Flash cartoon
Encyclopedia
A Flash animation or Flash cartoon is an animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 which is created using Adobe 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...

 or similar animation software and often distributed in the .swf file format
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.,...

. The term Flash animation not only refers to the file format but to a certain kind of movement and visual style which, in many circles, is seen as simplistic or unpolished. However, with dozens of Flash animated television series, countless more Flash animated television commercials, and award-winning online shorts in circulation, Flash animation is enjoying a renaissance.

In the late 1990s, when for most Internet users, bandwidth was still at 56 kbit/s
56 kbit/s line
A 56 kbit/s line is a digital connection capable of carrying 56 kilobits per second , or 56,000 bit/s, the data rate of a classical single channel digital telephone line in North America...

, many Flash animation artists employed limited animation
Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames. One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes, which in the early days was referred to as modern design...

 or cutout animation
Cutout animation
Cutout animation is a technique for producing animations using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or even photographs...

 when creating projects intended for web distribution. This allowed artists to release shorts and interactive experiences well under 1 MB, which could stream both audio and high-end animation. One example is the first episode of The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program is a 1997 Adobe Flash cartoon series created by John Kricfalusi and starring the animated George Liquor. Liquor was spun out to his own web-based cartoon during the days when the Spümcø studio had an online presence. Michael Pataki voiced Liquor in the series...

 released in 1999, rendered at only 628kB
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...

.

Flash is able to integrate bitmaps and other raster-based art, as well as video, most Flash films are created using only vector
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...

-based drawings which often result in a somewhat clean graphic appearance. Some hallmarks of poorly-produced Flash animation are jerky natural movements (seen in walk-cycles and gestures), auto-tweened character movements, lip-sync without interpolation, and abrupt changes from front to profile view.

Flash animations are typically distributed by way of the World Wide Web, in which case they are often referred to as Internet cartoons, online cartoons, or webtoons. Web Flash animations may be interactive and are often created in a series. A Flash animation is distinguished from a Webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....

, which is a comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 distributed via the Web, rather than an animated cartoon. Flash animation is now taught in schools throughout the UK and can be taken as a GCSE and A-level.

History

Developed by Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...

, Flash (along with Macromedia's other programs) was acquired by software giant Adobe in April 2005, the newest version being Flash CS5.5.

The first prominent use of the Flash animation format was by Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi
John Kricfalusi
Michael John Kricfalusi , better known as John K., is a Canadian animator. He is creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, its adults-only spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", The Ripping Friends animated series, and Weekend Pussy Hunt, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based...

. On October 15, 1997, he launched The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program is a 1997 Adobe Flash cartoon series created by John Kricfalusi and starring the animated George Liquor. Liquor was spun out to his own web-based cartoon during the days when the Spümcø studio had an online presence. Michael Pataki voiced Liquor in the series...

, the first cartoon series produced specifically for the Internet. The series starred George Liquor
George Liquor
George Liquor , most famous for his appearances on The Ren and Stimpy Show, is a cartoon character created by John Kricfalusi and is a mascot for Kricfalusi's defunct animation studio, Spümcø. Kricfalusi portrayed George Liquor as a patriotic, outspoken, politically conservative blowhard...

 (a fictional character rumored to have ended Kricfalusi's employment on Ren & Stimpy) and his dim-witted nephew Jimmy The Hapless Idiot Boy
Jimmy The Hapless Idiot Boy
Jimmy the Idiot Boy is a cartoon character created and voiced by John Kricfalusi and is the official mascot for Kricfalusi's company Spümcø. He is a mentally retarded boy...

. Later, Kricfalusi produced more animated projects with Flash including several online shorts for Icebox.com, television commercials, and a music video. Soon after that, web cartoons began appearing on the internet with much more regularity.

On February 26, 1999, in a major milestone for Flash animation, the popular web series WhirlGirl became the first regularly scheduled Flash animated web series when it premiered on the premium cable channel Showtime in an unprecedented telecast and simultaneous release on the Showtime website. Created by David B. Williams and produced by Visionary Media, the studio he founded, WhirlGirl follows the adventures of a young superheroine fighting for freedom in a future ruled by an all-powerful "mediatech empire." The series originally launched in the Spring of 1997 as a web comic with limited animation and sound. After gaining online syndication partners including Lycos.com and WebTV, the series first adopted Flash animation in July 1998. Following her Showtime debut, the titular heroine appeared in over 50 Flash webisodes on the Showtime website and starred in a million dollar multimedia Showtime marketing campaign.

About the same time, Joe Cartoon
Joe Cartoon
Joe Cartoon is the name of a series of Flash-based online cartoons that was launched in 1998 by creator Joseph C. Shields, a comic artist, and t-shirt and toy designer from Michigan...

 launched the interactive animation "Frog in a Blender" to become one of the very first true "Viral Hits" on the internet gaining more than 90 million views since its release in 1999.

