Which FPS for Smooth Animation?

I'm a new flash user and I'm having trouble making a simple
animation (small bitmap single color airplane motion tweened to
move across the background) for a website. FPS is set to 21 but
when i test the movie, the animation is choppy & not smooth at
all. If i try 60FPS, it's very smooth but I think that'd be
ridiculously high for a website.
Please take a look at this link because I want my animation
to be as smooth as this, what FPS do you think they used here?
http://www.taito.co.jp
What are some other options for me to retain a 21FPS swf
file and still keep my animation as smooth as possible? or are
people just using really high FPS to achieve this? Please help
me...thank you.

I use 30fps, I think its smooth but not overkill. Higher than
that, and you will start to run into PC strains and slow downs on
older machines, lower than that and things are just inheritantly
choppy.
Also, you mention you are animating a bitmap. Bitmaps tend to
have a harder time than vectors. Also, with Bitmaps, be sure to
check "allow smoothing" in it's properties in library.

Similar Messages

Graphics2D and AffineTransform needs object-reuse for smooth animation!

Hi,
I'm currently working on a graphical framework for animation using Java2D but has come to a dead end. The goal of the framework is to deliver smooth animation on various platforms, but this seems impossible due to the following fact:
I have a tree of graphical objects i render on a Graphics2D-object. Some of the objects to be rendered are transforms on the Graphics2D instead of visible objects - this way I can have transform-objects in my tree which will affect all child-objects. This is all very nice, but when doing transformations on the Graphics2D A LOT of objects are being created by the implementation of Graphics2D (SunGraphics2D). I've designed my framework to utilize object-reuse and cacheing-mechanisms to ensure no garbage collection is performed when actual animation is in progress - if gc's are performed, this results in visible pauses in the animation. Now, I would like to ask if someone knows how to get around this problem, or suggest I simply abandon Java2D?
The details of my problem is the following:
When doing transforms on the Graphics2D-object which is passed to every object in the tree (and hence, a lot of transformations are being done), a lot of FontInfo-objects are being created - even though I don't use any of them - it's all in the subsystem. The source in the SunGraphics2D is as follows:
// this is called by my framework to rotate all childs in the tree
public void rotate(double d) {
transform.rotate(d);
invalidateTransform(); // the evil starts here
// this is called a lot of places in SunGraphics2D
protected void invalidateTransform() {
// a lot is thigs are going on in this method - cutted out...
// before this method returns, the following takes place
fontInfo = checkFontInfo(null, font); // now we are getting there
// this is the method of pure evil object allocations
public FontInfo checkFontInfo(FontInfo fontinfo, Font font1) {
// every time this method is called, a FontInfo-object is allocated
FontInfo fontinfo1 = new FontInfo();
// and a lot of other objects are being created as well...
}I have come to think, that Java2D is pretty old and should be pretty mature at this point, but now I doubt it since object-reuse is a pretty obvious way of doing optimizations.
Has any of you experienced the same problem or maybe found a solution to doing transformations on a Graphics2D-object without a ton of objects being created?
If you would like to have a look at the problem you can do the following:
Make yourself a little program which is doing some transforms on a Graphics2D-object in a loop (to emulate the 25fps animation and the transform-objects in the tree). Now use your favorite memory profiler (I use JProbe Memory Profiler, free evaluation) and see for yourself - the objects which are garbage collected includes a ton of FontInfo-objects and many AffineTransform-objects.
If I do not find any solution to this problem, I'm forced to face the fact, that Java2D is not suitable for animation-purposes - gc's during animation is no solution!
Thank you for your time - hope to hear from you soon.
Regards,
// x-otic.

I think the main point is java transform objects are to slow to use in animations. They definitly have there uses, but for fast animations you need something more optimized.
If you assume a general graphic objects has getHeight, width, x, y, render(). You could do translations using these general properties at an abstract level, letting each graphic object implements its own way to render itself and use the properties.
I tryed to make sense!

BEGINNER: Best Framerate for smooth transitions

My animation is jagged in movement.
What would be the best framerate for a smoother transition?
Right now I'm using the default 12FPS
Should I make it higher or lower and if so, by how much?
This is the animation:
http://www.tarilynquinn.com/site/SE_INDEX.html
Help would be much appreciated.

