash files in Unity. No mention of limitations, no custom license, no mention of additional services required.

So I am going to assume that like any other asset that I buy, (that doesn't contain a separate agreement), that the it falls under the default agreement, as I did not agree to anything else.

 

@zombiegorilla: I was hoping you may be correct, but in your purchased installation, when you click on the GAF | Converter menu inside Unity (as shown in the animated image in the first post of this thread), do you also see something like "ENTERPRISE LICENSE, Days left: 310" in your Unity Converter window, or do you see something else? What would happen when you run out of those remaining days? Do you perhaps only get a year subscription to the service with this Unity plugin and then have to pay again? It all still seem rather unclear.

 

That's an interesting question from RedGreenBlue : Yes, we cans see this "days left 310" on the animation...
Less than 1 hour to buy it at this sale price !!! Too bad if limited or if simply unclear !?!
6R

 

It says "Free license" in mine.

You are right, it is unclear. However, it was only unclear after I bought it and set it up. Nothing is unclear on the asset store, it says it lets me use flash animations in unity. no limits were mentioned prior to paying for it.

 

I have bought it to test and to see what happens with the license before end of sale.
It seems unclear and unfair from the authors... I think. (My opinion only !)
It's a free license only and I couldn't convert any file I have tested... :-(

(I just have asked for a refund because I'm not satisfied at all.)

6R

 

Here's a screenshot taken of the GAF Pro Unity Plugin settings in combination with a GAF Free License I got by registering on their site and activating the plugin with my new profile.



As you can see some options of the plugin are disabled with the free license and have to be enabled by purchasing a GAF Studio ($995 per year) or GAF Enterprise ($2995 per year) license.

 

I fully agree. There is no indication in the asset store that there is more to it than what it says.

It actually worked very well for me. I wrote a converter for swfs a couple of years ago (to export them as xml and sprite sheets), but this is much slicker and more robust. For me it worked as described in the asset store.

However, the required inclusion of their logo (and revenue limit) is not part of asset store terms.

Yea, I saw those too after I purchased and installed. I do think that is a bit shady (selling a "pro" version and then selling additional features after the fact without being clear upfront). But I don't really have a problem with that. As long as it provides the primary functionality that is advertised.

 

Hm, on further inspecition I think GAF Media intends a legal separation between the Unity plugin and their conversion service. So we got the Unity plugin with the Unity EULA, but the "permission to use converted animations for commercial game development" would fall under the GAF Media License agreement which states

"By using the GAF Media Free license licensee agrees to place GAF Media logo on the loading screen of each project using GAF Media Free license."

I would like this matter to be cleared up, because this plugin/service separation seems a grey area. I don't want their splash screen in my games, I don't want to pay $995 a year to remove their splash screen and I certainly don't want legal action taken against me if I happen to have broken their license after all.

 

Sadly, I suspect you are correct.
There is no mention on the asset store that this is front end for a another service. It mentions the gaf converter as a faster option, but nothing saying it is required. $15 is a great deal. There are existing free and less expensive solutions. After using it, the 95$ is still a very good deal given the process. The "conversion" licenses costs aren't worth it for personal stuff, and on the high end of the scale, even a large studio like ours, we wouldn't do an annual fee for a "service" that is available in many forms as software packages elsewhere. Maybe in an emergency 3k isn't bad, but for big projects, a planned pipeline negates the need. Meh. Guess it is a refund for me. Disappointing.

 

Yes, if that is indeed the case, I suppose several 24-Hour Deal purchasers may now want refunds, but there is also Unity's "all sales are final" policy (Asset Store Terms of Service and EULA). Perhaps GAF Media should also consider categorizing this asset under "Services/Other" instead of the current "Scripting/Animation" category.

 

I posted because I knew a lot of people would be confused by this as I initially was. Luckily I didn't buy and pull the trigger. The fact that the Asset owner still hasn't chimed in here makes this even worse.

