SWFDecompiler is an application that can break down Flash animation files into its most basic components.
When you load a Flash file on this application, you will be able to play the animation like you would on your web browser. The file will be shown on a pane on the right side of the screen. If you click on it, you will see a list of folders below it. Those are all the components of the file. They are sorted into various categories: Shape, Image, Sound, Font, Text, Sprite, Button, Frame, Action and Misc Tags. And the number of elements within each category is shown in between parentheses.
From the top-left part of the screen, you can choose to extract these items or to convert the animation to one of the formats I mentioned above. The only limitation of the trial version seems to be that it only allows you to extract a handful of items.
SWFDecompiler comes with a sample Flash animation. When you extract it (or decompile it), you will see how the animation works. For example, the SourceTec logo is animated, and there is a spinning image next to it. When you extract the file, you will see two image files that are frames for that animation. As the developers put it, this tool is a nice way of figuring out how certain aspects of a Flash file work. By breaking an animation down, you can see how things are done and imitate, which is a great way of learning.
This app comes with a Flash video player and a Firefox extension that lets you download Flash files straight from the browser.
Pros
- HTML 5 output options
- Content sorting by categories
- Integration with web browsers for downloading
- Lists all the elements of animation
Cons
- Slow conversion speeds