When comparing Pyxel Edit vs Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional), the Slant community recommends Pyxel Edit for most people. In the question“What are the best 2D animation tools for game development?” Pyxel Edit is ranked 3rd while Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Pyxel Edit is:
Tiles can be animated within Pyxel Edit, with "onion skin" frame overlays to assist in making smooth frame transitions.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Supports animations
Tiles can be animated within Pyxel Edit, with "onion skin" frame overlays to assist in making smooth frame transitions.
Pro Intuitive UI
Pyxel Edit is widely acclaimed for its ease of use.
Pro Tileset extraction
Given an image and specified tile dimensions, Pyxel Edit will extract a tileset with no duplicate tiles. This mostly works for flat images though. If you feed Pyxel "finished maps" you will still get a lot of duplicates.
Pro Tilemap serialization support
Tile-based images (maps) built in Pyxel Edit can be serialized via XML or JSON for easy import elsewhere.
Pro Cheap compared to others
For only $9 (£6), this is one of the cheapest but also one of the best pixel editors out there.
Pro Live tile-update
Instantly see if your tiles are tileable and/or seamless and fix it easily.
Pro Indexed tiles can be used for reusing objects in animations
Pro Powerful tool
This program has developed AAA TV Series and Movies like Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Pro Export to HTML5
Pro Interpolation between frames
Several ways to create animation and special effects: motion tweens, classic tweens.
Pro Create and organize layers
Layers help you organize the artwork in your document. You can draw and edit objects on one layer without affecting objects on another layer.
Pro Bone tool
Bone tool that enables you to link symbols together quickly and easily in a parent/child relationship commonly referred to as inverse kinematics.
Pro Easy to use
Cons
Con development has stopped -- developer has stated 8/20 that a new version will be released soon
Con Lacks some tools
Con No Linux version
There is no Linux version of the editor.
Con Free version lacks features
The free version of Pyxel Edit is an outdated beta. It does not receive updates.
Con Proprietary, closed-source software
This software does not respect your freedom.
Con Mac version is dependent on Adobe Air
The OSX version of the application requires Adobe Air to run.
Con No more support
Adobe ditched AIR which they will EOL at 2020
Con Exspensive
Flash can be priced at $999.99 on the official Abobe store.