awesome. thanks. ill try that out. Knowing flash i knew there had to be some stupid thing going on that i hadnt done JUST right.
I believe i right clicked in the timeline and did create motion tween. I often do. So either way....yah. Guess properties window is what you NEED to do.
Are there any other places where properties window should be used instead? should i make it a habbit of using properties window to tween? Its not like we can depend on macromedia, haha. although, doesnt adobe own them now or some jaz?
:::EDIT:::
alright so i messed around...got the number input to work but it doesnt tween.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
No it won't tween it for you. You could put the tweened animation within the symbol and then when you want it to play instead of choosing "single frame" you can choose "play once' and it will activate your animation within the symbol. In fact if you specific, you can even have it start in the middle of the animation within the symbol. For example you could choose "play once" frame "5". And it will pick up and play from frame 5.
oh, alright. thanks. got it to work how i was thinking now.
but, is there a special way to make it Tween backwards? it just jumps when i want it to go back to frame one. So then i set frames after animating it back down. But since the original motion of the ball goes farther then the 10 frames it takes for the hairs to go up, it continued to play the symbol animation then at the keyframe it made it 10.
so do i just have to fill in frame by frame animation if i want it to reverse tweened?
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
Currently my process for animating is to sit down at my light box, drop down my animation paper and go to work. Once I have all my pages I scan them into Monkey Jam (a program designed to simulate a Lunch Box). Once there I can create a .AVI which I put into Flash to place on my webpage.
Well, I'd like to use Flash to clean, ink, and color my drawings. To give it that finished feel. Using how I already animate, what would be the best way to do that? Is it easy to "ink" and "color" in Flash? Or am I SOL and need to learn the Flash way of animating, if such a way exists?
[Well, I'd like to use Flash to clean, ink, and color my drawings. To give it that finished feel. Using how I already animate, what would be the best way to do that? Is it easy to "ink" and "color" in Flash? Or am I SOL and need to learn the Flash way of animating, if such a way exists?[/QUOTE]
Mind if I take this one, Animated Ape?
You could try scanning your animation pages in Photoshop and save them out as sequential jpeg images and then import these images into Flash. Flash has a feature called trace bitmap and this converts bitmap images into vector lines. Once you have converted your jpeg images into vector lines, you can then apply paint. You may have to try the tutorials in the Help menu of Flash first so you can be at least get more at home with the software.
First, scan all your drawings in grayscale in Photoshop (I am wishing that you have Photoshop on your computer for this to work). Once all the drawings are in, go to Save As and save them out in jpeg format. A good trick is to name them sequentially, e.g., first key drawing is 001.jpg, second drawing is 002.jpg., etc.
Next, launch Flash and create a new document (I will not go into movie size and frame rates yet but I will try to show you how the process will be). Once you have a new document open, you can go to File > Import to Stage. When the import dialog box opens, navigate to where your images are, select one and then click on Import. Flash will recognize that the images are in sequence and will ask you if you want it to import them all and place them into individual keyframes. Click the Yes button on this dialog box. Flash will then import all your images and will place them into individual keyframes (I hope).
When all the keys are in, you can press the Enter key to play the animation. By default, the frame rate of Flash is 12 fps. You can change the frame rate by going to Modify > Document, or you can leave it as is. Let's leave it at 12 fps for the moment.
Right now all your images are in bitmap. Flash is a vector program so in order to paint over your artwork you need to convert it into vector lines. Let's start with the artwork on frame 1. Select the artwork on the Stage and then go to Modify > Bitmap > Trace Bitmap. The Trace Bitmap dialog box will open. There are several options for you to tweak here but we will use the default first, so just click on the OK button. Flash will then convert the lineart of your artwork into vector lines (crossing fingers).
You need to repeat the process for the next series of drawings but you can try and add paint to your vector converted artwork first. In the drawing toolbox, select the Paint Bucket tool. You can select the color of your paint at the Color options right at the lower middle of the toolbox. Once you have selected your color, apply it on your artwork by clicking on the empty space inside your drawings. Now, this will only work if all the lines of your artwork are closed.
Well, there you go. I hope all my examples are clear. A bit of a warning, though. This technique eats up a lot of file memory, and Flash is notoriously picky when it comes to big file sizes and will often crash once the file reaches 15 or 20 MB. To get around it, try to save each scene of your animation into individual scene files, e.g., scene 01, scene 02, etc. Avoid doing all your movie into one document only.
Flash has a good tutorial at the Help menu. There are also a lot of guys here who uses it a lot too, noteably Pascal and Animated Ape. Bluehickey's website has a great tutorial on Flash too. So good luck and have fun!
This is just the kind of information I was looking for. And, I'm glad its possible to clean my drawings in Flash. I was about to import all my art into Illustrator to ink in there and then 'port it over to Flash.
Thank you very much. I'll test all this when I get a chance.
you can also figure out how many of your drawings are keys and how many In betweens. depending on that you can trace the drawing i.e. redraw it in flash and then simulate the In betweens by moving them around in Flash for eash successive ib.
in the end once your happy with the way it moves ink and paint it there itself.
I prefer to draw all my own keys, breakdowns, and inbetweens. Flash may want to do some funky stuff, and my Wacom tablet isn't the best. I had another student here at school offer to draw my inbetweens once but I was not to keen on the idea.
Something I'll have to get over when in the field and I'm drawing someones else inbetweens, heh.
I just read this entire thread, and I've learned a lot. Thanks!
I'm curious about backgrounds. I see a lot of beautiful backgrounds out there on websites (one of the more notable is Bitey Castle). I've been playing around with various techniques to simulate some of these backgrounds, but nothing seems to quite make it.
Are some of these backgrounds generated by drawing and scanning into Flash? Or by drawing in Illustrator and importing? I suppose either, but how does one import a really nice background and save file size?
I'm not a big Illustrator user so I'm sure there is a way to do it, but ever time I import an Illustator BG it ends up with tons of extra sysmbols. I prefer to have the BG's created in Flash. I just think keeping it native makes things so much smoother. I would guess that the Bitey BG's are done straight into Flash.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
I use Illustrator to model my characters because i don't like how touchy flash is. But you could do up your background in Illustrator. And it may take a couple of experiments but it's really easy to import right into flash.
