My fifth course for Lynda.com is online. It’s called ‘Hand Drawn Animation in Flash’. If you don’t have a Lynda.com membership, you can get a free 1-week trial here, and watch it.
A preview of the two main scenes that the course will demonstrate:
And the thumbnails that were used as reference – first, the big dance move:
And the acting/dialog scene (this one seamlessly integrates smooth hand drawn frames with a flash rig:
I’d recommend this course for anyone interested in adding some vitality to their Flash scenes.
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Great tutorial! I always find your Lynda.com tutorials fantastic. If you were going to do a traditional animation, would you reach for Flash, or is there something else you would use, like ToonBoom or DigiCel Flipbook?
I’m currently learning Toonboom – but haven’t used DigiCel, so can’t comment on that.
For traditional, I’d say it’s worth your time with Toonboom, as more studios seem to be switching to it. The interface is a lot clunkier than Flash, for sure, but the tradeoff is much nicer drawing tools – there’s no comparison between the Flash brush and the Toonboom brushes. Also, TB has a built in light table, and you can rotate the stage, which really helps with drawing.
It was fun for me to push the trad drawing in Flash, because you’re really pushing against the program, getting it to do something that it doesn’t really want to; I doubt Adobe will ever improve it either, there hasn’t been a meaningful addition to the Flash drawing tools in 14 years, so they’re unlikely to start now! Whereas Animate/Harmony are the bread and butter for Toonboom, so you know it’s being kept alive and improved.
I’m not far enough into TB to say much more, but will be working with it for the rest of the year (having spent so long in Flash, it’s not an easy transition, as your muscle memory needs a LOT of retraining).
Hi!
I am really enjoying your Lynda.com courses. I signed up because of them 🙂
I have a question about the animated Flash bone model profile walk cycle. Why does the foot closest to the viewer contact a line lower than the foot that is farthest away? Is there a reason other than creating some perspective?
Thanks, Tara
Hi Tara; glad you liked the courses!
The foot – no reason for that, sounds like a glitch/error, by myself, or just Flash/bones clunkiness. Sometimes it can be tricky to really fine tune that thing – it’s a handy tool, but quite finicky.