The Von Ghouls went live in November 1999, featuring the first music group with cartoon episodes online including original songs, in the vein of Saturday morning cartoons of the 1970s. A number of popular portal sites featured Flash animation during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, including Icebox, MondoMedia, CampChaos, MediaTrip, Bogbeast and AtomFilms. Stan Lee of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 launched an animated comics site.

The Internet also saw the proliferation of many adult-only Flash cartoon sites. Some of the shows from that period made the transition to traditional media, including Queer Duck, Gary the Rat, Happy Tree Friends
Happy Tree Friends
Happy Tree Friends is an American Flash cartoon and made by Mondo Mini Shows, created and developed by Aubrey Ankrum Rhode Montijo Kenn Navarro and Warren Graff. The show has become a popular Internet phenomenon and it's since debut and has also won a cult following.As indicated on the official...

, and the politically-minded JibJab
JibJab
JibJab is a digital entertainment studio based in Venice, California. Founded in 1999 by Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, it was noticed during the 2004 US presidential election when their video of George W. Bush and John Kerry singing "This Land is Your Land" became a hit. The company creates,...

 shorts. Occasionally, the trend has been reversed: after being canceled from both ABC and Fox, Atom Films
Atom Films
Atom.com is a broadband entertainment network offering original short subject films, animations, and series by independent creators...

 and Flinch Studio created net-only episodes of The Critic
The Critic
The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...

 in 2000–2001. In another instance, Flash almost made the transition to the big screen. In 2001, production began on what would have been the first Flash-animated feature film, the ill-fated Lil' Pimp
Lil' Pimp
Lil' Pimp is a 2005 feature length, black comedy animated film. It was the first feature length movie to be created entirely with Macromedia Flash animation. The movie was directed and written by Mark Brooks and Peter Gilstrap...

, which also began life as an Internet series. As potentially controversial as its subject matter was, it had a relatively large budget, a number of well-known actors (including William Shatner, Bernie Mac, and Lil Kim), a full crew, and a running time of nearly 80 minutes. Although Sony Pictures decided not to release the film, it was eventually released on DVD by Lion's Gate.

Several recording companies experimented with releasing animated music videos to promote their artists' releases online, including Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

, Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

 and Tenacious D
Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass, the band has released two albums – Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny...

, however none became the hit that allowed for the expansion of Flash animated music videos. Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...

 and Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...

 among others, released original Internet-only animated works, but were not able to devise successful financial models and the trend dissipated, largely as a result of a lack of viable micropayment systems.

Several popular online series are currently produced in Flash, such as the Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

-winning Off-Mikes, produced by ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 and Animax Entertainment
Animax Entertainment
Animax Entertainment is an animation and interactive production studio based in Van Nuys, California. Animax's clients include Disney, ESPN, Warner Bros., National Geographic, Sesame Workshop, WWE and many others. Animax has a particular expertise in Adobe Flash animation and has produced work...

; Gotham Girls
Gotham Girls
Gotham Girls is an American Flash animation series about the females of Gotham City, created and produced jointly by Warner Brothers and Noodle Soup Productions in 2002...

, produced by Warner Brothers; Crime Time
Crime Time
Crime Time is a series of animated shorts produced by Future Thought Productions, produced by Jay Zaveri and Steven Kasper, directed by Nassos Vakalis.- Premise :...

, produced by Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions is a creative animation studio that creates, produces or contributes to film, television, web and mobile animation. Future Thought is amongst the first studios in the world to have employed Macromedia's Flash software for the UNICEF television series Meena along with...

 and HomestarRunner produced by Mike and Matt Chapman
The Brothers Chaps
The Brothers Chaps are Michael "Mike" Chapman and Matthew "Matt" Chapman, creators of the Homestar Runner series of animated cartoons. The brothers are originally from Indiana, but now live in Atlanta, Georgia.-Matthew Chapman:...

.

Many animated television series are produced using Macromedia Flash, inspired by both the comparatively low cost of production and the unique style that can be achieved with the software, including Metalocalypse
Metalocalypse
Metalocalypse is an American animated television series, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, which premiered on August 6, 2006 on Adult Swim...

, Being Ian
Being Ian
Being Ian is a Canadian animated series produced by Studio B Productions, Corus Entertainment and Nelvana, focusing on 12-year-old Ian Kelley, who aspires to become a filmmaker....

, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is an American animated television series created and produced at Cartoon Network Studios by animator Craig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls. It first premiered on Cartoon Network on August 13, 2004, as a 90-minute television movie, which led to a series...

, Kappa Mikey
Kappa Mikey
Kappa Mikey is an American animated sitcom created by Larry Schwarz, who chose 4Kids Entertainment as the worldwide licensing, marketing and official promotional agent of the series...

, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
is an American-Japanese animated series from Cartoon Network, produced by Renegade Animation. The show was created by Sam Register, who also serves as the series' executive producer....