From what I understand the "Free" GAF Unity asset basically allows you to use .gaf animation files in Unity. If you do this, you will need to use their standalone SWF to GAF converter which is free. The "Pro" GAF Unity asset ($95 when not on sale) allows you to simply import .swf animation files in Unity (upon importing it automatically converts it to .gaf for you so it makes it easier, as you won't need to use the standalone SWF to GAF converter.

Then the membership comes into play so as you can see this is a separate thing, which unlocks additional license benefits that are completely separate from the Unity assets. This is based on the pricing on their website:
http://gafmedia.com/pricing

So basically this "Pro" GAF Unity asset is just so you don't have to use the standalone converter. At least this is what I understand. Shame that the creator of this asset won't even chime in to clarify.

 

Hello!
Thank you all for the comments and questions about GAF Pro: Flash to Unity plug-in.

Let us please clarify the issue with the GAF Licensing.

GAF Media allows you to choose one of the three types of license of the GAF Converter. You can choose the most suitable license depends on the converter features you want to get or depends on your company annual revenue (Free, Studio, Enterprise). Follow by this link to get more information: http://gafmedia.com/pricing

Free license of GAF Converter is available for every register user. With Free license you can convert unlimited numbers of animations, anytime, without any additional payment. Each license allows you to submit games, developed with GAF, in any stores.

Some conversion settings are not available for Free type GAF Converter license. To get these settings\features you need to buy Studio or Enterprise license. Also, you can try all the settings\features of GAF Converter via Preview mode. To do this you need to use GAF Converter without login.



For Unity developers we’ve created two Unity plug-ins which are Free and Pro. GAF Pro: Flash to Unity plug-in provides ONLY extended Unity interface for GAF. It doesn't extend you GAF Converter license settings\features.

GAF Pro: Flash to Unity plug-in features:

• Flexible resources management (possibility to load animation data (textures/materials) in custom way - from unity bundle for example).
• Working with filter (* Unity pro required) - for now is only in GAF Pro plugin but will be included to a Free one in a next release (soon).
• Integration with mecanim state machine (through the mecanim events system).

Both of these plug-ins (Free and Pro) allow you to convert your animations right through Unity3d (click on the GAF → Converter in the Unity menu). You don’t need to install GAF Standalone Converter. But if you are not satisfied with the speed of conversion through Unity, you need to use GAF Standalone Converter (for faster conversion).

It is not necessary to add GAF splash screen into your game/application for those who bought GAF Pro: Flash to Unity (we will add this item to our license agreement soon).

We are really appreciate the feedback of all of you. Sorry for the misunderstanding. We hope this reply will clarify all the details. All clarification will be added to the Plug-in description on Asset Store and to the website ASAP.

 

Thanks for your detailed clarification, GAFmedia.

That's very good news

 

More to the point...

If we buy GAF Pro for Unity, can we convert our swfs forever with no more money being pulled from our pockets? If so, it's worth it. If this isn't the case, boy did I get ripped off.

 

That's good to hear. Unfortunately I didn't buy the asset when it was on sale because I wasn't sure about this, and now the $95 price point is too high for me. Either way I will try the Free version for now and see how it is. Thanks for clarification.

 

According to their website even the Free version lets you convert an unlimited amount of SWF animations so I don't think this is an issue.

 

If your company makes more than $50k a year you have to convert your company's Free license into a Studio license at $995 a year.

 

True. A fair point to note if @joshuabogart bought the asset for a company.

 

Hello!
Don't miss the opportunity to try GAF Studio for free for one month! Follow by this link http://gafmedia.com/get_studio_trial
and fill in the form. Please note: Free studio license trial will be available only for developers, put the real info!

To get more information about Studio license please visit this page: http://gafmedia.com/pricing

 

Thank you for clarifying that the limitations of the free software on your site don't apply the Pro tool you have here. (apart from additional features in other versions).

I would suggest that you are really clear on the asset store about what is happening here. It is all marketing text and no actual details. Which normally isn't an issue, but in the case your asset there bigger concerns. The main one is that this asset is NOT a .swf converter. While you don't directly say it is, your description does imply that by saying it lets you play swf in unity. The conversion is a separate tool that you either have register and rely on remote conversion to not be bound by revenue or include a watermark, or download an app and agree to additional terms.

