Mecha Creature Walk Cycle 1

Just a test cycle I made of a Mecha Creature I designed. Not for anything really, just to do it. Making sure my joint points match up and hold and such. I made this completely in Flash - with total Flash animating techniques.

In the bigger piece the walking might not be as full. But I just wanted to try out some movements with my creature for fun.

I used to think that the only way to animate and gain respect with the community was to do it totaly traditionaly, pencil and paper, the hard way. But then I realized that the ancient way is not the only way to go. The most basic animation principals still apply to anything. But if it is done just right - Flash animating is better. And it is the way of the future of animation. Now Flash Animators are judged how well they can animate in Flash, not nessisarily how well they can animate on paper. Of course traditional animation is still very important. But maybe it's time I started really using Flash and self-teaching myself how to animate somehwhat complex things.

My goal is to make a Flash animation - but make it non-flat, complex, non-basic shape, character animation. So - it's 2D, and flat like a Flash toon - but adding all those tedious, tiny details on the characters and stuff to make them seem less flat. A Laser animator friend of mine taught me a lot about depth in simple 2D animating. Flash doesn't have to be flat and simple geometry. I think that is what bugs a lot of ppl about Flash animation. It's usually so flat, and very basicly geometric. Expand on your shapes! Don't be affriad to add those hyper details! Use the shapes but make something more out of it than simply a circle or a square. Its tedious and time consuming - but the audience will like it a lot better if they've got something really alive to look at.

This is a tiny side piece of a much bigger project.