Need help with Flash MX...

CrAzY Dan · Post by **CrAzY Dan** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:30 pm

I have got Flash MX and i need some help with animating. I have looked at loads of tutorials but none of them tell me properly. Is Flash MX just for frame by frame or can you use it for animating like moho?

I mean making a leg go from straight to bent using a sort of bone feature?

Can anyone explain it to me?

Thanks.

CrAzY Dan

myles · Post by **myles** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:31 am

Hello CrAzY Dan,

Well, I don't own Flash and have never used it, so it's a bit presumptuous of me to answer, but here's my understanding of it (hopefully a real Flash user will correct and extend on this):

Flash doesn't have bones - you have two main Moho-like animation choices:
One choice is using symbols with motion tweening, the equivalent of Moho layer animation without bones - layer rotation/scaling/etc.
The other choice is shape tweening, the equivalent of Moho point animation, again without bones.

Translation assigned to a path (guided motion tween) and frame-by-frame animation are the other two (non-Moho-like) Flash animation techniques.

Regards, Myles.

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:00 am

Here are some useful Flash tutorials:

Toon Titan - http://www.flashfilmmaker.com/index.php ... 25,0,0,1,0
Keyframer - http://www.keyframer.com/main/kf_main.htm
Todd Gallina - http://www.toddgallina.com/how/2.html

I've been using Flash for a long time. It has no 'bones' system. However, its approach to re-usability is better than Moho (IMO), as is the use of sound, and it has excellent interactivity. It was also designed for the web from the start, so its files are very compact. If you look at a Moho .swf exported file, it can only be imported into Flash as a sequence of individual key frames. This isn't optimal, as Flash isn't designed to work like that.

You can make a leg go from straight to bent in the following ways:

1) Frame by frame drawings. Flash has a good 'onion-skinning' system. Gives most fluid animatioin if you know what you are doing, but most time-intensive
2) Use graphic symbols. If you draw a thigh, a shin and a foot as separate symbols, you can animate them as you would paper cut-outs with joints. This is the most efficient system, but you have to work harder at making movement fluid and convincing.
3) Use shape tweening. I have found this to be useful in some situations, but too unpredictable to use extensively.

See how some masters use Flash:

Bitey Castle - http://www.oohbitey.com/flash.htm
Augenblick Studios - http://www.augenblickstudios.com/home/index.html
The Little Ninja - http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/content/ninjai/

HTH

J

CrAzY Dan · Post by **CrAzY Dan** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:12 pm

Is there a way to change the points that you have drawn with the pen tool like you can in moho?

By the way thanks for the sites jahncoli and for the info myles. They were a great help!

Dan

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 12:11 am

Is there a way to change the points that you have drawn with the pen tool like you can in moho?

Yes - in fact, this is shape tweening. It's still kind of quirky though...

J

CrAzY Dan · Post by **CrAzY Dan** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:32 am

Thank you i have just found out how to tween the shapes and i agree it is a bit fiddly. Thanks again for speedy responses.

Toontoonz · Post by **Toontoonz** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:49 am

For a quick start in Flash, I usually direct people to this:
http://www.toontoonz.com/lessons.html
Just follow the steps and you will be making a Flash cartoon real quick!

CrAzY Dan · Post by **CrAzY Dan** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:21 pm

WOW Thanks they are really good and are getting me started really well. Thanks