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
what we do is something similar. but we dont add mouth or eye shapes pre-formatted. we prefer to just adjust it within the frame itself, according to the stage layout.
i feel it works a little better, coz its less cut and paste and gives the animator a bit more chance to express himself as well.
I'm new here and I'm working with a project for broadcast/web with Flash 8.
We're doing animation traditionally, and doing the cleanup and inbetweens in FLash. At least for now.
I have a question about organizing symbols/animations/characters for library, and for later use.
What would you recommend? Would it be best to save fully animated clips (for
example turning head,walkcycle, etc) or individual parts(symbols/nests like head/eyesblinking) of the
character to the library, or maybe both?
Ofcourse this depends on the project too, but how do you guys do it?
What kind of naming you use in your libraries? Are you using "Character_episode_name_scene numbers" etc.
in every single symbol? or is there a way to avoid Flash replacing already excisting symbols (named the same way)?
Do you save everything in one master-library, or do you have own library for each character?
All this in short: How do you manage your libraries?
im new to flash, and was curious if there was any way to mimic camera moves after the animation was done. it seems like it'd be hard to do a pan or a zoom after all the animation is done (with all the seperate layers and all), so i'll throw it up to the experts. thanks guys, and hopefully my question makes some semblance of sense.
im new to flash, and was curious if there was any way to mimic camera moves after the animation was done. it seems like it'd be hard to do a pan or a zoom after all the animation is done (with all the seperate layers and all)
Hope I'm not treading on anyones' toes if I jump in with the answer to this one.
Really you want to be doing animation within symbols, within symbols, within symbols.
So, an eye blink will be within an 'Eye' symbol, inside a 'Head' symbol, inside a 'Character' symbol, inside a 'Scene' symbol. And it is the scene symbol that you keyframe and tween and change size or position to imitate a camera move.
Really the opening stage of your Flash Timeline should be one or two pretty clean layers with a handful of keys. And you might even want to put that inside a 'Camera' symbol so the main stage is just one featureless grey line.
I'm not sure if this is in the thread someplace or not--haven't seen it thus far.
I've been working on my curriculum plans for next year's multimedia class (mainly grades 9&10) and would like to have the students collaborate on Flash animation across several computers. I'm curious about the professional approach to this, short of some special plug-in.
I'd like to have several students work on individual characters within a given scene, and bring them together afterward. I suspect the thing might be to unite them on one .fla by copying frames and layers. Or should they do all animation as a symbol and bring that in?
That's cool Rupert, but it's going to take a lot of planing to do. Esspecially if the characters are interacting with one another.
I think the best way to do this is to have a master fla where it's all layed out with the BG's, overlays and characters all sized and in place. Have each character as it's own symbol as well as the BG it's own symbol and OL as their own as well.
Then give each student a copy of the master, have them save it with a version number and their initials or something. Then they work on their character inside the character's scene symbol. When they are done, copy their character symbol, and paste it into the master .fla and replace symbols.
Oh yeah, before you do all that, esstablish a naming convention for the symbols that your student must follow. This will prevent symbols being named "symbol 1" to over write others named the same.
Hope that helps you out somewhat.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
It is going to take a lot of planning. Essentially I'll get to be the director, writer, layout guy, and character designer, as well as having done a good x-sheet ahead of time. This makes me think a scaled-down project would be good. I'm trying to do something cross-curricular, something related to myth, maybe do a slice or two of the Oddessy.
Thanks very much for the thoughts. The process you describe sounds workable. Your note about how much planning it will take, while perhaps obvious, was extremely important for me to look at and consider.
This project sounds pretty complicated. Is this the first animation class, or are there basic animation classes befor this one?
Also I wouldn't do a dope sheet for the students. Do the storyboards and time it out in an animatic. Then let them animate from the animatic. This lay the students will better learn timing. Have them block out their shots first and run them by you. You can then tweak the timing there if things are happening too long or too fast. Just a sugestion.
Aloha,
the Ape
—
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
I suspect that, as I often do, I may be biting off more than I can chew with this.
Last year I taught six periods of multimedia, an entry level course revolving primarily around Flash and Flash animation. I have no idea how many periods of it I'll have next year, but each section contains between thirty and thirty-five students. The best result would be to break down a few small scenes amongst several groups in each class, and to focus on simple, elementary execution of the animation.
what we do is something similar. but we dont add mouth or eye shapes pre-formatted. we prefer to just adjust it within the frame itself, according to the stage layout.
i feel it works a little better, coz its less cut and paste and gives the animator a bit more chance to express himself as well.
