Product Description: Whether you are an experienced Flash designer or developer looking for a guide to doing animation in Flash, or a novice to Flash who is looking for an effective way to create and distribute animations, this book will prove invaluable to you. Covering every aspect of Flash animation, the book is a fast-paced yet thorough review of the Flash animation process. Written by the Emmy-Award winning team at ANIMAX, this book not only reveals the step-by-step process followed by one of today's leading Flash animation studios, it gives you valuable tips and tricks to take your Flash animation to the next level. Divided into three phases of production (pre-production, animation, post-production) this book breaks the Flash animation process into smaller, more manageable steps. And because the authors approach the animation process from various perspectives (such as producer, animator, and editor) the book balances many of the real-world issues facing today's Flash animators, from artistic to technical to financial. The book starts off by looking at planning and designing an animation project, including working out your goals, and putting together character libraries and storyboards. Next up we look at the production phase, which includes using plug-ins to make your work more efficient, implementing your animation, and adding special effects. Finally, we look at post-production work, including how After Effects can be used effectively alongside Flash for tasks such as camera mechanics, how to make Flash not look like Flash, and tips and tricks from the experts. Whatever the reason, like millions of others around the world you've become interested in Flash animation. And you've come to the right place to learn more. This book is compatible with pretty much any fairly recent version of Flash.
Covers the full process of Flash animation, through preproduction, production, and post production
Covers many practical techniques, including creating character libraries, using plugins, and camera mechanics with After Effects.
Written by the Emmy award winning ANIMAX studios team
What you'll learn
How to effectively plan an animation project
How to put together storyboards
How to create elegant character libraries
How to set up your .fla file, ready for animation to commence
How to make more efficient use of your time with plugins, where to find good plugins, and how to create your own
How to animate, frame by frame, or using tweens
Why After Effects can be better than Flash for some tasks.
Effective After Effects Techniques, such as camera mechanics
Great Overview of Character Animation for Flash Excellent overview on how to apply classic animation techniques to Flash projects, with plenty of warning about possible pitfalls.
A valuable resource for flash animation professionals I've been a professional animator for over 10 years and I found this to be a valuable resource. It's written by some very talented people over at Animax Entertainment, who have tons of production experience. It offers great organizational tips and tricks for building and animating your characters. It also gives so much insight from the perspective of working on a larger productive team. Sure it's easy to develop your own ways of working when you work by yourself, but the suggestions in this book are a very smart and efficient approach for working on any sized project. They also give you a list of plugins that will help... and even describe how to make them work for you. And the information on how to make use of After Effects is just fantastic. I've adopted so many time-saving ways to work... things I never knew about in all of my years using Flash! I am using this book constantly for reference as I work on my new cartoon project. Thanks guys!
Excelent Foundation Cartoon Animation I found very helpful the guides given by the authors. I was trying to figure out how develop a short cartoon animation in a correct way and after I read this book I found the answers. Thanks!
Great for understanding workflow If you're looking for a book that teaches you how to draw in Flash, this is not the book for you. It will, however, teach you the nuts and bolts of animation, the technical information necessary to make animation less time consuming, which is a must-have imo.
A must for all animators This book is a must for everyone who is tired of animating on paper and wishes to digitalize their work completely in Flash or After Effects. The book covers many great aspects including; making shortcuts of your workflow with user made extensions, brilliant tips & tricks and personal advices how to make life easier for the animators.
This book is also amazing for those who already have knowledge of Flash or After Effects, but wish to enhance their skills or take their production to the next level.
After reading this book, my animation workflow and quality improved.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
