HTML5 Animation using Xara Designer Pro X and Hippo Animator 2

[Big Frank]

Having set a challenge for creating a fancy-pants animation using Xara, and seeing that the ensuing discussion mentioned the future demise of Flash on the web and the emergence of HTML5 as an animation platform, I decided to set myself the challenge of seeing what I could achieve with the tools available today. And so I created this short HTML5 Animation using only Xara Designer Pro X and Hippo Animator 2, a fairly simple and quite new software (ie, still needs some bugs ironed out) from a British company, Hippo Studios. Here is my animation:

http://beretgascon.fr/tg/html5_animation/

I have not tested this page on a mobile device, and if any of you have an iPhone or iPad that you could check this page on, I'd be grateful if you left your comments here about whether it is fully accessible or not. Please also check that the "Play again" link at the end works.

I am really quite pleased with what I was able to achieve with the lightweight Hippo Animator 2 and since I'm still inside the 30 day trial period, I highly recommend it to you to download and try it out for free. If you decide to buy it, I think it's only US$50 which, considering that HTML5 is in its infancy in the wider website world (not in the pro website world), it's almost certainly worth the investment.

The above link proves not only that HTML5 isn't rocket science with the right tools, but also that it's a piece of cake adding it to a web page created in Xara Designer.

[jamesd]

Hey Big Frank, nice animation. It plays perfect and the replay button works on my Samsung Galaxy.
I have downloaded the trial, will have a go at it and see what I can come up with.
Cheers!

[dcahall]

Frank, it played just FINE on my iPhone.................

That is kind of EXCITING. I need to try this but I do not have a web site to post to :-) Now we need to convince Xara to look at developing some HTML5 animation capabilities.

Great job...........

[handrawn]

I don't have one of these 'smart, but not smart enough to ring home if they get lost' phones Frank - but I like the animation, and thanks for the info re Hippo

[Big Frank]

Thanks James and David.

I tried to play it on my Samsung Wave and it came back with a message that I have exceeded my allowed internet bandwidth, the damn carrot crunchers!

David, look around for free web hosting, there used to be lots available, a lot less now, but there's still some to be had out there, even if you have to buy a domain name to be eligible. Remember, Google is your friend (although sometimes Google is your fiend - it depends upon your perspective).

Steve - if I didn't need my phone for work, you can be sure I would downsize to a phone that's a phone, not a GPS-wielding camera torch that happens to have some phone features.

[StevenWWinters]

Looks great on an Ipad 3 from here.

if I didn't need my phone for work, you can be sure I would downsize to a phone that's a phone, not a GPS-wielding camera torch that happens to have some phone features.

Sadly, over here at least, they're doing their best to eliminate that option...

[Big Frank]

Hippo Animator have just made their latest showreel for Hippo Animator and they included my "Wally the Toad" animation in it!