Flash animation
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- Llyod
The last time I used Flash I was using scripts based on Robert Penner's. So I'm using CS4 and it has that crazy motion editor (which I would have been psyched about 5 years ago) and I'm not sure which way I should animate. Does the motion editor produce animations as smooth as scripted ones?
And does anyone have any replacement scripts for Penner?
- 7point340
is this a relevant and legitimate question?
are you allowed to start those?
- Llyod0
It's a real question. I have full clearance.
- CyBrain0
I'm not an as3 user yet but I think the use of either depends on situations. Penner equations/tween classes are great for setting up dynamic movements that you would typically have in interfaces and timeline animation is suited to more complex animation that requires more visual trial and error.
- Llyod0
I'm just used to super smooth movement from scripted animation and slow crap from the timeline.
- boobs0
If you use a high enough frame rate, like 30fps, you should get smooth animation from the timeline.
- Llyod0
I usually use 60 fps
- ukit0
Go for 500fps and your animations will be awesome.
- 90 is the limit smartassLlyod
- was that reverse sarcasm?
*head explodes7point34 - 90 is the limit? weird mine goes as fast as i tell it too.. the only limit is the player/computer its rendered on at runtimeapplepirate
- 120 fps is the limit.fyoucher1
- lvl_130
you can get smooth animation either way. as boobs said, having your fps above 30 will look good. also as cybrain stated, some non-complex animation using scripts like penner's and mctween and such will give you great results. but for anything more complex, hand-tweening will more likely give it a much better feel. it's all about trial and error.
- applepirate0
anyone had success using the Iinverse Kinematics tools yet? It is great but... im looking for a way to use it for bitmaps and cant figure it out yet.... seems to only be a vector tool
- no, you connect the IK tools to any MovieClip. so just turn your bitmaps into MovieClips.anxiousarms
- for a good example go to http://www.firstborn…anxiousarms
- anxiousarms0
actually 120fps is the cut off in flash. i like 60 as well but most video cards can't handle more than 24fps. i tend to animate around 30-40fps myself since i aim for a higher quality user.
the motion editor in CS4 doesn't make the timeline any smoother but it does make the lines your animations follow better. it's less about making animations lighter and more about making animation easier to control in general.
there's no real answer to your "use code or time line animations" question. it really should be based on what you're working on. timelined animations for navigation rollOvers might work best but then section transitions might be better suited with code. it's all subjective.
but as for which Tween Engine to use, i'd stay away from the Adobe Tween Class that comes with Flash natively in trade for TweenLite. it's a lighter import and can handle more calls for animation at once. check out their benchmarking on GreenSock.com
- richardkark0
Yeah, depends on how you like to structure things. Sometimes I'll timeline animate something in 20 seconds, because I don't want to code trial and error for 20 minutes for something that'll look exactly the same.
- maximillion_0
google "greensock" tweenlite and tweenfilterlite allow you to easily code as3 animations (tweens) with penner's easing equations (now available natively in as3)
- DeviceUnseen0
Is tweenlite better then tweener? I am always confused which will be supported by more developers.
TransformManager is pretty awesome.
- anxiousarms0
tweenlite seems to be the lightest fastest engine.
- maximillion_0
i find tweenlite fullfills most of what I want, i havent tested all of the other options but it depends on the community of developers. GreatWhite guys love tweener for some reason - i think this is more a case of it being used in the examples
- co20
I just did an animated holiday card with some simple scaling of vector objects. I used the timeline in CS4 bc it was new and I wanted to test it out. The 30 second movie (900 frames at 30fps) took over a minute to complete. I am not sure what threw off the timing but I am assuming it had something to do with redrawing the vector artwork. I then switched to using TweenLite and it works perfectly.
Not sure of the whys and hows but my opinion is to stick with script based animations.