What is flash? Generally it is a graphic that is subjecting to different changes within very short period of a time. Usually it is composed of several similar but slightly different picture or graphic frames. Switching between these frames within very short period of a time makes you see the object is moving. This concept is extremely helpful in designing cartoons and other movies. There is a number of animation software that can be useful in designing it. Macromedia flash was one of the famous software among the users. However this program is currently marketed under the trade name adobe. The macromedia flash programs were taken under the Adobe Company in 2005 and adobe flash CS5 was introduced to the software market. The first this kind of animation movie was created by John Kricfalusi for a liquor company called Ren and Stimpy.
Flash animation programs are usually helpful in creating 2D or two dimensional animations. So from the meaning of the word they have both height and width.
Creating flash animations is lot easier compared to the traditional animation techniques and also a less expensive method. Broadcasting it is quite easier in internet than in the television. It’s files are a kind of vector file formats. There are many file formats that can be created with flash animation software. They are .as (Action script), .amf (Action message format), .flv (Flash Video), .swc (Shock wave flash components), .swf (Shockwave flash) and .fxg (Flash XML Graphics). And there are many more. Each file format support different software.
There are some more animation programs apart from adobe flash. Some of them are Toon Boom, Vectorian Giotto, CelAction 2D, Toufee, Express Animator, Anime Studio and Alligator Flash Designer. These softwares are often helpful in creating cartoons.
Amara is one of the sophisticated animation software that can be used to create flash animation. It creates flash in.swf file format. It can be used to design web flash and these flash movies can be viewed by using the adobe flash player. Amara Flash Menu Builder, Amara Flash Ticker, Amara Flash Intro and Banner Builder and Amara Photo Animation software are some of these softwares created by Amara Software Developers. These softwares are not much expensive and available between 15-50$ range.
Swish is another producer famous for Flash animation software. Swish Mini Max 4 is another flash animation software that can be used by businessmen or students. Swish Max 4 is also one of the Swish products designed for the professional graphic artists and web professionals. This is also one of the cheap brands that would come helpful for the designers.
Mix Fix is software that can be used to create flash animation. This software can be used to create flash buttons, intro, banners and the text effect. This is simple software that the user will find it is very easy to create the flash buttons very easily. It is available as a trial version. You can buy the software if you are full satisfied during the trial period.
There is quite a lot of flash animation software. The aim of the open source software is to break the barrier for the talented animation designers who can’t afford for the software available in the market. Synfig is one of the open source softwares that can be used to create flash animations.