Hi All
I need some advice on timing.
I'm working on a flash animation and I'm not sure what frame rate is best.
Is somebody able to go in to more detail on frame rates for me.
Am I right in understanding that 'two's' means each drawing will fill two frames? And is 24 frames per second the same for flash animation?
I also need to know what field size to be working too if it's going to be shown on a screen.
Thanks very much!!
What great feedback! Thank you!! I've now got an understanding of the fps rule, which I didn't really have a clue about before. So a great effort everyone.
The animation I'm doing is a short for which some writer friends of mine created. The main character is a fly based on Woody Allen. I've decided to work on two's at 30fps, which will have some single shots to emphasise action. (thanks Don).
I will definitely post it up when it's completed which should be in a few weeks, as all the characters and storyboard are already complete.
I'll look forward to your feedback.
I've posted another thread regarding lip sync any advice you all could give would be brilliant, even the basics. I know there are mouth shapes for certain sounds (I don't now what these are) but how would this work is the mouth was a single line?
Thanks!! :D
Frame rates are related to the delivery medium. Film runs at 24 fps, video at 30 (29.97, to be exact, but...). Web animation can be any frame rate you choose, with more FPS resulting in a smoother look to the motion (provided the motion is well-animated).
"On twos" is a phrase related to filmed animation. Each drawing is shot for two frames of film. A sequence shot "on twos" will have 12 distinct drawings for each second of film. The film still runs at 24 FPS.
If you're using the vector tools in Flash, your field size is pretty much irrelevant, since your art is infinitely scalable with no loss in quality. If you're using raster art (pixels instead of vectors), you'll need to plan more carefully. You'll also need to know exactly how you're going to deliver your finished film.
If you're going out to video, any raster image you use should look best at it's largest on-screen size at 720x486 at 72 dpi. If you're going out to film, the image quality will have to be significantly higher, in the 300 dpi + range.
I think that if you know you're going to video when you start the project, animate at 30 fps and be done with it. It takes out the 3:2 pulldown step necessary when you transition from 24, and gives you experience in animating at a frame rate that's becoming more prevalent these days. It's a bit more work per second if you're animating by hand though.
Hope that helped!
Thank you for the advice. I think I'm going to work at 30 fps as I'm sure it will have to be transferred to video at some point. So will that be 15 drawing per sec? Yeah I have used the vector tool in flash as I was aware that there would be pixalation probelms with raster files.
Do you know what format is best for music files/dialogue? I'm using a PC.
Thanks for your advice, its been really useful :)
If your final format will be video, I strongly recommend you edit the audio outside Flash. It's not its strongest feature... :)
Try to keep all your audio in wav, so you will get a better result when you compress the audio in the final render.
danielpoeira.org
Yep, wav files work well in Flash. If you are going to compile the audio in another program, which as Daniel said, is probably better, make sure all your audio is recorded at a rate that Flash can handle. I believe Flash's highest rate is 44 kHz. If you record your audio higher than that, and bring it into Flash, Flash will dumb it down to 44kHz, and then all your dialogue and actions will drift out of sync with the audio.
I don't know about other people, but I have a hard time animating at 30 fps. I guess I'm just so used to animating at 24 fps, that I have to force my self to think at 30. But thats just me.
Would you mind posting your finished project when you're done? I'd love to see it.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
30 fps is like a dialect...you can learn it. And with Flash, you're always playing it to see if it's right anyway...Also, if you lay down your poses and then keys, you can time that out even before you do you tweens.
As for one's or two's. Two's is for drawn animation. The long standing rule in the industry (my fifteen years, anyway) is that stop motion and cut out animation is always done on one's due to the imperfections of those procedures (the mistakes don't stand out as much).
But really, if you want great timing, you're going to have to have at least SOME things shot single frame (smears, staggers, favors, fast action, the first partial image of an object coming in from off screen). If you create a Flash animation at 15 fps instead of 30, you lose that opportunity and are forced to do all your animation on two's.
So unless it's just a dumb greeting card, I'd suggest animating with 30 fps and just hit F5 (extra frame) for anything you want on two's.
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