Trying to Stay Current

[DarkMatter]

So I never really cared too much about the whole HTML5 vs Flash thing because flash will always be superior to me.

However.

I'm trying to make sure my software knowledge is current for resume purposes. So I want some wisdom about current and most popular animation software.

I've heard of ToonBoom

and I've heard of TV Paint

Now, I'm leaning towards a more traditional style with more actual animation rather than well placed tweens. In fact I try to be as minimal as possible with tweens because they're not organic enough for my scenes.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[kehny]

I never used tweens on my flash animations. They work pretty fine and fast on traditional.

Toon boom looks a lot more traditional and works better with tablets than flash. The whole colouring and shading aspect is slower though. Anime studio works only on tweens and vector animation. After effect's puppet is atrocious, but the software itself edits animations really well, I use it a lot to render my flash animations and to edit some effects.

That's all I know about 2d animation software.

[Celshaded]

Toon Boom is technically better than Flash but I personally can't stand the interface so my preference is Flash. You can do frame by frame animation with the more recent versions of Anime Studio/Moho. People shit on AS but it's not bad for the price if you can find a work around for it's terrible drawing tools. TVPaint is probably the best option for traditional but is also the most expensive.

Cacani is another one that I tried a while ago, but I didn't feel like it had enough features to be a good stand alone program.

[freaksofthewasteland]

It seems that most studios in North America use either Flash or Toon Boom Harmony.

Where I work, we use Harmony and after learning how the program works more thoroughly I could not recommend it enough. The UI takes some getting used to, especially if you get Premium which includes a lot more features like the Node View.

And as an added bonus, it doesn't crash nearly as often as Flash, lol.

[Timsplosion]

The studio I work at predominantly uses Flash. They want to transition to Toonboom, but there's currently not the talent available that isn't already employed in whatever project another studio in the city is working on.

[DarkMatter]

At 2/20/17 01:26 PM, Celshaded wrote: Toon Boom is technically better than Flash but I personally can't stand the interface so my preference is Flash. You can do frame by frame animation with the more recent versions of Anime Studio/Moho. People shit on AS but it's not bad for the price if you can find a work around for it's terrible drawing tools. TVPaint is probably the best option for traditional but is also the most expensive.

Cacani is another one that I tried a while ago, but I didn't feel like it had enough features to be a good stand alone program.

One of the biggest reasons why I love flash is the simple interface that allows me to work fast.

At 2/20/17 07:26 PM, Timsplosion wrote: The studio I work at predominantly uses Flash. They want to transition to Toonboom, but there's currently not the talent available that isn't already employed in whatever project another studio in the city is working on.

Why do they want to transition to ToonBoom? What does that program offer the studio? Increased production or quality?

At 2/20/17 07:12 PM, freaksofthewasteland wrote: It seems that most studios in North America use either Flash or Toon Boom Harmony.

Where I work, we use Harmony and after learning how the program works more thoroughly I could not recommend it enough. The UI takes some getting used to, especially if you get Premium which includes a lot more features like the Node View.

And as an added bonus, it doesn't crash nearly as often as Flash, lol.

What are the main problems with the interface? It must be totally different than flash to scare professionals.

[freaksofthewasteland]

At 2/22/17 09:22 PM, DarkMatter wrote:

What are the main problems with the interface? It must be totally different than flash to scare professionals.

I wouldn't say that there's problems with the interface. There's just more things to learn the functionality of.

It's hard to say since I only touched flash a couple times. Toon boom always felt more fluid to me and the way it thinks made sense. I didn't like in flash how you had to dive into each individual symbol to animate, whereas in toon boom it's all there in front of you on the timeline.

[DarkMatter]

At 2/23/17 07:09 AM, freaksofthewasteland wrote: I didn't like in flash how you had to dive into each individual symbol to animate, whereas in toon boom it's all there in front of you on the timeline.

I love Flashes Timeline alot, I can animate fbf in the timeline or create symbols and put them on the timeline, I try not to excede 3 or 4 layers if I can for any given scene.

I hear alot about being able to do traditional animation in ToonBoom, is it as easy to draw directly into the program like flash?

I hear toonboom has better looking strokes if you're drawing on a Cyntiq which I sort of have working with a Ynova.

[freaksofthewasteland]

At 2/24/17 03:16 AM, DarkMatter wrote:

I hear alot about being able to do traditional animation in ToonBoom, is it as easy to draw directly into the program like flash?

I hear toonboom has better looking strokes if you're drawing on a Cyntiq which I sort of have working with a Ynova.

As long as you're not drawing with a mouse the lines in toon boom are going to look good.

In toon boom you need to create a drawing layer before drawing (is that a thing in flash?) before you start drawing, other than that it's pretty comprehensive if you're going for something traditional.

[DarkMatter]

At 2/24/17 05:59 PM, freaksofthewasteland wrote:

At 2/24/17 03:16 AM, DarkMatter wrote:

I hear alot about being able to do traditional animation in ToonBoom, is it as easy to draw directly into the program like flash?

I hear toonboom has better looking strokes if you're drawing on a Cyntiq which I sort of have working with a Ynova.

As long as you're not drawing with a mouse the lines in toon boom are going to look good.

In toon boom you need to create a drawing layer before drawing (is that a thing in flash?) before you start drawing, other than that it's pretty comprehensive if you're going for something traditional.

Nah i flash you just start drawing or painting, you just worry about layer hierarchy and masks if you need them. Thanks for ll the info guys at this point I'll just have to work with the trial version to learn what else I need to learn before deciding to buy any software.

Any discounts or promotions you guys know about would be great, I remember ToonBoom was letting certain animators promote their product but that was years ago.