Flash vs ToonBoom

Ionias · Thu 12/02/2004 21:04:58

Ok all you graphic artists. Help me out here.

Is Flash worth that price-tag? (It's a good $300 more than ToonBoom Studio.)

I've downloaded both and my 30 day trial period is about to expire. I've got to make a decision. On the one hand Flash is a well known product that has loads of how-to books. On the other hand (at least with my limited knowledge) ToonBoom studio appears to do everything Flash can ... for MUCH less.

Anyone that has had any experience with either of these, that can shed some light on the subject?

rodekill · Thu 12/02/2004 21:11:52

I believe Toon Boom is just for animation, where Flash itself has it's own scripting language for application development.

Erwin_Br · Thu 12/02/2004 22:21:56

Never worked with ToonBoom. All I know is that I find Flash quite difficult to master. It took me a LOT of time to get comfortable with it.

--Erwin

Czar · Fri 13/02/2004 22:32:00

IF you want further knowledge, i think Igor knows more about both.

Evil · Sat 14/02/2004 03:23:36

Swish. Its Flash's unfamous competetor. Its cheap and virtually the same thing. Its layout is weird but its well worth the download of the demo. I'm sure Flash books will explain roughly the same thing.

Another program you might what to look at is Plastic Animation Paper (PAP). Its nothing like Flash but it may push you out of the realm of the "Flash" programs.

Ionias · Sat 14/02/2004 15:03:57

Thanks for the info. I downloaded both PAP and SWiSH. Very interesting SWiSH, the only thing it's missing is the all important raster to vector conversion tool. Sadly so is ToonBoom it seems.

Pau · Sun 15/02/2004 18:34:16

I recommend you Moho a great animation package with features i've not found anywhere else, for more details : http://www.lostmarble.com.

The .swf exporter isn't very good but the results exporting to image formats(png, bmp..) or .avi is great.

Czar · Sun 15/02/2004 18:55:39

Well, if youre still not sure, and choosing the right one would make a big difference to you, then I say that you dowload the trial versions ( as you did) and crack them to test them, and then choose the right one.

I know that this isn't the way you "west" people do it, but here on Balkan, this is pretty much the only way to go, so I'm sorry if i ofended anyone.

Minimi · Sun 15/02/2004 18:57:55

Yes, Moho is a good program. Though you could also go fore Macromedia Flash 4. That's an earlier version of Flash, but it should do pretty good. Alot of companies sell their flash licenses for very low prices, because they upgraded to newer versions. You could give that a try.

if you are only using flash for drawings/animations, I suggest to get Macromedia Freehand. And also a drawing tablet ofcourse

ThunderStorm · Sun 15/02/2004 20:41:24

Quote from: Czar on Sun 15/02/2004 18:55:39
Well, if youre still not sure, and choosing the right one would make a big difference to you, then I say that you dowload the trial versions ( as you did) and crack them to test them, and then choose the right one.

Hmm, why are you cracking trial versions if you want to test them? That's what trial versions are for, right?

I mean, you could take trial versions and crack only the one that you like most.

Evil · Sun 15/02/2004 22:51:26

My guess is to have a longer time period to make a choice.

Hueij · Mon 16/02/2004 01:10:37

It really depends on what you want to use it for. If you want to use it for drawing or animation you should go for a cheaper alternative.

If you want it for a flashy

annoying website I'd say go for Flash.

Nixxon · Mon 16/02/2004 04:58:11

Quote from: Ionias on Sat 14/02/2004 15:03:57
Thanks for the info. I downloaded both PAP and SWiSH. Very interesting SWiSH, the only thing it's missing is the all important raster to vector conversion tool. Sadly so is ToonBoom it seems.

You could always use Adobe streamline to convert rasters to vectors, it's a small and nifty little programme that weighs only about 3meg.
If i were you personally I'd stick with flash, bigger fan base, hordes of tutorials, good for web design etc. etc.

Pau · Sat 28/02/2004 11:17:45

I've found a very interesting utility to convert .avi files to .swf: CamStudio.

It's freeware (redistributable, usable for commercial use) but there is a problem, Macromedia has made disapear that feature in version 2.1.

So you have to find the 2.0 version, I found that on eMule. Reading the license ("This product is FREEWARE and you are free to duplicate and distribute this software through the internet or any preferred media.") I think that it's completelly legal to do that so I suggest you to find CamStudio 2.0 before it dissapears.

veryweirdguy · Sat 28/02/2004 11:32:53

A quick search in google brought this up:

CamStudio 2.0

I haven't tried it yet, but it looks genuine. Give it a shot, it sounds quite useful.

EDIT: A quick test shows it's the real deal. I would recommend this to anyone looking for this sort of thing as the .avi to .swf thing works very well.