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Flash can be a powerful tool for creating broadcast-quality cartoons. In such cases, many of the usual file-size concerns related to Flash development are set aside because the final output will not have to be Web-friendly.
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The task of a cartoon animator is to express motion and emotion. Anticipation and overlapping actions are basic tools used by cartoon animators to add drama to a character's movement.
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Flash tweening, including instance swapping and Motion guides, is one of the most useful Flash cartooning tools.
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Lip-syncing, which is critical to fine cartoon animation, is not a push-button task — even with Flash, an animator must understand the relationship between expression and lip-sync, and have a working knowledge of phonemes, as well as syncing with music and sound effects.
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The new Filters and Blend modes in Flash 8 are strong additions to the authoring environment that will make it much easier to achieve sophisticated-looking animation without having to use other applications for special effects.
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After a cartoon is created in Flash, final output may include using either Premiere or After Effects for the final polish that makes it look more like "real film."
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The key point of this entire chapter is this: Computers can save time, but artists animate!