Course I keep being reminded you have to layer somethings EXACTLY HOW YOU NEED THEM. Ie, if you wouldn't want two background elements to be grouped make sure they're on seperate layers. You can import every layer to it's own layer in Flash.
If you have, say a house and it's garage on the same layer, but one over lapping the other, they'll go into flash the exact same way. Same layer and be arranged the same.
But if you just want a static background, without worring about all the little parts and peices of the illustration. All you have to do is select the whole BG, then just break everything a part, and save it as one whole symbol.
This is just the kind of information I was looking for. And, I'm glad its possible to clean my drawings in Flash. I was about to import all my art into Illustrator to ink in there and then 'port it over to Flash.
sorry: newcomer to thread!
I like the opportunity in Illustrator to impart varied line weight to the drawings.
Of course, the drawings I traced I used as cutouts. Traditional animators might prefer consistent line weights, ya?
Ape!!
what a great thread. Please flash animators, let us keep this going!
Thanks for helping me out on a project last year, Ape. I have a few questions for you, as I am also doing broadcast flash animation.
1. A typical scene for me is 2000 frames long. I use a ref jpg background in my scene because the animation is composited in AE. Is there a way to use a flash BG as a symbol and NOT have the program crash?
2. Some props, like vehicles, have to be created at 2000 pixels big (to be at 100% sized for characters). Sometimes these symbols "explode" into bits of line and horizontal color bands when going back and editing the wet or "raw" artwork. The style calls for using the pencil tool with the ink setting for anything drawn in flash. Is there an explanation for the "explosion"? What are the ways around this?
3. typically, walk or run cycle keys are compiled into a character's master fla file, where we pull keys we want to reuse back into our scene. Does this make sense, or would it be better to have separate stand, walk, and run legs that could be swapped when needed?
4. Why on earth do you lose the ability to paint/erase with the brush tool inside a character's master symbol when the char is horizontally flipped?
Ape, i use a similar system like you. so you know how i work. I nest. Eye symbols, mouth symbols go into a headclip symbol. bodypart symbols and headclip go into a character master symbol. All character master symbols and BGs fit into a scene symbol where camera actions are performed.
I'd appreicate any help you could offer. Thanks! And great job with this thread, to you and the other informed posting professionals!
How in the WORLD do you save time when you have to retime an entire flash scene when you get a new animatic?
ouch!
Currently, b/c the timelines are nested, in similar fashion to Fosters, i have to renumber every single keyframe, for all characters, in all levels of hierarchy. I am losing years off my life doing this. Is there a way, after you slide the chars main symbol to a new point in the timeline, to have this change reflected, keeping everything in sync, cause our audio changes all the time, and we are constantly retiming.
How is it that you work in Flash and yet retain the "sketchy" line work on the animated characters? I know they compose the character in Illustrator, where there are many vector line effects, but how do you make that mesh with Flash if, say, you had to animate some completely new movement in Flash? There are no bush effects at all in Flash, do you guys have custom plugins?
Is the "sketchy line" effect a post production effect added after the animation is all done or have you guys found some way of working with that line effect in real-time?
I hope that makes a little sense. It's just something I've never been able to figure out on that show.
How is it that you work in Flash and yet retain the "sketchy" line work on the animated characters?
Voodoo. Pure voodoo. No, they copy and past the Illustrator line into Flash. On After Effects, or special plug-ins or codeing. Everything is off the self software.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
1. Not that I can think of. If someone else knows, I want to know too.
2. "Is there an explanation for the "explosion"?" Because Flash is stupid.
3. I think that's personal preference.
4. "Why on earth do you lose the ability to paint/erase with the brush tool inside a character's master symbol when the char is horizontally flipped?" Because Flash is stupid.
"How in the WORLD do you save time when you have to retime an entire flash scene when you get a new animatic?"
Go to the first keyframe and set it to play at frame one, if it's on frame one, frame 2 if it's on frame 2 etc. Then select all the frames in your timeline, turn it to a motion tween. Go to the properties box and check the "sync" box on. Then check it off, and remove the tweens. This should sync all key frames to what ever your first keyframe number is.
I think that's your answer if I understand your question right.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
thanks for the response. Flash is stupid, huh? haha. I actually figured that motion tween thing out a while ago with retiming headclip symbols. What a time saver!
I have access to the Fosters FLA's for the characters, since i work at a studio where we do commercial work for the show. They are so well put together! However, it's a wild system. every illustrator line a symbol, individually animated. Multiple nested timelines. 5-6 timelines deep, yikes! So many points on the vector charcoal brush line. The character's are so complex, i cannot for the life of me see how you animated and not crash.
the characters i animate, like i said before, are drawn using the pencil line set to ink. sometimes, when i go all the way into their eye symbol to create or pull out a blink, the computer slows down and it's almost impossible to do anything. Does flash work better if lines are converted to fills?
how do you work with flash BG's with so many layers? My computer blows up if i try that, even if the BG is all symbols. I am constantly trying to find a better way to work, so any advice you have is great.
Yup, some times the files get really heavy. Esspecially if they are deeply nested. When it starts to chug, I'll often copy out the mouth symbol into a new fla, and do the lipsync from there. I'll do the same thing with the eyes too from time to time, but that's after I have them blocked in so I just have to do the blinks. This also works for the whole character if the BG's are way to heavy. Or you can cut the BG's down if they are really big and complex and you don't really need to see a lot of it. That should cover the computers, as for your brain blowing up, well... that happens from time to time. Just make sure you have a rain coat handy.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
How is mouth animation done? Do you start out with the main mouth shapes then manipulate the vectors from one key-frame to another in flash or are they inbetweened by "raw art"?
Also, how to you go about syncing up and animation for the chin area of the face to match the mouth animation?
How is mouth animation done? Do you start out with the main mouth shapes then manipulate the vectors from one key-frame to another in flash or are they inbetweened by "raw art"?