Higher framerates do make for smoother animations -- up to a point. Depending upon how many things you have going on and the computer in use a really high frame rate can cause some machines to choke and then it will look worse than a lower frame rate.
I recommend getting a rate that you work at and that you tailor all your designs to meet work at that rate. That way if you need to combine assets later they will be compatible. And you will have a feeling for the rate.
At work we are now doing everything at 24 and at home I use a 30. I think both of those are pretty reasonable and that most machines these days will be able to handle those rates.
Of course there are always times when for a very specific reason I might use a different rate, but I only do that knowingly and not just because, "eh, seems like a good idea."

Which is better for doing animation? Flash 4, 5, MX, CS, or others?

Which is better for doing animation? Flash 4, 5, MX, CS, or
others?
I am used to using brush function more conveniently in Flash
4 than the other versions I ve tried. However, Flash 4 doesn't have
pen tool.
Free News Reader
http://put.hk
http://put.hk/reader/forums.macromedia.com/macromedia.flash.html

1Evan2Wing3 wrote:
> Which is better for doing animation? Flash 4, 5, MX, CS,
or others?
>
> I am used to using brush function more conveniently in
Flash 4 than the other versions I ve tried. However, Flash 4
doesn't have pen tool.
all pretty identical tho I would go with cs, just because I
like the GUI much
more than other versions...
Best Regards
Urami
"Never play Leap-Frog with a Unicorn."
<urami>
If you want to mail me - DO NOT LAUGH AT MY ADDRESS
</urami>

Which is best for 3d Animation??

Which is better for 3d Animation and graphic design? Mac or PC...and for whichever is better which laptop would be a good affordable choice? Please help! I know very little of computers.

Ok, time for a little bit of an explaination. Sorry, please sit back, grab some coffee and a snack, this is going to take a moment.
*ahem*
The argument as to which is better between PC and Mac has been raging for years. On one hand, most graphic designers that are small and starting up are convinced that Macintosh Apple is the top dog on this department. Larger graphic firms tend to switch to PC, keep mac, or use something proprietory.
Is Mac better? The general consensus is yes - straight out of the box, it tends to work better. There is no doubt, however, that you can get the exact same results cheaper if you go with a PC, but with a PC, you'll have to configure your system.
So, where does that leave you? It leaves you with program and compatibility. You need to ask yourself, 'what 3d Modeling programs have I been using? What specifications do they require? Do they have a PC and Mac version? If so, which do people tend to say works better with it?'
and..
What is everyone I'm working with going to be using? PC, or Mac? There might be issues converting things and transporting things (or at least extra steps) if I go say, PC and everyone is using Mac.
Answer those questions and you'll have your answer.
I am a Bestbuy employee who volunteers on these boards on my own time. I am not paid for posting here, and you should understand that my opinions are exactly that - opinions. I do not represent Bestbuy in any way.
: Open Mailbox

Smoother animation?

I’ve got a background bitmap that needs to gently shift
up and down in a loop. The movement is very subtle and slow …
10 pixels over 100 frames @ 30 fps. The problem is that Director
doesn’t appear to tween fractional pixels, so what I see is a
somewhat undesirable “stepping motion” where the
background moves 1 pixel, waits 10 frames until the tween rounds up
to the next whole pixel, then moves another pixel, and so on. Does
anyone have a trick for smoothing out “micro” animation
of this sort?

I've got a behaviour which can make sprites move fractionally
between pixels like this, but it's fairly processor intensive (uses
copypixels on a multiplied up version of the image) so I'm not sure
how fast it would perform on a large background image.
Here it is:
http://robotduck.com/content/articles/director/visualEffects/antialiasedMotion/
It's just one behaviour which you place on a sprite, and once
it's on you have to set the sprite's position using a 'setLoc()'
command, with a floating point 'point', like this:
spriteRef.setLoc( point(10.3,21.9) )
More details are in the behaviour comments.
Hope this helps!
- Ben

Fps for web

I've read in multiple places that one should use 12fps when designing for web. This seems to make animations very choppy. Is 12 fps absolutely necessary or can I use the default 24fps which looks very smooth and clean?
Thank you.

You can use whatever pleases you most. The ideal number(s) vary with opinion, so what works best for you in your opinion is fine. 24 is not a bad number... better than 12 as far as making things more fluid goes.

