Flash CS5: The Missing Manual

Animation ABCs

Animators used to draw each and every frame by hand. Sure, they developed some shortcuts, but that's still hundreds or thousands of images depending on the length of the animation. Major animation houses employed whole armies of graphic artists, each charged with producing hundreds of drawings that represented a mere fraction of the finished work. What we chuckled at for a scant few minutes took weeks and dozens of tired, cramped hands to produce. One mistake, one spilled drop of coffee, and these patient-as-Job types would have to grab fresh paper and start all over again. When everything was done, the animation would have to be put together—much like one of those flip books where you flip pages real fast to see a story play out—while it was being filmed by special cameras.

With Flash on your computer, you have the equivalent of a design studio at your fingertips. You provide the inspiration, and Flash can help you generate pro-quality animations and full-blown interactive applications.

It's pretty incredible, when you think about it. A few hundred bucks and a few hours spent working with Flash, and you've got an animation that, just a few years ago, you'd have had to pay a swarm of professionals union scale to produce. Sweet! Naturally, if you're new to animation, it will go easier if you learn the basic terms, tricks, and techniques used by Flash animators.

Up To Speed: An Animation by Any Other Name

You may occasionally hear Flash animations referred to (by books, ...