Abstract

Researchers have shown great interest in comic strips and dynamic animations. Based on my own experience in creating comic strips at the university, this study used 2D Flash animations to express ideas with unlimited imagination. Macromedia Flash is a software tool that easily integrates various functions including sound effects, animations and interactions. With the advantage of simplifying the animation production process, Flash makes it possible for a few people or even one person to create an animation. It is also the mainstream solution for web animation creation. Therefore, we chose Flash to create animations for this study.

Flash as a vector graphics tool produces a refined and sharp visual style.However, considering my previous creation style, the animation image files for this study were bitmapped images scanned from my hand-colored drawings, giving the animation a hand-coloring effect that is unlike the vector effect of Flash vector images. This study attempts to experimentally test whether such expression is feasible in Flash animation editing, and by incorporating sound effects, to discover a set of procedures and methods in visual effects, animatics and sounds.

Based on the specific creation procedures and design ideas of the animation, the theme of which is “The Train Travelers”, this study discusses and proposes suggestions in animation design and production.

The results of this study show that the conventional principles of animation and movie making can be applied in such animation creation. When improving the resolution of the bitmapped images to compensate for the loss of quality after being enlarged, the impact of the image file size on download time (online download) should be taken into consideration. Designers should use fine paper to avoid rough images resulted from scanning. The production requires much time and work as all hand-drawing images have to be scanned and processed to eliminate the background. In addition, Flash has a better performance in vector images, and the special effects of hand-drawing images are restricted in Flash. Designers should also develop good composition and drawing skills, which play important roles from idea development to image presentation. Moreover, no playout delay or online viewing issue of the finished animation is observed. Therefore, it is feasible to integrate Flash with hand-drawing animation. In addition to hand-drawing materials, which exhibit diversified styles, the integration of other traditional materials into digital media can also be further explored in future studies.