In this video tutorial, we will start working together with a new program: Adobe Flash.
Flash allows you to do many things but for the moment we are going to concentrate on one particular aspect: 2D animation.

By 2D animation, I am referring to traditional frame by frame animation, without any interpolation.
This may seem tedious but it remains the most used method in 2D special effects to this day.

The success of your animation is largely based on your drawing ability and this is not something that can be taught in one tutorial.
Fortunately however, animating special effects such as fire, smoke or the lines that feature in this tutorial, there is no need to be an outstanding artist.

The most important is having a good sense of rhythm, which we will practice with After Effects before we get started with our Flash animation.

In this tutorial, we will look at the basics of 2D animation with Flash, using the drawing tools and timeline. This tutorial includes:

  • A Recap on rhythm in frame by frame animation.
  • Introduction to Adobe Flash's interface.
  • Presentation on Brush, Pencil and Paint Bucket drawing tools
  • How to personalize keyboard shortcuts to speed things up.
  • How to create and manipulate different types of frames on the timeline
  • Create your very first animation
  • How to use onion skin to view outlines of other frames whilst editing
  • How to modify multiple frames at a time
  • How to animate the number "2", so that it dissolves and reforms, as in the example video
  • How to color and shade your animation
  • How to export your animation with Alpha channels
  • How to further improve your animation using After Effects

This is my first tutorial for Flash, yet another useful program to add to our toolbox! If you have always wanted to do 2D animations, this is a great way to get started.
The only limits are your imagination and how much time you wish to devote to your animations ;)