Also, how to you go about syncing up and animation for the chin area of the face to match the mouth animation?
I find the best way to do lipsync is to nest the mouthshapes into a mouth pack. Draw out all your mouth shapes in the mouth symbol with a new mouth pose on every key frame. Personally I like to keep things on 10's. So if you have say 12 happy mouths, then have the corrisponding 12 sad mouthes start on frame 21. That way frame 5 and 25 will be the same shape one one happy and one sad.
Once you have that done within your mough symbol, put that on the head and have it play at single frames. Then you can add keyframes where you need and in the properties box you can call up what ever mouth shape you need in the mouth symbol. This also works for eyes, but I handle them slightly different.
Of course there are other ways to do this but this is the way I prefer, and how quite a few studios set their model packs up.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
I have a question for Animated Ape or anyone else out there... I've read several on-line tutorials on transferring Flash to DVD including Chris Georgenes's "Migrating Flash Projects to Video" and Brooke Burgess's "Taking Flash Animation to DVD Video", but I am have some problems getting Flash to look decent once its burned to a DVD.
Here's what an image looks like in Flash and in the DVD authoring program:
And here's what it looks like once its burned to DVD:
Notice that the pixels are nice and smooth going in the X direction, but stretched out in the Y direction.
Okay, now I sized the Flash movie to 720 x 540 pixels, and exported it as an uncompressed AVI as 720x480 and also tried it at 720x540. Either way, the image in the AVI looks VERY good. Then I tried importing it in a couple of different DVD authoring programs: Pinnacle Studio 10, and also a trial version of ULEAD DVD Workshop - they look great in their programs. Then I burn to DVD, look at it in either Windows Media Player, or my DLP TV and its no good.
I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Premeire and it looks good in the program, but alas, the _trial_ version won't let me burn to DVD or even an ISO image, so unless I give them $800, I don't know if it would look any better than the other DVD software programs...
One article stated using Combustion, Cinema Craft, Studio Pro, etc, to do the job, but short of shelling out over $4500.00 in software AND buying a Mac, is there anything I can do to get the quality up???:confused:
Sorry David, but I'm not well versed in the whole file conversion/compression/DVD burning thing. I only deal with animation and if my animation reads and the resolution is fairly clear, that works for me. Some one else will probably be able to answer your question though. Have you tried taking it to a professional DVD transfer place? They might be able to do it for you for a good price.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
will the trial version of Premiere allow you to export an .m2v file? you can do so by going to File > Export > Export to DVD...
i bring my .avi into premiere, and select Export to DVD, which generates 2 files -- an .m2v file and an uncompressed .wav (audio) file. I then use those two files to burn the DVD in adobe encore.
i'm not sure if that's going to help you much, seeing as you probably don't own Encore, but... maybe if you can create the m2v file in your trial version of premiere, one of your other DVD burning programs will be able to use it?
all of the quality settings are determined at the time you create the m2v in Premiere, not in Encore, so you can "lock" a quality image into the m2v.
its a weird process but its worked well for me...SO I export my movie out of flash as an uncompressed avi...then convert that into an Mpeg 2...then burn it to dvd....I use premiere to convert it but there are some strait up coversion tools out there for free or cheap im pretty sure...
—
I've come here to do two things: chew bubblegum and kick ass...and im all out of bubblegum. :mad: http://lastplacecomics.com
Hey, I just started reading most of this thread, Its great for learning stuff. I've been interested in Flash for a while but never got round to making something worth watching. Anyway, I have a few questions about character animation, and i'll probably think of loads more as they come.
I know the basic structure of characters are symbols for each part, which are then put into another complete symbol. But from there, how do you animate your character? Do you do the animation with keyframes inside the symbol? Or on the main timeline somehow. If someone good give me a good explanation of actually animating different parts of a character simultaneously and getting the character to move across the stage. Lets say, a character consisting of 3 Symbols for each leg, a body symbol, 3 symbols for each arm and a head symbol and you want him to jump and do some crazy dance move; not just some looped running that is repeating, a new part of animation that hasnt been used before. Would you animate him in the symbol and then tween on the main timeline or what. I just really don't know how to go about it.
Sorry for the essay, if someone has the time to reply with a detailed explanation for what I'm looking for, it would be greatly appreciated.
Everyone works differently. This is the way I work. I don't tween characters on the main timeline. I usually reserve animating on the main timeline for camera moves, like trucking in and out, or panning across the shot. For your dance sequence I'd put that whole character in it's own symbol. Then inside that symbol I'd have each symbol on it's own layer and animate it from there, including moving across the screen durring the jump and dance. I also like having all the symbols on "single frame" except for the head which I have on "play once." I hate symbols on "loop" if the timeline inside the symbol isn't as long as the outside timeline, it'll loop back to the start.
I hope that helps you out some.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Thanks Ape, I'll give it a go. I probably could have worked out some method of doing it, but I'd prefer to follow someone else's and get ideas from there.
For all your things about having things set on Single Frame and then changing the number for when you want a different pose say of the mouth, I found this program out called AnimSlider. I only have the free version which is limited to 7 frames, but I'm sure all your rich people out there can afford the full program. It really helps along the process and saves using the properties panel and stuff.
Actually, searching around, I see there's already a post by the creator about this, but perhaps It could be a reminder or an introduction for those oblivious to the plugin.
Yeah, animonger is a nice usefull plug in, but I don't use it. I only use instant numbers for the mouth shapes, and those are usually around 10 to 14 different shapes that I've memorized.
Lemon, try out different ways of working. You might find certain things that you like from different methods and can piece them together to create your own method.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Just wanted to chime in regarding the animslider. I bought the full version and it has buttons on it for setting motion tweening and also ease in and out. Once you install it, you will also find all of those functions up in the "commands" menu which you can then set keyboard shortcuts to! So I get to save a lot of clicking time not having to use the properties bar everytime I want to motion tween something. I can just click inbetween the two keyframes I want to tween and then hit F4 (the shortcut I assigned it) and it's instantly motion tweened! Being able to do that was worth the price alone for the product!
