Need tips to make Flash easier

[colonbackslash]

Hi,

My name is Ross, I've been an (awful) illustrator all my life, and now I'd like to break into animation! I've been reading the "Animator's Survival Kit" and practicing quite a bit ever since I got a Wacom tablet, but I cant help but shake the notion that I'm doing things the hard way in flash. Take the following animation for example :

Krazy Kamina

It looks like shit.

Are there any "must-watch" flash tutorials I should see? Am I totally wrong and there are no short-cuts in animation? If there's no short-cuts, how can I get better? Thanks for the feedback!

(I'm a new member, but I've lurked newgrounds since 2000 when I was 12 and thought this was the funniest thing ever : http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/3484 )

[AReviewer]

Not an expert, but at the very least this will bump your thread up.

Watch highly rated flash animations.
Find an animation style you like, and watch similar movies.
Start practicing that type of animating style, and eventually branch into your own style.
Practice makes perfect.

Seriously, keep animating as much as you can. Eventually, you will start to discover things no book can teach you.
It's a hard road.
Good Luck!

[DillonBrannick]

Practice does make perfect.
Don't just practice animation on it own, practice drawing as well, do life drawings, still life, and just draw all the time, it'll all help your animations
Also, you'll probably have your own drawing style, if you are drawing, that is the style you should use, the one your most comfortable with.

[nuke505]

by no means am i an expert either, but i find it much easier to use flash if you do a few things.
1. take a class. thats what i did and it helped me sooooooo much. and im not talking about an online class, i mean a formal class.
2. mess around with the software
3. make small goals and make yourself familure with certain aspects of the program rather than tackling the enitire thing at one time

[DillonBrannick]

At 40 minutes ago, nuke505 wrote: by no means am i an expert either, but i find it much easier to use flash if you do a few things.
2. mess around with the software
3. make small goals and make yourself familure with certain aspects of the program rather than tackling the enitire thing at one time

I think you could drop the class and just do the second two, that's what I did, the program is quite easy to figure out if you give it a bit of time, and if you hit a road block there's about 8 billion tutorials.
I guess you'd get the hang of it quicker with a class, but you'd easily make do, and it might not be feasible for you to do one.

[DillonBrannick]

At A few seconds ago, DillonBrannick wrote: I think you could drop the class and just do the second two, that's what I did, the program is quite easy to figure out if you give it a bit of time, and if you hit a road block there's about 8 billion tutorials.
I guess you'd get the hang of it quicker with a class, but you'd easily make do, and it might not be feasible for you to do one.

just realised there was no need to write this, he knows how to use the program, he just wants to know how to make his animations better, sorry, my first post is still relevant.

[colonbackslash]

Okay so yeah, I had a feeling the big number 1 thing on my list of "To Do's" was practice. That's a given. I guess I was hoping that someone could tell me some best kept secret about flash that would increase my productivity tenfold.

Anyway, can you guys recommend any tutorials for me? I've been watching "Spazkidin3D" and "Oney"'s tutorials. I really like Spazkid's style, and he's got some rather smooth animations as well. But beyond these two guys, I can't find hardly any tutorials.

I'd like to focus on frame-by-frame animation, however when I search YouTube for tutorials, I always come up with the bottom of the shit barrel. I'm looking for ways to make life easier by not painstakingly redrawning every single frame. I know I can do that by using symbols, but I'd like to see a good example of it.

Actually, what I'd really like to see is the whole creative process, starting with the inception of the idea, to the finished animation.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback!

( Newer practice animation & a rip-off : http://megaswf.com/file/2139702 )

[milksncookie1]

It's very hard to find a true all-in-one tutorial. I know where you're coming from because I started animating and self taught myself. It's very hard to find good tutorials you just have to piece things together on your own and practice a lot. There are a lot of tricks you can learn to work more efficiently but it still comes down to drawing a lot and drawing the same thing in different poses a lot. The best way I picked things up was watching other people who just record themselves animating on Youtube and applying new concepts that I feel will help me.

