Macromedia Flash Animation & Cartooning: A Creative Guide

By: Ibis Fernandez

A comprehensive guide to Flash animation and cartooning, this book includes an eight-page colour insert which details the stages of the animation process. The tutorial format addresses every facet of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0072133236
• ISBN13: 9780072133233
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 500 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

FOUND ! -The FUN side of Macromedia Flash !

The honest, direct, and lighthearted way Ibis Fernandez teaches Cartooning and animation in Macromedia Flash is a boon to people high on the creative level but impatient with the dry technical manuals that expect you to understand software jargon..When your inner 'toon "just wants to get with it"...Well Ibis Get's with it alright, and explains things just like he's in the chair across from your computer workspace..I know if I had this book a year or so ago I would've been way more productive than I have been with deciphering the Flash Textbooks and "Inventing " ways to cartoon at a realistic rate..This Book lifts the fog off of the myriad of questions I've had about using Flash for my experimental animation (Experimental -- to do.what you do-- until your Learn to do it right ) Many of the things I couldn't figure out how to replicate are easily and humorously unvieled in the one to one approach the author makes...And altho I would have purchased Flash for my work in the long run ..I could have used the information that there is a [amt]software that allows you to do vector animated .swf files to start out with for fun and experience before you put out your money for the full Macromedia package. in the same section Ibis tells about another professional software package that might even be BETTER than Flash if your main thrust is just making cartoon movies..If you have this book you get the information from the outset about how to make animated cartoons for TV and film....there are frame rates ..size ratios and many things you need to adhere to before you make your- first genius run away hit cartoon series- for your website and find out it cant just be re-dubbed or magically converted at the last minute to fit TV or Spike and Mikes Roving cartoon show..So from rudimentary character design to finished product..shortcuts.. and valuable tips, this book is the real deal... with the book and Ibis' website Flashfilmmaker.com you get a combo that can get your work up and moving ..Learn the rules the easy way and save yourself the effort of guessing how tho get the most out of your Flash,because without this book you just may be "taking the Long way around"..this is an artist friendly,easy to understand book that you'll value for years... in it's concise and entertaining manner of teaching it allows you to get to the fun stuff of making good cartoons a lot quicker!

Simply Amazing!

This is the only book an inspiring animator will need. The book covers everything from an Introduction to Cartooning to Cinematography in Flash. I was very impressed Production chapters of the book. Ibis touches everything from script writing through the Production process. Also enlightens you movie with transition effects, dolly shots, and other Hollywood techniques.This book is definitely worth a look.

simply awsome

I heard about this book at Karl-Peter Gottschalk's website... He had some great things to say about it and gave it a five star rating. After checking it out for myself all I have to say is that this book rocks!While most books on the topic concetrate on teaching the sofware and not nesesarally acoplishing anything as far as teaching people any real skills or techniques, this book sets out and acomplishes what it it suggest, which is to instruct on animation and catooning. To all readers out there. Don't buy this book if what you want is to learn how to use Flash. Get the Flash Bible instead... This is where this book comes in. If what you want to do is to learn how to animate cartoons then this book is pretty extensive and in many cases demonstates techniques and procedures thats are highly and advanced.This book is definatelly worth every penny.

This exactly what I been looking for!

This book is great because it teaches you just about everything, without nesesarally holding your hand every step of the way. It's starts by discussing the origin of cartooning and animation and gives and then goes into teaching you to draw cartoons, it also teaches you to animate them in Flash. It think it's cool how the author divided up the book. Part 1 focuses strictly on drawing and animation without Flash. Part 2 teaches you the sofware such as using the tools and learning your way around the sofware (which is usually what most Flash books usually concentrate on). Part 3 combines the skills you learned in part 1 and part 2 and teaches you how to put together a complete production.Most Flash books I have read are always vague and do nothing but document the products features and specs, this book, for the most part doesnt seem to that.I think the authors way of approaching the timeline is a much better way than what Macromedia tells you.One of the chapters teaches you how to tranfer drawings into Flash by hooking up a video camera to your computer and have a live video feed projected directly inside Flash. I tried it and it REALLY works! This is something I never in my wildest dreams thought was posible. Now I dont have to use a scanner anymore! (well at least not for flash)The Pros:It teaches you how to draw, animate, use Flash, write a screen, play, and doesn't really rely on source files for you to learn. It seems that because the way the material is approached people who are interested in learning to animate and draw cartoons, specially in Flash, will still find this book a valuable no matter what version of Flash is you use.The Cons:The book is in Black and white. The Images are still very nice and clean looking but the use of color would have been a real benefit. Specially in the areas where the book discusses the use of colors and gradients.There is no CD. Although the book itself does not nesessaraly rely on any sourcefiles for you to learn the material, the inclusion of a CD with goodies, maybe some cartoons or product samples is always a great little extra feature.Verdict:It should not be the only book you buy if what you want to learn is just Flash, this book won't replace other books like the Flash Bible, etc. Instead it will compliment your collection. For people interested in learning to draw and animate cartoons with Flash this book is a must have reguardless of what version of Flash you have. I keep it next to my desk and find myself refferencing it on a daily basis.

Good stuff

I got this book, because I'm interested in animating online. Since this book was (...), I decided to purchase it. Also, if it really stunk I could return it, and get a new book. To my surprise, this book is a stellar release.This book is different than most others. Instead of teaching you to use the Flash tools efficiently, it just tells you what they are and what they do. You're thinking, that's it, it must stink, but it doesn't at all.The book takes a new technique and teaches you to draw (really, pencil and paper). It then suggests scanning them and optimizing in Flash. I had never read a book like this. Most say spend $(...) for Illustrator or Freehand, but Fernandez recommends using cheaper methods, and just using an everyday scanner.The highlights are the facial expressions, characterizations (for example, if you want to draw a jock, broad shoulders, small legs, etc.), and lip synching. The lip synching just illustrates what mouth to draw on certain sounds. If you can draw, know lip synching, and characterizations, you shouldn't get this book. But for most of you out there, this is a solid buy.