, Happy Tree Friends
Happy Tree Friends
Happy Tree Friends is an American Flash cartoon and made by Mondo Mini Shows, created and developed by Aubrey Ankrum Rhode Montijo Kenn Navarro and Warren Graff. The show has become a popular Internet phenomenon and it's since debut and has also won a cult following.As indicated on the official...

, Odd Job Jack
Odd Job Jack
Odd Job Jack was a Canadian animated comedy television show featuring Don McKellar, about one man's misadventures in temporary employment. Seen on and produced for the The Comedy Network, a cable specialty channel, and shown on Adult Swim in Latin America, the show is currently finished its...

, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! is an American animated television series created by Bob Boyle. The series is animated in Toon Boom and Adobe Flash software, produced by Bolder Media, and Starz Media...

, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Three show Monkey Dust
Monkey Dust
Monkey Dust is a British satirical cartoon, notorious for its dark humour and handling of taboo topics such as murder, suicide and paedophilia. There were three series broadcast on BBC Three between 2003 and 2005...

, the Channel Four show Modern Toss
Modern Toss
Modern Toss is a British series of cartoon booklets and books aimed at adults, and a television series based on them. It is the creation of Mick Bunnage and Jon Link; their company is called Modern Toss Ltd, also going under the name '*hitflap' .The cartoons feature low-quality drawing, offensive...

, Yin Yang Yo, Aaagh! It's the Mr. Hell Show
Aaagh! It's the Mr. Hell Show
Aaagh! It's the Mr Hell Show is an animated comedy show created by David Max Freedman & Alan Gilbey after the greeting card line about a painfully honest demon created by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod. The series only ran for one season of thirteen episodes in 2001/2002, produced by a British-Canadian...

, Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...

's Eli's Dirty Jokes, Queer Duck
Queer Duck
Queer Duck is an animated series produced by Mondo that originally appeared on Icebox.com and later moved to the American cable television channel Showtime in 2002, where it aired as a followup feature of the American version of Queer as Folk...

 from Showtime, and Shorties Watching Shorties on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

.

Other television series, such as Home Movies
Home Movies (TV series)
Home Movies is a dialogue-driven American animated series that originally aired from 1999 to 2004. The plot surrounds eight-year-old Brendon Small , who makes films with his friends Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis in his spare time...

 and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is an American animated television series comedy created by Williams Street and produced by Cartoon Network Studios that aired on Cartoon Network during its Adult Swim late night programming block. The series' pilot first aired in 2000, and later became a series in...

, both broadcast on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

's Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...

 programming block, have switched to Flash from other animation technology.

Many animation film festivals have responded to the popularity of Flash animation by adding separate categories in competition for "web cartoons" or "Internet cartoons." Additionally, several exclusively web-based Flash competitions have been established. It is speculated that only the category "made for Internet" will survive, as competitions at animation film festivals are typically arranged in categories defined by film length and distribution channel, rather than by animation techniques or tools used to create the films.

Timeline - First Flash Projects On Television

Year Project Notes
1999 WhirlGirl - Showtime Premiere When the first regularly scheduled Flash animated series, WhirlGirl, made its Showtime premiere, the premium cable network marked the occasion with an unprecedented telecast that ran simultaneously with the release of the episode on the company's website.
1999 A Little Curious
A Little Curious
A Little Curious is a children's television show which has aired on HBO Family since 1998, lasting for just two seasons , and...

 - Selected Segments
A series of shorts that aired on HBO and HBO Family.
2000 The Rosie O'Donnell Show
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
The Rosie O'Donnell Show is an Emmy Award-winning American daytime television talk show hosted and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It aired for six seasons from 1996 to 2002...

 - Opening Titles
For the 2000 and 2001 seasons, the show opens were created by Bullseye Art
Bullseye Art
Bullseye Art was a New York City based art collective that pioneered art and animation on the web. Founded in 1995 by Josh Kimberg, Nick Cogan and Ryan Edwards, the company gained fame for its creation of unique and offbeat interactive cartoons made using Macromedia Flash.Bullseye Art became well...

, which has spun off into a company called Magic Butter. These titles were nominated for a daytime Emmy for 'Main Title Design.'
2000 Breakup Girl This aired on the Oxygen Network in March 2000 as part of the "X-Chromosome" block a sort of female Liquid Television
Liquid Television
Liquid Television is an Emmy Award–winning 1990s animation showcase that appeared on MTV. The first season of Liquid Television also aired on BBC Two in co-production with MTV. Ultimately, MTV commissioned three seasons of the show, which was produced by Colossal Pictures...

 overseen by Kit Laybourne
Kit Laybourne
Kit Laybourne is the Chief Creative Officer for The Whistle, a cross platform media company focusing on kids and sports. He was a founder of Oxygen Media where he executive produced animation, documentary and interactive shows. Kit was a Core Faculty Member in the MA program in Media Studies at the...

 and Machi Tantillo.
2001 Ollie's Under The Bed Adventures This was a half-hour special on Teletoon in March, which eventually spawned the series now known as Olliver's Adventures
Olliver's Adventures
Olliver's Adventures is an animated television show that aired on Teletoon and with a variety of foreign broadcasters, including ABC in Australia...

