How to create flash animation. Flash animation creation Flash animation editor

On this web page you will find programs for creating and editing flash animation. With their help, you can turn your own ideas into animated videos for your site.

Flash editor is a program for creating flash animations and editing ready-made flash videos.

FLA format is the original document of your clip. After opening it, you get into the Macromedia Flash program and can further edit the clip.

SWF format- this is an executable Flash file, when you "click" the mouse on it, you have the opportunity to view the clip using the Macromedia Flash Player program.

Animation with Adobe Flash Professional

Adobe Flash Professional CS3- the advantages and functionality of this program can be described for a very long time. This program is the undisputed leader in the flash technology environment. Adobe Flash Professional is used by both professional web site developers and flash designers.

With the help of this program, even the sickest fantasy can be realized in flash. In general, if you decide to create professional animated flash files, then Adobe Flash Professional is exactly the program that you cannot do without.

The volume depends on the version from 500 Mb.

For now Adobe moment Flash Professional CS5 - a new version animation and multimedia software.

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7

Screenshot of the program:

download Adobe Flash Professional CS3

Perhaps for a novice web master, creating a flash animation using Adobe software Flash Professional will seem somewhat complicated and out of reach.

In this case, do not despair and quit what you started. Try your flash ideas with Swishmax.

Swishmax - flash editor

SwishMAX is an alternative program with a friendly and simple interface for creating flash animation, which is less functional than the previous one, but at the same time allows you to get a good quality result. The main advantage of the bottom flash editor is its ease of use. Even a novice user, having video lessons at hand, will be able to create professional flash videos with it in a short time.

Volume: 9.27 MB.

The interface language is Russian.

Operating system: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP

Screenshot of the program:

download swishmax

Alligator Flash Designer

Next flash program is even simpler, both in terms of functionality and interface content. The capabilities of this flash editor allow you to easily create a flash banner for the site in a matter of minutes.

There are over 130 effects: fade, zoom, rotate. Animated drawings, shapes or text, and even sound are seamlessly added to your Flash animation.

Here you can also specify OnClick or OnOver.

Volume: 5.3 MB.

The interface language is Russian.

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7

Screenshot of the program:

download Alligator_Flash_Designer_7.0

Another program that is not a flash animation editor, but its capabilities are essential for a novice web designer.

Flash Decompiler Trillix

Flash Decompiler Trillix - the main purpose of this program is to export SWF files back to FLA format with one click of the mouse. Retrieves everything Flash objects from a SWF file and saves them to a FLA file, which can later be edited in Flash.

The advantage of Flash Decompiler is editing sounds, images, colors, gradients, lines, dynamic texts and links without converting to FLA.

Volume: 7.27 MB.

The interface language is Russian.

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7

Screenshot of the program:

Download Flash Decompiler Trillix

October 13, 2014

We see flash animation all the time, on the internet and on TV. Creating a simple flash animation using Flash technology is quite a simple task, as Flash offers many useful tools that make the whole process easier. If you want to create a flash animation or cartoon, then you can sketch it in just a couple of hours.

Steps

Part 1

Frame-by-frame flash animation

Frame-by-frame animation basics. This method is considered the main method for creating "traditional" animation, in which each subsequent frame includes one, but slightly modified image. When playing all the frames, the image "comes to life". This same method is used by freehand cartoon animators and is more time consuming than twinning (see next section).

• By default, Flash renders at 24 frames per second (FPS). This means that 24 frames will be shown in one second, but not all of them need to be different. You can change this setting (if you want) to 12fps, but at 24fps the animation will play more "smoothly".

1. Install Flash Pro. There are many programs for creating flash animation, but the most powerful is Adobe Flash Professional CC. You can install a free trial version of this program or use another product (if you do not want to register for Adobe Creative Cloud). The remainder of this article describes how to work with Flash Professional.

   Since frame-by-frame animation requires several images (which are slightly different from each other), you need to create these images manually. To do this, use Adobe Flash Professional or draw images in any graphics editor.

   • If you want your images to be easily resized without losing quality, create images in vector rather than raster graphics. Vector images will redraw themselves when they are resized (i.e. you will avoid pixelation or anti-aliasing). Raster images are traditional images such as photographs, drawings, and so on. If you try to enlarge such images, you will get a very distorted picture.

