Which Animation Software is used to create these examples?

[GorillaPaws]

I was wondering what programs can be used to create simple 2d animations such as the ones on this page. I was thinking about trying to create some additional animations like those but much more basic and was wondering: A. what kinds of software would I need (I'm guessing I'll need one of those drawing pens too), and B. how difficult is it to do/learn on your own? I'm certainly not an exceptional artist, but I do have a creative eye. The programs that do this type of thing let you trace existing images right? Maybe I'm way out of my league here, but it would be cool skill to have. The artist we got those from did a great job, but we simply licensed the rights to those existing animations. Commissioning her to create new ones from scratch is way out of our budget, so it's either me learning how to do it on my own, or having to stick to stills. Any thoughts, recommendations? Thanks in advance to any help you can provide.

 

[tersono]

Those were created with Flash (part of the Adobe creative suite).

Flash is a fairly complex program to get the hang of - especially if you've not done animation before, but there are plenty of good tutorials out there. You'll also need a decent graphics app (Photoshop or whatever) to produce the actual elements - Flash has simple drawing tools, but is primarily a GUI for the animation and other features (you can create all kinds of interactive web apps with Flash if you have the time and inclination).

 

[hobbbz]

They were made with Adobe Flash.

It would take a considerable amount of learning on your part to get to the point where you could recreate those animations. It's not impossible, just hard.

You won't need a drawing tablet for do animations like that, unless you have no existing source imagery to manipulate.

You could get very close, or simplify the style of the art to make it easier on yourself.

 

[GorillaPaws]

Thanks for the quick replies. I've been teaching myself some maya for kicks by following tutorials and have really enjoyed playing in that environment; is learning flash that much more difficult? I realize that any work I am able to put together would be nowhere near the level of professionalism/polish as shown in the examples above, but it sounds like it wouldn't be totally crazy to try on my own from what I'm hearing. Are there alternative programs that can be used for similar purposes? or is flash definitely the way to go for brief animations like the examples? Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[freeny]

Thanks for the quick replies. I've been teaching myself some maya for kicks by following tutorials and have really enjoyed playing in that environment; is learning flash that much more difficult? I realize that any work I am able to put together would be nowhere near the level of professionalism/polish as shown in the examples above, but it sounds like it wouldn't be totally crazy to try on my own from what I'm hearing. Are there alternative programs that can be used for similar purposes? or is flash definitely the way to go for brief animations like the examples? Thanks again for all of your help.

I have learned both Flash and Maya. although they both rely on keyframe animation they are very different monsters.
If I had to say which was harder to learn it would be Maya hands down.

The animations on the page you reference are most likely "animated" in Flash (could also be done in After Effects) but they look as if the elements were created in a 3D software app (like Maya) or an image creation tool (Photoshop/Illustrator) and composited in a 2-D animation app (like Flash or After Effects)

As you may start to realize is this, the cost of the apps, plus the know how to operate them, is why there are specialists like the lady you hired to do this for the price she required

 

[GorillaPaws]

I have learned both Flash and Maya. although they both rely on keyframe animation they are very different monsters.
If I had to say which was harder to learn it would be Maya hands down.

The animations on the page you reference are most likely "animated" in Flash (could also be done in After Effects) but they look as if the elements were created in a 3D software app (like Maya) or an image creation tool (Photoshop/Illustrator) and composited in a 2-D animation app (like Flash or After Effects)

As you may start to realize is this, the cost of the apps, plus the know how to operate them, is why there are specialists like the lady you hired to do this for the price she required

I know I can fall victim to the trying to do everything on my own instead of "just hiring a professional" mentality. It is an area though that I wouldn't mind exploring because it does look like it could be a fun skill to learn (and at least have a better understanding of what's involved when deciding on future projects). Also, when hiring a professional your costs go up as your volume increases, whereas when you're learning on your own, the initial costs of software and educational materials would encourage you to produce a fair amount of work to justify the expense. As a small medical practice, we really don't have the budget to spend thousands of dollars to commission custom-made animations (we were lucky that the artist had a reasonable fee for licensing those animations which she had already created). If we were a large institute, sure, but it just doesn't make sense for us financially on the scale we're dealing with.

 

[freeny]

I know I can fall victim to the trying to do everything on my own instead of "just hiring a professional" mentality. It is an area though that I wouldn't mind exploring because it does look like it could be a fun skill to learn (and at least have a better understanding of what's involved when deciding on future projects). Also, when hiring a professional your costs go up as your volume increases, whereas when you're learning on your own, the initial costs of software and educational materials would encourage you to produce a fair amount of work to justify the expense. As a small medical practice, we really don't have the budget to spend thousands of dollars to commission custom-made animations (we were lucky that the artist had a reasonable fee for licensing those animations which she had already created). If we were a large institute, sure, but it just doesn't make sense for us financially on the scale we're dealing with.

Wasnt trying to discourage you. I am also one who likes to do everything myself Its just taken many years to do so.

I find After Effects a much more intuitive tool to create animations like the ones you have on your site and encourage you to try that instead of Flash.

I learned AE in a matter of weeks while Flash took me months and Im still learning.

A lot of the functions in Flash pertain to the web and web efficiancy and unless you want them to be interactive you dont really need to work in it. in AE you can do good ole key frame animation and export as a web ready flash file. You also have a huge arsenal of filters to add flare to your animation where as in Flash you will most likely need to know some action scripting to produce similar, and most of the time less effective effects.

You can export your Maya image sequences and bring them into AE to add all the groovy pulsating and moving arrows, blood cells and text...

 

[faustfire]

Off topic, but Freeny, love your stuff. Especially the Visible Vinyl Dunny.

Killer.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Try Flash or ToonBoom, IMHO ToomBoon would get the better result.