Flash Alternative/Quicktime Animation?

schut · December 30, 2004 4:18AM

I really want to learn Flash, but I find that it has a horrible interface and non-existant ease of use. So does anyone out there know of a good alternative flash application that is easier to use and runs on OSX.

Also, i noticed that the .Mac site has a cool quicktime animation of some sort at the top of the page, does anyone know how to create one of those?

thanks

I have found this flash application, but it only runs on windows

johnq · December 30, 2004 4:21AM

Animate what.

Drawings?

3d objects?

Video objects?

Type?

interfaces?

schut · December 30, 2004 4:36AM

just 2d flash intros or something like that. moving text, shapes, and images and stuff like that

johnq · December 30, 2004 4:43AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Schut

just 2d flash intros or something like that. moving text, shapes, and images and stuff like that

While my professional opinion says bite the bullet and learn Flash, you might want to look into Apple's Motion. There is an app that you can download to test if your mac will even run it - if you can, there is a demo you can download.

http://www.apple.com/motion/

$299.00

...but if you find Flash to be arcane, then nearly any pro level 2d animation app will drive you nuts.

You can't escape timelines or keyframes.

Perhaps Toon Boom Studio might be to your liking although I've not used it.

schut · December 30, 2004 4:48AM

thanks, ill look into motion and toon boom studio

Do you know how apple makes this quicktime .Mac animation?

johnq · December 30, 2004 5:00AM

You can do that in iMovie. Just import a bunch of pictures and add some crossfades between each.

schut · December 30, 2004 5:05AM

but there is no timeline in that video

johnq · December 30, 2004 5:27AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Schut

but there is no timeline in that video

iPhoto then, my mistake.

That movie is using realtime QuickTime transitions, not pre-rendering the crossfades. That's something iPhoto can do easily.

johnq · December 30, 2004 5:39AM

So import your images into iPhoto, drag them the sidebar and it makes an album. Export and click the Quicktime tab. Deselect music (if you want). Mess with the settings to your liking. It will make a slideshow of the images, with crossfades in realtime (smaller than pre-rendering them).

Like this one I just made:

http://www.nullface.com/ai/qtfades.mov

No, you can't alter them per frame as far as I know.

But you can then string a bunch of quicktime movies together even if they are all different timings. You can do that via cut and paste in Quicktime itself if you have Pro.

schut · December 30, 2004 6:49AM

I guess you didnt understand what i meant by timeline.

The quicktime apple has on the .mac site loops automaticly and has no time line or whatever the thing at the bottom is supposed to be called.

Hopefully this image will clear things up:

johnq · December 30, 2004 6:53AM

That's just the playback controls.

Try it again. I just turned off the controls via Quicktime (Pro) by Get Movie Properties and choosing None for controller.

I'm confident that that Apple animation is merely from iPhoto but with the controller turned off via QT Pro.

Or really anything Apple sells: Motion, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express...I'm sure they can all do this, since it's really Quicktime underneath anyway.

I don't have the iLife iPhoto so perhaps it also lets you set a loop. My version doesn't.

schut · December 30, 2004 7:07AM

Thanks, what about the looping though?

Any idea how to do the links at the end of this movie? http://www.mac.com/1/videotour_large/index.html

johnq · December 30, 2004 7:16AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Schut

Thanks, what about the looping though?

Any idea how to do the links at the end of this movie? http://www.mac.com/1/videotour_large/index.html

Well, for links, we're talking Final Cut Pro/Express or Motion.

Looping, as I say, perhaps the newest iPhoto lets you designate loop for an exported QuickTime. Mine doesn't. Nor does my Quicktime Pro let me set it for an image sequence.

There are many 3rd party tools that also let you edit QuickTime movies and add links etc. I think Adobe GoLive still does.

Flash Alternative/Quicktime Animation?

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