Flash Cartoon Animation: Learn from the Pros

by Kevin Peaty and Glenn Kirkpatrick

Book Overview

You want to make an animated film. You've got the idea. You've got Macromedia Flash. But where do you start? What's the best way to script your cartoon, how do you start animating with Flash, what do... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590592077
• ISBN13: 9781590592076
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Apress
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.5" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A must in every sense

If you're new to flash or you know the basics, this is the right book for you. Covers any possibility and guides you step by step even before you can touch a computer! The first chapters explains how Flash works, just as any other flash book, but also explains all the differences using flash for animation instead of web design, and contains an useful description about how you can optimize and reduce your files size for optimum performance, and more important, the differences between TV and video output and web animation file sizes, frame rates and screen proportions. This part often is not included in most flash books and it's essential for ambitious proyects. The part I like the most? the book focuses in all the previous work and planning needed to achieve sucess. Page after page, you learn why you can easily fail if you just jump into flash without an appropiate preparation. Everything you need for flash animation is here.

Very good!

This one is good, full of explanations and step by step instructions on how to get the desired results. I am a fan of FOED books and along with their Foundation titles this one really shines! Recommended.

The animator who cried wolf didn't read this...

Beginning Flash animators will probably find no better starting place than this book. It includes just about everything the neophyte animator needs for a good start. The book traces the evolution of a Flash cartoon from idea to actuality, with a bonus chapter on publishing to the internet and the inevitable issues that arise at that phase. Coming up with a story can stall the most stalwart animator, and the first chapter is dedicated to this brain bulging dilemma. There may be nothing more important for a successful cartoon than starting out with and ultimately following a plan, and the book reiterates this idea almost ad nauseum - but for good reason. A script can easily translate to a storyboard, which will slowly morph into the final product. Plans will only save time and frustration in the end (a very hard learned lesson that can leave permanent damage). Many beginners may leap right into Flash with an abstract or incomplete idea thinking "I'll get the ending eventually, now let's get to drawing!" (I've never done this, no way, not me, no no...) A toon abandoned from frustration typically results. The authors do a great job of driving this home (so don't skip the first chapter). A great introduction to Flash's drawing tools follows the story line chapter (a subject that could fill an entire book). Discussions concerning style permeate the chapter (e.g., advantages of the brush tool over the pencil tool, etc. - readers make the choice in the end depending on personal preference). A surprising discussion on Art Direction follows. Beginning animators probably grossly underestimate the importance of mapping out characters for consistency, composition with color and space, and ease of animation (i.e., don't create characters with multitudinous moving parts and hard to animate elements). I did. Next, the book outlines the basics of storyboarding and some basic concepts of cinematography (e.g., establishing eyelines, camera positioning, etc). The authors stress the importance of making an animatic (basically a rough draft for an animation that typically involves animating the storyboard) for a toon. This probably comes down to personal preference as well (I've never made an animatic, but these guys do have massive and impressive experience). The most important chapter, "Animation Principles", provides the basic theoretical foundation for what makes a toon tick. The inexperienced will find vital principles here: squash and stretch, staggering, depicting weight, anticipation, cycles, following through, and animating acting. All animators should have these concepts down to an almost second-nature degree. Everyone who reads this book should also supplement it with another book on animation principles (the authors provide a short list of possible titles). This information will improve a toon's quality and professionalism exponentially. Of course the authors eventually discuss animating using Flash, but not in detail until chapter eight. They put great we

Highly Recommended

Having been interested in animation for some time, but put off by traditional expensive and time-consuming methods, I was excited when a friend recommended this new Friends of ED book. With no previous Flash experience, I was cautious, but this book really did make it easy and fun. I'd made my first simple animation within days, now I'm hooked!Highly recommended.