Help Me Anim. Awesomotron

[jossospro]

I really need some advice. I have a simple character of whom i have drawn many times. i have his structure, personality, and look down. I cant animate it! i find myself making a mess of symbols, and when i try fbf, it takes too long, and i start to lose the look. after about thirty minutes, i find myself getting restless and irritatingly bored.

what should i do? how do you structure your flash in a way it keeps you going?

[DarkHabit]

Use layers, one layer for head, one for arms, or maybe two for each arm, and same for legs.

Also you should try animating at 24fps, and add a motion every two frames, make little small motions, and the overall animation should look nice.

[jossospro]

At 1/3/08 05:07 AM, DarkHabit wrote: Use layers, one layer for head, one for arms, or maybe two for each arm, and same for legs.

Also you should try animating at 24fps, and add a motion every two frames, make little small motions, and the overall animation should look nice.

OH WOW, i actually did have it at 24 fps already. i do have layers, (of course :P). that keyframing tip is very helpful thankyou for that, its the organising and carrying through with the project i am having trouble with mostly.

[Bobby444]

That looks brilliant. You're great at drawing.

[jossospro]

At 1/3/08 05:24 AM, Bobby444 wrote: That looks brilliant. You're great at drawing.

thx, but i want advice not praise ^^

[jossospro]

can anyone help please? --- organising the movie and what keeps you going on with the project?---

[Senti]

At 1/3/08 09:36 AM, jossospro wrote: can anyone help please? --- organising the movie and what keeps you going on with the project?---

Motivation is one of the hardest things to keep when working with Flash. Animation is a very tedious process and one can easily loose focus. There isn't too much you can do to help yourself become more focused. If you KNOW the outcome of your work is going to be good, you'll stick with it until the end. If you loose faith with your self and your work then the project was never meant to be.

[jmtb02]

At 1/3/08 09:36 AM, jossospro wrote: can anyone help please? --- organising the movie

Every night, set a goal for yourself for where you want to be by the end of the night. Don't set huge goals... just small ones you know you will meet. Keep meeting your expectations and the process will go a whole lot smoother.

Organizing the movie, you should put everything on the same timeline. You can use scenes if you want, but it may cause issues with audio and programming. Scenes can be accessed through the Window menu.

[jossospro]

At 1/3/08 10:43 AM, jmtb02 wrote:
Organizing the movie, you should put everything on the same timeline. You can use scenes if you want, but it may cause issues with audio and programming. Scenes can be accessed through the Window menu.

thanks for the advice! I won't be using AS, this is just an animation, so i will be using scenes.

[DarkHabit]

Remeber though, if you want to use a overall song to play throughout the movie, it wont play through the scenes, you would have to select all frames of each scene either make it all one scene, or a movie clip.

[trdef1]

First of all listen to music to keep yourself from getting bored.

If your stuck with organization place related parts into folders.

[jossospro]

listening to music's a good idea, i generally do have it on anyway. with the background music, that is something i will worry about later. i generally dont like movie clips because they dont play in avi format. is this AS related or not? coz MC's are helpful filter-wise etc

[AwesomeRific]

Keep looking at your animation, it might make you want to finish it as if you were watching someone elses flash.

[jossospro]

ok so this character has made the slightest little movement, about 28 frames worth. it took me four hours to animate a second. im getting faster as im getting used to, and i am very happy with the result, but i need to know if this is the case with anyone elses fbf animations? (its also 8 layers)

[senior-twinki]

sit down with your favorite drink, play your favorite song, and draw your cartoons in 4 thirty minute chunks every day for a week, you'll be amazed by how much you can get done.

[jossospro]

well guys thanks for your advice!

I have done less than 10 seconds of animation, in a span of 2 days (on and off though) and although its going really slow, I am really happy with the results! i'll post it soon once i have filled in the blank frames!

[jossospro]

ok this tiny animation took many many MANY Hours, but i am very happy with how it looks.

check it out --- http://spamtheweb.com/ul/upload/050108/7 3128_awes001.swf

although i cant imagine any more needed for my character, any advice?

if anyone likes this a lot and wants to collaborate with me, please PM me!