Creating Flash Movies

[Max_Payne]

I am extremly intersted in learning how to make flash movies.. i have much inspiriation from the newgrounds. I was wondering: what software i will need? Where can i find it? Any body here make flash movies? any pointers or tips for a beginner? Well any help will be much abliged! thnxs

PEACE

Mike :E

 

[gh0st]

Macromedia flash MX2004. Theres a trial for it. Make a keyframe, draw your pic, make a new one, draw the next frame, make a new keyframe. There are basic tutorials all over the internet, you shouldnt have a problem.

 

[Slik]

yea I this program and I also want to make some flash animations but I dont know how to use it. Are there any good free tutorials out there?

 

[The Dark Elf]

Macromedia flash MX2004. Theres a trial for it. Make a keyframe, draw your pic, make a new one, draw the next frame, make a new keyframe. There are basic tutorials all over the internet, you shouldnt have a problem.

Actually I think they use another approach than that.

I think many of them create a library of parts and then use them to build up the animation instead of having to redraw everything for each keyframe.

 

[Sui]

Well, being only a beginner at flash, I'm not amazing with it but I can describe the basics. To make a simple moving object you should:

Create a symbol by drawing an image / body part / object and the right clicking it, and selecting "convert to symbol" (best to select Graphic). Now it is possible to move, distort and play with this symbol, and all of the different colours, shades and lines are "locked" together.

To tween this symbol so that it moves in a smooth animation over a period of time, you select the frame where it starts moving and adjust the symbol accordingly, then skip to the frame where it stops moving and adjust the symbol into it's end position. You may need to right click and "distribute to layers" first, this just means the object will appear in every frame rather than just the one you drew it on. If you then select all the frames where the symbol is supposed to be moving and right click, you can select "create motion tween". The computer will then automatically fill in the gaps, and make the symbol move from "point A" to "point B".

A good example of how to use tweening and symbols effectively is when animating a body. You draw every limb, hand or body part SEPERATELY, then convert them all to symbols, and you can move the body parts around like the character is a puppet. From then on you can animate the character however you want!

Of course this is just a basic example. When you begin I recommend making everything tweened and simply experimenting with the program. Make a few test movies, no matter how crap they are, and focus on the actual animation rather than quality of drawing etc. Then when you feel more confident you can try and merge frame by frame animation with tweening, which is how flash animations are meant to be made. An example would be someone firing a gun- the gun recoil would be tweened, but the flash of light, wisp of smoke and any blood or debris from the impact would be drawn individually every frame.

Flash can also be used to make many effects such as a metallic shine or a transparent symbol, though they can look rather cheap if overused; best to use them subtley. Again, the best thing to do is experiment.

I hope this helped, I'm not very good at explaining things I might post some pictures later

 

[Atomix]

Yay. I was hoping a thread like this would come around .

I've been animating in flash for about 6 months now with a wacom tablet.

my site: http://www.cw0rk.iwarp.com/animations.html

 

[gh0st]

Actually I think they use another approach than that.

I think many of them create a library of parts and then use them to build up the animation instead of having to redraw everything for each keyframe.

Yeah I was giving him beginning advice. Learn the basics first.

 

[TheSomeone]

Hey! This is countpoopo from newgrounds. I made this cartoon that was featured on the front page a month or so ago:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php?id=209205

(if you're incredulous, there is an AIM screename in there you can use to verify my identity.)

Although that cartoon is more comedy than animation, I do know how to animate frame-by-frame in flash.

Go download the trial first, and don't buy it unless you think you're really gonna use it. I bought it from my friend because although he spent so much on it, he used it once or twice.

It's a little hard to start, but once you get it, it's pretty smooth sailing.

EDIT: forgot the heart :stare:

<3

 

[NuclearSidewalk]

Nice movie, Someone.

I know I'm nitpicky, but you spelled "blamed" wrong in one of the earlier parts. (unless blammed is supposed to mean something that I'm not aware of)

 

[CR0M]

Max -

http://www.flashkit.com is the best resource site you will find, there are loads of movie clips and action scripts and tutorials to download. Don't bother with the forum though, everyone there is too wrapped up in their own little problems to help anyone else. Also, Macromedia tutorials are useless, find independant ones.
http://www.favouritewebsiteawards.com is the best showcase for cutting edge flash sites around at the moment.

tips-
Flash is a vector animating tool, so using bitmaps is not a good idea if you want file sizes to stay small.

Make movie clips and stick em together instead of making one long timeline of keyframes.

Symbols can be duplicated and used loads of times without upping the file size, avoid drawing lots of different piccies of the same thing.

Use flat colour, gradients bump up the file size and suck up processor power causing animations to run like a pig full of bricks.

Try and tween as much as you can, it uses less processor power to animate and means you don't have to spend forever drawing every single frame like with a stopframe anim.

have fun

 

[CptStern]

try not to use bitmaps ..vector art works much better in flash. a couple of large bitmaps will make even the best computers chug

 

[TheSomeone]

I know I'm nitpicky, but you spelled "blamed" wrong in one of the earlier parts. (unless blammed is supposed to mean something that I'm not aware of)

I made three spelling errors, but that was not one of them . Blammed is Newgrounds lingo for an entry that was deleted because of a low score.

<3