.
2001 daddy / King Pylon Two short films were made for Channel4's Mesh Scheme in the UK, Stephen Cavalier's 'daddy' and Ed Holdsworths 'King Pylon', animated in Flash and were broadcast on Channel4 in September, 2001.
2001 Quads! In November 2001, this series launched on Australia's Special Broadcasting Service
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...

 network.
2001 TV Warehouse The title sequence for this BBC program was produced in Flash by Elephant Egg.
2002 Gary the Rat Originally a web cartoon, later created as a 30 min series, animated by Nick Digital Studios East for Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

.
2002 Meena One hundred minutes of a series of Public Service Announcements (PSA's) for the project by Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions is a creative animation studio that creates, produces or contributes to film, television, web and mobile animation. Future Thought is amongst the first studios in the world to have employed Macromedia's Flash software for the UNICEF television series Meena along with...

.
2002 The Proud Family Shorties These episodes of The Proud Family
The Proud Family
The Proud Family is an American animated television series that premiered on Disney Channel from September 15, 2001 to August 19, 2005.-Production:...

 were animated at Hyperion Pictures
Hyperion Pictures
Hyperion Pictures is an American film production company founded by Thomas L. Wilhite, who had previously been the head of motion picture and television produced for and owned by Walt Disney Productions, and writer/director Willard Carroll...

 under the Animobile label. Two episodes were animated by Animax Entertainment
Animax Entertainment
Animax Entertainment is an animation and interactive production studio based in Van Nuys, California. Animax's clients include Disney, ESPN, Warner Bros., National Geographic, Sesame Workshop, WWE and many others. Animax has a particular expertise in Adobe Flash animation and has produced work...

 (The Beach and The Picnic).
2002 Home Movies
Home Movies (TV series)
Home Movies is a dialogue-driven American animated series that originally aired from 1999 to 2004. The plot surrounds eight-year-old Brendon Small , who makes films with his friends Melissa Robbins and Jason Penopolis in his spare time...

 
The second season of this series was produced in Flash.
2002 ¡Mucha Lucha!
¡Mucha Lucha!
¡Mucha Lucha! was an animated television series. It premiered on Kids' WB on August 17, 2002. It was created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is the first animated television series created with Adobe Flash, a program often used for Internet cartoons...

 
One of the first US network Flash series.
2002 The Mr. Dink Show Canada’s first broadcast Flash production.
2002 Bobinogs
Bobinogs
Bobinogs is a children's television programme shown most recently on the BBC channel CBeebies daily at 7:30am in the UK. It debuted for a Welsh audience, but in 2003 started being broadcast in the English market. It originally featured three characters who lived in a child's hat: inanimate when he...

 
On BBC Two Wales.
2002 Weebl and Bob
Weebl and Bob
The Everyday Happenings of Weebl is a Flash cartoon series created by Jonti Picking and co-scripted by Chris Vick .-Main summary:...

 
A web cartoon that also showed on MTV2 UK.
200? Xiao Xiao
Xiao Xiao
Xiao Xiao is an internet Flash cartoon series by Chinese animator Zhu Zhiqiang, featuring stick-figure men performing choreographed fight scenes. Some of the cartoons are interactive and game-like. All cartoons are in the Adobe Flash format, although Xiao Xiao #1 was originally in AVI format...

 #3
A stickfigure animation shown on MTV
2005 Stroker and Hoop
Stroker and Hoop
Stroker and Hoop is an American Flash animated television series on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. The series is a parody of buddy cop films and television series such as Starsky and Hutch, and features the voices of Jon Glaser as Stroker and Timothy "Speed" Levitch as...

 
Canceled Adult Swim series.

Timeline - Other Flash Animated TV Series

Year Project Notes
2003 Jacob Two-Two
Jacob Two-Two
Jacob Two-Two is the central character in a series of children's books, Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang , Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur and Jacob Two-Two's First Spy Case written by Mordecai Richler, and Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas written by Cary Fagan.Jacob is the youngest child of...

 
Launched on Canadian children's channel YTV, this was one of the first Canadian Flash animated TV series based on a trilogy of books
Jacob Two-Two
Jacob Two-Two is the central character in a series of children's books, Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang , Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur and Jacob Two-Two's First Spy Case written by Mordecai Richler, and Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas written by Cary Fagan.Jacob is the youngest child of...

 written by Canadian author, Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...

.
2003 Chilly Beach
Chilly Beach
Chilly Beach is a Canadian animated series, which airs on CBC Television in Canada and The Comedy Channel in Australia. The series is a comedic depiction of life in the fictional Canadian town of Chilly Beach, described by the producers as "a bunch of Canadians doing the stuff that Canadians do,...