2. Create the first frame. When you first start Adobe Flash Professional, you will see a blank canvas (layer) and an empty timeline. As frames are added, the timeline will fill in automatically. You can work with layers just like you do in Photoshop.

   • Before adding an image, create a base background for your animation. Rename "Layer 1" to "Background" and then clip it. Create a second layer and name it whatever you like. This will be the layer on which you will create the animation.
   • Add a drawing to the canvas of the first frame. You can import a drawing from your computer, or you can use the drawing tools to create a drawing directly in the program.
   • The first frame is the "key" frame. A key frame is a frame that includes an image and forms the basis ("backbone") of the animation. You will create a new keyframe every time you change the image.
   • Keyframes on the timeline are indicated by a black dot.
   • You don't need a keyframe in every subsequent frame. Create a keyframe every four or five frames to make a good animation.

3. Convert the image to a symbol. In this case, you will be able to add the image to the frame several times. This is especially useful if you need to quickly add several images of the same type to one frame (for example, fish in an aquarium).

   • Select a drawing. Right-click on the drawing and select Convert to Symbol. The image will be added to the library, making it easier to use in the future.
   • Delete the drawing. Don't worry - you can add it to the frame with a simple drag and drop from the library. This way you can add the same picture to the frame several times.

4. Add blank frames. Once your first keyframe is complete, insert blank frames and then start creating your second keyframe. Press F5 (four or five times) to add blank frames after the first keyframe.

   Create a second keyframe (after you've added some empty frames). There are two different ways to do this: you can copy an existing keyframe and make small changes to it, or you can create an empty keyframe and add a new image to it. If you are using a drawing created in another program, use the second method. If you are inserting an image created with the Adobe Flash Professional drawing tools, use the first method.

   • To create a keyframe using the contents of the previous keyframe, press F6. To create a blank keyframe, right-click on the last frame in the timeline and select Insert Blank Keyframe.
   • Once you've created the second keyframe, you need to make changes to its image to make the animation come to life. If you've used Adobe Flash Professional's drawing tools, select the Transform tool to select an element in your drawing (such as a character's hand) and modify it.
   • If you insert a new image at each keyframe, make sure it is in the right place (according to the logical frame sequence).

5. Repeat the process. After creating two keyframes, repeat the process - add a few blank frames between each keyframe and make sure the animation plays "smoothly".

   • Make small changes. The smaller (smaller) changes, the smoother the animation plays. For example, if you want the character to raise their hand, the second keyframe should not include a drawing that shows the character with their hand already raised. Instead, use a few keyframes to transition from the lowered hand to the raised hand. In this case, the animation will be smoother.

6. Convert the drawing. Once you've created keyframes and a path, you can transform the image so that it changes smoothly as you move along the twin's path. You can change the shape, color, slope, size, and any other aspect of the image.

   • Select the frame in which the drawing will be transformed.
   • Open the drawing properties panel. To do this, press F3.
   • Change the parameter values ​​in the drawing properties window. For example, you can change the hue or color, add filters, change the size.
   • You can also use the Free Transform tool to change the drawing however you like.

7. Add the finishing touches. Check the created animation by pressing Ctrl + Enter. Make sure the drawing (character) changes correctly and that the animation plays at the correct speed. If the animation plays too fast, reduce the FPS value or increase the duration of the tween.

   • The default FPS is 24, so try lowering this to 12. Change the FPS value in the properties panel. However, at FPS = 12, the animation may not play smoothly enough.
   • To change the duration of a tween, select the layer containing the tween and use the slider to change the duration of the tween. If you want to double the length of the tween, move the slider to 48 frames. Don't forget to paste the background on empty frames so that the background doesn't disappear in the middle of the animation. To do this, select the background layer, click on the last frame of the animation (on the timeline), and then press F5.

Part 3

Adding sound effects and music

1. Record or download sound effects and music. You can add sound effects to your animation to make it more impactful. Music will make an animation more exciting and can turn a good animation into a great one. Flash supports various audio file formats, including AAC, MP3, WAV, and AU. Choose a format that guarantees high sound quality with the smallest file size.

