With the first and second editions of Cold Hard Council behind us, it’s time for… the thrilling third edition:

Name one 3rd-party plug-in you’d love to see built for Flash.

Non-vector style brushes would be my number 1. It would again help deflate the “flash” look and cut down on all the hassles of importing Photoshop
or Painter files when needed.
–Mike Geiger, Animation Director, ‘Yam Roll’

Not really a plug-in as much as I would like to see a true alpha channel quicktime exports. Beauty and mattes are fine but one less step would be great.
–Craig Hartin – Animation Supervisor, Radical Axis, ‘Squidbillies’

Some sort of camera I guess. I just want the damn instance box to hold more then two numbers!! They should integrate Toon Titan though, that’s a fantastic tool for colour.
–Gene Fowler, King of the Litter Box, Fatkat Animation Studios

Our animators would love to have certain things happen inside the software. We would like to be able to see the frame numbers in the timeline in real time while scrubbing dialogue. As it is now, you have to stop scrubbing to see which frame you are on. Another improvement we would like to see is the ability to click into symbols and still be on the same frame you were on outside of the symbol. We would rather see more initiative taken by Adobe/Macromedia to develop arrays of plug-ins that would tailor Flash to specific tasks. Even if offered for sale, they could give more functionality to people who had specific uses of the software whether it would be animation or web development.
–Brendan Burch & Dave Vamos, Founders, Six Point Harness Studios

Better brushes/drawing tools like in Illustrator. Better exporting tools for broadcast. Better color picker. A built-in sound editing tool. Better library/asset organization. Oh wait…that’s not just one….
–Roque Ballesteros, Founder, Ghostbot

I’d like to see various MPEG encoders built in as export functions.
–Sandro Corsaro, Creative Director, Crest Digital
–Co-Author, Hollywood 2D Digital Animation

The ‘Flash Plug-ins’ section of the boards have become the most active, and it’s this very topic that’s driving the attention.

We’re back with the second edition of Cold Hard Council. The first focused on Flash’s reputation in the industry and today, we’re asking…

Have you or your studio made the move to Flash 8?

We use 7.2, but not by any choice of mine. With it’s new undo function it’s probably my most unliked version of the bunch. For my projects I use 4. It feels the most comfortable and animator friendly to me.
–Mike Geiger, Animation Director, ‘Yam Roll’

We have not. We usually wait until the software has had time to flood the market and all of the kinks get worked out. I am looking forward to having it in our studio.
–Craig Hartin – Animation Supervisor, Radical Axis, ‘Squidbillies’

Yes we have. I initially played around with the Flash 8 demo and found it lackluster. Feeling disappointed that after all the feelers that were put out into the industry by Macromedia to get feedback from artists and animators that our suggestions were completely ignored. Having now worked in Flash 8 for several months, I still feel the same way, but have grown to enjoy some of the new features as I’ve appled them into our projects. For example all the layer blending modes make for some neato “photoshop-esque” backgrounds as you can see a music video for Microsoft, produced by Tony Grillo of Flinch Studio and Fatkat Animation Studios.
–Gene Fowler, King of the Litter Box, Fatkat Animation Studios

We have moved to Flash 8. It’s a definite improvement from MX2004 and there are a few more artist friendly features. Video capabilties have gotten way better and I’m already looking forward to Flash 9!
–Evan Spiridellis, Head Art Guy, JibJab Media Inc.

No, I use Flash MX.
–Matt Clark, Founder, Manbaby Studios

Yes and it was a big dissapointment.
–Jorge Gutierrez, Creator, ‘El Tigre’ (Nickelodeon 2007)

We have not made the jump to Flash 8. A couple of the guys have downloaded the trials and we have seen little bugs that resemble all early releases of Flash. For example – when bringing in artwork from Illustrator, some fills will fall out, and drops certain custom brush strokes. In addition, some of our projects require collaboration with freelance artists or occasionally overseas studios. We must be sure that everybody we collaborate with is able to work with us without losing a beat due to software incompatibility.
–Brendan Burch & Dave Vamos, Founders, Six Point Harness Studios

We’re still hanging on to Flash MX like fools. Creatures of habit, I guess. We sadly have our unopened boxes of Flash 8 collecting dust in our supply bin.
–Roque Ballesteros, Founder, Ghostbot

Yes, we made the move. As we find ourselves getting into a lot of emerging digital media, Flash has become a very malleable tool. I think it’s crucial to stay current with the program. Skipping versions is like cramming for a test. You don’t want to be working on a deadline and all of a sudden learning new tools.
–Sandro Corsaro, Creative Director, Crest Digital
–Co-Author, Hollywood 2D Digital Animation

Who says creativity can’t happen by committee? Today marks the beginning of a new feature called Cold Hard Council. It’s a roundtable that taps into the minds of some of the more prominent names in the Flash animation community. Each time we convene here for the Council, we’ll tackle a different question, and you’ll see new names pop in and out as this feature unfolds. The envelope, please….

