1 how to make imports in SDT
You can't make imports
in SDT, but you can definitely make imports
for SDT :)
There are several
tutorials available (
example). You'll need some knowledge of either raster drawing (e.g. GIMP, Paint.NET, Photoshop) or vector drawing (e.g. Inkscape, Illustrator) techniques. You don't necessarily
need artistic experience or talent; I use vectors to
trace reference artwork drawn by other people. Artistic skill is definitely needed if you want to create work similar to
Mineur
's, of course.
If you already know how to do
both raster and vector artwork then I'd recommend using vector techniques. Your work will be less visually detailed, but it will be much easier to "upgrade" it with SDT features (such as RGB shifting for costumes which you've drawn, dynamic animation for hairstyles that you've drawn, skin-tone shifting for body mods, etc). But that's just my own preference as a Flash modder -- if you prefer the visual flexibility of the raster environment then please feel free to use it.
2 how to modify the swf imports
You can't do this directly. SWF files are "packaged" in a ready-to-use form, and so they are not amenable to direct editing.
If you have Flash software (
Adobe Animate CC) then you can decompile a SWF into a FLA source file, tweak it, and finally recompile it. If you intend to redistribute the file then please
get permission from the original artist.
You can ask the artist to share their original FLA source files. This is
much more convenient than editing a decompiled file; it's certainly a better way to learn. But remember that some artists may not wish to share, or they may have left the website long ago without ever releasing their source files. Dante is a notable exception; he has released a
huge catalog of FLA files.
If you simply want to create new mods but you don't want to deal with Adobe software licensing, then there's another option. You can draw on the relevant template file (
example). A Flash modder can then convert your work into a usable SWF file.
Here's a recent example.
You can
tinker with a SWF file using
sby's moreClothing mod. This mod allows you to split apart a SWF import into its pieces (such as shoes, pants, and shirt). You can then include those elements individually, or mix-and-match them with elements from other SWF files. This is especially useful when you're dealing with a
<full costume> mod which contains many pieces packaged together. You might want only the gloves from one file and the shoes from another -- moreClothing allows you to do that
(without making any actual changes to the SWF files themselves).
If you have further questions then I would encourage you to
start a new thread.
Mineur
can visit your thread to offer advice or support, but it isn't really appropriate for us to to derail his thread with a lot of unrelated Question & Answer activity.