Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation

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,but alsogive 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

One of Flash’s most common uses is still animation for cartoons, games, advertising etc, and this book takes a fresh look at the topic, breaking it down pre-production, production, and post production, and looking at each section in detail, and covering topics such as storyboarding, character libraries and camera mechanics like no Flash book has before.

The book is written by members of the Emmy award winning ANIMAX team, who have created work for clients such as Disney, AOL, Fox, WWE, ESPN, and Sesame workshop. This book is an opportunity for them to share their secrets, and is written to suit anyone who wants to make use of Flash as an animation tool.

This book is compatible with most versions of Flash, including the latest, CS3.

An Emmy Award-winning producer and writer, Tim is currently head of production at ANIMAX (www.animaxent.com). With over fifteen years of industry experience (including stints at Warner Bros., Disney, Klasky-Csupo and Internet pioneering animation house Icebox) Jones is a seasoned pro at directing creative and technical teams on a wide range of award-winning projects. Recently admitted to the Producer's Guild of America, his past speaking engagements include FITC, FlashForward, ShowBiz Expo, and Digital Hollywood. Jones has a BFA in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University and is currently getting his MBA from Pepperdine University.

Adept at managing and leading technical and creative design and animation production crews, Al has over 20 years of animation experience for TV, interactive, and live environmental installations. Al was a character designer and storyboard cleanup artist for Warner Bros. Television, specifically on Animaniacs and Histeria; a traditional animator at DIC Studios on Sabrina the Teenage Witch; and the Lead Flash Animator for both Icebox.com and Klasky Csupo Studios. Al has been a pioneer in a variety of animation related fields and mediums. At Sonic Images, Al created animation for some of the first interactive CD-ROM titles for children, including Children's Musical Theatre and Pigs. As the Animation Director at Vision III Imaging his productions combined traditional animation techniques and an auto-stereoscopic process for texture and depth enhancement.