Any way to Export as symbols to Flash??

[SideShow]

Hey guys,

I'm a Flash animator who just stumbled on Anime Studio. I love the bones feature, very easy to get working and animating with.

However....

I've animated a character with bones, with each appendage as a separate vector graphic, everything works great in AS. I've exported to swf, imported back into Flash and everything looks great, except one significant problem: all the bone animated elements are imported as groups, instead of symbols.

I know if I use png's as the appendages instead of vector, the exported swf will produce symbols in Flash. But, of course, PNG's won't export when attached to bones.

So, now my question: is there any way to get bone animated character elements from AS to import as symbols in Flash?

Thanks a lot for any help you can offer!

[slowtiger]

In general, you can only convert everything to symbols if you do kind of cutout animation in AS only. As long as the points are not animated, there's a red dot in the layer symbol - this tells you that this layer will be a single symbol in Flash. If the dot disappears, every frame of that layer will be a separate symbol in Flash.

[SideShow]

Thanks for the response, Slow Tiger.

So is there any way to keep the original integrity of a vector shape, and still have it animated by a bone?

In other words, can you have the bone only affect the position and rotation of a vector shape, with absolutely no deformation? It seems like that would allow the shape to keep the red dot, and thus become a symbol after export.

I think i know the answer, but if anybody knows of a way to animate with bones, then still have symbols in flash, it would save a life today.

Thanks again for any help!

[slowtiger]

The "point integrity" of a vector layer is maintained as long as you attach the whole layer to a bone. So you have to use layer binding. Any layer operations or bone operations don't hurt this. So you can stretch or shorten a bone during animation, or flip a layer. I've learnt that it is a good idea to place the point of origin of a layer to where the joint is, that way I can use Layer transformations to get squash and stretch easily.

Here's some test animation I did with this method:
http://www.slowtiger.de/ani/sk6_2.swf
http://www.slowtiger.de/ani/sk5_1.swf

Feel free to contact me for further tips - you sound like there's a deadline to be met ...

[SideShow]

thanks again for the reply Slow Tiger!

So took your test files and imported them into Flash. A few of the skeleton limbs showed up as symbols (awesome, that's exactly what I want) and some showed up as non-symbol groups (not as awesome).

Any idea why some and not all items show up as symbols when transferred to Flash?

One more noob question: Is layer binding just a matter of selecting Bone>Flexi-Bind Layer, with the vector layer selected? Or is it something different you're talking about?

Thanks again for all the help!

[heyvern]

There is a tool in the bone tool group of the tool palette called "Bind Layer".

Select a layer, click this tool then click on the bone you want to bind that layer to.

Flexi-binding layers is a bit different but should also maintain Flash optimization. Flexi-bind layers treat layers the same as vectors with flexi-binding. ALL the bones will "share" influence over the whole layer... but the layer is not "distorted". It just means if you have a layer that is partially covered by two or more bones, each bone will exert some influence on the layer.

However it is based on the layer origin point. A bone closer to the layers origin will have more influence. Region binding seems to behave differently than flexible binding (compared to flexi-binding on points anyway). I haven't used this much so haven't had time to figure out what is going on with it.

-vern

[heyvern]

Slowtiger, you are so right about setting origin points on layers... no matter how you animate. I started paying attention to that when you suggested it.

Flexible binding layers ABSOLUTELY requires adjusting the layer origin if you want to get "normal" results.

Bone influence (both types) is based on layer origin. If the layer origin is near a bone that bone will have more influence. This is weird especially if you're like me and never bothered with layer origin and wondered why flexi bound layers were acting strange.

EDIT:
The reason this seemed "odd" to me is that the layer will rotote around the bone's base but the binding INFLUENCE is based on the layer origin point... this is correct and makes perfect sense... but it seems odd if you place artwork near a bone only to find another bone is actually influencing it because the center point is way off to the right somewhere.

-vern

[SideShow]

I knew if I got some smarter heads than mine on the task you'd come up with results!

It worked to bind the layer, export as a swf, then import in Flash. Each element was a symbol, ready to go in Flash. They're all on the same layer in the FLA, but I'm sure a little script can be written to separate it all out.

Can't thank you both enough for your help guys!

I've got other questions but I'll save it for a new topic.

Thanks again Vern & Slow Tiger!

[slowtiger]

Just another tip (Flash only): I've noticed that all my symbols/groups showed up in Flash as separate elements in the library. The skeleton is easily more than a hundred parts! So I got into the habit to put all those neat symbols into an extra folder in the library right after I imported them. Prevents clogging up the library list. If you work with multiple characters, put each in its own folder, of course.

Another tip: Holds in AS will be imported as keyframes in Flash. You can safely erase those and decrease file size a bit. This is only important if your Flash work is showing up online as an SWF.

And a last tip: If you have a scene in AS and import its first half into Flash, then later its second half, Flash will not recognize the symbols as stuff it imported before, so it creates a whole new set of symbols every time you import the character although it's the same character. When I noticed that, I tried and do all animation of a character in one AS file, imported it to Flash, and used that library as a shared one.

[heyvern]

Great tips Slowtiger.

I haven't done much Flash in the past with AS but lately some stuff has come up that might need it. I'm paying attention now.

I was playing around with image puppets (layer binding) and it isn't that bad really, especially if you keep it simple. Plus even the most "basic" puppet character can look great if you animate it well... lots of expression and emotion.

I have this technique I use to line up body parts in AS with image puppets. I use registration marks in my exported images and after lining them up in AS I turn off the register marks layer in photoshop and reexport the images. Exporting each part to the same size image would eliminate the need for this but I like to crop them pretty tight.

I set the layer origin right on the cross hairs of the registration mark in the image, then even WITHOUT the marks I know where that point is to place the bones.

Another trick is to use slices. After creating the character in photoshop I separate the parts, create slices and export to web as png. I can bang out all the body parts in one shot.

Just some thoughts.

-vern

[slowtiger]

Exporting each part to the same size image would eliminate the need for this but I like to crop them pretty tight.

Me too. I often had to work with images which were all the size of the project although they just contained a very small bit, like a prop. Cutting things down makes work easier, especially when resizing and, of course, rendering.

[heyvern]

Although this doesn't work for flash export I've noticed that when you have HUGE images with a tiny bit inside it the bones distort quite differently. In order to get better image distortion with bones in AS you need to crop as close to the image area as possible.

-vern

[donnie]

I've learnt that it is a good idea to place the point of origin of a layer to where the joint is, that way I can use Layer transformations to get squash and stretch easily.

Thanks for the tips SlowTiger, but I thought that using layer transformations to get squash and stretch,as you say, de-optimizes the layer?
That is if you use layer scaling to create squash and stretch (Unless you use relative scaling, which is useless for squash and stretch as you need to scale unevenly in the X and Y directions).

I also don't understand how you can scale the bone on a 'bound layer' without de-optimizing for Flash, yet uneven scaling de-optimizes? Bit Annoying.

Cheers,

D.

[slowtiger]

No, layer transformations don't mingle into symbol optimization. You can easily check for yourself: as long as your layer shows that little red dot, it's a symbol.

[donnie]

Sorry, probably should'nt have used the word 'Transformation' in this context.
What I meant was that in your comment you mentioned using layer 'transformations' to get squash and stretch.
I interperated this as you were Scaling the layer to get the squash and stretch, but I'm guessing you just mean transforming as in using the 'move layer' tool? How does this get you good squash and stretch? or do you use bone scaling for this?

Thanks for responding anyway,

D.