[Sacros]

At 1 hour ago, colonbackslash wrote: Okay so yeah, I had a feeling the big number 1 thing on my list of "To Do's" was practice. That's a given. I guess I was hoping that someone could tell me some best kept secret about flash that would increase my productivity tenfold.

no, but there are little useful stuff that increase your productivity 1.001-folds

stuff like overusing tweens which sometimes look awful and knowing the key shortcuts for your tools

flash is the software for animation, and animation takes long, flash makes it easier but you wont find an "auto animation" tool

i like your kamina sir

[Croire]

Can;t believe no one has mentioned Egoraptor or Hotdiggedydemon's livestreams. Egoraptor often livestreams his entire creative process so you can see when he does certain things and he explains them sometimes as well. Hotdiggedydemon doesn't livestream his animations nearly as much as egoraptor but it's still another reference.

[AReviewer]

Nice to see the OP got many responses.

My work is done.

/satisfied

[colonbackslash]

Hey thanks for all the tips guys. I feel like I've been learning Flash pretty fast. I even did nearly 5 seconds of animation in the last few hours!

Here's a new inquiry. Okay, let's say I have a rough draft of an animation I want to do. Is there an easy way to get my final lines? I see a lot of artists with nice clean, crisp lines in Flash, which seems pretty difficult. I have an unhealthy caffeine addiction so getting perfect lines is near impossible for me.

Any help getting a more "finished" look is appreciated! Throw some tutorial links at me!

SNAAAAKEEEE!

[Croire]

At 22 minutes ago, colonbackslash wrote: Hey thanks for all the tips guys. I feel like I've been learning Flash pretty fast. I even did nearly 5 seconds of animation in the last few hours!

Here's a new inquiry. Okay, let's say I have a rough draft of an animation I want to do. Is there an easy way to get my final lines? I see a lot of artists with nice clean, crisp lines in Flash, which seems pretty difficult. I have an unhealthy caffeine addiction so getting perfect lines is near impossible for me.

Any help getting a more "finished" look is appreciated! Throw some tutorial links at me!

SNAAAAKEEEE!

Drawing the line over and over and over and over again. Also press V and bend your line to straighten out or curve it using the cursor

[Zachary]

There are tutorials on the net, but the best thing you can do is practice. As you continue animating you will learn tips and tricks that will make animating less of a chore. From what I have seen of your work so far you have an alright idea of what you are doing.

The best tip I can give you (if you aren't already doing this), is to create keyframe points. Say you have an animation where a guy raises his hand. The first position would be down of course, the next would be slightly to the center, and then the final one would be in the air. After you complete these main frames you can go in and fill in other frames using the onion tool to smooth out your animation.

[colonbackslash]

Hey so I've been practicing animating a lot since I got all this feedback from you guys. I made a short animation today and actually drew some final lines and added some color. Let me know what you think.

LINK (get it??? He's from Zelda and also a button redirecting you to another URL!!!)

While I practice and get down what will eventually become my award-winning style, I'd like an opportunity to do some creative work with any members willing here. I've been wanting to do some video game parodies, but I'm having a hard time coming up with funny ideas that I would want to sink 40 hours of animation into. So I would like to work with any writers here.

Also, any senior animators lurking the forums, I would like a chance to work with you as well. I would be willing to do some of your inbetweens for free just as practice while I'm still getting everything down.

I look forward to some replies!

[RubberSocks]

Batman says yes

[Bowz]

An approach that helps me, break down your drawing into shapes. Focus on animating masses, not lines.
Make sure cleanup is your last step, not your first, keep things rough until they move right. Keep reading the survival kit. Practice! There's no substitute for experience.

There's more but these were the first things that come to mind.
-Joe

At 8 days ago, colonbackslash wrote: Hi,

My name is Ross, I've been an (awful) illustrator all my life, and now I'd like to break into animation! I've been reading the "Animator's Survival Kit" and practicing quite a bit ever since I got a Wacom tablet, but I cant help but shake the notion that I'm doing things the hard way in flash. Take the following animation for example :

Krazy Kamina

It looks like shit.

Are there any "must-watch" flash tutorials I should see? Am I totally wrong and there are no short-cuts in animation? If there's no short-cuts, how can I get better? Thanks for the feedback!

(I'm a new member, but I've lurked newgrounds since 2000 when I was 12 and thought this was the funniest thing ever : http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/3484 )

[Sacros]

At 3 hours ago, RubberSocks wrote: Batman says yes

it has begun!

abort the operation, all personnel are instructed to abandon their posts and evacuate

[colonbackslash]

Okay so speaking of timing, I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. I know it doesn't look as good as it could.

