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Tips on Flash assembly?

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Tips on Flash assembly?

Does anyone have any pointers for putting together characters in flash? What's one of the easiest ways?

Now for the scene i'm still working on, I had put most every part on individual layers. as I wasn't sure what i may motion tween.....however i've learned that motion tweening may seem, to the beginner, like it may save some time....but i've found that when the motion is short enough just an extra key between the two points is just as effective. PLUS, it won't mess up the the animation if say an arm is to be in synch with the opposite leg.

And what of when i want a character two hold something with both hands, or maybe have a tug of war with another character, somewhere soemthings are are going to have to be on the same layer.

Also depending on the animation could it even be neccessary to move one symbol from one layer to another? Like if one character places a hat on another's head.

maybe even putting Character A's hand holding the hat on the same layer with Character B's head?

I haven't really found anything to answer my more complicated questions. even my book doesn't touch on it.

DeadSquid's picture
Website http://dapper-dandy.com Cartoon Syndicate project http://cartoon-syndicate.com

Website http://dapper-dandy.com

Cartoon Syndicate project
http://cartoon-syndicate.com

I would suggest (for quick motions where two characters must interact) not tweening at all. Instead, cut and paste the necessary parts onto the shared layer, and animate them manually.

I use this technique for slower motions as well, but I get the feeling that you'd like to avoid the "tedious" factor. And it can be rather tedious.

Hope this helps,
Pooryorik

It's your animation so you can set it up how ever lets you work the best and most efficant. I would recomend working with all the symbols on their own layers even if you aren't using motion tweens because this makes it easier to fix things later on. You don't ever need to have two symbols on the same layer and conversly, you don't need to have each symbol on it's own layer. I've worked both ways where I have a character dispersed over 20+ layers with each symbol on it's own layer, and other times with multiple symbols on a layer. Personally I like a combo of the two, animate with the character fully layers out, but if I really need to for a couple of frames, have multiple symbols on one layer. Also and easy way to layer out a character is to select all your symbols by either clicking and dragging over then or click once on the keyframe, then hit 'Ctrl+D' this will put each symbol on it's own layer. This is also a good way to tell which symbols are "graphics" and which ones are "grouped." If it's a "graphic," it will name the layer the same as the symbol. If it's "grouped," ( groups bad!!) the layer will be named "layer 1" 2 or what ever number.

I also started a character animation using Flash topic in the "Animators Desktop" section of these Forums if you want to check that out. There might be some stuff in there that might be useful to you.

Any other questions, ask away.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

I tend to create my characters as a symbol in the beginning. With each movable part of their anatomy as another symbol nested on a different layer within the character symbol.

When it comes time to animate on a single time line, I ctrlb the individual character apart into it's individual pieces (Sometimes I keep certain characters on their own layers, but if there is heavy duty interaction that's not always possible.) and add the necessary props. If that makes sense. Then by using the ctrl and arrow keys you can move your symbols behind or in front of others. At that time I can fine tune and duplicate symbols and modify and rename to make the actions smoother, without adding a lot of weight to the file.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

So basically whatever works for me and looks right. Thanks guys! =) Just gotta find my groove i reckon. hehe.

And I'll be checkin' out that topic, Ape!

Website http://dapper-dandy.com

Cartoon Syndicate project
http://cartoon-syndicate.com

A good way to work is to not animate directly on the main timeline. Unless the characters are interacting with each other, keep each character as a symbol on their own layer on the main timeline. Then when you click into the character symbol, thats where all your animation is. That way you can easily do pans, or need to scale them up or down if you need to. This is a good way to set up your main timeline, then you can animate any way you want inside the symbol.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

A question

I thought this would be a good place to ask my own Flash question. I will be working on my own short very soon and I'm currently working out how I want to do my workflow. Currently this is what I'm aiming at:

1.) Take each scene as laid out by my Storyboard/Animatic and create my graphs.
2.) Use graphs to then draw all my keys out on my trustee light box.
3.) Test and Fix. Go to next step.
4.) Draw out my breakdowns.
5.) Test and Fix. Go to next step.
6.) Draw out my 'Tweens.
7.) Test and Fix. Go to next step.
8.) Clean up drawings!
Now for the Flash part.
9.) Import files as bitmaps and have Flash trace them into Vector Lines.
10.) Paint the drawings in Flash.

So basically what I want to know is, would the Flash file size be to large doing it this way? Is the trace function not that reliable and so not worth using? Any better suggestions?

The trace function in Flash is not really the most economical method as far as size goes to vectorize. I would suggest bringing in your first keyframes and manually trace your lines out with the line tools in Flash. And then develop your animation directly in Flash using it's tools. Complex vectors can weigh as much or more than raster images. And depending on the type of line you are after it can add up. There's certainly nothing wrong with doing all your work in pencil first, but as you become more used to the creation tools in Flash you may find you are as fast or sometimes faster than using p and p.

