Okay, I'll try to describe some of these as best I can, PlayShapes has already posted some very useful stuff to the paws.ru thread, and you can view his post(s)
here, and
here.
Now, one of the things I've done for my v0.2 is structure the library using folders to hopefully sort things out a little bit, but I'm not ready to upload that yet, so I'll try to describe as well as I can.
How to add character data (symbols) to a new project.Included in the original file, and an idea I intend to keep to strongly, is the use of character "templates". The names for these differ slightly, but if you search for template, or for character, then you will hopefully find what you need.
Double-click to open one of these, from here the easiest way is to select the first frame on every layer (you can do this by clicking to select the first frame of the top layer in the timeline, then scroll down to the bottom and
shift-click the first-frame of the bottom layer).
Now, right-click on the selection, and choose "copy frames". Go into the symbol you want to add the character to, and select a frame in a blank layer (create a blank layer if you don't have one), then simply choose "paste frames", this will rename and create new layers to fit everything you copied, and thereby add the character to the scene, ready to animate!
How to (very basically) start tweening/add keyframes.Tweening is nice and simple. In general it is probably best to tween
everything to start with; Flash is fairly good at detecting tweens that don't do anything and optimising the animation for you, but in future you may want to tween more carefully so that the time-line is a bit "cleaner". To create a tween you just create a keyframe (a frame with a dot in it, you can select it and right-click, or just select and hit F6 to convert to keyframe). Once you have a keyframe for the start of your tween, right-click and choose "Create classic tween", you now have a tween!
If there are no more keyframes for that layer, then the tween will appear as a series of dots, indicating that nothing will happen, whereas if there is a keyframe, then an arrow appears to show that you will tween from something (first keyframe) to something else (second keyframe).
Assuming you don't have a second keyframe yet, I find the easiest way to create one is to click somewhere in the timeline where you want the new pose, and just click and drag the symbol (arm, leg, whatever) as Flash will insert the keyframe for you.
Some notes; if you want to extend an action, just pick somewhere in the middle of the tween, and hit F5 a few times to insert a new normal frame. Select the same frame on all layers (as mentioned in the adding character data bit) and you can insert new frames to all layers at the same time (otherwise parts would got out of sync).
Refer to existing animations if you're still having trouble, just click around on the various keyframes and observe what's there, Flash will highlight body parts if you select a keyframe that affects them, so you can easily see what parts of the timeline represent what parts of an animation, and how they've been constructed. In general if you're creating a new sequence you will want to do large movements first, for example moving an arm from the characters side to pointing up into the sky, then add more keyframes in anywhere that the animation looks wonky (for example if the hand appears to detach from the arm, or rotates strangely). The arms and head are the main problem areas for Krystal in this regard.
How to add/sync sound effects to an animation.Sounds are pretty easy actually. I find the best way is to add some extra layers, for example one for sound-effects (splats/whatever), and one for voice (moans), and just insert a keyframe whenever you want the sound to begin. Now just select that frame, and in the properties window there should be an option where you can select the sound to play. Flash will then display the sound's waveform in the timeline, so you can see where the sound will end, where it will be at its loudest etc so you can tweak it.
The effects option on the properties window will also allow you to place the sound on the left or right channel, and add some basic fades. It's worth taking the time to add these where relevant, so that sounds from characters on the right side of the screen appear to come from the right and such.
How to hand animate (e.g. a load of jizz flying across the room)I've been using PlayShapes' method for this. Again you're best to create dedicated layers for these effects. Insert a keyframe, select the brush tool, and set the colour to white, then draw your first frame of the effect. Now go to the next frame, make it a keyframe too. Now, look at the bottom of the timeline window; there are some little icons, one of these is the onion skin button, this shows previous and/or future frames as partially transparent, allowing you to see the frame you've just drawn. The frames you see are controlled by a new little widget that appears at the top of the red bar indicating current frame, use the little circle "handles" to restrict the selection, I usually only show the current frame plus one previous frame except when going for certain effects. It should now be fairly easy to draw your effects stage by stage; don't worry about being too accurate to the previous frame, since you're animating a mess it doesn't matter if it's messy!
One important thing to note is; don't keep animating it for too long! Generally a single "spurt" for a gooey effect shouldn't be longer than maybe 10 frames, after this none of it should be moving. Things are made interesting when you have several spurts of various strength, e.g - a strong one to start, then one or two weaker ones. Use a different layer for each so you don't have to re-draw previous frames, and do them one at a time. The hand-job sequence is the most complete animation for the Krystal arc in the original file, and it is a great reference to try and refer to and emulate in terms of the standard.
Now, I'm sorry that I tend to get a bit wordy, but hopefully some of this helps!
