Since I was the most practiced with animation software, it was my job to animate the character in flash. This provided some unique problems that I had to solve.
We learnt quite quickly that SWFs (Flash's main export) wouldn't work with After Effects. This would mean we would have to use GIF files to get the character into the composition.
Another problem was the lack of transparency in the GIFs. Flash did not have the capabilities of exporting a GIF with a transparent background. We came up with the solution of making the background bright green. This would essentially act like a green screen for us, that we could key out in After Effects.
Finally there was the problem of the length of the GIFs. I began work with the assumption that After Effects would automatically loop a small GIF, this was not the case however. This would mean I had to lengthen the GIF files to play for longer, but even then some problems come up.
Throughout the animation I employed a technique known as boiling. This is where the line of the character is constantly wobbling, even when still. I did this because the most important aspect of animation is movement, so to see something completely still would look wrong. Boiling ensures the animation keeps its energy, even when the character is still.
Overall the character animation took about a week to collectively finish. As it was close to the deadline I rushed some of the later animations, but that is ultimately my own fault.
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