Newbie question

[sbongo]

hi guys,sry i got a newbie question to ask u all.i saw those cartoon/anime flash movie and wondered how are they made.Do they draw frame by frame with the same person but different action or do they cut out the important parts of the body to rotate to make the animation.Any solutions would be good.Thxs u all people...

[gasbag15]

You can use either technique, frame by frame looks alot smoother unless you're really good with the tweening animation.

[fiddlestick5]

huh? Are you talking about anything in specific? anyways, a healthy mix of both frame by frame and tweening works well.

[sbongo]

wat i mean by frame by frame is that u draw out the characters in every frame and just the requried actions is different.If it this way,isn't it tedious?

[Radar_Brian]

sbongo,

Do you actually own Flash right now? Or are your questions geared more towards how Flash works because you are considering buying it?

If that's the case, then your answer is Yes to both. With Flash you can do both frame by frame animation like you think of traditionally, and you can also do what is called tween animation where you give an object a starting point and ending point and Flash fills in the rest for you.

Hope that helps.

[xup878]

Originally posted by sbongo
If it this way,isn't it tedious?

welcome to the wonderful world of animation!
don't be tempted by the tweens... as fiddlestick said, a healthy mix of both frame by frame and tweening is the way to go.

[sbongo]

actually wat i think is that any way that can produce a fast and good animation is a good way or method and it shouldn't be restricted to a specific one.Wat do u all think abt this thinking?

[pooon]

I'm ripping my hair out here. Complete your words

I'd become familair with both formats and find what works best for you. I for one use a direct mix of both.

A quick way? There really isn't one. Animation is an art and you can't rush it. Rome wasn't completed in a day (I think).

So basically, just mess around with it and find you niche.

[Olly K]

Originally posted by sbongo
actually wat i think is that any way that can produce a fast and good animation is a good way or method and it shouldn't be restricted to a specific one.Wat do u all think abt this thinking?

Ok it depends on what kind of effect you want to make, some people intentionally make rough looking animations, it can add a comedy effect, some poeple prefer a perfect finish however.

Tweening is where you can draw or import the images in Flash and then set a starting point and ending point for it to cover and Flash fills in all the frames in the middle.
This can be fine, though with things such as movement of figures, it can look a bit awful. Unless you're really good at it as gasbag said.

Frame by frame is where you re-draw the character in each frame. Though with Flash you can put the previous frame into the new one and just alter it accordingly, saving you having to re-draw the entire image again.

Both can be tedious. Animation is, but it's the end result that is what you're working for and makes it all worth while.

-Olly

[sbongo]

thxs guys,do u know any of the links of tutorials abt this anime/cartoon related?thxs

[Radar_Brian]

Well, you're at one of the best sites right now. Do you not see the link up at the top called Tutorials?

Do you actually have Flash? just curious.

but anyway.. here's some other good ones:

Nortel Networks (nice slick videos for beginners)

CartoonSmart.com - Really good tutorials for midlevel to advanced users

[sbongo]

thxs dudes...By the way,i have flash mx 2004

[amaterasu]

hello im new to this place (22yo still studying pretty new at flash and from europe)

ive been reading thru some of the animation and drawing threads
this has answered already some questions

but i have a question regarding bitmap animation

things you cant accomplish with vector art such as special light effects flashing across your screen (a lightsaber moving for instance) or a shroud of fog that settles on your screen i would like to do something similar as the second thing i mentioned in flash whats the best way to get started on this (i know how to make fog and all kinds of effects in photoshop but im wondering whats the most efficient way of using animation with bitmaps

any feedback will be greatly appreciated

[Radar_Brian]

Flash has an alpha setting you can use to make all sorts of transparent effects. You could achieve the fog or lightsaber effect pretty easily using it.

Speaking of lightsaber effects, check out the Me Being A Dork video in my signature info. I did it with AfterEffects, but I think I could have done it easier using Flash.

[excalibur_1988]

if you notice, large amounts of flash shapes and colours on multiple frames can slow down the movie for anyone with out a very fast computer. Also, if you are trying to achive the effect of an anime film, professionals only used digitally painted backgrounds, not vectorised shapes. A good example of flash integrated with bitmaps is the ninjai series.

[amaterasu]

oh yeah i know that series

pretty cool

that lightsabers cool too

but i dont work with video or anything im no the best drawer thats why i rely on photoshop for detiail and stuff

could someone maybe point me to a video editing program thats not too complicated nor amateurish im mainly into webdesign but i havent really worked with video yet but i wanna know just in case one of my future clients wants to use video in his/her site

i guess i could also learn all these other programs that can be integrated in flash but id rather hone my skills so i can simply work directly in flash (read im lazy)

anyway thx for the response so far i appreciate it

i guess for intricate drawing work frame by frame is the answer
since i can only get cartoonish results with vector drawings

[Olly K]

Originally posted by amaterasu
things you cant accomplish with vector art such as special light effects flashing across your screen (a lightsaber moving for instance)

Ok I've done a very simple 5min anim of a light sabre swing, leaving a light trail (I'm guessing this is what you mean) to prove it can be done in Flash.
Obviously a lot better with more time and effort

[Radar_Brian]

I'm not sure what your ultimate goal is. It really depends on what you mean by video editing. Do you want to just be able to piece different shots together and make a flowing piece of video? Or are you referring to special effects and such? Windows XP comes with a descent video editor built in called Windows MovieMaker. You can get Windows MovieMaker 2 for free from MS's website. It's nothing fancy, but it does offer good transitions and a good foundation. For effects though, I don't know of something cheap. Adobe AfterEffects is a good effects program.

If animation and web stuff is your game, I'd say your still on the right road with flash. I'm not sure how detailed or 'realistic' you are wanting to go, but Flash is pretty versitile.

Good lightsaber Olly k! My friend Justin at Cartoonsmart.com has a great tutorial on technical drawing where he creates a lightsaber:

Flash Lightsaber Tutorial

It is about 10 dollars but he really has some awesome techniques. You can see the saber there though without paying.

[amaterasu]

thanks for the replies well i dont really need special effects and all
im not a videoclip maker or whatever you call it
just a good solid program to make a nice fluent piece of video

compare it to sound forge for making nice loops and samples

isnt adobe premier a video editing tool ? and if yes is it hard to learn ?

well im making a project for school a site about my music project
i wanted to go for a dark gothic eerie setting

something like : cool bitmaps with somewhat dark gothic disturbing imagery as the background for my site with a cool frame around it and dense fog which is visibile but as it clears up gradually the background (the bitmaps) appear and the rest of the content also fades in which would be text and other things

i have cool tutorials for photoshop in how to make realistic fog and everything so im gonna experiment with that and for the rest ill try to use as much vectors as possible (making a sequence of bitmaps where you can witness a gradual change isnt easy imo)

but i still need a cool idea for a menu within this concept