Techniques for smooth continuous motion in a game

Hello all,
I'm working on a brick-breaker variant and all is going well except for the motion of the ball-- it isn't as smooth as I'd like. I've done some reading on the subject and have come away with two promising techniques for smooth continuous animation:
1. Use time based position update functions rather than frame-based. This basically allows you to cheat the SWF's FPS setting and make a certain object move more fluidly without jacking up the entire movie's FPS. This is handy and does have a dramatic effect, but it also costs much CPU and/or battery power to process so it (might) not be suitable for continuous motion. It is better left to tweens and other animations that are both short and critical. Also, I found that in order to get the ball moving at a reasonable speed for difficult gameplay I had to either lower the time delay or increase the velocity modifier to the point that the ball appeared to half-vanish much of the time (presumably) because it was getting too far ahead of the movie's frame renderer. As such, this method really isn't suitable for managing continuous core gameplay mechanics.
2. Convert velocity modifiers to floating point values rather than integers. This worked very well to smooth out the motion a bit, and has had no adverse side effects so far as I can see. It doesn't quite get the ball to the level of smooth animation I'd like, however.
Currently my movie's FPS is set to 45 and I'd prefer not to go any higher than that if possible. With floating point modifiers and 60 FPS everything is very smooth, but I am wary of using an FPS setting so high, particularly as this is eventually going to be a mobile app and therefore battery life is a consideration. Does anyone know any more tricks to smooth continuous, game-mechanics-centric motion?
Is there perhaps any magic that can be worked with the new Stage Video API and/or any other hardware acceleration offered by flash player/AIR? Is Stage Video even usable in iOS and/or Android apps created in Flash CS5?
Thanks,
CCJ

What was the Bit-Rate of your Exported MOV file?
Good luck,
Hunt

Smooth animation

hi there,
trying to achieve smooth animation, or graphics moving on screen without flickering blinking.
I checked some code samples here on Sun website and tried to use that technique to paint into off-screen image first and then just draw image on screen. I finished with something like this:
BufferedImage Sce;
public Graphics2D createGraphics2D(int w, int h) {
        Graphics2D g2 = null;
        if ( Sce == null || Sce.getWidth() != w || Sce.getHeight() != h ) {
            Sce = (BufferedImage) createImage(w,h);
        g2 = Sce.createGraphics();
        g2.setBackground(getBackground());
        g2.clearRect(0,0,w,h);
      g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
        return g2;
    public void somethingToDraw(Graphics2D a) {
              //bit of my code to draw shapes
    public void paint(Graphics g) {
        Dimension d = getSize();
        Graphics2D a = createGraphics2D(d.width, d.height);
        somethingToDraw(a);
        a.dispose();
        if ( Sce != null ) {
            g.drawImage(Sce, 0, 0, this);
}I think i copied almost everything as it was in the original sample, but it is flickering even more than in direct drawing. maybe i do mistake somewhere.
actually, scene is redrawn by method repaint(); which is called either in thread or on defined event.
should I refresh screen by repaint() or something else?