Question #1: Do Flash-animated projects still get a bad rap in the animation world?

I think so. If not for the simple reason that most animators fell in love with the golden age of cartoons, and Flash is known (fairly or not) to be unable to duplicate the quality and life that made those cartoons great. I think the common industry conception is that if it’s a Flash show, it can be
produced quick, cheap, and easy. Which is probably true in part, but this is also the constraint that keeps it looking that way. What made animation great 30 years ago are the same things that make animation look good now. Unfortunately, it seems Flash shows are budgeted to look like Flash shows, so it can be a tricky challenge to balance the quality of the animation you’d like to produce with the deadlines that are expected by a Flash production.
–Mike Geiger, Animation Director, ‘Yam Roll’

I don’t think that they do. Animation has taken a turn from traditional cel animation to new mediums. I don’t think that it is good or bad – just different. People need to understand that this software is bringing animation back into the US. So much work used to be sent overseas and now we have a way to get things done quicker and more cost effectively here. When we began to animate ‘Squidbillies,’ we were trying to find a way to make it stand out. We all knew that we wanted to try something new. Scott Fry, Radical Axis CEO, and I began talking about traditional and vector. We looked at several ways to make it new and fresh, including drawing all of the art into Illustrator. At that point we just decided to dive head first into making it a Flash animated show.
–Craig Hartin – Animation Supervisor, Radical Axis, ‘Squidbillies’

Here in Canada I believe that it’s all over and done with; Flash isn’t synonymous with lesser quality anymore. Also, in recent travels overseas and all over North America, Flash is becoming more then just another medium, it’s now the medium of choice. Flash is just ‘“the way’” now. Which is great!
–Gene Fowler, King of the Litter Box, Fatkat Animation Studios

I think so but it’s only because most people are unaware of all the amazing work being produced with Flash. Or maybe they know the work and simply not know that it’s a Flash-produced program or short. All someone has to do is visit this blog to see the amazing range and quality of work that is being created with the software. Flash, like anything else, is just a TOOL. Give it to a talented artist and they will figure out how to make great work on their own. That’s when it stops looking like it came out of a can.
–Evan Spiridellis, Head Art Guy, JibJab Media Inc.

It seems like they do a little. But it also seems like producers are feeling like they should learn a little more about it, like it might be worth it to finally consider Flash as a real animation tool.
–Matt Clark, Founder, Manbaby Studios

Hell yeah! But definitely changing. The fact that ‘Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends’ and other Flash shows are constantly getting nominated and winning awards is helping. And some studios (Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon) are starting to spend healthy traditional 2D TV budgets on Flash animated series and the results are speaking for themselves. To me, that’s the key. Don’t spend less and expect more.
–Jorge Gutierrez, Creator, ‘El Tigre’ (Nickelodeon 2007)

I think Flash is slowly coming out of the shadows of “dotcom shame.” One reason is that there are a number of recent shows from each of the major animation studios that have tested and proven the viability of Flash, particularly in TV production.
–Roque Ballesteros, Founder, Ghostbot

No, I don’t think so anymore. Around 2000, the majority of cartoons on the internet involved poop or stickmen fighting. So for awhile, Flash was definitely looked down upon in Hollywood. The publicity of the dot-bomb era certainly didn’t help. People thought that the idea of using this tool for broadcast was crazy based on their 30 second exposure to the technical and aesthetic limitations of the web. But history does repeat itself. When 3D first came out, it was very crude and looked extremely mechanical. The guys programming the algorithms had very little sense of timing, movement or acting. The software was very clunky. As the software got into the right hands, all those principles began to evolve with technology. Flash has gone through the same development process in the last 5 years. You now have studio talent harnessing Flash and applying all their knowledge into a new technology.
–Sandro Corsaro, Creative Director, Crest Digital
–Co-Author, Hollywood 2D Digital Animation