 
Launched on CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

, this became one of the first Flash productions to make the move from online "webisode
Webisode
A webisode is a short episode which airs initially as Internet television, either download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial.A webisode can be an episode...

s" to national TV.
2004 Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is an American animated television series created and produced at Cartoon Network Studios by animator Craig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls. It first premiered on Cartoon Network on August 13, 2004, as a 90-minute television movie, which led to a series...

 
Launched on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

.
2004 Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
is an American-Japanese animated series from Cartoon Network, produced by Renegade Animation. The show was created by Sam Register, who also serves as the series' executive producer....

 
Launched on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

.
2004 Atomic Betty
Atomic Betty
Atomic Betty is a Canadian animated television series produced by Atomic Cartoons, Breakthrough Films & Television, and Tele Images Kids. Additional funding for production is provided by Teletoon in Canada and M6 and Télétoon in France. It currently airs on CITV. The series has once again begun...

Launched on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.
2005 The X's
The X's
The X's is an American animated television series created by Carlos Ramos about a family of spies, who must hide their identity from the outside world, but sometimes have a little trouble in doing so....

 
Canceled Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

 series that ran for only a year.
2005 The Buzz on Maggie
The Buzz on Maggie
The Buzz on Maggie was an American animated television series which originally aired for 21 episodes between June 2005 and May 2006. The series focuses on Maggie Pesky, a tween fly, that aspires of becoming a rock star, but many episodes focus on her daily life.The series was created by Dave...

 
Canceled Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 series that ran for only one season.
2005 Disney's Little Einsteins
Little Einsteins
Little Einsteins is an animated television series on Disney Junior. The educational preschool series was developed for television by Douglas Wood who created the concept and characters, and a subsequent team headed by Emmy Award-winning director Olexa Hewryk and Dora the Explorer co-creator Eric...

 
Multimedia pre-school show, used Flash for all principal character animation in conjunction with video, photo collage, Maya 3-D animation and After Effects.
2005 Johnny Test
Johnny Test
Johnny Test is an American/Canadian animated television series. It premiered on Kids' WB, on The WB Television Network, on September 17, 2005. Five months later, it was introduced to Cartoon Network UK on January 12, 2006, first, as a sneak preview on Jungle Saturdays Block, and then on June 5,...

 
Kids WB show that started airing on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 in 2007
2006 Yin Yang Yo!
Yin Yang Yo!
Yin Yang Yo! is a Canadian-American animated television series created by Bob Boyle II and produced by Jetix Animation Concepts. It is the third Jetix-original show. It premiered on October 2, 2006 on Jetix with a sneak peek airing on August 26, 2006...

 
The Second Disney series made entirely in Flash.
2006 Pucca
Pucca
Pucca is a media franchise from the South Korean company Vooz Co., Ltd. and currently owned by The Walt Disney Company. The main character, Pucca, is the 10-year old niece of three Chinese noodle house owners. The noodle house, known as the "Goh-Rong", is located in Sooga Village, a small village...

 
A Flash series based on a series of online shorts produced by VOOZ in South Korea. The TV series is produced by Studio B in Canada.
2006 Chaotic
Chaotic (TV series)
Chaotic is an American-Canadian animated fantasy television series produced by 4Kids Entertainment and animated by Bardel Entertainment. It is based on the Danish trading card game of the same name. Much of the plot is based on the original storyline of the Danish trading card game.-Premise:Chaotic...

 
A Flash series based on the story of the original Chaotic Trading Card Game
Chaotic Trading Card Game
Chaotic is a Danish trading card game brought to the United States by Chaotic USA and 4Kids Entertainment, and distributed by TC Digital Games. It was released along with the open beta version of the online game on October 24, 2007...

.
2006 Happy Tree Friends
Happy Tree Friends
Happy Tree Friends is an American Flash cartoon and made by Mondo Mini Shows, created and developed by Aubrey Ankrum Rhode Montijo Kenn Navarro and Warren Graff. The show has become a popular Internet phenomenon and it's since debut and has also won a cult following.As indicated on the official...

 
A very popular flash animated cartoon that started out as an internet cartoon around 1999 and it quickly became an internet phenomenon. In 2006, it became a full half-hour TV series on the channel G4
G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...

.
2007 Total Drama Island
Total Drama Island
Total Drama Island is a Canadian animated television series which lampoons the conventions commonly found in reality shows. The show and its sequel seasons are collectively referred to as the Total Drama series. It premiered on the Canadian cable television specialty channel Teletoon on July 8, 2007...