Totally off topic but out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the banner ads for Mipcom Junior with four mulit colored button, light things. I just thought of these condom ads that I've seen at the train stations here in Germany with different colored condoms. Sorry, just thought it was funny.
Any way....we were using Flash MX 2004, so Flash 7 I guess. I use that at home as well. I'm waiting to try out the demo to see if I want to get F8.
Noob, I guess that would work, but why go through that extra step, why not just do it right from the start? Besides, and I'm guessing here, I would think that using a screen grab program would drop the quality of both the video and the audio. That is if it can even grab the audio.
If it's a time thing that you don't want to switch the thousands of symbols to "Graphics" manually, you can open the library > shift + Left click all the symbols. Then right click in the selected area go to 'Type' and change all the symbols from "Movie Clips" to "Graphics." At least you can do that in Flash MX 04, I don't know about earlier versions.
Aloha,
the Ape
actually sum vid screen caps these days can produce *same qaulity* recordings,but heh,it is extra,but it doesn't take long.i didn't know about the shift left click thing.
I don't know if I was clear, but people are more than welcome to post other questions and answers.
hallo, animated ape
thank you for this thread, I have just printed it, to read all that interesting stuff again in the u-bahn.
maybe you can answer a question for me?:
while animating, how can I jump to the next keyframe in the timeline?
I know how to jump to the next frame (with",") but I think I remember it was possible to avoid going through all inbetweens? :)
Actually there is an awesome tool to do just that. You can have an unlimited number of layers in Flash. Then choose export, it will export in 3 formats, SWF, Quicktime, and PNG with alpha support. You can select frame ranges, and layers to export to. It even has the ability to change DPI upon export. An awesome tool, go to: http://www.4gsw.com
So I'm new to Flash and I'm doing OK, but I'm having a problem with line thickness. I'll make my character models, and then when I scale them to the scene I end up with heavier lines than I started with (when scaling smaller). Is it just a question of redefining thickness in the scaled versions?
So I'm new to Flash and I'm doing OK, but I'm having a problem with line thickness. I'll make my character models, and then when I scale them to the scene I end up with heavier lines than I started with (when scaling smaller). Is it just a question of redefining thickness in the scaled versions?
Hi culprit. I will try to answer your question with all due respect to the Animated Ape. You can try converting your lines to fill so that when you scale your image down to size, Flash will not try maintaining the thickness of your lines. To do this, select your line, go to Modify > Shape > Convert Lines to Fill.
If your linework has many intersections, you might encounter lines disappearing after using Convert Lines to Fill, so watch out. A way around this is to use Smooth. Select your lines, go to Modify > Shape > Smooth. Then convert your lines to fill.
Yep, you can either convert the lines to fills and that will solve that problem. Or if you want to keep using the lines, you can nest your symbols and that should keep the line weight in porportion to the symbol. First it's easiest to create all your characters at 100% to each other. So if you have a small guy and a big guy, don't create them the same size then scall up the big guy. Draw them to scall then create all the graphic symbols at that size at 100% Then you nest your symbols. Select all the symbols of the characters you'll animate and make them a new symbol. Inside this symbol is where you'll do all your character animation. On the outside, this will be your main stage where you can truck in and the line weight should stay the same.
I hope thats clear. I donno, I'm not quite awake yet.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
This is from 40lb Suit of Bees who for some reason wasn't able to post here and so PM'd me instead. Thought you all would like to offer advice as well.
"...I am curious if you animate off of storyboards, or off of scripts, or both? I am actually working on some flash cartoons for Foster Kids who just got out of the system. Instructional cartoons on 'how to rent an apartment', 'how to deal with anger', 'how to file taxes'. It's pretty cool. Anyway, was wondering if you had any tricks when there is ALOT of dialog? I've been doing mostly cuts from close-ups to long-shots."
I've never animated off of scripts, only storyboards. Even if it was for a short little minute long project, I would storyboard it out first. This helps work out the staging and poses of your shots instead of wasting time changing things in the animation stage.
As for tricks. Don't do a lot of your animation in the long shots. If you have, say three characters walking, talking, and coming to a stop in a scene, don't Don't do it in a long shot. Maybe a short long shot if you need to establish the a new setting, but then cut to a medium shot, mid chest up, of the three characters. This will save you some animation for the legs and hands. Basicly you can just bob them north/south to imply them walking.
Also if there are long stretches of dialogue, pose the character in an strong, interesting pose and leave them there till you have to move them. Add some blinks and some eye movements when you need to to add life to the characters.
I'm sure there are other things, but my brain is locking up at the moment, and I can't think of them. Good luck.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
I am not using Flash but I do have this one question.
If you wonted to do a scrolling background that is contiguous, how would you make it loop without a visable break?
I was watching Foster's Home and was wondering how you organize the face symbols. Are all the eye and mouth expressions in one head symbol, and if so do you just have notes as to which frame number corresponds to which expression?
I just watched 'Foster's Home-A Lost Claus' Pretty funny! Especially the ghost of Christmas future.
40lb Suit of Bees
"Rational thinking will carry you a long way, but not to the finish line." Don Bluth
Hi Bees. You're close. All the features are nested in the head, but we wouldn't have set expresions. Thare are different eye shapes that we'd set. Same with the mouth shapes. So you can have angry eyes with happy mouths to make that manical look. Nesting is great, esspecially for head and faces. This keeps the features from drifting and jittering around the face.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Also, for others in this thread, I found a great book dealing with the production side of flash animation called 'Hollywood 2D Digital Animation, the new flash production revolution'.
Lot's of interviews in it too.
Bees
"Rational thinking will carry you a long way, but not to the finish line." Don Bluth
awesome. thanks. ill try that out. Knowing flash i knew there had to be some stupid thing going on that i hadnt done JUST right.
I believe i right clicked in the timeline and did create motion tween. I often do. So either way....yah. Guess properties window is what you NEED to do.