If you must use vector tracing tools, Streamline and Corel's Trace have more options and settings, allowing you to convert with actually smaller file sizes in the long run.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

The trace function in Flash is not really the most economical method as far as size goes to vectorize. I would suggest bringing in your first keyframes and manually trace your lines out with the line tools in Flash. And then develop your animation directly in Flash using it's tools. Complex vectors can weigh as much or more than raster images. And depending on the type of line you are after it can add up. There's certainly nothing wrong with doing all your work in pencil first, but as you become more used to the creation tools in Flash you may find you are as fast or sometimes faster than using p and p.

If you must use vector tracing tools, Streamline and Corel's Trace have more options and settings, allowing you to convert with actually smaller file sizes in the long run.

i dont think any of the auto tracing options really work. manual tracing in the end is the only real alternative. the quality and the amount of corrections required you might as well make some effort and go manual.

concern

I've read of people animating directly in Flash and this concept somewhat baffels me. It seems to me more complex movements would be much harder to do when you're trying to edit something line by line.

Reading Squid and Ape's methods (which I'm still not sure how it works) you have several layers of different parts of the character. Sounds great for maintaining the form of the figure but man does that seem more tedious and time consuming than just throwing it down on paper.

So I guess my next question would be, how does this method of symbol editing work? And how does it work for complex movements?

for my next scene i may keep the character symbols on the main...i don't remember why i embeded them in the background. oh yeah, it was so i didnt' have to cover 200+ frames of up and down for their running. hehe.

Website http://dapper-dandy.com

Cartoon Syndicate project
http://cartoon-syndicate.com

Ontaious, the different layers really isn't that bad. i just have a lot of questions so i can find my flash technique.

and depending on how you assemble your characters you can save a lot of time. one way you can do somethings is to make upper and lower arms two seperate symbols. Then you can add some more fluid movement.

i don't know how familiar you are with flash(like i'm that far myself hehe) but when you use the "free transform" tool. There's a pivot point on you symbols. where ever you drag that determines how the symbol rotates around it.

so you can have an arm that moves both at the shoulder and elbow without having to swap whole symbols, unless you really need a vastly different pose. And with the onion skin, keeping a part in the proper positions is really easy.

Right now here's how i usually put my character together. I start with one symbol(usually head). double-click to go inside it via "editing mode". Then you can set up layers for other body parts as you need them.

you could do every shred of animating right there. the trickiest bit for me right now is keeping in mind all the animations i make and the number of frames everything lasts.

plus, if you need additional animations per symbol you can go inside those symbols, like the legs. and animate the legs seprately.

And you can have all the animations loop. So say 20 frames or so adequately covers the leg's animation. that will loop. the thing is you have to make sure the other timelines will cover that 20-30 frames. otherwise the animation will play until it hits the last frame of the current time line(let's say frame 10). then it will "stop". The leg animation is still playing but you won't see it. the animation will start when the leg animation loops back to frame 1.

it might seem like a bit of a hassle. but say you have a monkey making a get away, and he's covering his tracks with banana peels.

Well, if the scene lasts long enough. you can animate the legs seperately. And then animate him eating the bananas and tossing the peels. However many frames all of that takes, you won't have to animate the legs along with it!

Suppose all of that banana eating and tossing goes 100 frames. that's 80 frames you didn't have to worry about the legs. They'll just keep looping.

Boy i really hope this helps more than it confuses.

Website http://dapper-dandy.com

Cartoon Syndicate project
http://cartoon-syndicate.com

I thought this would be a good place to ask my own Flash question. I will be working on my own short very soon and I'm currently working out how I want to do my workflow. Currently this is what I'm aiming at:

1.) Take each scene as laid out by my Storyboard/Animatic and create my graphs.
2.) Use graphs to then draw all my keys out on my trustee light box.
3.) Test and Fix. Go to next step.
4.) Draw out my breakdowns.
5.) Test and Fix. Go to next step.
6.) Draw out my 'Tweens.
7.) Test and Fix. Go to next step.
8.) Clean up drawings!
Now for the Flash part.
9.) Import files as bitmaps and have Flash trace them into Vector Lines.
10.) Paint the drawings in Flash.

So basically what I want to know is, would the Flash file size be to large doing it this way? Is the trace function not that reliable and so not worth using? Any better suggestions?

We did this method in Advanced 2D animation to color our hand drawn animation. When you import all the bitmaps it is a huge file and will lag your machine if it isnt very powerfull. Once it is all traced you can delete the bitmaps and the filesize will decrease.

this way isnt really how people do animation in flash. It is more how Ape describes when he talks about Fosters. All these symbols and layers.

"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo

Flash Symbol Animation

I'll give it a try sometime and see how it works for me. Are there any tutorials I can take a gander at on how it works?

there's some on flashkit.com here's a place with some freebies, http://www.webwasp.co.uk/ they used to have a lot more.....http://www.cartoonsmart.com

Website http://dapper-dandy.com

Cartoon Syndicate project
http://cartoon-syndicate.com

Flash Layer Exporter

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