   • The MP3 format guarantees high quality sound with a minimum file size. WAV files are large.

2. Import audio files into the library to be able to quickly add sounds and music to animations. Click "File" - "Import" - "Import to Library". Find the audio file on your computer. Make sure the audio file has an easy-to-remember name so you can quickly find it.

   Create a new layer for each audio file. This is not required and you can add sound to existing layers, but pasting the audio file on a separate layer will give you more control over the animation's soundtrack.

   Create a keyframe from which the audio will start playing. On the sound layer, select the animation frame from which the sound will start playing. Press F7 to insert an empty keyframe. For example, if you want to insert an audio file that plays throughout the animation, select the first frame on the audio file layer. If you're adding a character's voice, select the frame where the character starts talking.

Have you ever wondered what lies behind the beautiful animation of banners on the Internet? Or for newfangled cartoons created with the help of computer technology? Most often they are based on " flesh", more precisely, this is how the name of the Flash technology is translated from English. Today we will talk about flash animation for the site:

Flash Technology

The multimedia framework was developed by Macromedia. But after its takeover (merger), all rights to the technology were transferred to a new owner - Adobe Systems.

Scope of modern application of Adobe Flash:

• Creating web applications is a fairly new direction. It implies full or partial use of Flash to create websites. With partial application, this technology creates separate design elements: various interactive menus, animated buttons, etc.

Compared to conventional html-based resources, flash sites have some features that limit their use. These include high development costs, demanding server resources, long loading times with a slow Internet connection, and some other aspects:

• Implementation of multimedia capabilities - for listening to audio and playing video on sites, media players based on Flash are often used. Their development includes the use of one of the scripting languages ​​(more often JavaScript):

• In Internet advertising - most often the technology is used to create animated banners. They imply not only the playback of multimedia advertising, but also some kind of interaction with the user on a game basis.

Fundamentals and Tools for Flash Development

To create flash animation, traditional tools from Adobe are most often used:

• Adobe Flash Professional - a program for creating interactive animation (animator);
• Adobe Flash Builder - an environment for creating an interface for web applications;
• Adobe Flash Player is a browser-integrated player for playing Flash.

In addition to it, a number of third party applications. The most popular of them are Gnash, QuickTime and some others:

This technology allows you to display any type of graphics ( raster, vector, 3D). And also supports streaming relaying of audio and video data. Especially for mobile devices lightweight has been developed flash version Lite.

The main standard for flash files is the SWF extension. The acronym stands for Small Web Format. Video recorded in Flash has file extensions FLV , F4V .

The development of interactive animation in Flash is based on Vector graphics. Thanks to this, it was possible to implement support for the multimedia platform and the independence of the animation quality from the screen resolution.

The file size of a Flash application is the same for all users, regardless of specifications screen (resolution).

Interactive animation in Flash is based on morphing (vector type ), which slowly blends between keyframes. To play the data, a flash player is used, the operation of which is in many respects similar to the work virtual machine JavaScript. The software component of the technology is implemented using the ActionScript language.

The disadvantages of the technology include the following points:

• heavy load on CPU client machine. This is due to the low efficiency of the flash virtual machine, which is embedded with the player in the user's browser;
• High Error Probability – Playing Flash animation can be very error prone. Moreover, failures in Flash playback negatively affect the operation of the entire client application (browser). This is due to insufficient control over the fault tolerance of the program code when creating flash applications;
• Cannot be indexed - All text content displayed in Flash content is not indexed. This limitation is especially problematic for those resources that are based on this technology.

Overview of Third-Party Flash Creation Software

Sothink SWF Quicker was taken as a prototype application on which we will demonstrate the basics of creating Flash. According to many professionals, the program is the most understandable and easy to learn.

In addition to creating and editing, the flash editor "knows how" to work with all other types of web animation (GIF, HTML and other standards):

After installation, we go to the user-friendly interface of the program. Unfortunately, after wandering through all the nooks and crannies of the interface language switcher, we did not find it.

