Character animation

**corsair** · 30 November 2006, 08:52 AM

Curious to know if anyone is planning to use XXPro for character animation. Over the years I've assembled a few characters and done a few simple animations in Xara and Flash. I don't imagine, from what I've seen that Pro is going to manage inbetweening a walk cycle by any chance.....

Ooops, just noticed the animation forum.......duh - ohhh. Think I need another cup of coffee.
Best,
Fraser

**Availor** · 30 November 2006, 09:22 AM

Hello Fraser,

I guess that if you want to create a long animation then Xara Xtreme Pro will still not be enought. It is best for small banners and a few frames animation. Creating a cartoon would be tought work, so, back to flash

**Thatch** · 30 November 2006, 06:57 PM

I use it to design my characters, then bring them into Flash or Anime Studio (just learning AS). There are a few conversion issues to get past but Xara's drawing tools are so much better it's worth the hassle.

For the actual animation I highly recommend Anime Studio (formerly MOHO). It's quirky but powerful.

Best of luck,

J

**Availor** · 30 November 2006, 07:02 PM

Yes I am familiar with moho, though it is a bit different in it's use and not very intuitive, so I have yet to get a grasp of it.
Alas, it is not very possible to combine between flash and moho. Moho is excellent with it's bone animation characteristics, but flash can create symbols and movie clips which can be reused over and over again.

**amoore** · 30 November 2006, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by Availor

flash can create symbols and movie clips which can be reused over and over again.

AIR, Moho had that capability. I never used it, but I remember it from the tutorial.

**Availor** · 30 November 2006, 08:22 PM

I've tried looking in old tutorials, symbols were never mentioned there. Please post a link if you find one.

**Odat** · 30 November 2006, 08:27 PM

I dont' think they're reffered to as symbols, but in essence it allows you to create a library of characters/items/props/etc, each with it's own associated actions, and then import them into what you're currently working on.

I'm not overly familiar with either Flash or Moho (or AnimeStudio) but I think the ideas remain the same.

**pauland** · 30 November 2006, 08:37 PM

Yes, Flash does have symbols, typically movieclips are used. A movieclip has it's own timeline, so you can have a man character and animate the man on the timeline, so you'd animate a walk, animate a turn, animate a jump and animate sitting down, etc. You can the import this movieclip to the stage and by controlling the movieclip timeline (simple actionscript), you can animate the man on the stage without having to animate the individual parts all the time.

It's not the bee-all and end-all because you still will have to animate other movements besides thos in the man movieclip.

Does that help?

www.cartoonsmart.com is agood place for this kind of thing..

Paul

**amoore** · 30 November 2006, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by Odat

I dont' think they're reffered to as symbols

Odat is right. I don't believe they were called 'symbols', but I definitely remember the principle being included in the tutorial. I'm pretty sure the beach ball in the scene with Frank and the tree was the sort of thing you're talking about.

**pauland** · 30 November 2006, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by amoore

Odat is right. I don't believe they were called 'symbols', but I definitely remember the principle being included in the tutorial. I'm pretty sure the beach ball in the scene with Frank and the tree was the sort of thing you're talking about.

http://livedocs.macromedia.com/flash...=00000438.html

"
Flash 8 Documentation
Using Flash > Using Symbols, Instances, and Library Assets > Creating symbols
Creating symbols

You can create a symbol from selected objects on the Stage, or you can create an empty symbol and make or import the content in symbol-editing mode. You can also create font symbols in Flash. See Creating font symbols. Symbols can have all the functionality that you can create with Flash, including animation.

By using symbols that contain animation, you can create Flash applications with a lot of movement while minimizing file size. Consider creating animation in a symbol when there is a repetitive or cyclic action--the up-and-down motion of a bird's wings, for example.

You can also add symbols to your document by using shared library assets during authoring or at runtime. See Using shared library assets."