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| Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation (Foundation) | 
| Authors: Tim Jones, Allan Rosson, Barry Kelly, David Wolfe
Publisher: friends of ED
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $21.56
You Save: $18.43 (46%)
New (29) from $21.56
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 157028
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 7.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 1590599128
Dewey Decimal Number: 006.696
EAN: 9781590599129
ASIN: 1590599128
Publication Date: November 19, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
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
- How to make Flash not look like Flash
Summary of Contents - Chapter 1 - The Project Plan
- Chapter 2 - Character Libraries
- Chapter 3 - Storyboards and Animatics
- Chapter 4 - Setting Up Your FLA
- Chapter 5 - Plug-ins and Extensions
- Chapter 6 - Frame by Frame Animation
- Chapter 7 - Animating With Tweens
- Chapter 8 - Animation Special Effects
- Chapter 9 - Why Use After Effects?
- Chapter 10 - After Effects and Camera Mechanics
- Chapter 11 - Making Flash Not Look Like Flash
- Chapter 12 - Tips and Tricks
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
A valuable resource for flash animation professionals August 29, 2008
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 August 25, 2008
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 June 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 April 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
Best recommendations from here.
-Alex Volkov (Flash Animator)
Stretch beyond the mechanics of the Flash tools March 1, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
There are many books about cartoon animation in Flash. What sets this book apart from the rest is the approach the authors have taken to make this book much more than just another step-by-step book about drawing and animating characters. Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation is for the animator who needs to stretch beyond the mechanics of the Flash tools and perfect the decision-making process necessary to become a productive animator. One of the biggest questions that is answered in this book is when to use Flash and how to use it most efficiently. The next question is what tasks are beyond Flash's capabilities and when to turn to another software such as After Effects.
The authors assume that the reader has a basic knowledge of Flash and the principles of animation. Because of this, you will find only a few step-by-step examples. What they do cover thoroughly is every phase of the production process for cartoon animation from planning, storyboards and animatics to post-production and delivery. The approach for this book is to examine working examples which can be downloaded from the publisher's website.
If you have ever created a complex character animation including lip synching and facial expressions, then you know that your character must be divided into a large number of individual animated parts. This is why the authors dedicate a whole chapter to organization and using the Flash library system to build character libraries. As you progress through the process from head comps and onward, the authors show when it is best to draw from scratch and when to use Flash symbols. Storyboards and animatics are next in the production process and the book covers several decisions that must be made such as choosing between traditional, hand-drawn storyboards and the digital method in Flash.
Moving from the planning stages to character creation, the authors discuss the technical and organizational issues such as Flash file structures and project architecture. They take a look at several working examples to give the reader a comprehensive overview of this topic. One of the most helpful aspects of this book is how the authors help you decide when Flash is not enough to get the job done and how to expand Flash's capabilities with plug-ins. They discuss several of their favorites, how to find more on the web and when to make your own.
One of the most important decisions that an animator will need to make is the choice between traditional frame by frame animation and tweening. The authors share their four step process for frame by frame animation and then discuss tweening and how to avoid common mistakes.
I mentioned earlier that the authors discuss the use of a dedicated motion graphic software such as After Effects to take your Flash project to a higher level of quality and sophistication. They discuss some of the advantages to using After Effects for editing and composition such as complex camera movements and 3D effects.
Flash has been plagued by one major drawback since its conception a decade ago and that is the extreme "digital" look of the vector artwork created in Flash. The authors share several tips and suggestions for enhancing your Flash project to achieve a more "hand-drawn" appearance to your animation including line styles and color choices. They also cover the digital equivalents for traditionally hand-drawn special effects such as distortion, drag, fade in/out and blurs.
This book was a joint effort of several authors. Tim Jones is an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer and head of production at ANIMAX Entertainment. Barry J. Kelly is an Emmy Award-winning editor and artist and is also a member of ANIMAX Entertainment. Allan S. Rosson is animation director at ANIMAX Entertainment and has over twenty years experience as an animator. David Wolfe was an animator at ANIMAX Entertainment and is now with Cartoon Network Studios.
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