Express Animator
Encyclopedia
Awesome Animator is a software program for making animations, primarily Flash
animations for websites. It is similar to Adobe's Flash
MX software but has additional features such as skeletal animation
and exporting to Silverlight and Canvas HTML5 for the iPad
. The latest version supports Actionscript
2.0 and 3.0 scripting. It is of the genre of vector based graphics programs in that it stores the coordinates of the shapes vertices. The shapes are filled with either colours, gradients, or bitmaps.
The program was re-launched in 2010 as 'Awesome Animator' with many changes from the original program such as allowing more complex scripts, an improved renderer and various 'wizards' to speed up tasks such as creating buttons and charts.
which is a way of linking together shapes such as arms or legs so that can be animated like a puppet. This allows the user to create moveable characters.
. This means that the user specifies the position, orientation and colour of the first and last frames of an animation and the computer fills in all the intermediate positions.
(also called shape tweening
) which allows the user to animate smooth transformations between two shapes.
which can read actionscript from SWF files. It displays the methods and variables of a class in a tree-structure instead of textually.
s (dialog boxes) which allows users to create such things as animated text, buttons and charts very quickly. It also has a selection of pre-built and pre-rigged characters such as a human, crocodile, chicken and cow.
within the Safari browser. This feature uses a combination of the Canvas tag and javascript. Simple button interactions also work in this format. This feature is notable due to it being available very shortly after the iPad came out and before any equivalent features were provided by Adobe and other companies.
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
animations for websites. It is similar to Adobe's Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
MX software but has additional features such as skeletal animation
Skeletal animation
Skeletal animation is a technique in computer animation in which a character is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character and a hierarchical set of interconnected bones used to animate the mesh...
and exporting to Silverlight and Canvas HTML5 for the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
. The latest version supports Actionscript
ActionScript
ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of...
2.0 and 3.0 scripting. It is of the genre of vector based graphics programs in that it stores the coordinates of the shapes vertices. The shapes are filled with either colours, gradients, or bitmaps.
The program was re-launched in 2010 as 'Awesome Animator' with many changes from the original program such as allowing more complex scripts, an improved renderer and various 'wizards' to speed up tasks such as creating buttons and charts.
Skeletal Animation
Awesome Animator features skeletal animationSkeletal animation
Skeletal animation is a technique in computer animation in which a character is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character and a hierarchical set of interconnected bones used to animate the mesh...
which is a way of linking together shapes such as arms or legs so that can be animated like a puppet. This allows the user to create moveable characters.
Tweening
The primary method of animation is that of tweeningTweening
Inbetweening or tweening is the process of generating intermediate frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the second image. Inbetweens are the drawings between the key frames which help to create the illusion of motion...
. This means that the user specifies the position, orientation and colour of the first and last frames of an animation and the computer fills in all the intermediate positions.
Morphing
Awesome Animator features morphingMorphing
Morphing is a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes one image into another through a seamless transition. Most often it is used to depict one person turning into another through technological means or as part of a fantasy or surreal sequence. Traditionally such a depiction...
(also called shape tweening
Tweening
Inbetweening or tweening is the process of generating intermediate frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the second image. Inbetweens are the drawings between the key frames which help to create the illusion of motion...
) which allows the user to animate smooth transformations between two shapes.