Are there any other places where properties window should be used instead? should i make it a habbit of using properties window to tween? Its not like we can depend on macromedia, haha. although, doesnt adobe own them now or some jaz?
:::EDIT:::
alright so i messed around...got the number input to work but it doesnt tween.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
No it won't tween it for you. You could put the tweened animation within the symbol and then when you want it to play instead of choosing "single frame" you can choose "play once' and it will activate your animation within the symbol. In fact if you specific, you can even have it start in the middle of the animation within the symbol. For example you could choose "play once" frame "5". And it will pick up and play from frame 5.
Flash Character Packs, Video Tutorials and more: www.CartoonSolutions.com
oh, alright. thanks. got it to work how i was thinking now.
but, is there a special way to make it Tween backwards? it just jumps when i want it to go back to frame one. So then i set frames after animating it back down. But since the original motion of the ball goes farther then the 10 frames it takes for the hairs to go up, it continued to play the symbol animation then at the keyframe it made it 10.
so do i just have to fill in frame by frame animation if i want it to reverse tweened?
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
Currently my process for animating is to sit down at my light box, drop down my animation paper and go to work. Once I have all my pages I scan them into Monkey Jam (a program designed to simulate a Lunch Box). Once there I can create a .AVI which I put into Flash to place on my webpage.
Well, I'd like to use Flash to clean, ink, and color my drawings. To give it that finished feel. Using how I already animate, what would be the best way to do that? Is it easy to "ink" and "color" in Flash? Or am I SOL and need to learn the Flash way of animating, if such a way exists?
Thanks for your input.
Ontiaous
Black Anvil Designs©
[Well, I'd like to use Flash to clean, ink, and color my drawings. To give it that finished feel. Using how I already animate, what would be the best way to do that? Is it easy to "ink" and "color" in Flash? Or am I SOL and need to learn the Flash way of animating, if such a way exists?[/QUOTE]
Mind if I take this one, Animated Ape?
You could try scanning your animation pages in Photoshop and save them out as sequential jpeg images and then import these images into Flash. Flash has a feature called trace bitmap and this converts bitmap images into vector lines. Once you have converted your jpeg images into vector lines, you can then apply paint. You may have to try the tutorials in the Help menu of Flash first so you can be at least get more at home with the software.
First, scan all your drawings in grayscale in Photoshop (I am wishing that you have Photoshop on your computer for this to work). Once all the drawings are in, go to Save As and save them out in jpeg format. A good trick is to name them sequentially, e.g., first key drawing is 001.jpg, second drawing is 002.jpg., etc.
Next, launch Flash and create a new document (I will not go into movie size and frame rates yet but I will try to show you how the process will be). Once you have a new document open, you can go to File > Import to Stage. When the import dialog box opens, navigate to where your images are, select one and then click on Import. Flash will recognize that the images are in sequence and will ask you if you want it to import them all and place them into individual keyframes. Click the Yes button on this dialog box. Flash will then import all your images and will place them into individual keyframes (I hope).
When all the keys are in, you can press the Enter key to play the animation. By default, the frame rate of Flash is 12 fps. You can change the frame rate by going to Modify > Document, or you can leave it as is. Let's leave it at 12 fps for the moment.
Right now all your images are in bitmap. Flash is a vector program so in order to paint over your artwork you need to convert it into vector lines. Let's start with the artwork on frame 1. Select the artwork on the Stage and then go to Modify > Bitmap > Trace Bitmap. The Trace Bitmap dialog box will open. There are several options for you to tweak here but we will use the default first, so just click on the OK button. Flash will then convert the lineart of your artwork into vector lines (crossing fingers).
You need to repeat the process for the next series of drawings but you can try and add paint to your vector converted artwork first. In the drawing toolbox, select the Paint Bucket tool. You can select the color of your paint at the Color options right at the lower middle of the toolbox. Once you have selected your color, apply it on your artwork by clicking on the empty space inside your drawings. Now, this will only work if all the lines of your artwork are closed.
Well, there you go. I hope all my examples are clear. A bit of a warning, though. This technique eats up a lot of file memory, and Flash is notoriously picky when it comes to big file sizes and will often crash once the file reaches 15 or 20 MB. To get around it, try to save each scene of your animation into individual scene files, e.g., scene 01, scene 02, etc. Avoid doing all your movie into one document only.
Flash has a good tutorial at the Help menu. There are also a lot of guys here who uses it a lot too, noteably Pascal and Animated Ape. Bluehickey's website has a great tutorial on Flash too. So good luck and have fun!
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This is just the kind of information I was looking for. And, I'm glad its possible to clean my drawings in Flash. I was about to import all my art into Illustrator to ink in there and then 'port it over to Flash.
Thank you very much. I'll test all this when I get a chance.
Ontiaous
Black Anvil Designs©
you can also figure out how many of your drawings are keys and how many In betweens. depending on that you can trace the drawing i.e. redraw it in flash and then simulate the In betweens by moving them around in Flash for eash successive ib.
in the end once your happy with the way it moves ink and paint it there itself.
I prefer to draw all my own keys, breakdowns, and inbetweens. Flash may want to do some funky stuff, and my Wacom tablet isn't the best. I had another student here at school offer to draw my inbetweens once but I was not to keen on the idea.
Something I'll have to get over when in the field and I'm drawing someones else inbetweens, heh.
Ontiaous
Black Anvil Designs©
I just read this entire thread, and I've learned a lot. Thanks!
I'm curious about backgrounds. I see a lot of beautiful backgrounds out there on websites (one of the more notable is Bitey Castle). I've been playing around with various techniques to simulate some of these backgrounds, but nothing seems to quite make it.
Are some of these backgrounds generated by drawing and scanning into Flash? Or by drawing in Illustrator and importing? I suppose either, but how does one import a really nice background and save file size?
I'm not a big Illustrator user so I'm sure there is a way to do it, but ever time I import an Illustator BG it ends up with tons of extra sysmbols. I prefer to have the BG's created in Flash. I just think keeping it native makes things so much smoother. I would guess that the Bitey BG's are done straight into Flash.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
I use Illustrator to model my characters because i don't like how touchy flash is. But you could do up your background in Illustrator. And it may take a couple of experiments but it's really easy to import right into flash.
