FLASH and cartoons

Category: Entertainment and Leisure>>Animation

Problem description:

What is the difference between FLASH and cartoons

My personal feeling There is no difference between a well-made FLASH and a cartoon. Is it more difficult to make a FLASH or a cartoon?

Which career is better in animation than in FLASH?

Analysis:

Cartoons are good-looking, but they are troublesome to make. To make things "move", you need to constantly replace them with pictures of different contents. Let’s call it “frame”. Mainstream animation production generally uses 12 frames per second. The production cost is too high if it is too high, and the movements are mechanically stiff and not smooth. It is sometimes used in Japanese TV movies that emphasize modeling over movement. At 8 frames per second, there will be an obvious sense of pause when encountering shots with large movements. Therefore, when making cartoons, the more frames replaced per second, the more delicate and realistic the movements will be. When watching cartoons in theaters, TV programs, or watching video tapes and DVDs, the speed of signal transmission is not a problem. However, when the Internet era comes, animations need to be added to websites, and the replacement frame animation files of hundreds of megabytes often make non-broadband users The download rate of tens of K can only be ignored!

In 1998, MICROMIDIA timely launched FLASH, an animation production software that changed the Internet landscape. Its main advantage is that the files released by the animation software edited by FLASH are very small and are vector images. It can be enlarged infinitely without changing the image quality, which is very suitable for inserting into web pages to produce dynamic effects. So far, the number of web animations produced with FLASH on the Internet is second only to GIF animations. However, GIF has its limitations. It can only display a maximum of 256 colors. In some GIFs that require beautiful pictures or use more gradient colors, The animation effect is relatively poor. The advantage of FLASH is that it can be output into AVI files and played on TV or DVD. So can FLASH completely replace traditional hand-drawn animation? Before answering this question, let’s break down the production processes of the two animations in detail.

First, let’s take a look at traditional animation. When there is market demand (usually most of them are TV series cartoons or movies, and a small part are product advertisements, public welfare cartoons or scientific and educational demonstrations), The producer is given a written script. He first needs to find someone to turn the text script into a picture script. Then the work of this person (or company) includes not only drawing picture scripts, but also designing characters, backgrounds, props, and determining the number of seconds for a single shot. Next, the producer will find a production company (note that it is not a person, this is no longer something that can be done by one person) to show the early stage of animation production.

After the animation company receives the script and other materials, it starts by shot:

Design draft (detailed pencil sketches of scenes and characters)

→ Matte painting (drawing the pencil scene of the design draft into watercolor or other color sketches to make the background)

→ Original painting (using the pencil sketch of the character in the design draft as a blueprint to draw a series of action key frames)

→ Supervision (standardizing the shape and sorting out detailed lines)

→ Animation (filling the transition frames between key frames)

Go here for animation production The early stage is basically completed. The black and white effect can already be seen in the "pencil line shooting" that simulates the final film effect. At this time, some modifications and adjustments will also be made to correct omissions in the production and areas that do not meet the client's intention. Of course, large and small Modifications and adjustments accompany the entire process of animation production. The next step of the preliminary work is of course the post-production. Scan the animation into the computer and use software to color, edit, synthesize, dub, and transcribe it to become a BETA videotape that can be used for TV station insertion.

Taking a standard 22-minute cartoon as an example, it would take a company of dozens to more than 100 people about 2 months to complete, so it is difficult for an individual to complete it independently. Traditional cartoons, even if they exist, are short films, such as commercials and scientific and educational animation demonstration shorts.

Let’s take a look at FLASH animation. Currently, FLASH is mainly divided into commercial use and personal creation; the former part mainly includes product advertisements, website LOGOs, some product descriptions and FLSAH animation demonstrations used in courseware, and the latter part Mainly short stories and MTV made by online flashers based on their own interests. From receiving a task or starting a creation to the final distribution, a FLASH producer almost completes it by one person, almost including the traditional animation process: script → characters, props, design → shot design draft → original painting → animation → Color → Compositing → Dubbing. Maybe some of the work will be combined and omitted or not completed as a process, but the actual operation includes all the above work. Maybe some friends have this concept: traditional animation is drawn by hand, while FLASH is calculated by computer.

In fact, FLASH's animation calculation function is not that powerful. It can only realize transitional changes in the size, orientation, and color of some geometric objects. Because computers do not yet have artificial intelligence, they cannot do difficult tasks such as walking, running, and turning faces. Calculated, not to mention subtle changes in characters' expressions and body language, it can be seen that FLASH is characterized by simple and fast production, small file size, suitable for online use, and can realize network interactive functions, suitable for online advertising, Internet Free broadcasts on MTV, product demonstrations, etc. But some difficult actions cannot be achieved by calculation alone. Even if it could, it would be done frame by frame, and the production cost would be almost the same as traditional animation. At present, FLASH production is mostly completed by individuals. Many producers do not have the ability and experience of the "soul of animation-original painting", so they can only stay at the level of effects such as the conversion of a single picture and the drift of text.

In contrast to traditional animation, due to the relatively fine division of labor, each part is completed by the most professional personnel, and is not restricted by production technology. Therefore, animation can show an expression charm that exceeds the imagination of the audience, and can maximize A performance that simulates (or surpasses) real people to a certain extent, bringing irreplaceable and unique entertainment enjoyment to the audience. However, animation production costs are high and the files are huge, so it is suitable for making into DVDs, video tapes, or for paid broadcast in movie theaters.

From the above, it can be seen that the two animations have different characteristics and production and use environments. No one can replace the other in a short time. There is no point in debating which animation is better to use. Today, when there are fewer and fewer restrictions across various communication media, the communication of animation needs a form that is more convenient and faster, but has higher requirements for its own quality. We can see that the combination of traditional animation and FLASH is an excellent way to solve this problem and is an inevitable trend to follow this trend. We use traditional animation designers to produce the part of the animation that cannot be replaced by computers, and use FLASH synthesis and calculation to produce the rest. We draw on the strengths of each to fully combine the advantages of the two and produce animation that meets the characteristics of the new era of media. The product opens up a new way for the dissemination of multimedia animation.

Relatively speaking, FLASH is relatively simple. If it is developed in China, animation...MS is difficult.