Hello Dear Readers!
Up until now, we've mainly been focusing on 3D animation and software such as Autodesk Maya. However, there are different types of animation, such as conventional cartoon animation. Keeping with computer generated animation though, we'll be covering 2D computer animation in this post.
Now most people have seen an example of 3D animation, be it in Disney or Dreamworks movies, video games, commercials, etc. Not many people have heard of 2D Flash animation, though they have probably run across it. While 3D animation is quite popular among professionals using it for professional purposes, Flash animation is usually used by amateurs looking to have a little fun or create an artistic project. The following is an example of Flash animation that was created on the basis of a particular commenter's review.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/558516
Pretty nifty right? Especially considering a flash animation like that takes a fraction of the time a 3D animation of the same length would take to produce. Not only that, know those games on Facebook so many people seem to enjoy? Those are created through Flash and are actually quite fun and easy to produce with a little know-how, which we will gain as we go along.
So the next logical question is, how do I get started? Most Flash animation is done with Adobe Flash, for which you can find a free trial straight from the site. https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=flash
Once you have your free trial of Flash installed, you can proceed to these two great starting points. The first is Adobe's Flash Developer Center, which is like one large launch pad for beginning Flash developers. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash.html
This second site is actually a great place to play some Flash games when you are looking to burn some time. However, that is not why we will be visiting it. Kongregate, aside from providing some quality games, also has an amazing series of tutorials that will help you develop a simple Flash game. The cool part? The tutorials themselves ARE simple games! Not only that, the tutorials are extremely detailed and will walk you through every step of the way. http://www.kongregate.com/labs
With all this newfound information you are now ready to begin your quest to learn Flash animation. Hope to hear from you soon! Have fun!
@ http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/558516: Hilarious! I think learning Flash is worth it just so I may type out and liven up some of my more colorful opinions with it! So there are still games where you only hit the space bar? I remember playing Math Blaster on the Commodore 64 as a kid the exact same way--guess a few small things don't change.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Newgrounds, much about Flash I had been shown from there & still to this day continue to visit there for the new content.
ReplyDeleteDefinately much simpler than working with 3D visuals in producing animation by personal experience.
I enjoyed working with Flash in my other classes and certainly enjoyed the post.
I definitely agree that Flash is much simpler and easier to produce than 3D animation. It's a good place to start with animation to say the least. However, despite it being more difficult and time consuming, I still prefer 3D animation. I don't know why, but I do.
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