Getting started in 2-D animation..

[AceTKK]

Can anybody offer me some advice on getting started in 2-dimensional animation?  I have an art concept for a MAME-related project and it will require a complicated, animated graphical sequence.  Is there a well-regarded program to use for this kind of design work?  I have access to most of the Adobe suite, but I'm not really sure where to start.

Thanks,

-Ace-

[SirPoonga]

It depends on the mame related project.  If it is a program like a front end you will need to do coding in something like DirectX or SDL.

If it is a web site or a movie or something a flash animation would be fine.

[AceTKK]

Well, it is front-end related.  Basically, I've worked up some concept art and still frames for what I want my front-end to do.  What I'd like to do is use an animation program to put it together visually so I can demonstrate to my programmer friend how I want it to look.  I guess Flash might be my best bet, is there a demo version of it available anywhere?

thx,

-Ace-

[RitchieTheBrit]

You can grab a demo version of flash from Macromedia's website
http://www.macromedia.com

Don't just expect to jump in and start creating miracles, though, it's a very in-depth package.  Don't forget, it's intended for professional results, and with professional packages you will always find a steeper learning curve.  For some really good tutorials, head across to lynda.com.

I can't remember who it was, but I recently saw someones cab project where they design their own FE using a flash frontend and Visual Basic as the back end.

[mahuti]

Frame by frame animation in flash is easy. Some of the other stuff is a bit harder to wrap your head around. In the old days, it took me a while to figure out motion tweens, masking and animtion guides.... the core of animation in Flash. It'll drive you nuts for a while.

If you really want to learn how to use it, I wold suggest the following book. I recommend it to my friends and they've had tremendous success with it.

Teach Yourself Visually, Flash MX 2004

[SirPoonga]

Flash MX would not be good for an FE.  You can;t run external EXEs easily, it;s hard to read config files, etc... You might be able to with director.

[AceTKK]

The actual front-end will probably end up being written in Python.  My good friend is a Linux developer and he's nuts over it.  I just want to set up an example of how I want the FE to look / work so he can start laying down the nuts and bolts of the code structure. 

Thanks for the book suggestion, I'm going to have to see what learning resources are available at the library for Flash MX before buying anything.  I'm going to download that demo tonight and start playing.

-Ace-

[mahuti]

If you're just looking to comp up animation for your friend, flash will work fine.

[SirPoonga]

Have your friend look at programming it with python and sdl.  That way it would be cross platform