 
Launched on Teletoon
Télétoon (Canadian TV channel)
Télétoon is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel that specializes in animation programming. Télétoon is owned by Teletoon Canada Inc; a 50/50 partnership between Astral Media and Corus Entertainment...

 in Canada and on Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (United States)
Cartoon Network is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting which primarily airs animated programming. The channel was launched on October 1, 1992 after Turner purchased the animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1991...

 in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.
2007 Skunk Fu!
Skunk Fu!
Skunk Fu! is an Irish animated television series and IFTA award winning children's television series featuring the fables of anthropomorphic animals protecting their valley using martial arts...

 
A flash animation developed in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 that ran from 2007-2008.
2007 El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is Nickelodeon's first ever flash animation series produced for Nickelodeon and Nicktoons Network. The first screening of the show was on January 19, 2007 in the first ever Nickelodeon Creative Summit held in San Juan, Puerto Rico as a special treat for the...

 
One of the first original flash animations of Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

.
2008 G2G: Got to Go
G2G (TV series)
G2G: Got to Go, is an animated television series co-produced by Moody Street Kids and March Entertainment . The series focuses on the life of a preteen girl, Maddison Marples-Macintosh, who assumes the role of an online advice columnist on her school's website...

 
Co-production between Moody Street Kids in Australia and March Entertainment
March Entertainment
March Entertainment is a Canadian producer of digital animated entertainment for television and the World Wide Web. The company's properties include the television series Chilly Beach, Maple Shorts, Yam Roll and Dex Hamilton....

 in Canada. Launched on Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

 in Australia on August 16, 2008.
2008 Crime Time
Crime Time
Crime Time is a series of animated shorts produced by Future Thought Productions, produced by Jay Zaveri and Steven Kasper, directed by Nassos Vakalis.- Premise :...

 
A popular flash cartoon by Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions is a creative animation studio that creates, produces or contributes to film, television, web and mobile animation. Future Thought is amongst the first studios in the world to have employed Macromedia's Flash software for the UNICEF television series Meena along with...

 that is broadcast to television in Japan, Australia, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Ukraine.
2008 Making Fiends
Making Fiends (TV series)
Making Fiends is an American animated television series. Based upon a web series with the same name, the series premiered on October 4, 2008 on Nicktoons. The series follows the evil Vendetta and the new happy girl, Charlotte, at school in the gloomy town of Clamburg. Vendetta hates Charlotte and...

 
Launched on Nickelodeon. Based on the internet flash series.
2008 The Mr. Men Show
The Mr. Men Show
The Mr. Men Show is an animated television series based on the original Mr. Men and Little Miss books created in the 1970s, 80s and 90s by British author Roger Hargreaves and his son Adam Hargreaves. Adapted from the published source material into a television variety program, The Mr...

 
A television show based on books by Roger Hargreaves
Roger Hargreaves
Charles Roger Hargreaves was an English author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for very young readers...

.
2008 Eli's Dirty Jokes  A short-form comedy webseries picked up by Cinemax and broadcast as interstitial content between feature films. Features an elderly accountant who tells classic jokes brought to life by Flash animation.
2008 Jimmy Two-Shoes
Jimmy Two-Shoes
Jimmy Two-Shoes is a Canadian/American animated television series. It airs on Disney XD in the United Kingdom and in the USA, and Teletoon in Canada...

 
A Canadian animated television series created by Edward Kay
Edward Kay
Edward Kay is a Toronto-based writer with a background in both live-action and animated television comedy, as well as print journalism.Kay spent four years as a writer and producer on the political satire, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, before becoming supervising producer of The Itch, a comedy series...

 and Sean Scott
Sean Scott
Sean Scott is an Arena Football League wide receiver/linebacker playing currently for the Philadelphia Soul. He went to Millersville University...

. First aired on Teletoon
Teletoon
Teletoon is a Canadian Category A specialty channel that broadcasts animation programming. Teletoon is owned by Teletoon Canada Inc., a joint venture between Astral Media and Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of television and cartoon and has no connection with the television channel...

 in Canada. Now airs on Disney XD
Disney XD
Disney XD is a brand of children's TV channels worldwide targeting young males, owned by The Walt Disney Company. The channel was formerly known as Toon Disney and/or Jetix in most areas. According to Gary Marsh, President of Entertainment for Disney Channel Worldwide, "XD" does not "stand for...

 or Toon Disney
Toon Disney
Toon Disney was an American cable television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company. A spinoff of Disney Channel, it mostly aired children's animated series and some live action programming. Its format had similarities to those of Cartoon Network and Nicktoons...

.
2009 Kud A Dutch sketch show which airs weekly on TMF
The Music Factory
The Music Factory is a pop music television channel that operates in Belgium .TMF previously operated channels in the Netherlands , the UK with TMF UK and Australia with . The brand is owned by MTV Networks International...

's Kijk dit nou!
2010 Ugly Americans
Ugly Americans (TV series)
Ugly Americans is an American animated television series created by Devin Clark and developed by David M. Stern. The program focuses on the life of Mark Lilly, a social worker employed by the Department of Integration, in an alternate reality version of New York City inhabited by monsters and other...