Course I keep being reminded you have to layer somethings EXACTLY HOW YOU NEED THEM. Ie, if you wouldn't want two background elements to be grouped make sure they're on seperate layers. You can import every layer to it's own layer in Flash.
If you have, say a house and it's garage on the same layer, but one over lapping the other, they'll go into flash the exact same way. Same layer and be arranged the same.
But if you just want a static background, without worring about all the little parts and peices of the illustration. All you have to do is select the whole BG, then just break everything a part, and save it as one whole symbol.
Website http://dapper-dandy.com
Cartoon Syndicate project
http://cartoon-syndicate.com
sorry: newcomer to thread!
I like the opportunity in Illustrator to impart varied line weight to the drawings.
Of course, the drawings I traced I used as cutouts. Traditional animators might prefer consistent line weights, ya?
greets from Atlanta, Ontaious!
wes
http://www.wpmultimedia.com
Ape!!
what a great thread. Please flash animators, let us keep this going!
Thanks for helping me out on a project last year, Ape. I have a few questions for you, as I am also doing broadcast flash animation.
1. A typical scene for me is 2000 frames long. I use a ref jpg background in my scene because the animation is composited in AE. Is there a way to use a flash BG as a symbol and NOT have the program crash?
2. Some props, like vehicles, have to be created at 2000 pixels big (to be at 100% sized for characters). Sometimes these symbols "explode" into bits of line and horizontal color bands when going back and editing the wet or "raw" artwork. The style calls for using the pencil tool with the ink setting for anything drawn in flash. Is there an explanation for the "explosion"? What are the ways around this?
3. typically, walk or run cycle keys are compiled into a character's master fla file, where we pull keys we want to reuse back into our scene. Does this make sense, or would it be better to have separate stand, walk, and run legs that could be swapped when needed?
4. Why on earth do you lose the ability to paint/erase with the brush tool inside a character's master symbol when the char is horizontally flipped?
Ape, i use a similar system like you. so you know how i work. I nest. Eye symbols, mouth symbols go into a headclip symbol. bodypart symbols and headclip go into a character master symbol. All character master symbols and BGs fit into a scene symbol where camera actions are performed.
I'd appreicate any help you could offer. Thanks! And great job with this thread, to you and the other informed posting professionals!
-sketch2d
Ape, and the biggest question of all:
How in the WORLD do you save time when you have to retime an entire flash scene when you get a new animatic?
ouch!
Currently, b/c the timelines are nested, in similar fashion to Fosters, i have to renumber every single keyframe, for all characters, in all levels of hierarchy. I am losing years off my life doing this. Is there a way, after you slide the chars main symbol to a new point in the timeline, to have this change reflected, keeping everything in sync, cause our audio changes all the time, and we are constantly retiming.
Oh, if flash could be more non-linear!
My question is specifically Foster's related.
How is it that you work in Flash and yet retain the "sketchy" line work on the animated characters? I know they compose the character in Illustrator, where there are many vector line effects, but how do you make that mesh with Flash if, say, you had to animate some completely new movement in Flash? There are no bush effects at all in Flash, do you guys have custom plugins?
Is the "sketchy line" effect a post production effect added after the animation is all done or have you guys found some way of working with that line effect in real-time?
I hope that makes a little sense. It's just something I've never been able to figure out on that show.
Voodoo. Pure voodoo. No, they copy and past the Illustrator line into Flash. On After Effects, or special plug-ins or codeing. Everything is off the self software.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
1. Not that I can think of. If someone else knows, I want to know too.
2. "Is there an explanation for the "explosion"?" Because Flash is stupid.
3. I think that's personal preference.
4. "Why on earth do you lose the ability to paint/erase with the brush tool inside a character's master symbol when the char is horizontally flipped?" Because Flash is stupid.
"How in the WORLD do you save time when you have to retime an entire flash scene when you get a new animatic?"
Go to the first keyframe and set it to play at frame one, if it's on frame one, frame 2 if it's on frame 2 etc. Then select all the frames in your timeline, turn it to a motion tween. Go to the properties box and check the "sync" box on. Then check it off, and remove the tweens. This should sync all key frames to what ever your first keyframe number is.
I think that's your answer if I understand your question right.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Ape,
thanks for the response. Flash is stupid, huh? haha. I actually figured that motion tween thing out a while ago with retiming headclip symbols. What a time saver!
I have access to the Fosters FLA's for the characters, since i work at a studio where we do commercial work for the show. They are so well put together! However, it's a wild system. every illustrator line a symbol, individually animated. Multiple nested timelines. 5-6 timelines deep, yikes! So many points on the vector charcoal brush line. The character's are so complex, i cannot for the life of me see how you animated and not crash.
the characters i animate, like i said before, are drawn using the pencil line set to ink. sometimes, when i go all the way into their eye symbol to create or pull out a blink, the computer slows down and it's almost impossible to do anything. Does flash work better if lines are converted to fills?
how do you work with flash BG's with so many layers? My computer blows up if i try that, even if the BG is all symbols. I am constantly trying to find a better way to work, so any advice you have is great.
thanks,
sketch
never mind the computer, how does a human brain take in all the complexity?
What I wouldn't give just to see a small documentary of the process.
Yup, some times the files get really heavy. Esspecially if they are deeply nested. When it starts to chug, I'll often copy out the mouth symbol into a new fla, and do the lipsync from there. I'll do the same thing with the eyes too from time to time, but that's after I have them blocked in so I just have to do the blinks. This also works for the whole character if the BG's are way to heavy. Or you can cut the BG's down if they are really big and complex and you don't really need to see a lot of it. That should cover the computers, as for your brain blowing up, well... that happens from time to time. Just make sure you have a rain coat handy.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
How is mouth animation done? Do you start out with the main mouth shapes then manipulate the vectors from one key-frame to another in flash or are they inbetweened by "raw art"?
Also, how to you go about syncing up and animation for the chin area of the face to match the mouth animation?
