File: BlackHeartAnimation.swf-(682 KB, 1920x1080, Loop)
[_] A thing. Anon 3415022 I've been lurking this board for a few months now, and I feel like I'd finally upload something here. This is just a little animated loop I made for practice, accompanied by some music I like to listen to when studying or animating. I'll upload more animations here as I make them. Feel free to critique me. Marked for deletion (old).
>> [_] Anon 3415023 Why is this bat not upside down?
>> [_] :v 3415026 >># Agreed >pls flip the bat
>> [_] Anon 3415032 pretty cute, thanks anon
>> [_] Anon 3415040 >># For loops with music you might want to include the source, usually text placed outside the boundaries of the stage. Also, you might want to increase the bit rate to improve audio quality. Secondly, you can use a mask to hide everything outside of the stage that's supposed to be inside. The area where you used the brush tool on the bat is kind of messy and could use some cleanup. Otherwise, fairly solid for your first piece and I really like the fact that you used vectors. damn now I want to create a flash too
>> [_] Anon 3415041 Well done, Anon, well done.
>> [_] Anon 3415042 Seeing actual amateur flash animation reminds me of the early newgrounds.com days. Truly a golden era in online animation that I miss a lot. Keep keepin on, anon.
>> [_] Anon 3415043 >># >># Y'all don't get it... YOU'RE upside-down. Bat looks upright then. >># Hot work, keep it up, help keep the /f/aith. Good for an early work. critique: see above notes, and, try for better audio sample rate, sounds "tinny". The vector work looks good.
>> [_] Anon 3415046 >># nice anon
>> [_] Anon 3415064 OP Here. >># >># You're right. In hindsight, I should've done that; would've made her more batty. >># >># >># >># Thx m8s. It was my first time combining ToonBoom and Flash (I used to only use Flash for animations). >># >you might want to include the source [of the music] Yeah, I forgot to do that. Source is Casiopea - Asayake Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLYxafYc EWo >you might want to increase the bit rate to improve audio quality Original idea was to do it at max audio quality, but I was afraid it would make the file size too big. I know it's soon to be a lost art, but are their any guides or tips you're aware of for SWF file size reduction? >The area where you used the brush tool on the bat is kind of messy and could use some cleanup. Yeah, I animated the bat (Blackheart) via ToonBoom, then imported it in to Flash 8. I'm still trying to get used to how TB works; but it seems it's easier and a bit quicker to do FbF animation in it than it is in Flash. TB does feel like it's worse for precise and optimized vector art though than Flash (Especially Flash 8) is. >Otherwise, fairly solid for your first piece and I really like the fact that you used vectors I'm super glad to hear that. I try to convert and recreate everything using vectors as oppose to bitmaps unless it's necessary to do otherwise. Vectors tend to take up the least amount of space, and are a lot easier to manipulate than bitmaps are. I learned a lot from decompiling and analyzing old Newgrounds animations to learn how to do art within Flash. The K-FED game JohnnyUtah did the art for is what really inspired me to do this. Nearly everything in it is a vector. Link: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/3 18999 >># >Hot work, keep it up, help keep the /f/aith. Thx. This is definitely one of the coziest boards I think I've come across on this entire site. I do intend on making more animations for here.
>> [_] Anon 3415079 >># Most of the filesize is probably taken up by the audio file so increasing the bit rate will definitely bloat the swf but the improvement in quality is very noticeable and worth it in my opinion. Ultimately you'll have to compromise between the two based on what you're looking for. Other than that you could use the 'Optimize' feature on shapes to reduce excess points to save a few kb.
>> [_] Anon 3415081 >># maybe don't put the whole song in it but rather make a ~30 second audio loop
>> [_] Anon 3415082 This is quality content I want to see more of on /f/
>> [_] Anon 3415089 YAY, ACTUAL VECTORS!!!
>> [_] Anon 3415092 >furry it's shit
>> [_] Anon 3415093 >># your filenames need work, they are a big part of the flash loop culture. this should have been called something like dawnbat.swf or duskbat.swf or basically anything else than BlackHeartAnimation.swf first of all nobody knows the bat is named Blackheart (at least if it's original content by you) so it's confusing. then sticking "animation" in there is pointless, we can see it's an animation. also don't put the music title or music artist in the filename, /f/riends that do that are lazy. it's not a music video for that song, a flash loop is both image and audio working together to deliver an experience so it's bad practice to just label it as the music. instead think of something descriptive. or better: something clever or funny. if your flash takes off and get reuploaded the filename will stick around for a long time.
>> [_] Anon 3415096 >># >># g'day, looks alright to me mate
>> [_] Anon 3415136 >># >are their any guides or tips you're aware of for SWF file size reduction? Well, understand Flash always defaults to 44.1 kHz bitrate, NEVER try to do anything else; ALWAYS use MP3 (never WAV!!!), and the *real* kicker... Select a SHORT LOOP for your audiofocus... Here's the trade-off: the longer your loop, the more you must compress the bitstream to get a useable sound. So, a short loop can enjoy low compression at 44.1 kHz, and sound great. At that bitrate, a long sample will have to be compressed more to fit in /f/'s filesize limit, and sound like a soupcan telephone. You see? The *real* art is in selecting just the right short-loop... it needs to define your flash, and not be a shit (and need I say, SEAMLESS??). The rest falls into place. Flash authoring under /f/ limits is a severe balancing act. With only 10 MB to work with, you have audio and visuals to balance and cull. Your animation skill is almost secondary to the technical hurdles of making a bearable Flash. Congratulations on your walk to Flash Greatness. Walk with a grand stride.
>> [_] Anon 3415137 >># Maybe I've been doing something wrong but I can never get a seamless loop with mp3 files, I always use wav
>> [_] Anon 3415142 >># that's because he's wrong, you're supposed to import wav but you need to compress it as mp3
>> [_] Anon 3415154 >># due to the way LAME encodes MP3s (and I think just about everybody uses LAME) there's a very brief gap in playback before the audio actually starts. if you import a LAME-encoded MP3 into Flash it just won't loop properly, and you'll find plenty of flash loops that don't fucking loop. The secret is to save your loop as a WAV, import that into Flash and let Flash compress that into MP3. this will make it an actual loop.
>> [_] Anon 3415155 >music flash where the loop doesn't match the beat of the song
>> [_] Anon 3415156 OP again. >># I almost forgot the shape optimize feature was a thing. I remember when I was still a n00b at Flash, I'd use it instead of the smoothing option to smooth out shapes. lel >># Good point. I'll remember that for future reference. >># Ok, I didn't know filenames were an important thing on /f/. Will remember this for the future. >># That makes sense. MP3's are designed to be as compact as possible without looking any noticeable quality. The only problem I have with that is that MP3s are extremely wonky when I use them with Flash. They don't always import for whatever reason. Sometimes, they loop terribly, or lag. Thus seems to be a problem I've noticed even with Flash CC 2019 (Animate CC). Though, I could give that a shot with files I know will work properly. Thanks for the advice.
>> [_] Anon 3415160 >># you master the loop in WAV, as MP3 has byte padding at the front and back, you cannot get a seamless loop without a very crazy hack and special hardware. But in Flash, you adjust the audio setting to compress in MP3. Then it works fine. >># Not wrong, that's kinda what I meant. Didn't realize I wasn't being obvious.