re-parent my drawing object to JPanel
Since Swing is double-buffered you can usually eliminate the offscreen (Sce) buffer.
I have not found any difference in flicker between Applet and application. AWT in either
form can have problems with flicker; (well-written) Swing does not. The main difference
between applets and applications is how you deal with applet/app context for
initialization/startup for things like loading images and calling start methods. It always
seems to take some tinkering to get things to work the way you want.
Here are a couple of suggestions for reducing flicker in AWT.
// <applet code="AnimationTest" width="400" height="400"></applet>
// ues: >appletviewer AnimationTest.java
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
public class AnimationTest extends Applet {
    Controller controller;
    public void init() {
        AnimationPanel ap = new AnimationPanel();
        controller = new Controller(ap);
        setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        add(ap);
    public void start() {
        controller.start();
    public void stop() {
        controller.stop();
    private static WindowListener closer = new WindowAdapter() {
        public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {
            System.exit(0);
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Applet applet = new AnimationTest();
        Frame f = new Frame();
        f.addWindowListener(closer);
        f.add(applet);
        f.setSize(400,400);
        f.setLocation(200,200);
        applet.init();
        f.setVisible(true);
        applet.start();
class AnimationPanel extends Canvas {
    BufferedImage image;
    Ellipse2D.Double ball;
    double radius;
    double theta;
    double thetaInc;
    public void paint(Graphics g) {
        if(image == null)
            initImage();
        g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, this);
     * omitting the call to super.update below avoids
     * clearing and repainting the whole background
     * with each call to repaint -> one way to reduce flicker
    public void update(Graphics g) {
        paint(g);
    public void advance() {
        // make certain image has been initialized
        if(image == null)
            return;
        // reposition the ball
        int w = getWidth();
        int h = getHeight();
        theta += thetaInc;
        ball.x = w/2 + radius*Math.cos(theta);
        ball.y = h/2 + radius*Math.sin(theta);
        // update image
        Graphics2D g2 = image.createGraphics();
        g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
                            RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
        g2.setPaint(Color.white);
        g2.fillRect(0,0,w,h);
        g2.setPaint(Color.red);
        g2.fill(ball);
        g2.dispose();
        // repaint only the section that is changing
        // another way to reduce flicker
        repaint((int)ball.x-15, (int)ball.y-15, (int)ball.x+15, (int)ball.y+15);
    private void initImage() {
        int w = getWidth();
        int h = getHeight();
        radius = Math.min(w, h)/4.0;
        theta = 0;
        thetaInc = Math.toRadians(1);
        double x = w/2 + radius*Math.cos(theta);
        double y = h/2 + radius*Math.sin(theta);
        ball = new Ellipse2D.Double(x, y, 15, 15); // diameter = 15
        image = new BufferedImage(w, h, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
                //getCompatibleImage(w, h);
        //System.out.printf("image = %s%n", image);
        Graphics2D g2 = image.createGraphics();
        g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
                            RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
        g2.setPaint(Color.white);
        g2.fillRect(0,0,w,h);
        g2.setPaint(Color.red);
        g2.fill(ball);
        g2.dispose();
     * some operating systems do better with a compatible image
     * check the type of the BufferedImage returned by this method
     * most likely not be a factor in flicker-reduction
    private BufferedImage getCompatibleImage(int w, int h) {
        GraphicsEnvironment ge = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment();
        GraphicsDevice gd = ge.getDefaultScreenDevice();
        GraphicsConfiguration gc = gd.getDefaultConfiguration();
        BufferedImage bestImage = gc.createCompatibleImage(w, h);
        return bestImage;
class Controller implements Runnable {
    AnimationPanel animationPanel;
    Thread thread;
    boolean animate;
    public Controller(AnimationPanel ap) {
        animationPanel = ap;
        animate = false;
    public void start() {
        if(!animate) {
            animate = true;
            thread = new Thread(this);
            thread.start();
    public void stop() {
        animate = false;
        thread.interrupt();
        thread = null;
    public void run() {
        while(animate) {
            try {
                Thread.sleep(40);
            } catch(InterruptedException ie) {
                System.out.println("Controller interrupted");
                stop();
            animationPanel.advance();
}

Best setting for gif animations

what is the optimal setting for animated gifs

Depends on your style and your training as an animator, and
what your project goals are: straight animation? interactivity?
e-cards? Traditional animators used to drawing frame-by-frame with
exposure sheets will feel more comfortable with Toon Boom Studio
(www.toonboom.com). It has far superior drawing tools and color
pallette management and timeline management than Flash. But if
you're used to Illustrator, that may make no difference to you. It
appears that the upcoming Flash CS4 will narrow the gap, as the
interface appears to include enhancements that will be more
familiar to traditional animators, not to mention IK, which Toon
Boom Studio doesn't have (the highly expensive Toon Boom Solo does
have it).
That said, I think Flash is a great program for creating
cartoon animation. You may not think you're interested in
ActionScript programming at this point. I use Flash mainly for
cartoon animation and I resisted ActionScript for a few years. But
once you get used to Flash as an animation tool, and then decide to
dip your little toe into ActionScript, you'll find out what an
astounding tool it is, even for traditional animation, enabling you
to do things impossible in more traditional-oriented programs. Plus
now Flash and Illustrator are fairly well integrated, so you'll be
able to import and export between the two.
On balance, I'd go for Flash.

Best Codec for exporting animations with alpha channel from FCP timeline

Whats the best codec for exporting animations (hopefully using loseless compression) that will retain alpha channel, and use the current sequence settings for fps and size?
Currently Im exporting image sequences, but I'd prefer a wrapper.. I don't know much about the 'Animation' export codec.. I did notice that set to current size had some funky value of 753x450 or something.. instead of my current project size of 1920x1080...
Anyhow.. Just seeing what others are doing..
basically Im reading out some titles that I'll end up dropping over video later.. but since they render out so slowly (**** lower 3rds is slow) Im trying to get a jump on the process..
Tx..

PNG should do it. I think PNG is lossless (that's what they say, anyway). But realistically, if you use PNG, Animation, or JPG2000 set on highest quality, I'd dare you to tell a difference.
I use PNG because it's supposedly lossless, renders twice as fast as Animation in a FCP timeline, and is usually about half the size.
If you use "Export Using Quicktime Conversion", you will need to check all of the settings manually to make sure they match your sequence settings. This is always true, no matter what codec you use.
If that sounds risky, your other option is to go into your sequence settings and change the codec to the one you want to render to (this will probably turn your whole timeline red), and then choose Export -> Quicktime movie.