 
Launched by Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

. Created by Augenblick Studios
Augenblick Studios
Augenblick Studios is an independent animation studio located in New York City. Founded in 1999 by Aaron Augenblick, their team of artists has created a wide array of animated shorts for television, film, and the Internet. Clients include the Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Spike Lee, PBS, MTV,...

, the creators of Superjail
Superjail
Superjail! is an American animated television series produced by Augenblick Studios the first season and Titmouse, Inc. the second season. The series follows the events that take place in an unusual prison. The pilot episode aired on television on May 13, 2007, and its first season began on...

.
2010 Maryoku Yummy  Launched on HubBub and Playhouse Disney
Playhouse Disney
Playhouse Disney was Disney Channel's television block for programs aimed at entertaining preschool aged children, often airing as its own channel outside the United States. It was introduced in 1997 after Disney Channel's move to basic cable from premium cable, with a target audience of children...

. Based on the American Greetings
American Greetings
American Greetings Corporation, Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card company. It is based in Brooklyn, Ohio and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products , and electronic expressive content...

 card character Maryoku Yummy.
2010 My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series that premiered on October 10, 2010 on the United States cable network The Hub, and is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works. The series is produced by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media Vancouver...

 
Launched by The Hub. Based upon the popular toyline by Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

.
2011 The Looney Tunes Show
The Looney Tunes Show
The Looney Tunes Show is a packaged show, created for Cartoon Network, and broadcast from 2002 to 2005. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The show featured cartoon shorts from the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon series produced from 1930 to 1969.-External links:...

(Main scenes ONLY)
Launched by Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

. Created by Sam Regster
2011 Dan Vs.
Dan vs.
Dan Vs. is an American flash animated cartoon series created by Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson. The series premiered on January 1, 2011 on The Hub. Dan Vs. ended its first season on July 9, 2011. The series' second season began on November 19th and will continue through the 2011-2012 lineup.-Plot:The...

 
Launched New Years Day 2011 in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on The Hub
The Hub
-Places:* "The Hub", a nickname for Boston, Massachusetts; short for The Hub of the Universe* The Hub , former church in Edinburgh which is now home to the Edinburgh International Festival...

. Created by Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson
Chris Pearson
Chris Pearson is the name of:* Chris Pearson * Chris Pearson * Chris Pearson , first premier of the Yukon* Chris Pearson , British radio presenter* Christopher Pearson, journalist...

2011 Bob's Burgers
Bob's Burgers
Bob's Burgers is an American animated television sitcom, which premiered on January 9, 2011 on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series was created by Loren Bouchard and focuses on the Belcher family, who runs a hamburger restaurant. On April 7, 2011, Bob's Burgers was renewed for a second season...

 
Launched by 20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...

. Created by Loren Bouchard
Loren Bouchard
Loren Hal Bouchard is a writer, director, producer, composer, and voice actor for several animated TV shows and a co-creator of Home Movies . He is also the creator of Bob's Burgers-Biography:...


Timeline - First Flash feature film projects (theatrically released)

Year Project Notes
2005 The Golden Blaze
The Golden Blaze
The Golden Blaze is an animated film released in 2005 written by Archie Gips and directed by Bryon E. Carson. The feature, starring the voices of Blair Underwood and Michael Clarke Duncan, had a limited theatrical run making it the first flash animation ever to be theatrically released, and is...

 
Directed by Bryon E. Carson, starring the voices of Blair Underwood and Michael Clarke Duncan, had a limited theatrical run making it the first flash animated film to be released on the big screen.
2005 Xuxinha e Guto Contra os Monstros do Espaço  Directed by Clewerson Saremba e André Passos, produced at Labocine, in Rio de Janeiro, released in 2005 Christmas, was a big success in Brazil.
2006 Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss
Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss
Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss is a 2006 animated fantasy film about two star-crossed seals from warring families that fall in love against their parents' wishes. It loosely follows the traditional play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare and was released in Europe on July 22, 2006 and on...

 
Former Disney animator Phil Nibbelink took 4½ years to make it and he drew 112,000 frames with a Wacom tablet directly into Flash 4, in combination with Moho.
2006 That Darn Jesus An animated segment of nineteen minutes produced at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and HD 1080 (1920 px X 1080 px) for the movie Universal Remote by Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions
Future Thought Productions is a creative animation studio that creates, produces or contributes to film, television, web and mobile animation. Future Thought is amongst the first studios in the world to have employed Macromedia's Flash software for the UNICEF television series Meena along with...

.
2007 Turma da Mônica: Uma Aventura no Tempo  Directed by Mauricio de Sousa, produced at Labocine, in Rio de Janeiro, is biggest box office in Brazilian animation history
2007 Chilly Beach: The World is Hot Enough" A spin off from the televised animated series Chilly Beach, as featured by http://www.ilaugh.com Produced by March Entertainment
March Entertainment
March Entertainment is a Canadian producer of digital animated entertainment for television and the World Wide Web. The company's properties include the television series Chilly Beach, Maple Shorts, Yam Roll and Dex Hamilton....