In order to understand how to make a flash animation in this application, we will use the built-in templates. The New From Template dialog box appears immediately after starting the program. In addition, it can be called through the main menu item "File". Among the proposed options, we chose the creation of a banner:

In the next window of the wizard, you need to select a template from the drop-down list, according to which the animation will be created. Below it is a small frame in which the selected template is played:

In the next steps, you need to set the size of the banner and enter 5 phrases of text that will be played in the animation. In addition, you must specify the address of the resource to which the user will be led by clicking on the banner:

After compiling the project and closing the wizard window, you can view the resulting video in the built-in player. To do this, click on the green arrow at the top:

After closing the player, let's take a closer look at the application's interface. Please note that it consists of two main windows: the top one is for editing the time interval of the video, and the bottom one is a regular graphics editor. Each of the elements is located on a separate layer, which is available for editing using standard tools located on the sidebar.

A free program for creating flash animation using ready-made applets.

Many of you, I think, have ever tried to create your own sites (or maybe you even own a very popular portal).

One way or another, everyone faced the problem of effective design of their web pages. And, as static HTML code is slowly becoming a thing of the past, many people today are turning their attention to popular technologies such as JavaScript and Flash. They allow you to create beautiful animated dynamic pages with advanced functionality.

It will not be difficult for a specialist to make a small animated flash banner, however, what about the rest of the uninitiated? If a scrupulous study of programming languages ​​is not included in your immediate plans, then you can, as always, resort to the help of specialized software. Today we will get acquainted with the basics of working in the program. Advanced Effect Maker.

This utility allows you to create all kinds of flash and JavaScript effects, both your own "from scratch" and based on ready-made templates! Advanced Effect Maker exists in several editions, which differ in the number of ready-made effects and the degree of user freedom. Let's compare the maximum and free configurations:

Comparison of the free version of the flash editor Advanced Effect Maker Free Edition with the commercial version of the Commercial Edition

The biggest disadvantage free version programs - the presence of a kind of preaplouder, which allows you to go to view some ready-made effects only after clicking on the created banner. This is where all the differences basically end :).

Program installation

Installing Advanced Effect Maker takes place in a standard way, so let's go straight to working with the program:

At the first start, we will be prompted to read the license agreement. To accept it, click the "I agree" button. After that, you can start studying the utility interface:

Interface and work with the editor

Despite the English language, everything is simple and clear. The Advanced Effect Maker window is divided into two parts. There are only two large buttons on the left: the first one is for entering the gallery of available effects, and the second one is for adding additional applets (this is if you want to buy them;)). On the right side, we see a catalog of available templates with subsections and a preview window, as well as an effect editing area.

To start editing the desired template, just click on its image, and if you just want to see how it works, then click the "Preview" inscription under the picture:

When you open the desired effect, you may see a message that the file already exists. If this happened, then simply ignore it by pressing the "Ok" button:

If the template opened successfully, we will be able to see several tabs that contain all sorts of settings:

Program settings and animation creation

The first tab is General. This contains the general project settings. Usually these are dimensions (width - width and height - height), name (file name), quality of the future file (quality), as well as flash movie window mode (window mode).

The second tab - "Color", as the name implies, is responsible for the colors used in the project. Everything is very clear here, so let's move on to the next one - "Messages":

Here we have two fields. In the first field (on the left) we enter the text that we need to display with a special effect, and in the second - a link that the user will follow by clicking on our banner. The advantage of Advanced Effect Maker is that we can enter an unlimited number of lines of text (as well as links), but the main disadvantage is the lack of support for the Russian language :(.

The next two tabs are used to manage fonts (Fonts) and animation properties (Others), respectively. One caveat: if you want to use alternative TTF fonts, you will have to convert them first to be compatible with Advanced Effect Maker. To do this, from the "Tools" menu, call the "Convert Fonts" tool and, having selected the desired font, click the "Convert" button:

When all the changes have been made, we can click the "Create Applet" button. After that, two files will be created in the project destination folder: SWF (direct animation) and HTML (contains instructions for embedding the resulting animation into the code of your page:

Saving your work

However, that's not all. With Advanced Effect Maker you can create your own effect based on an existing one, or completely from scratch! To do this, go to the "Tools" menu and activate the "Plugin Maker" item:

