FLASH vs TOONBOOM

[jemsel]

well which one is better?? FLASH or Toon Boom??

[flashcartoons]

everyone is different on this

i like flash better, some say flash really wasnt made for cartooning it was more for web stuff.

toon boom they say is made for animating only

[NOOB!]

yes toonboom was actually made for an animated production.

flash..not.

however flash is good for starters....then again...toonboom studio is cheaper and also good for starters.

Like most people i started off with flash..actually..i started off with adobe imageready when i didn't know anything :Xead:

but they both have thier pros and cons,so i can't really answer your question.

p.s.,gunna move this to the software forum.

[pixelmark]

Good question! I have a few more that I was wondering...I have Flash and I believe you can import swfs into ToonBoom, right? Would TB work better for camera movements, and stuff?

[Ferx]

everyone is different on this

i like flash better, some say flash really wasnt made for cartooning it was more for web stuff.

toon boom they say is made for animating only

And Photoshop for photo edition , not for painting.... :D

Like Noob say is difficult to answer that question. I´m working with flash and for me is a really nice program ( yes, more oriented to interactive and web stuff). I don think Toon Boom Studio or Flash are for starters, you can start with this programs (the best and cheaper way :D) and you can make a really great things for years with that software. Toon Boom Digital Pro, again like says Noob, is totally oriented to a professional animation studio. I can tell a secret ... a well know secret, no pro studio use only one software for one animation production, and no individual artist use only one software to create one animation or painting. Is more a matter of creativity and a clever use of the advantages of some programs. Obviosuly the software developers claims that their product is better that the one of its competitors, but the user have the last word :D ( and a nice example is Lucas Films, they develop propietarie software on its productions)

[NOOB!]

pixel yes,toonboom would be better for camera moves,especially because it includes a 3d camera,for multiplane etc.

however,i still find toonboom a tad overwhelming,thats probably because its an *all in one* type of software where almost everything is included,although it has the option to export layers,so you can edit in other software.

I prefer to just colour in one program,and use After Effects + photoshop for any editing.

Its also as ferx says,no one uses any one program.And also as ferx says,this is kinda like the whole photoshop vs painter arguement.Photoshop was never meant for digital painting it is a photo editing program.People eventually just found ways to use it for other things.

So it suprises me when people make complaints about photoshop not having proper painting tools,or flash not having "proper" stuff for animation.Its just because thats not the market these companies are aiming for.

I heard toothpaste gets rid of zits and heels spots.If i try that and it doesn't work,i'm not going to complain to the toothpaste maker,cos thats not what they intended it for,right? [/going off topic]

Again,this is what trials are for,download em and see what works best for you.

[jemsel]

yup thats why i am confuse with these software products!! :(
like i have to test and study how to use their softwares to find pros and cons............ not to mention i must spend my money and time... sometimes their is not enough Trial time! :D:D thanks for the enlightenment!!:rolleyes:

[JK-TGRS]

Here is some advice that I usually give when I hear this question about software . Software makes very little difference. Software is just a tool. You can learn and work with any tool if you understand how to animate. So focus on learning to animate first and foremost.

The biggest consideration about which tool to choose if you are just starting out is that it takes time to learn the specifics of any software tool and therefore changing tools after you learn one is tedious and time consuming. But it is usually easier to learn the second tool after you mastered the first.

I think that Toon Boom Studio is a great all purpose learning tool as it is modeled after traditional techniques for producing animation as well as incorporating newer computer aided techniques. If you needed to move from Toon Boom to Flash at a later date that would be an easier move than moving from Flash to Toon Boom because Flash is so non-standard in it's work flow, which some people like, but which also promotes haphazard learning.

Toon Boom is more structured and in my opinion a better animation learning environment. It is always easier to move from structure to a more free form approach then visa versa. Toon Boom also is more oriented to animating the way animating is taught and learned so again it supports the learning process of the most important thing you want to focus on which are traditional animation techniques. You have to master the traditional before you can truely utilize the newer short cuts and aids correctly. Having said all of that, stay focused on the craft and don't let the tools become an obsession or a distraction. -JK

[jessemckinney]

For my two pesos, it's Toon Boom all the way. I tried flash once, but it just didn't stick for me. Toon Boom's onion skin, camera controls and great sound sync make it perfect, but that's just me. I'm not to big on all the shortcuts people seem to use when animating with flash, things look too clean. But in the end, they're both pretty much the same thing, with a few differences, it's more about who's doing the animating i guess. i know that didn't help

[unclefatty]

I'm in the minority since I use toonboom Digital Pro but have never used flash.
I obtained toonboon since I work in a professional animation environment and need to create quality work but I will say that toonboom is lacking in several areas. The advantages are that you can create animation, effects, camera and compositing all in one package. They say that toonboom is compatible with flash but this is not totally true. Toonboom can export swf files but the effects and camera parameters will not export. So if you work to tweak an animation file and expect to import it into flash and have it look identical you will be disappointed. This was my experience when trying to create animation in toon boom but then needed to implement that animation in flash web site. In addition flash can engineer websites and toonboom can not in it's current state. There are are great number of work-arounds and limitations that you will need to learn with toonboom. The software is powerful but the interface is cumbersome and the documentation is laughably poor. My feeling is that the current version is a bit of a Beta and over time could improve greatly with greater flexibility and compatibility as well as some serious improvements to interface.
It's strengths are in creating cut out flash animation. It can be used as a tool to produce traditional or paperless animation but I find the interface very lacking for this purpose.

[rindolphus]

...when animating with flash, things look too clean.

As for this, I have two words: Adam Phillips. Watch this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCxPEB-uu20). Entirely done in flash. Backgrounds, effects, color, everything!!

He and one of my other heroes, Bernard Derriman, have moved from Flash to Toon Boom Digital Pro, out of convenience, I guess. Both did great things, and are still doing so, in both pieces of software. What they have in common is that they know how to animate, period. Both come from the closed Disney Australia studio, and their medium was paper, originally. Software is not really an issue for them. They choose one and stick to it long enough to get it to do what they want.

I like JK's comment best... software is just a tool. And he knows what he's talking about. I encourage you to go read all the trails of amazing knowledge he's left all over the internet. Start with his blogs.

On the down side of things, though. I bought Toon Boom Studio, and felt a little cheated out of my money, I must say. You expect to be able to really do "everything" in it, and that's just not possible, as Ferx points out. And it feels a little primitive too. I am determined to push its limits though, but it takes a while to do things well, when you're used to Flash (example: I hate having to go to photoshop to blur things out). Toon Boom Digital Pro, caught my eye, but it's price is just absurd. It's the down payment for a nice shiny new car here. It's marginally better than Flash in some areas, but Flash goes for around 700 bucks, and you get what you pay for, whereas Digital Pro (I have trouble abbreviating it "DP") goes for 2800 dollars at a discount, and not Zimbawean.

On the other hand, I've seen work done in PAP, which I thought to be really archaic, (plus photoshop for cleanup and color) that made me go wow. Much more labour intensive though, like it was in the golden days of animation :-).