Monday, March 1, 2010

Flash! Ahhhhhhhhh

So recently we've been working with Adobe flash.

Flash isn't as fun as I thought it'd be- or at least, not fun yet- because it actually takes some really hard work.

Things I learnt using Flash:

1. Drawing in Flash is not the same as drawing in Illustrator. Drawing in Flash is vector-based as well, but you can do some things in flash that you can't do in illustrator, and vice versa.

You still work with layers in Flash, but the process of selecting a path is different- you don't really work with manipulating points as Illustrator does; you can really just move segments of a line by clicking or selecting portions of the line itself. Manipulating a shape, therefore, when you've already drawn it in is a lot different. One thing you can do in Flash that you can't do in Illustrator, however, is segment or erase a shape by placing another on top of it, clicking on the board, and dragging away.

All in all, you can simply import images you've already created in Illustrator, so I may do that until I become proficient in drawing in Flash.

2. New Terminology
Key frames: A key frame is a frame in which a change happens, for example when a figure is supposed to move or a picture is supposed to change- keyframes therefore allow for animation or movement in flash.
Tweening: is generating intermediate frames between two images to create the appaearance that the first image evolcves smoothly or moves into the second image. It isn't done manually with the addition of frames but rather automatically by selecting the frames you want tweened and then selecting a button which allows the program to do it. Motion tweens, for example, allow one image to move in a specific direction and to stop in a specific place.
Pretty cool videos others have made using flash (Inspiration):




Sita Sings the Blues is a movie made entirely in flash by one person- the American Nina Paley. It's the Hindu story of Ram(a) and Sita re-imagined in a completely contemporary way. Pretty cool.

Others to come!

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