I find the best way to do lipsync is to nest the mouthshapes into a mouth pack. Draw out all your mouth shapes in the mouth symbol with a new mouth pose on every key frame. Personally I like to keep things on 10's. So if you have say 12 happy mouths, then have the corrisponding 12 sad mouthes start on frame 21. That way frame 5 and 25 will be the same shape one one happy and one sad.
Once you have that done within your mough symbol, put that on the head and have it play at single frames. Then you can add keyframes where you need and in the properties box you can call up what ever mouth shape you need in the mouth symbol. This also works for eyes, but I handle them slightly different.
Of course there are other ways to do this but this is the way I prefer, and how quite a few studios set their model packs up.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Hi,
I have a question for Animated Ape or anyone else out there... I've read several on-line tutorials on transferring Flash to DVD including Chris Georgenes's "Migrating Flash Projects to Video" and Brooke Burgess's "Taking Flash Animation to DVD Video", but I am have some problems getting Flash to look decent once its burned to a DVD.
Here's what an image looks like in Flash and in the DVD authoring program:
And here's what it looks like once its burned to DVD:
Notice that the pixels are nice and smooth going in the X direction, but stretched out in the Y direction.
Okay, now I sized the Flash movie to 720 x 540 pixels, and exported it as an uncompressed AVI as 720x480 and also tried it at 720x540. Either way, the image in the AVI looks VERY good. Then I tried importing it in a couple of different DVD authoring programs: Pinnacle Studio 10, and also a trial version of ULEAD DVD Workshop - they look great in their programs. Then I burn to DVD, look at it in either Windows Media Player, or my DLP TV and its no good.
I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Premeire and it looks good in the program, but alas, the _trial_ version won't let me burn to DVD or even an ISO image, so unless I give them $800, I don't know if it would look any better than the other DVD software programs...
One article stated using Combustion, Cinema Craft, Studio Pro, etc, to do the job, but short of shelling out over $4500.00 in software AND buying a Mac, is there anything I can do to get the quality up???:confused:
Sorry David, but I'm not well versed in the whole file conversion/compression/DVD burning thing. I only deal with animation and if my animation reads and the resolution is fairly clear, that works for me. Some one else will probably be able to answer your question though. Have you tried taking it to a professional DVD transfer place? They might be able to do it for you for a good price.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
will the trial version of Premiere allow you to export an .m2v file? you can do so by going to File > Export > Export to DVD...
i bring my .avi into premiere, and select Export to DVD, which generates 2 files -- an .m2v file and an uncompressed .wav (audio) file. I then use those two files to burn the DVD in adobe encore.
i'm not sure if that's going to help you much, seeing as you probably don't own Encore, but... maybe if you can create the m2v file in your trial version of premiere, one of your other DVD burning programs will be able to use it?
all of the quality settings are determined at the time you create the m2v in Premiere, not in Encore, so you can "lock" a quality image into the m2v.
bump.......
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
its a weird process but its worked well for me...SO I export my movie out of flash as an uncompressed avi...then convert that into an Mpeg 2...then burn it to dvd....I use premiere to convert it but there are some strait up coversion tools out there for free or cheap im pretty sure...
I've come here to do two things: chew bubblegum and kick ass...and im all out of bubblegum. :mad:
http://lastplacecomics.com
Hey, I just started reading most of this thread, Its great for learning stuff. I've been interested in Flash for a while but never got round to making something worth watching. Anyway, I have a few questions about character animation, and i'll probably think of loads more as they come.
I know the basic structure of characters are symbols for each part, which are then put into another complete symbol. But from there, how do you animate your character? Do you do the animation with keyframes inside the symbol? Or on the main timeline somehow. If someone good give me a good explanation of actually animating different parts of a character simultaneously and getting the character to move across the stage. Lets say, a character consisting of 3 Symbols for each leg, a body symbol, 3 symbols for each arm and a head symbol and you want him to jump and do some crazy dance move; not just some looped running that is repeating, a new part of animation that hasnt been used before. Would you animate him in the symbol and then tween on the main timeline or what. I just really don't know how to go about it.
Sorry for the essay, if someone has the time to reply with a detailed explanation for what I'm looking for, it would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Lemons, welcome to the AWN Forums.
Everyone works differently. This is the way I work. I don't tween characters on the main timeline. I usually reserve animating on the main timeline for camera moves, like trucking in and out, or panning across the shot. For your dance sequence I'd put that whole character in it's own symbol. Then inside that symbol I'd have each symbol on it's own layer and animate it from there, including moving across the screen durring the jump and dance. I also like having all the symbols on "single frame" except for the head which I have on "play once." I hate symbols on "loop" if the timeline inside the symbol isn't as long as the outside timeline, it'll loop back to the start.
I hope that helps you out some.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Thanks Ape, I'll give it a go. I probably could have worked out some method of doing it, but I'd prefer to follow someone else's and get ideas from there.
For all your things about having things set on Single Frame and then changing the number for when you want a different pose say of the mouth, I found this program out called AnimSlider. I only have the free version which is limited to 7 frames, but I'm sure all your rich people out there can afford the full program. It really helps along the process and saves using the properties panel and stuff.
http://www.animonger.com/flashtools.html
Hope it helps.
Actually, searching around, I see there's already a post by the creator about this, but perhaps It could be a reminder or an introduction for those oblivious to the plugin.
Yeah, animonger is a nice usefull plug in, but I don't use it. I only use instant numbers for the mouth shapes, and those are usually around 10 to 14 different shapes that I've memorized.
Lemon, try out different ways of working. You might find certain things that you like from different methods and can piece them together to create your own method.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Just wanted to chime in regarding the animslider. I bought the full version and it has buttons on it for setting motion tweening and also ease in and out. Once you install it, you will also find all of those functions up in the "commands" menu which you can then set keyboard shortcuts to! So I get to save a lot of clicking time not having to use the properties bar everytime I want to motion tween something. I can just click inbetween the two keyframes I want to tween and then hit F4 (the shortcut I assigned it) and it's instantly motion tweened! Being able to do that was worth the price alone for the product!
