How can you make good cartoons on a computer for free?

What program would I need to use for computer animation?

• (I didn't post this in the animation forum because that looked mostly like tv shows) I'd like to know how to make my own animations on my computer, and more over what I would need for that. I don't mean advanced animation that you need for jobs, I just mean animation I can mess around with and practice for when I do need it. pretty much, how do I make cartoons like the ones on newgrounds? (not that I want to make cartoons like that, just in that vein of production) I can draw and have a tablet, so that's no problem, I'm just wondering how I can learn the ropes and make one or two of my own. thanks

• Answer:

  The software that they probably use is Macromedia Flash. It's a professional tool that can do both linear films and also interactive stuff for the web, but what is fantastic about it is that it allows you to work frame by frame and has this feature called "onionskin" that lets you see what images you have before and after what you're currently drawing. http://sofia.fhda.edu/gallery/flash/lessons/lesson10-1.html Also, apart from drawing all the frames yourself, flash can move things for you or make their color change etc in what is called a motion tween so there are a lot of automated features in it too. Flash is not cheap, but you could probably get a 30 day trial and maybe even find an older version of somebody that's not using it anymore. There are lots of flash tutorials on the web, like Flash kit http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Animation/ This link takes you to a very simple video tutorial on how to make a basic stick man animation, to get an idea of how the frame by frame and onionskin works... http://www.hypergurl.com/blog/flash/beginner-tutorial.html To produce animation in the traditional way, you need to make (or photograph) lots of images and then play them back... Because of persistence of vision http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision our brain sees a quick succession of images as movement so as long as your images have only small changes from one to the other you'll be creating smoothly flowing moving images... You don't even need a sophisticated piece of software. You could make a flip-book to get your teeth into animation and that would only cost you a few pages of paper. Actually, sticky notes work perfectly because they come in handy little pads that you can flip through without needing to make it yourself...Check out this link which shows you more. http://www.acmi.net.au/eli_competition.htm If you have access to a digital stills camera and a basic piece of software that allows you to play every image that you make for a fraction of time, (like i-movie if you have a macintosh) then you can make low-tech wonders. In a NTSC system, there's about 30 frames per second but you can get away with 15 frames per second. In Europe where we use PAL, you make 25 frames per second, but it works with 12 rather well. That's the only drawback, animation is fantastic fun but it takes time and commitment. Look at any of your favorite animations frame by frame and see how small or big changes make for faster or smoother movements. And be patient!