ANIMATE as a compositing program!

It didn't take long for Animate to become my animation program of choice. But recently I had the need to work in Flash once again due to the character reference I was provided being in .eps format.

The problem with Flash for me is that (a) there is no camera, so the pans and camera moves can be jerky, (b) the effects don't export reliably and (c) exporting as a high quality Quicktime is impossible.

So following on from the previous post, I exported my animation as .swfs (Don't forget to set your version to Flash 4 or 5 in the swf export pop-up) and then imported them into Animate where I applied effects and camera moves.

The only restriction I can see is that any tints you my use in Flash won't be there when the swf has been imported into animate.

Importing swfs From Flash Into Animate

While it is great that Animate can import and work with swfs created in Flash, I've noticed that it is sometimes hit or miss; sometimes they import - sometimes they don't.

I've just discovered a fix for this if you are using a version of Flash post-Flash 5 (I am using Flash 8). When you export a swf, in the export pop up box go to VERSION and set to either Flash 4 or Flash 5.

That will do it!

A new blog

Welcome! A new blog to document our experiences learning and using Toonboom's new ANIMATE animation software.

We were first introduced to Toonboom's products back in June 2006, and attended a training session organized by Joel Kuwahara of Film Roman. It was a two-week part-time course and we touched lightly upon every feature of Toonboom SOLO (which then became DIGITAL PRO).

We were impressed with Toonboom SOLO but we didn't make the switch from Flash to Toonboom at the time because we had already started production on an animated feature (Los Campeones De La Lucha Libre) using Flash. What an experience that was, and it pushed us towards finding a more reliable all-inclusive animator-friendly program to serve our needs...

In 2008, we travelled to Montreal to meet with Toonboom and received hands-on training in DIGITAL PRO for an intensive 3-4 days.

This year we are making the big switch. ANIMATE appears to be a more streamlined, lighter, simpler and cleaner version of DIGITAL PRO. It is also more affordably, in the same price range as FLASH. Much easier to use, less clunky. Yes, there is a learning curve when switching from Flash - both thrilling and frustrating but ultimately, rewarding. This blog is a place to record and share parts of our working process. Feel free to leave comments with your experiences, questions and answers!

SOME LINKS:

• Toonboom Forums
  
• ColdHardFlash.com - Posts tagged with Toon Boom
• CartoonSmart.com - Free ANIMATE Tutorials (Character rigging etc.)