Flash Character Packs, Video Tutorials and more: www.CartoonSolutions.com
actually sum vid screen caps these days can produce *same qaulity* recordings,but heh,it is extra,but it doesn't take long.i didn't know about the shift left click thing.
ANIMATION FORUM
Production Blog
hallo, animated ape
thank you for this thread, I have just printed it, to read all that interesting stuff again in the u-bahn.
maybe you can answer a question for me?:
while animating, how can I jump to the next keyframe in the timeline?
I know how to jump to the next frame (with",") but I think I remember it was possible to avoid going through all inbetweens? :)
Hi All,
Actually there is an awesome tool to do just that. You can have an unlimited number of layers in Flash. Then choose export, it will export in 3 formats, SWF, Quicktime, and PNG with alpha support. You can select frame ranges, and layers to export to. It even has the ability to change DPI upon export. An awesome tool, go to: http://www.4gsw.com
--
Tazz, animator
So I'm new to Flash and I'm doing OK, but I'm having a problem with line thickness. I'll make my character models, and then when I scale them to the scene I end up with heavier lines than I started with (when scaling smaller). Is it just a question of redefining thickness in the scaled versions?
Hi culprit. I will try to answer your question with all due respect to the Animated Ape. You can try converting your lines to fill so that when you scale your image down to size, Flash will not try maintaining the thickness of your lines. To do this, select your line, go to Modify > Shape > Convert Lines to Fill.
If your linework has many intersections, you might encounter lines disappearing after using Convert Lines to Fill, so watch out. A way around this is to use Smooth. Select your lines, go to Modify > Shape > Smooth. Then convert your lines to fill.
Hope this helps.
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Yep, you can either convert the lines to fills and that will solve that problem. Or if you want to keep using the lines, you can nest your symbols and that should keep the line weight in porportion to the symbol. First it's easiest to create all your characters at 100% to each other. So if you have a small guy and a big guy, don't create them the same size then scall up the big guy. Draw them to scall then create all the graphic symbols at that size at 100% Then you nest your symbols. Select all the symbols of the characters you'll animate and make them a new symbol. Inside this symbol is where you'll do all your character animation. On the outside, this will be your main stage where you can truck in and the line weight should stay the same.
I hope thats clear. I donno, I'm not quite awake yet.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
lets say i have a fill. Lets say this fill has no stroke.
is there a way to give it a stroke?
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
To add a stroke to a fill, use the Ink Bottle Tool (shortcut key S).
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haha, omg! thanks!
i have always seen that tool there and never even bothered to touch it! awesome.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
What's the usual size to work on when doing an animation ready to output to: TV/DVD?
www.onixan.com
This is from 40lb Suit of Bees who for some reason wasn't able to post here and so PM'd me instead. Thought you all would like to offer advice as well.
"...I am curious if you animate off of storyboards, or off of scripts, or both? I am actually working on some flash cartoons for Foster Kids who just got out of the system. Instructional cartoons on 'how to rent an apartment', 'how to deal with anger', 'how to file taxes'. It's pretty cool. Anyway, was wondering if you had any tricks when there is ALOT of dialog? I've been doing mostly cuts from close-ups to long-shots."
I've never animated off of scripts, only storyboards. Even if it was for a short little minute long project, I would storyboard it out first. This helps work out the staging and poses of your shots instead of wasting time changing things in the animation stage.
As for tricks. Don't do a lot of your animation in the long shots. If you have, say three characters walking, talking, and coming to a stop in a scene, don't Don't do it in a long shot. Maybe a short long shot if you need to establish the a new setting, but then cut to a medium shot, mid chest up, of the three characters. This will save you some animation for the legs and hands. Basicly you can just bob them north/south to imply them walking.
Also if there are long stretches of dialogue, pose the character in an strong, interesting pose and leave them there till you have to move them. Add some blinks and some eye movements when you need to to add life to the characters.
I'm sure there are other things, but my brain is locking up at the moment, and I can't think of them. Good luck.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
My registration is compleeete! Now I can post. Thanks for the advice Animated Ape.
Happy Thanksgiving.
"Rational thinking will carry you a long way, but not to the finish line." Don Bluth
I have a question for the Flashers here. :D
I am not using Flash but I do have this one question.
If you wonted to do a scrolling background that is contiguous, how would you make it loop without a visable break?
In one flash cartooning book I used to have it said you can merge two pictures together by using a seam.
Here you go.
Hope this helps.
Go here.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0782129137/103-1494277-8887847?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
Locate search inside this book: in the middle of the page.
Type background loop and click ok.
Select item #2 on Page 136:
You should see a sample from the books that shows how to merge two scenes.
You can also try going here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0782129137/ref=sib_rdr_zmin/103-1494277-8887847?%5Fencoding=UTF8&keywords=background%20loop&p=S04D&checkSum=CsMBk0pCs6ojhUzNH5j6I5%2B98VY28nmuy%2Bw%2FFDphPT8%3D&j=1#reader-page
Hey Animated Ape,
I was watching Foster's Home and was wondering how you organize the face symbols. Are all the eye and mouth expressions in one head symbol, and if so do you just have notes as to which frame number corresponds to which expression?
I just watched 'Foster's Home-A Lost Claus' Pretty funny! Especially the ghost of Christmas future.
40lb Suit of Bees
"Rational thinking will carry you a long way, but not to the finish line." Don Bluth
Hi Bees. You're close. All the features are nested in the head, but we wouldn't have set expresions. Thare are different eye shapes that we'd set. Same with the mouth shapes. So you can have angry eyes with happy mouths to make that manical look. Nesting is great, esspecially for head and faces. This keeps the features from drifting and jittering around the face.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Thanks Animated Ape. That helps out alot.
Also, for others in this thread, I found a great book dealing with the production side of flash animation called 'Hollywood 2D Digital Animation, the new flash production revolution'.
Lot's of interviews in it too.
Bees
"Rational thinking will carry you a long way, but not to the finish line." Don Bluth
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