Ajar Productions

Titmouse Demos Facinator

Now that Titmouse’s new series Motorcity (mentioned in the previous post) is about to air, they’re sharing some behind-the-scenes magic.

In this video, Supervisor Animator, Allison Craig shows off the Facinator tool that I built for Titmouse:

Since the folks at Titmouse rendered their 2-D characters from every conceivable angle, they asked me to build a tool to rotate the detailed 2-D heads in 3-D space. You can see this in action starting at the 1 minute mark.

The 1st episode of Motorcity airs this Monday, but you can see it early (for free) on iTunes.

Source: Cold Hard Flash

Check out this awesome behind scenes video at Titmouse from G4TV.

If you’ve got quick eyes, you can also spot Facinator in action.

FrameScrub Flash Extension

Justin

Introducing FrameScrub, the lip-syncing tool for those who want to go panel-less.

How it Works

It works in most ways like the selection tool: you can click to select, double-click to edit, but you can also scrub-slide through graphic symbol frames.

You can even scrub through loop settings (using the Alt/Opt key).

Features

Click and drag to update the first frame that is displayed.
Hold SHIFT to cycle through frames faster.
Hold ALT (OPT on Mac) to cycle through loop settings (Loop, Play Once, Single Frame).
Hold CTRL (CMD on Mac) to temporarily revert to the Selection Tool.

Download

(compatibility: CS3 and newer, including CC and CC 2014, Flash 8 & MX 2004 untested)
FrameScrub.zip

Installation

Open the MXP file in Extension Manager, follow the steps, and restart Flash. If you don’t see the FrameScrub in your toolbar (behind the selection tool), you can add it by accessing Edit (Flash on Mac) > Customize Tools Panel… Select a tool position, locate FrameScrub in the list on the left and use the right-facing arrow button to add FrameScrub to the selected tool position.

Update (11/29/12): I didn’t realize until someone pointed it out, but there’s no direct way to add a keyboard shortcut to a custom tool. To help with this, I’ve add a Command to the extension that will activate FrameScrub. A keyboard shortcut can then be added to that Command.

Other Lip Sync Tools from Ajar Productions

Flannel: Open Newer FLA Files

Justin

On a few occasions, I’ve had to open Flash CS5.5 files on a machine with CS5. Since the FLA format is now XML- and ZIP-based, it’s relatively easy to unzip the package, open a file, and set the version back so that the file can be opened in Flash CS5. It does, however, take time. So I decided to make this process into an easy-to-use desktop application.

Usage

Just drag and drop a Flash CS5.5 (or CS6, or CC) FLA file onto Flannel and it will make a copy and append _CS5 to the file name. That file can be opened in Flash CS5 (or later). Conversion for CS4 is a little trickier, since several new elements were added for CS5, but I’m working on it.

Installation

You can install Flannel using the badge below.

[airbadge] Flannel, http://ajarproductions.com/go/?getFlannel, 1.0.0, http://ajarproductions.com/software/flannel/images/badgeIMG.png [/airbadge]

Or you can download the file directly Flannel.air (Adobe AIR is required).

Flannel is available at no cost, but donations are welcome.

Looking for more cool Flash stuff?

If you like Flannel, you should also check out the numerous Flash Extensions and other tools that we have available.

Script: Backup and Restore Flash Pro Config Files

Justin

I had a customer who was losing Flash configuration data due to roaming profiles in Windows, similar to the situation described on this forum thread.

So, I wrote this script as a potential antidote to that problem. When the script is run (by opening with Flash Pro), it will allow you to either back-up or restore all of your configuration files for that installation of Flash Pro.

In certain specific cases (no guarantees)—where the machine, the username, and the Flash version remain consistent—this could be used to maintain a SmartMouth activation (as well as other extensions and settings) through a Flash, CS, or OS reinstall.

The script is pretty experimental at this point, so please use with caution.

Download
backup_restore_Flash_config.jsfl (right-click and choose Save Link As…)

Automatically Enter at the Desired Frame with FrameAim

Justin

A number of Flash animators make great use of nested Timelines within graphic symbols. The frame from the graphic that is displayed can then be manipulated using the first frame property of the symbol instance. Unfortunately, when the animator double-clicks on the instance to edit the symbol, Flash displays frame 1 of the symbol’s Timeline instead of the frame assigned to the first frame property.

Dave Logan has a wonderful command called Enter Graphic At Current Frame that resolves this issue. Many Flash animators use graphics symbols so much that they would prefer “entering at the current frame” to be Flash’s default behavior when they double-click to edit a symbol. A number of these users have sent me requests through the Extension Request Form. So I put together this panel to essentially make “entering at the current frame” the default behavior. The panel simply has to be open for the behavior to work (the Auto jump box is checked by default). There are some extra buttons for some added fanciness.

This is a total freebie, but donations are appreciated (donate button below, or the one located in the right-hand column).

Download
(Compatibility: Flash 8 & up, including CC & CC 2014)
FrameAim.zip