I'm new here and I'm working with a project for broadcast/web with Flash 8.
We're doing animation traditionally, and doing the cleanup and inbetweens in FLash. At least for now.
I have a question about organizing symbols/animations/characters for library, and for later use.
What would you recommend? Would it be best to save fully animated clips (for
example turning head,walkcycle, etc) or individual parts(symbols/nests like head/eyesblinking) of the
character to the library, or maybe both?
Ofcourse this depends on the project too, but how do you guys do it?
What kind of naming you use in your libraries? Are you using "Character_episode_name_scene numbers" etc.
in every single symbol? or is there a way to avoid Flash replacing already excisting symbols (named the same way)?
Do you save everything in one master-library, or do you have own library for each character?
All this in short: How do you manage your libraries?
thank you for the great thread.
great thread guys. insanely helpful.
im new to flash, and was curious if there was any way to mimic camera moves after the animation was done. it seems like it'd be hard to do a pan or a zoom after all the animation is done (with all the seperate layers and all), so i'll throw it up to the experts. thanks guys, and hopefully my question makes some semblance of sense.
Hi joonas1982 and welcome to the AWN Forums.
I like having complete actions in a symbol, like a walk cycle or a turn from front to a side view. Then you just hook up to the start of that action.
Naming conventions change all the time and they are personal preference. Just come up with one that makes sence to you, and stick to it.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
pickleweed wrote:
Hope I'm not treading on anyones' toes if I jump in with the answer to this one.
Really you want to be doing animation within symbols, within symbols, within symbols.
So, an eye blink will be within an 'Eye' symbol, inside a 'Head' symbol, inside a 'Character' symbol, inside a 'Scene' symbol. And it is the scene symbol that you keyframe and tween and change size or position to imitate a camera move.
Really the opening stage of your Flash Timeline should be one or two pretty clean layers with a handful of keys. And you might even want to put that inside a 'Camera' symbol so the main stage is just one featureless grey line.
Well, that's what I do anyway!
showreel: http://www.bentosanimation.co.uk/
blog: http://bentosanimation.blogspot.com/
Yup, that's a good way to work Bentos1. I work the same way. Oh, and welcome to the AWN Forums.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
I'm not sure if this is in the thread someplace or not--haven't seen it thus far.
I've been working on my curriculum plans for next year's multimedia class (mainly grades 9&10) and would like to have the students collaborate on Flash animation across several computers. I'm curious about the professional approach to this, short of some special plug-in.
I'd like to have several students work on individual characters within a given scene, and bring them together afterward. I suspect the thing might be to unite them on one .fla by copying frames and layers. Or should they do all animation as a symbol and bring that in?
I'm open to lots of ideas.
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
That's cool Rupert, but it's going to take a lot of planing to do. Esspecially if the characters are interacting with one another.
I think the best way to do this is to have a master fla where it's all layed out with the BG's, overlays and characters all sized and in place. Have each character as it's own symbol as well as the BG it's own symbol and OL as their own as well.
Then give each student a copy of the master, have them save it with a version number and their initials or something. Then they work on their character inside the character's scene symbol. When they are done, copy their character symbol, and paste it into the master .fla and replace symbols.
Oh yeah, before you do all that, esstablish a naming convention for the symbols that your student must follow. This will prevent symbols being named "symbol 1" to over write others named the same.
Hope that helps you out somewhat.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
It is going to take a lot of planning. Essentially I'll get to be the director, writer, layout guy, and character designer, as well as having done a good x-sheet ahead of time. This makes me think a scaled-down project would be good. I'm trying to do something cross-curricular, something related to myth, maybe do a slice or two of the Oddessy.
Thanks very much for the thoughts. The process you describe sounds workable. Your note about how much planning it will take, while perhaps obvious, was extremely important for me to look at and consider.
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
This project sounds pretty complicated. Is this the first animation class, or are there basic animation classes befor this one?
Also I wouldn't do a dope sheet for the students. Do the storyboards and time it out in an animatic. Then let them animate from the animatic. This lay the students will better learn timing. Have them block out their shots first and run them by you. You can then tweak the timing there if things are happening too long or too fast. Just a sugestion.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
I suspect that, as I often do, I may be biting off more than I can chew with this.
Last year I taught six periods of multimedia, an entry level course revolving primarily around Flash and Flash animation. I have no idea how many periods of it I'll have next year, but each section contains between thirty and thirty-five students. The best result would be to break down a few small scenes amongst several groups in each class, and to focus on simple, elementary execution of the animation.
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
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