Best practice for optimising animation / stage bitmaps

Hi everyone and a happy new year.
I am currently working on a prototype app for the iPad which involves some well known (UK) characters from childrens TV.
My usual job is to build interactive online magazines which are essentially very simple Flash games, and I mean really simple. The artwork is provided to me as hi res jpeg images and I then convert them to 72dpi and add them to the stage as per the design given to me.There is generally between 3-10 user interactions that trigger an animation. I use Tweener for the animations and they are either a popup that slides on and or off the stage.or a character is animated around the stage a bit.
This obviously works fine in a browser but on the iPad it really struggles with the animation, the framerate drops by around 75% and sometimes freezes for several seconds. I knew not to expect high performance animation sequences and high end game play using the packager for iPhone, but I did expect simple animations not to be a problem.
Does anyone have any suggestions on optimisation? Is it perhaps the use of Tweener that is the problem? I am really hoping to get some good results here.
Thanks for any help.

The secret to success when using stream audio to sync timeline animation is to have the items load ahead of when they are needed. For example, if several new items are to appear at frame 100, and then immediately animate in some way, the audio will cause the frames where they animate to be skipped, because it takes so long for the items to load and get onto the GPU.
So, have those items appear on the stage at perhaps frame 80, and concealed in some way so that you don't notice them. They have to overlap the stage by at least a pixel, otherwise they won't really load onto the GPU. Then at frame 100 move them into their correct positions, and the animation should go as intended.
When doing this, make sure the items are remaining in the same layer, have the same instance name, and there are no gaps in the timeline.

What software is for drawing animation?

does anyone know what software is used for drawing animation?.I tried adobe flash cs3 which was siad to be
the animation software used for eddsworld a youtube hit.I want to make something like eddsworld but adobe flash cs3 wont come up when I search it on this website.If you have an answer to my question please reply!.
from the epiccrew............................

Flash Creative Suite 6 is the current version. You can find more details at http://www.adobe.com/products/flash.html.

I am looking for an animated globe/map with zoom capabilities for FCP

I want to purchase a globe that will spin and look somewhat realistic and when I stop it on the country it will zoom in/out to the state I want. I have found globes at several companies, but I need the zoom effect. Or... I need a map of the U.S. with a zoom effect like this. Can anyone help?

Google earth pro can be purchased with a modual that exports to AVI format, but only runs on the PC; its MUCH cheaper than 10k; I'm sure you can use the google search engine to find the home page to earth pro, with the movie maker plugin.
You can use google earth the free version to create the sequance to test and see if you see what you like; and then upgrade to pro with movie plug in and get the best results; The free version will not be as smooth and hi res as the pro with movie maker, movie maker downloads all the data for each frame, then stores that frame in the AVI, the free version will download as much data as it can to display to keep up with the time alloted for the animation;
You can get sneeaky and use your camera to record off the LCD panel, but this looks like crap as all the details are missing, not to mention its illegal. Pro with Movie plug in is worth it for exactly this type of thing...
tk

Best Option for Simple Animations?

I create cartoons in Illustrator 8.0. I want to move into
animating simple cartoons i will draw myself. They will range from
5 seconds to a few minutes. All will have audio.
I don't want to buy more than i need. What is the minimum
software program that i need, and what could i use that may cost a
little more but would be worth it in the long run?
Thank you so much for your opinion.

Depends on your style and your training as an animator, and
what your project goals are: straight animation? interactivity?
e-cards? Traditional animators used to drawing frame-by-frame with
exposure sheets will feel more comfortable with Toon Boom Studio
(www.toonboom.com). It has far superior drawing tools and color
pallette management and timeline management than Flash. But if
you're used to Illustrator, that may make no difference to you. It
appears that the upcoming Flash CS4 will narrow the gap, as the
interface appears to include enhancements that will be more
familiar to traditional animators, not to mention IK, which Toon
Boom Studio doesn't have (the highly expensive Toon Boom Solo does
have it).
That said, I think Flash is a great program for creating
cartoon animation. You may not think you're interested in
ActionScript programming at this point. I use Flash mainly for
cartoon animation and I resisted ActionScript for a few years. But
once you get used to Flash as an animation tool, and then decide to
dip your little toe into ActionScript, you'll find out what an
astounding tool it is, even for traditional animation, enabling you
to do things impossible in more traditional-oriented programs. Plus
now Flash and Illustrator are fairly well integrated, so you'll be
able to import and export between the two.
On balance, I'd go for Flash.

Which FPS for Smooth Animation?

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