I was watching some of egoraptor's stuff and decided to copy a couple of poses and stuff, so I choose "Ryu : Then and Now". When I was checking out all the frames and stuff, I noticed that he doesn't really do a whole lot of inbetweens. Like, the poses just change from one to another dramatically with very little movement inbetween, but he does ease into each pose. So I guess my question is, would I benefit from removing a lot of frames in my animations? How do you guys find it best to move from pose to pose?

I appreciate the continued feedback, I've only been using Flash for about 10 days now and I'm having a blast with it. Thanks again!

[RubberSocks]

At 1 hour ago, colonbackslash wrote:
I appreciate the continued feedback, I've only been using Flash for about 10 days now and I'm having a blast with it. Thanks again!

Cool, I have been with Flash for 30 days, but being the scholar that I am, I don't have time to do much practice. I learned alot the past month, but not as much as I would have wanted.

[JonHunter]

At 15 hours ago, colonbackslash wrote: While I practice and get down what will eventually become my award-winning style, I'd like an opportunity to do some creative work with any members willing here. I've been wanting to do some video game parodies, but I'm having a hard time coming up with funny ideas that I would want to sink 40 hours of animation into. So I would like to work with any writers here.

Also, any senior animators lurking the forums, I would like a chance to work with you as well. I would be willing to do some of your inbetweens for free just as practice while I'm still getting everything down.

I look forward to some replies!

Oh I wouldn't say that.. There's like one million wannabe writers here, that basicly just want a chance to be noticed.
I myself have a huge hard time with writing comedy, I have some bigger ideas in Drama/Scifi that I wanna tackle when I'm more experienced. But I feel ya, I'd also wanna ask that question, while practicing and whatnot.. But it's not worth the 1000 PMs from 12 year olds you'll be having.

or well, that's my view on how it goes down.

At 1 hour ago, colonbackslash wrote: Okay so speaking of timing, I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. I know it doesn't look as good as it could.

I was watching some of egoraptor's stuff and decided to copy a couple of poses and stuff, so I choose "Ryu : Then and Now". When I was checking out all the frames and stuff, I noticed that he doesn't really do a whole lot of inbetweens. Like, the poses just change from one to another dramatically with very little movement inbetween, but he does ease into each pose. So I guess my question is, would I benefit from removing a lot of frames in my animations? How do you guys find it best to move from pose to pose?

I appreciate the continued feedback, I've only been using Flash for about 10 days now and I'm having a blast with it. Thanks again!

This all depends on weither or not you go the full length or not. As well as what you wanna present.
In Egoraptors case, you should know that (this is of course what I have interpreted from the situation) he doesn't really aim to do 100% out of this world smoothness animation. Check out other animators instead, especially if you're looking to trace someones work that is out of this world. Egoraptor, seems to aim a lot harder for the comedy, rather than this incredibly smooth animation.

He has this one animation smear that to me is incredibly awesome, in his parody of LA Noire.

http://books.google.se/books?id=QdOZkS6eJl8C&printsec=frontc over&hl=sv&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
A book I read, on timing and such.
This book explained a lot about timing and frames. There's a lot of ways to tackle it. Like, if you were animating a serious drama, it could be incredibly unfitting to draw 3 frames for a pose-to-pose animation. If however it isn't in focus, or maybe the goal is to make it look a bit ridiculous, then it might be very fitting.
Say, if it's a punch, and it is supposed to build up, and to the viewer it is supposed to look incredibly badass, then it requires a way smoother transition.

I hope it answers your question. And I wouldn't say that it's an easy thing to learn. As many have said, practice makes perfect. There are many tutorials you could check out, however, try to find the techniques that you see best fitting for your style. Which is also something that comes with time =d

Kind of feels like all these "dedicate your life to PRACTICE!" might scare you off, but it is incredibly fun. Really, everytime I finish off a smooth animation, I just can't stop smiling haha =)

[RubberSocks]

At 1 hour ago, Otto wrote:

At 2 hours ago, colonbackslash wrote: would I benefit from removing a lot of frames in my animations? How do you guys find it best to move from pose to pose?

No, not at all, no, not unless the frames were inconstant but if they were you'd be better off just replacing them.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/413118 I think, looking at the Link one especially, this will be very relevant to you, as you've got frames that are so out of line with the rest sometimes. It's all in the meticulous planning, really.

Good suggestion Otto, that vid will help him alot. Finally someone who has answered his question. His soul may now rest in peace.