by Mike Ibbetson

Created on: January 10, 2007   Last Updated: October 16, 2010

NEWLY REVISED FOR SUMMER '07, This article will focus on the best Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash animation tutorials to be found on the internet, and then go on to more general animation resources which inform and inspire.

THE BEST FLASH ANIMATION TUTORIALS ON THE WEB:

The 'Character Design & Animation' BREEZE PRESENTATION (streaming video) by Chris Georgenes is ESSENTIAL viewing for anyone wanting to learn animation with Flash. Watch Chris take a concept sketch right through to a fully realised, animated character. Watch it here for FREE:

https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a295153/p46515568/

SMARTWEBBY is a good website for learning the basics of animation in flash, such as: motion tweening, shape tweening, frame by frame animation, and creating motion-guided animation. The site also contains more intermediate/advanced animation tutorials on such subjects as: advanced/animated buttons, the use of nested symbols, and cool special effects. Find them all here: http://www.smartwebby.com/Flash/flash_animations.asp All tutorials on this site are FREE.

GOTOANDLEARN offers a range of FREE streaming video tutorials on the subject of flash, which include: 3D logo animation, creating random motion, using the "custom easing tool", creating animated buttons, making 3D animated carousels, and advanced animation using FUSE. Find the tutorials here: http://www.gotoandlearn.com

CARTOONSMART is a great place to visit for a massive collection of high quality Quicktime video tutorials, which include: Drawing in flash, animation (lip-sync / walk cycles / character animation etc.), full web-design packages, and ActionScript tutorials.
Find them here - http://www.cartoonsmart.com You can also download some free sample FLA & SWF files from http://www.cartoonsmart.com/freestuff.html

THE BEST OF THE REST

www.ultrashock.com
- This site has many tutorials on Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator and many more programs. Most of them are intermediate to advanced level. Also contains a news section and most informative forum.

www.webwasp.co.uk
- Contains many, many Flash turorials here for beginners and more advanced users. This is updated regularly.

http://www.flashvalley.com/fv_tutorials/index.php
- Dedicated to Macromedia (Adobe) Flash. Awesome tutorials, articles, debates and a regularly updated news section.

INSPIRATION / OTHER:

ANIMATION PODCAST - A fantastic resource for all animators, this website contains audio interviews with some of the most talented people in animation today, and past masters. The list of FREE Podcasts for download include interviews with Andreas Deja, Nik Ranieri, Milt Kahl and Burny Mattison (plus many others). Find out what inspires the great animators in history and listen to them describe animation techniques at: http://www.animationpodcast.com

MOTIONOGRAPHER - Lots of nice animation and motion graphics to be found here, at http://motionographer.com - Get yourself inspired!

ATOM FILMS Find an awesome selection of animation at: http://www.atomfilms.com/films/animation.jsp

KEYFRAME This website is home to animation articles and news. They also have a huge searchable database of animation and an extremely busy animation message forum. Find it all at: http://www.keyframeonline.com

KEYFRAMER - The adventures of a full time animator. Presented in a "blog" format, http://www.keyframer.com has it all. Flash animation news, links to many flash tutorials, product reviews and a lot more besides.

Finally, don't forget to go to AMAZON to buy your animation books. http://www.amazon.com

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