This asset is actually a front-end and dependent on a separate process/service, and it does nothing at all if you don't agree to those terms. This is a pretty important detail, and with out that information it is deceptive (which I assume is not the intention).

--

After experimenting with it for several days, I have some feedback and questions...

Overall, the conversion is really solid, even in areas that are usually a problem. Nice balance of replicating effects and blitting the ones that don't really translate to Unity. Accurate conversion and animation. It would be nice if had an option to export just the images or leverage a better sprite sheet builder. The atlases from GAF aren't very optimized and particularly on mobile every little bit counts.

Questions:
How do I best access elements in an animation? We often use locators or just use location information from an anim to spawn events/effects/etc? With everything being baked into a single mesh, information is no longer available. I can deselect "bake", but then the animations don't work. (also if I play, when done it returns to baked, but leaves the parts and will double them up). Is it possible to not bake?

How do you correctly export a package or assetbundle of a character? When importing or loading after this, resources are missing.

Blending? Using the animator, blending between animations is broken. Since the animations created just call events to the tool, they don't blend at all. Can the tool create proper animation tracks instead of the message based ones? (obviously this would need to be unbaked).

Hopefully these are just settings I have been unable to find.

Thanks,
ZG

 

Thank you for all your suggestions. This is a good feedback. We will make the info about the plug-in more clear and understandable to everyone.

Q: How do I best access elements in an animation? We often use locators or just use location information from an anim to spawn events/effects/etc? With everything being baked into a single mesh, information is no longer available. I can deselect "bake", but then the animations don't work. (also if I play, when done it returns to baked, but leaves the parts and will double them up). Is it possible to not bake?

A: You can access animation object details via:
var clip = GetComponent<GAFMovieClip>();
var obj = clip.getObject(<object_id>);
obj.currentState - you can take all information about this object current state -
Flash matrix - a, b, c, d, tx, ty
alpha
etc

Regarding the bake problem - we have some bug with prefabs and it will be fixed in the nearest release (we are planning to push it on AssetStore this week).
But here is some workarround (for current 1.x version):
1. Convert your animation;
2. Don't use button "create prefab" or "prefab + instance". Click on "add to scene" button.
3. Unbake your animation(s) on the scene.
4. Drag and drop your gameobject to your project folder (for creating prefab).
Everything should work.

Q: How do you correctly export a package or assetbundle of a character? When importing or loading after this, resources are missing.

A: Did you defined you custom resources loading delegate? Please take a look into our examples scripts.

Q: Blending? Using the animator, blending between animations is broken. Since the animations created just call events to the tool, they don't blend at all. Can the tool create proper animation tracks instead of the message based ones? (obviously this would need to be unbaked).

A: It's impossible - we have a certain order of frames that we have to play

 

We have fixed this issue. Could you please reconvert your animations and check if everything is fine with altlas (now it should be optimized). Also, if you are using GAF Standalone Converter, this fix will be in the version 4.2 soon.

 

Hi, I was thinking of purchasing gaf for personal use, as I am developing a game in which I want to use flash animations. I tried it with a basic animation building in webplayer and it worked perfectly. The thing is I want to export a webgl version, but when I built my project to webgl my animations wouldn't play (in editor was fine, the problem occurred in browser). Can you confirm or infirm if Gaf works with webgl?

 

Hello,

We have released the new version of GAF Pro: Flash to Unity on March 19 (status: waiting for review at the Unity AssetStore). This version works well with WebGL on Unity v5.0.0p2

Thanks.

 

Hi there!

Fresh update for GAF Pro: Flash to Unity!

Version 4.0:
1) Nesting support.
2) Unity 5 support.
3) Unity 5 WebGL support.
4) iOS x64 support.
5) New Unity GAF Converter settings (conversion mode, debug & optimization).
6) XML documentation for methods (from GAF assembly).
7) Stencil buffer correct usage.
8) Bugs fixes.