Import and Export Formats
Awesome Animator imports and exports media files in several formats to various extents. The main ones are:| Format | File Extension | Extent |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Animations | SWF SWF SWF is an Adobe Flash file format used for multimedia, vector graphics and ActionScript. Originating with FutureWave Software, then transferred to Macromedia, and then coming under the control of Adobe, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function.,... |
Imports and exports animations, Flash, sound, FLV video, fully featured. |
| Windows Video | AVI Audio Video Interleave Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback... |
Exports and renders animations to video with sound. Imports windows AVI files as series of bitmaps. |
| Silverlight | XAML XAML Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise... |
Exports one frame only |
| Scalable Vector Graphics | SVG | Exports one frame. Import, compatible with about 99% of SVG images in the Open Clip Art Library Open Clip Art Library The Open Clip Art Library project aims to create a collection of vector clip art that is free content.- History :The project started in early 2004 by Inkscape developers Jon Phillips and Bryce Harrington to collect designs of flags from all around the world, having been inspired by the efforts to... . |
| Portable Document Format | Exports frames as pages of e-book. | |
| Encapsulated Postscript | EPS Encapsulated PostScript Encapsulated PostScript, or EPS, is a DSC-conforming PostScript document with additional restrictions which is intended to be usable as a graphics file format... |
Exports one frame. |
| Bitmap formats | BMP, JPEG JPEG In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality.... , GIF GIF The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability.... , PNG, TIFF |
Exports and renders single frames or several frames as separate bitmaps. Imports images into the animation. |
| Animated GIFs | GIF GIF The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability.... |
Imports animated GIFS which are imported as movieclips composed of separate bitmaps. Exports animations as animated GIFs of any size. |
| Windows Metafile | EMF | Exports one frame to Windows Enhanced Metafile format. |
| Flash Video | FLV FLV Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player versions 6–11. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are two different video file formats known as Flash Video: FLV and F4V. The audio and video data within FLV files... |
Imports Flash Video into application for output in SWF files. |
| Windows Audio | WAV WAV Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs... |
Imports Windows sound files for use in animations. Also imports of one track of MIDI files for inbuilt synthesizer. |
| Motion Capture | BVH Biovision Hierarchy The Biovision Hierarchy character animation file format was developed by Biovision, a defunct motion capture services company, to give motion capture data to customers... |
Imports motion capture files |
| Canvas HTML5 (for Safari, Chrome and iPad) | HTML HTML HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages.... |
Exports animations using the HTML5 Canvas tag and Javascript to play in the iPad Safari browser. |
Scripting
The scripting is based on Actionscript however there are some differences/short cuts such as instead of using the syntax on(EnterFrame){...} this is done through choosing the menu item "on Enter Frame".Actionscript 2.0/3.0
Awesome Animator supports most of the Actionscript 2.0 syntax and also has a built-in Actionscript interpreter. Since 2011 it also has Actionscript 3.0 support including importing of AS3 classes. It has both a parser and compilerCompiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
which can read actionscript from SWF files. It displays the methods and variables of a class in a tree-structure instead of textually.
Wizards
One notable feature of Awesome Animator is the quick menu which has a selection of wizardWizard (software)
A software wizard or setup assistant is a user interface type that presents a user with a sequence of dialog boxes that lead the user through a series of well-defined steps. Tasks that are complex, infrequently performed, or unfamiliar may be easier to perform using a wizard...
s (dialog boxes) which allows users to create such things as animated text, buttons and charts very quickly. It also has a selection of pre-built and pre-rigged characters such as a human, crocodile, chicken and cow.
iPad support
Awesome Animator has a feature which allows you to export the animations in the Canvas HTML5 format which can be viewed on a standard iPadIPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
within the Safari browser. This feature uses a combination of the Canvas tag and javascript. Simple button interactions also work in this format. This feature is notable due to it being available very shortly after the iPad came out and before any equivalent features were provided by Adobe and other companies.
See also
- Flash animation
- Silverlight
- Scalable Vector GraphicsScalable Vector GraphicsScalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
- Skeletal AnimationSkeletal animationSkeletal animation is a technique in computer animation in which a character is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character and a hierarchical set of interconnected bones used to animate the mesh...
- ToufeeToufeeToufee is flash movie creating/editing software that is distributed online. It is an online software which runs inside the browser, so it is compatible with Windows, GNU/Linux and Macintosh operating systems. It contains features such as text effects, image transitions, audio/video support, and...
- Anime StudioAnime StudioAnime Studio is a proprietary vector-based 2D animation software for animators originally distributed by LostMarble, later by e frontier. Since November 2007, Smith Micro Software has distributed Anime Studio...