Here you first need to set a name for the new project, as well as some other parameters (optional). After that, it will be possible to press the "Create Applet" button, and we will go directly to the effect editor window:

There are several buttons here that allow you to enter some standard functions into the scenario of the future effect. The only problem is that you will have to manually enter all the necessary variables and values ​​yourself, and here some programming skills in ActionScript or JavaScript are already required :(.

conclusions

Advanced Effect Maker may be to the taste of novice web designers, as it allows you to effortlessly create quite spectacular banners, animated menus, slideshows, and even small games (such as tags). The shortcoming in the form of a preaplouder (if it is available in the selected effect) can be eliminated using special decompiler programs for SWF files (including free ones) ;).

Good luck in all your endeavors and creative success!

P.S. It is allowed to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.

A free program for creating flash videos of almost any degree of complexity! It includes almost all the necessary tools for everyday work with flash and can be used by both beginners and professionals. The main difference and advantage of this program is support for ActionScript 2.0, without which it is simply impossible to imagine the creation of professional flash content.

It seems that Dima Bilan is right when he says that the impossible is possible :). Until quite recently, web developers had to either pirate or pay quite a lot of money for the opportunity to work with flash animation. And finally, the hour has come when the third full-fledged option has appeared - to use a free flash editor.

Previously, our site already had one similar program, but its minus was some obsolescence, a limited set of tools and the lack of support for the ActionScript programming language, which is so necessary to create any kind of functional sites, games, etc.

Today I will introduce you to a completely modern flash editor, which can compete almost on an equal footing with the eminent Adobe Flash - Vectorian Giotto.

Comparison of Vectorian Giotto with a paid analogue

As you can see, the developers of Vectorian Giotto did their best and tried to fit into their program the maximum possible set of functions similar to Adobe Flash. In addition, most of the keyboard shortcuts are also the same, so those who are used to working with the Adobe editor, it will not be difficult to switch to the free Vectorian Giotto platform!

Well, for "dessert" in free editor there is also something that is sometimes so lacking in the "big brother" - a built-in library of animation effects that will appeal especially to those who create flash banners.

Preparation for work

To get started with Vectorian Giotto, we need to download the archive with the installer, which, by the way, weighs only 8 megabytes! When the archive is downloaded, open it and run the file VectorianGiotto.exe.

Despite the fact that the installation (and the program itself, sadly :)) is in English, it should not cause any difficulties, since it is not necessary to change anything in the default settings. Just click the "Next" button several times and wait for the installation process to complete;).

First acquaintance with the interface

At the end of the installation, if we did not change anything in the standard settings, the Vectorian Giotto working window will appear in front of us in full screen:

As I already said, the program interface is in English, so in order to avoid misunderstandings and misunderstandings when performing further steps described in the article, I would like to introduce some kind of conceptual apparatus :). Let's start, as usual, from top to bottom and from left to right.

Menu bar. This is the panel on which all the menus of the Vectorian Giotto program are located. When working with animation, you may need sections such as "File" (for saving and exporting your animation to SWF), "View" (for setting display options working area), "Modify" (to control the parameters of the current document and work with the library of effects) and "Window" (to customize the displayed modules and panels of the program).

Main toolbar. Here are the project action control buttons and the animation playback panel.

Drawing panel (occupies the entire left part of the program window). Here are all the necessary tools to create any desired objects for your animation, as well as buttons that allow you to configure the parameters of the desired tools.

Storyboard (or timeline). Allows you to manage cells for frames and created layers.

Color Control Panel. With it, you can quickly change the color of previously created shapes. It also serves to select the type of filling for your animation objects (solid, gradient, etc.).

Workspace. It is a virtual sheet of "paper" designed for drawing your animations :).

ActionScript editor. If you need to create not simple banners, but something more complex, including buttons and all kinds of interactive objects, then you cannot do without a script editor.

Clip structure panel. Displays all the shapes that are "in the frame" and allows you to quickly switch between them and manage their sequence.

Properties panel. Each object in flash has certain properties. This panel is used to manage them.

Transform panel. Allows you to quickly change the size and position of the selected animation element.

Library of elements. Represents a list of created or imported objects that can be (and repeatedly!) inserted into the animation.