Macromedia Flash8 Bible

Flash can be a powerful tool for creating broadcast-quality cartoons. In such cases, many of the usual file-size concerns related to Flash development are set aside because the final output will not have to be Web-friendly.

The task of a cartoon animator is to express motion and emotion. Anticipation and overlapping actions are basic tools used by cartoon animators to add drama to a character's movement.

Flash tweening, including instance swapping and Motion guides, is one of the most useful Flash cartooning tools.

Lip-syncing, which is critical to fine cartoon animation, is not a push-button task — even with Flash, an animator must understand the relationship between expression and lip-sync, and have a working knowledge of phonemes, as well as syncing with music and sound effects.

The new Filters and Blend modes in Flash 8 are strong additions to the authoring environment that will make it much easier to achieve sophisticated-looking animation without having to use other applications for special effects.

After a cartoon is created in Flash, final output may include using either Premiere or After Effects for the final polish that makes it look more like "real film."

The key point of this entire chapter is this: Computers can save time, but artists animate!