My first Flash animation is done! And I think it looks very pretty :D It was done for a school proyect in which we were asked to created a demo of a business. Ours was a pet hotel.
I found that Flash is an easy software to use, you can play your animations instantly, edit stuff, use layers, etc. But what really makes this program, and perhaps any other, is the possibility to use basic animation principles regarding the tool or technique, to create well done animations.
In this case I did not animated any character, I just did animations for texts and shapes, more like motion graphics. But yet I did applied timing, some squash and stretch, some spacing, and of course, a narrative.
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As for hand drawn animation, I've been working with moving holds; Animations that remain almost static, but have some changes on them, like a tiny detail (hair, ear) To show that the character is alive, and not a cutout there.
In this case, the character moves way too much. I'd say its almost out of the moving hold category... but hey, it is my first try.
I guess the fix would be too add a lot of frames between each particular movement. Like spreading out his tiny actions into a 10-12 seconds scene.
And the daily sketch. I'll keep working on this one to make it more... clearer XD
It's finished! My multilayered animation it's done.
For this animation I did learned a lot of things! From x-sheets to layers, to some timing, and some movement design.
Let's write a little bit about it ^^
The Conception of the Idea - (not that is a great idea, but you get it)
I began working out something like a happening, or anything a character would react to and move because of it, so I chose a guy trying to heat milk.
First I took that sentence: a guy trying to heat milk but a fly pesters and made some thumbnails. Really small drawings trying to tell the story, something like a storyboard but more rough and simple than that.
I noticed I could "throw" any idea and see how it looked on camera, then choose if it worked or not.
rough thumbnails
bigger thumbnails
On those bigger thumbnails I laid down the idea in a clearer way. I also began to think about the layers that were going to be used, by identifying what moves and what doesn't.
character expressions and design
I know the character is not great but the process is the same, so I worked with a simple character sheet just to be sure how he looked.
Planning the Animation
As many authors state: plan before you animate! And so I did XD
I began to think about timmings and worked with some home made X-Sheets / Exposure Sheets.
In the ACTION column I drew something like an animation curve which shows me where changes are made on the main character or main action. On the layer columns (1,2,3,4,5,BG) I write the layers that . That helps a lot in postproduction and during frame capturing (scanning, photo). and dial, which is not used since I'm not adding noises yet :P
It helps a lot to really see how much time something happens. It's a nice way to actually look at seconds on paper.
With this sheets I also figured out how to make fire to loop right after the guy fired it up.
The fly is also planned here: where does it enters (p2,117), where it goes out of frame, etc.
the 12 / 24 thing
The "12 frames, 24 frames" animation thing is quite clear while working with this X-sheets too! Here I can decide where I need to work on "24 frames", while working in 12fps as a base, that's why I first write frames in twos (1,3,5,7,9...) Making frame economy possible, and just adding the ones where needed. (1,2,3,4,5,6...).
animation / movement Design
After timming and the entire animation has been planned, I proceed to animate, working with keyframes, breakdowns, extremes, contacts, etc. And leaving inbetweens in the end. ( I mostly worked frame by frame this time, just did some straight ahead on the hand I believe.)
During the animation process I found something interesting: It's not just about working out simple inbetweens that go from point A to point B, there is movement onevery frame! That's why I decided to draw this sheets, with some sequential drawings and weird stuffs like flows, timming notes, etc.
the dodge movement planning
This one was fun to do. At first I drew the entire sequence, shot it, and noticed it was not working at all... that was before some planning was done. I then worked out some ideas with animation basics (left part of the page) and then worked out the flow of his head (center). I've found it's quite usefull to actually study how the character, or object, moves within space and within time.
overall planning of poses
This one helped a lot to explore what the character was going to do and how. It may look like a storyboard too, but without frame. It's just a sequence where I see how the character changes from being numb to being angry.
At the bottom right I did some explorations on how the fly was going to invade his personal space :P
simple layout
This layout helped me to draw keyframes in place.
Well, I think that's pretty much all for that animation. It was great to learn animation stuff, to see how movements must be designed, tested, and redesigned, and it also helped to work out a nice pipeline to concieve, plan, animate and write about, an animation, no matter if it is small or huge.
Yes, that's right! I decided to learn some flash.
A couple of opportunities appeared and they require Flash knowledge... Also, I believe is not the tool but the animation what matters, that's why I'll learn flash too ;)
Here is what I did yesterday.
I found some nice ways to mix traditional animation to the weird flash timeline. It seems that if you take those basics, you don't need a huge amount of tutorials to get it.
I've noticed also that Flash is great to animate graphics and 2D cutout stuff. Makes it look very design-like.
DO NOT LET FLASH SOLVE TOO MANY INBETWEENS!!! - Yeah, had to write that somewhere. It reminds me to not use too much "tweens" to solve animations. They just end up being too mechanical.
Ohh, Flash is also a good and quick way to test basic animation stuff like spacing.
You can make nice timing tests too ^^.
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In other topics. I'm working with a little animation for school. I was thinking on doing it with 3D stuff (Maya, etc) Did a test and this is what I got:
Not too far away from what I wanted, but I decided to do it with Flash and in 2D instead. The final version will be done soon! :D. Here is a screenshot ;)
This one is a quick animation I did, trying to practice the straight ahead method of animating something. I also wanted to make some wider movements than just walks or turn arounds.
The planning on this one was also quick, but useful, here is what I did before animating:
I came up with the idea of a flour sack jumping by trying out some wierd or fun possitions for it.
I then planned the overall actions it was going to perform, craeting what I guess is called a layout.
Here I figured out how the sack was hanging from the rope, its timing and spacing. I payed special attention on the way forces moved through the body and to the rope. A flour sack is intended to be alive, giving it the possibility to create movement, or "create" forces. Its not just a stiff haning object.
fall tests.
And here is the video:
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And some illustration work.
I just finished my little devil pic. Decided it was too large, so I croped it.
It's finished!!
I know it's not clean or colored, but the animation is finished.
This was an excercise to understand how to use a simple background. Make a character do something else than walking, learn to study a certain pose or movement, and an overall scene construction.
I really like how it turned out.
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and a sketch I did at school.
Tiny update this time, I know, but I must scan other two finished animations, I'll upload them in the next days :D