.
2008 Mickey the Squirrel  Directed by Chaz Bottoms, a 76 minute feature animated on a Wacom Graphire Tablet with 6,500 frames.
2008 The Secret of Kells  Feature-length hand-drawn animated film produced by Irish studio Cartoon Saloon
Cartoon Saloon
Cartoon Saloon is an Irish company which provides illustration, design, animation, film and TV services. The company is based in Kilkenny City. The company developed the successful cartoon series Skunk Fu!. Skunk Fu was nominated for a BAFTA Children's Award in October 2008. The company has...

, co-produced in France and Belgium. Uses Flash for several sequences, though the majority of the film is traditionally animated.
2008 Sita Sings the Blues
Sita Sings the Blues
Sita Sings the Blues is a 2008 animated feature film written, directed, produced and animated entirely by American artist Nina Paley , primarily using 2D computer graphics and Flash Animation.It intersperses events from the Ramayana, illustrated conversation between Indian shadow puppets,...

 
Directed and Produced by Nina Paley. An 83 minute feature film created independently and entirely in Flash
2008 Waltz with Bashir
Waltz with Bashir
Waltz with Bashir is a 2008 Israeli animated documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War....

 
Directed by Ari Folman
Ari Folman
Ari Folman is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer.-Biography:Ari Folman was born in Haifa to Holocaust survivors. His wife is also a film director...

, with David Polonsky as director of animation. A 89 minute feature film created using a combination of hand-drawing and flash animation based on video footage. Won a Golden Globe award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

, and was nominated for the best foreign language film in the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

.
2010 El sol  First Argentinian animated movie done integrally with Adobe Flash. Directed by Ayar Blasco.

Flash Animation distribution

While the creation of animation using Flash can be easier and less expensive than traditional animation techniques, the amount of time, money, and skill required to produce a project using the software depends on the chosen content and style. Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 distribution is considerably easier and less expensive than television broadcasting, and websites such as Newgrounds
Newgrounds
Newgrounds is an American entertainment and social media website. Founded on July 6, 1995 by Tom Fulp, the site primarily hosts Adobe Flash animations and games, but also features a music-oriented page, along with an art portal...

 provide free hosting. Many Flash animations are created by individual or amateur artists. Many Flash animations first distributed on the web became popular enough to be broadcast on television, particularly on such networks as MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 and G4TV
G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...

...

Flash Animation in professional studios

Flash animation production is enjoying considerable popularity in major animation studios around the world, as animators take advantage of the software's ability to organize a large number of assets (such as characters, scenes, movements, and props) for later re-use. Because Flash files are in vector
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...

 file format, they can be used to transfer animation to 35 mm film without any compromise in image quality. This feature is used by several independent animators worldwide, including Phil Nibbelink
Phil Nibbelink
Phil Nibbelink is an American animator and film director as well as comic book writer and illustrator.He is a former member of Walt Disney Animation Studios...

, who saw his 77-minute feature film Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss
Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss
Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss is a 2006 animated fantasy film about two star-crossed seals from warring families that fall in love against their parents' wishes. It loosely follows the traditional play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare and was released in Europe on July 22, 2006 and on...

 released in theaters in 2006. For Disneyland's 50 Magical Years film featuring Live action Steve Martin interacting with Donald Duck, the hand drawn animation of Donald Duck was cleaned up and colored in Flash. The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!
The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!
The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! is an animated direct-to-DVD American comedy film written and produced by original writers and executive producers Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein and directed by Greg Franklin...

, a straight-to-DVD feature of the animated series Drawn Together
Drawn Together
Drawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...

, produced by Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

 and released in April 2010, discarded the series' traditional animation and used Flash animation instead.

Creating Flash animation from other software

There are a number of other software packages available that can create output in the .swf format. Among these are Toon Boom, Vectorian Giotto
Vectorian Giotto
Vectorian Giotto is the free Flash animation software. It is used to create interactive Flash animations. It is developed and distributed under the free licence, for both personal and commercial usage. Vectorian Giotto outputs to the .swf format, while projects are saved in internal .vgd format.-...

, CelAction2D, Toufee
Toufee
Toufee 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...

, KoolMoves, Express Animator
Express Animator
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...

, Alligator Flash Designer, Amara Web Animation software and Anime Studio
Anime Studio
Anime 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...

. These front-ends often provide additional support for creating cartoons, especially with tools more tailored to traditionally-trained animators, as well as additional rigging for characters, which can speed up character animation considerably. Additionally, there are programs available which translate 3D
Swift 3D
Swift 3D is a computer software application program developed by Electric Rain that allows the user to create or import 3D models, animate or manipulate them, and export them for use in Adobe Flash documents....

information into 2D vectors.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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