Patrick Batrynchuk is director of digital media services at Bullet Digital Post, a Toronto shop that specializes in offline & online editorial, compositing and F/X.

While the entertainment industry has enjoyed many milestones in the past years with the dawn of digital technology and computer graphics, classical animators have stayed very true to their craft. Certain tools have truly revolutionized cartoon production, such as digital ink-and-paint packages and scanning technology, but there is still an arduous process to go through with each and every production. Someone has to draw and clean every frame before they can be painted and strung together to create a show.

I, along with a team of classical animators, was fortunate to have been on board with Macromedia when it first acquired an application called Future Splash. It went on to become Flash, and has proven to be the most prominent tool for Web animation. What most people didn’t realize is that this software is also an ideal tool for broadcast-quality cartoon production.

We found that animating with Flash had many rewards, and the results were the same as with traditional methods. Graphics created within the program are vector-based, so any object can be scaled to any size without losing integrity. Once an asset has been created, it is entered into a library and can be reused endlessly or imported into multiple projects for other animators to work on simultaneously.

These are some of the things that make Flash a very valuable tool when having to make revisions or re-purposing for another output type. In terms of timeline, Flash animates nicely at 12 frames per second. Once completed, the animation is exported as a series of frames to be ‘pulled up’ to a broadcast frame rate. The timeline is also quite intuitive: it can be broken up into scenes for easier project management; multiple layers can be used to manage, animate and ‘lock down’ objects; and ‘in-betweening’ can be automated.

Then why are so few animation companies using this method?

As with any new production method, there are growing pains involved and investments to be made. It costs approximately $800 to purchase a Flash licence, and it requires a computer with a reasonable amount of power to run efficiently. This tallies up to about $3,000, which is really quite reasonable if you’ve ever considered purchasing a digital ink-and-paint system.

Next are the artistic issues. Being a talented animator is certainly the main factor in turning out good work, but knowing how to use your tools efficiently is key. First, there is a learning curve that must be absorbed. Flash is a very friendly program to operate, but it demands a different approach – animators are faced with having to learn to use a digital pen and tablet with which to draw.

And then there is the client. Will they judge you harshly on the fact that you’re not doing things the way they’re accustomed, or will they be thrilled to see such a drastic reduction in their bill and turnaround time?

As a business owner, this process can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the approach. I have worked with Jason Surridge’s Pork and Beans Productions in Vancouver on many Flash-to-broadcast pieces. In our experience, we found Flash to be the answer to a lot of our – and our clients’ – problems.

Whereas traditional animation can cost tens of thousands of dollars per completed minute, the same content can be created in Flash in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost. There is higher turnover in projects that more clients can afford, thus the market creates itself.

Surridge will tell you that the major stumbling block in the acceptance of Flash is that animators often seem resistant to change.

‘Once they do [make that change], there are generally no regrets,’ he says. ‘Then you have to show the clients what’s really possible. Flash allows the animator to be fast, creative and precise. Character development happens much more quickly, as does the storyboarding process. The work doesn’t have to go overseas, and above all else, it really does look good.’ *

-www.bulletdigital.com

-porkbean.com