Hope you will love it! Also, we are working now on Windows Phone support, so watch for our updates.

Important:
Before importing this version, please delete the previous one in your project!
Also, you will need to recreate (NOT RECONVERT) your animation game objects.
This (4.0) version doesn't support WinPhone. We are working to support it in the future versions.

Thanks.

 

New Update! GAF: Flash to Unity v5.1
(Free and Pro versions)!

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1) A lot of optimizations (up to x3 FPS improvement)
2) States caching (on asset and movieclip level) will increase your FPS but increase RAM consumption too (be careful with this option)
3) New Unity GAF Converter features (Extract Sounds, Add custom images into a Texture Atlas, Allow region rotation). More info can be found here:http://gafmedia.com/documentation/how-to/working-with-sounds and here:http://gafmedia.com/documentation/how-to/adding-custom-images-into-a-texture-atlas
4) Dispatch events\triggers support
5) Fixed issue with Unity3d v5.x support
6) A lot of fixes for Nesting mode
7) New sections in GAF dropdown menu (Documentation, Contact us)
8) WinPhone support
9) A lot of other important fixes


Important:
Before importing this version, please delete the previous one in your project!
Also, you will need to recreate (NOT RECONVERT) your animation game objects. Our code optimizations make this necessary.

Hope you will love it because this version is really fast and furious!

 

Hello - I'm currently testing the free version & I have a question regarding revisions: Normally on the production of a game, art assets & animation will change as the game progresses - If I change my animation in my Flash file, will GAF update these changes in Unity? I tested this myself & found that GAF just creates a new object inside Unity, rather than updating the previous one.

 

Hello',

Thanks for this tool !

Same problem for me,
I made a game with gaf but I did not success to update animations without breaking the asset files and the links in inspector.

How should we proceed to update correctely the animations from a .swf?

 

New Update! GAF: Flash to Unity v5.2.6
(Free and Pro versions)!
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1) Memory leaks fixes;
2) Sounds feature fixes;
3) Name parts fixes (instant names);
4) Fix of strange motion in GAF animation when scaling textures in nesting mode;
5) Now to unload asset's textures resources you can use the method dropLoadedTexturesReferences() from GAFAnimationAsset class;
6) Now to call "create prefab", "add to scene" or "prefab+instance" from code you can use proper methods from GAFAnimationAssetInternalEditor class, that located in the namespace GAFEditorInternal.Assets. Namespace GAFEditorInternal is available only in the editor;
7) Correct animation batching fix for unity 5.5.x;
8) "Contat Us" changed to "Contact us" (typo fix);
9) New "Helpers" category in the GAF menu contains script to rebuild resources for all GAF animations on the scene;
10) Other bug fixes and optimizations


Important:
If you are having some issues - before importing this version, please delete the previous one in your project!
Maybe you will need to recreate (NOT RECONVERT) your animation game objects. But first try to use "GAF" --> "Helpers" menu and "Rebuild resources in scene".

Thanks!

 

Regarding questions above: try to use "GAF" --> "Helpers" menu and "Rebuild resources in scene"
Thanks.

 

The 5.2 version does not work with Unity 5.4 anymore.

 

I have GAF pro, but I can't get custom loading to work. I just want the GAF assets to be part of the scene asset bundle like any other kind of assets. What is the easiest way to do this?
When I move the cached resources out of the resource folder everything stops working, and I can't find a way to load them manually. If I set a scene reference to the GAFTexturesResource and try to reload it from that, nothing happens.
Should I define a custom resources loading delegate? Where and how do I do that? I can't seem to find the answer in the examples.

Edit: I totally overlooked the "Use custom resource loader" flag in the inspector as I was looking in the code to figure out how to hook up the custom loading delegate. It works now. However, I would still like a more automatic setup so I don't have to go through every animation hooking up the custom delegate by hand every time assets are reimported. I might try to automate this somehow...

 

Hi! Did you evenr managed to automate it? when I set the delegate by code it seems to work in runtime but I get errors in the inspector window when I select the GAF component.
Thanks