Where do i start?

[stuartrogers1987]

Hi,

I've spent alot of time browsing NG enjoying the great efforts some people have put in to they're work.
I've descided i actually want to contribute but i looked for somewhere approiate to post this but nowhere seemed relevent to ask for help for basics, on animation and the tools that are available?
The only work i've already done is some minor animation with "Jasc Animation 3" in which i created 3 small stickman clips (after watching Xiao Xiao 1! lol) all the files are in .gif format and the longest one last no longer than 30 sec's due to the fact i had to work in paint and edit, shift and save every clip i did this back in 2003 and my friends thought it was kinda cool but i never got further than that?

Can anyone give me some links or advise some reading materials on where i can get started in this?

Please, please dont link me to the bouncing ball clip for flash its soo lame and sure you get your boucing ball but it doesnt teach you much... (IMO anyway.)

Cheers.

[gogareen]

Well if your interested in starting out then here that should help get you started it helped me alot so good luck pm me if you wanna ask anything else

[Cope2K]

"The Animator's Survival Kit" nuf said...

[Ani-x]

At 8/18/10 12:13 AM, Cope2K wrote: "The Animator's Survival Kit" nuf said...

nooooo
That sarcastic name dropping elitist book is the worst place to start.

Try "Cartoon Animation" by Preston Blair,
Its The Animator's Survival Kit but with out the crap.

The biggest thing you will need to start animating is to wrap your brain around it.
Get in a mind frame of the fact you are not moving lines and images, But making life.
Moving masses and creating feelings and moods.
Then from there you start to study, study life, study physics, how things move and interact.
Then you draw draw draw draw.

It takes a wile and allot of practice, but if your passionate enough you can grow, overcome and start to do things you didn't think you could do.

[stuartrogers1987]

Firstly thanks to all you guys,

Is flash the prefered way for animation? as i notice all those tutorials were for flash?

Or can you animate respectivly in other formats? I have read about the many different types stop-motion and others but they tend to leave out the important info you need like the tools required for them?

Looked at both the books you guys refernced me to so i'll have things to read for a while looks like.

[Kurai-Samurai]

At 8/18/10 10:50 AM, stuartrogers1987 wrote: Firstly thanks to all you guys,

Is flash the prefered way for animation? as i notice all those tutorials were for flash?

Or can you animate respectivly in other formats? I have read about the many different types stop-motion and others but they tend to leave out the important info you need like the tools required for them?

Looked at both the books you guys refernced me to so i'll have things to read for a while looks like.

You could always try traditional pen to paper animation, but this is painstaking when you've finished animation because you have to individually scan in each piece of paper and then somehow link the images or record them using software if you wanna show them on websites or get a reasonable amount of feedback.
You can use free programs like Pivot, but in all truthfulness many people brush it aside and don't really respect it as much as flash animation, the same way people see a lot of stick figure animations, made by any program, as generic and unoriginal. Well, unless there amazingly good (There are some REALLY good stick animations out there).
Flash isn't the preferred method of animation, it's just that its generally the easiest in terms of getting started because there are so many online tutorials, & because there are so many places around the web, like Newgrounds, were you can submit flash animations and people can review, rate and give helpful tips. For a beginner flash animation can be the most rewarding.
I'm not saying that flash animation is the only way to animate and that you are expected to start here, no, there are loads of types of animation and loads of animators animating in different mediums. Also, if your finding the bouncing ball too easy and boring them try to animate a walk with both arms legs and variation, that is know to be one of the hardest things to do in animation.
I always find books to be a great source of information on animation and animating, better than tutorials by far. I suggest 'The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation' it really gets you into the mind of the early Disney animators and you end up with an excellent knowledge of the history of animation. I also recommend the 'Animators Survival Kit' but I agree that it can confusing for beginners. Still it won't hurt, after all some call it the animators bible. I recommend that while you're playing around with animations and learning you should also try very hard to gain a tight grasp on drawing, the better you can draw life and form the better you can distort life and form into animation.
Good Luck!

<Ramble ends>

[Damien]

You can always try with Toon Boom animating software thing.

Flash isn't your only option...

http://www.toonboom.com/downloads/

The reason people suggest Flash, is because this is a flash based website. :)