4 replies to this topic

[seewon]

I'm just learning Animation and I've decided Flash is the right tool to take up.

I've gathered some basics of how the program is structured from some basic tutorials, but I'm on the impatient side and I can't help but think there are faster ways to do things than is being broken down in the instructional content I find.

Dan, (or anyone who knows his work well) in your boss creation videos I'm loving your workflow, however I can only deduce so much without seeing the full screen.

What's the gist? Sketch on one layer, lock/reduced alpha, final version on new layer as one drawing, chopped up and converted to symbols, then redrawn as necessary? This is to say nothing of the timeline. I believe I can figure that part quite handily.

I'm working through Richard William's Animator's Survival Kit but I'd love some insight into a flash specific workflow and your seems to suit my style best from what I've seen.

Shot in the dark here. I'd really appreciate any advice one of the talented folks in the community could offer, if not from Dan Paladin himself.

Cheers,

Parker

[danp]

It's honestly all personal preference, and it really depends on what type of thing I'm working on. You'll get faster as you gain experience with whatever works best for you.

The overall rule is that everything gets made into a movieclip. Once it's a movieclip it is in the library of that file and if deleted out of the workspace, it still exists. The other bonus is that you can isolate pieces and work on them independently as long as they are in their own movieclip, so it helps keep everything tidy.

Good luck!

[seewon]

Look who it is!

Many thanks for the response. I see what you're saying about movieclips.

I tried building a character from pieces, each of which was a movieclip (head, body, left arm, right arm, etc...) and figured how symbols and nesting work, however the animation felt too fake. Like a weird puppet.

Tried frame by frame drawings (using just blank keyframes, or duplicates if a pose was similar enough to use as a start point) and it has much more life.

Thanks for the well wishes! Just so you can have a laugh, here's my first walk cycle ever.

http://cl.ly/1p08051w3t36362g3P1r

[danp]

I don't recommend building a character in very many pieces, if any. It's best to redraw them if possible.

[ChampionRage]

I always wanted a flash program. Good Luck!