Flash's drawing Tools

[bilal bin ali]

I dont know why every one seems to be so annoyed with flashe's drawing tools. I found them to be excellent and i could do what i want in a very short time just like macromedia claims, and they have got better with the introduction of the bezier curve tool although i still use the pencil tool much more frequently than the bezier tool.

[nocrapchurch]

I agree.

-scott
http://www.scottmanning.com

[canuckster]

I prefer Flash's tools. But, hearing from a designer I work with, I think one of the main things that irritates people coming from the illustration programs is the lack of anything beyond a simple Bezier tool. For me it's enough, but a lot of people rely on being able to do things like draw a circle, then apply a filter to make it look like a star, or lots of twirls, or whatever. Or apply custom brush strokes to things.

The biggest addition I'd like to see to Flash vis-a-vis graphics is the addition of Shearing to the transormation tool. That would go a long, long way towards making things recede properly (ie with correct perspective) when they rotate--and we could do it all with symbols.

[JabezStone]

I do enjoy the simplicity of the Flash drawing tools, and even find "some" of them to be superior to other graphics programs. However, Flash does not have a suitable interface and toolset for creating more complex graphics. This is fine with me, as I also use Freehand.
It would be great, though, to not have to leave Flash to do the graphics I need.

[Tyke O'Brahe]

Now I'm really flaunting my ignorance - Flash has bezier tool? Where? WHen? Huh?

Is that what they call it when I just grab my line and curve it or is there something I'm missing?

Tyke

[canuckster]

[unbelievably indignant]
Oh come on -- you're saying you've never used the Pen and Subselect tools? For shame! For shame!
[/unbelievably indignant]

[Tyke O'Brahe]

you just wait.... someday I'm going to learn how to do a blur effect and I'll show you.... *dukes up* (scurrying off to figure out what the *&^%! you're talking about)

[flash tiger]

Flash drawing tools are great for vector. I do a ton of
animation in flash for cd roms and it certainly does the job. But...

How cool would it be to use the functionality of fractal painter's pressure sensitive pencil tool for animating in flash's timeline environment? Expression2 has cool skeletal strokes, but I really don't want to see that blue vector centerline and a long pause for calculation everytime I lay down a gestural stroke!

And While we're talking animation, what about flipping vs.
onion skin. Traditionally, I never lightbox while animating
on paper. I flip to see the motion. I wish there was an interface out there that allowed for quick flipping and gesture drawing! Maybe I'll just make my own if I can't find such a solution. Goodness. All this vector and onionskining at the gestural stage sucks the life right out of animation.

[JabezStone]

Originally posted by flash tiger
Flash drawing tools are great for vector. I do a ton of
animation in flash for cd roms and it certainly does the job. But...

How cool would it be to use the functionality of fractal painter's pressure sensitive pencil tool for animating in flash's timeline environment? Expression2 has cool skeletal strokes, but I really don't want to see that blue vector centerline and a long pause for calculation everytime I lay down a gestural stroke!

And While we're talking animation, what about flipping vs.
onion skin. Traditionally, I never lightbox while animating
on paper. I flip to see the motion. I wish there was an interface out there that allowed for quick flipping and gesture drawing! Maybe I'll just make my own if I can't find such a solution. Goodness. All this vector and onionskining at the gestural stage sucks the life right out of animation.

Hey, Tiger!

Did you know that Flash is compatible with pressure-sensitive pens? I have a Wacom Graphire tablet and pen that I love! When using this pen with the "paintbrush" tool, you can select the pressure-sensitive stroke, giving you gesture ability!

Also, speaking of "flipping" as opposed to "onion-skin". Just move the playhead of the timeline back and forth a keyframe at a time. To flip through your whole, or partial, animation, position the playhead where you want to begin and press "enter". this will start your animation playing, then press "enter" again to stop it.

BTW, how about posting links to some of your animations?

Regards,

Jabez

[CNO]

Originally posted by JabezStone
Also, speaking of "flipping" as opposed to "onion-skin". Just move the playhead of the timeline back and forth a keyframe at a time. To flip through your whole, or partial, animation, position the playhead where you want to begin and press "enter". this will start your animation playing, then press "enter" again to stop it.

I've used a similar technique when doing frame-to-frame animation (load up the timeline by holding down F6) - you can use the , and . keys (< > to be more visually accurate) to step forward and back one frame in the timeline - better than dragging the playhead and scrubbing sometimes.

[canuckster]

about graphics tablets/pens:

I use the graphire too -- since last Christmas -- and I absolutely could not function without it. In fact, after a month of using it for just drawing-related stuff, I started using it for everything. Now I only use my trackball for games and anything I have to do a lot of repetitive scrolling (ie for which the scroll wheel is best suited). Everything else is faster and easier on the muscles with the pen.

about flipping frames:

Don't forget that the comma and period keys will move the playhead -- you can keep one hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse. Much faster.

[flash tiger]

Hey all,

, and . advancing helps in seeing where you've been and where you are going, but there are some things a traditional animator likes to do that you can't replicate.
I don't claim to be the greatest of animators or anything, but I know how good animation can be done. It's a process. First roughing out gestures, then tightening the gestures, altering the timing, next inbetweening, and lastly the final line.

In the initial stage I need to quickly roll 5 drawings at a time. In the inbetweening stage, I need to alterate flipping 1-3-2. Oh how I wish there were preset buttons for different kinds of flips

As for pressure sensitivity, I find that for my purposes, it only serves me if I get a light or dark line for my variation. Animation shouldn't have to be done in final line. You start with loose light strokes to capture gesture and volume and slowly work drawings as you go while constantly rolling or flipping. It isn't so linear.