Shadows in Flash

This may help with some visual aid in the same technique that Ted recommended (as far as I can tell its about the same)
http://www.flashfilmmaker.com/index.php?id=43,128,0,0,1,0
Check out some of their other tutes as well, good site which many here are familar with Im sure.
Good luck
swankaman

that's a very handy site there :) Thanks for that, Swankaman!

:) Hey glad you can use it,it is a pretty informative site and the guys over there seem to be very accomodating and accessible for that matter.I think there are a few users from here who peruse that site as well and would be happy to help fellow flashers,
cheers,
swankaman

Both Ted's advice and Swanks link are great approaches to shadowing. I took the time to read both. I've worked both ways and they're both very effective ways to achieve smooth balanced shadows.

There is another way, that might seem cumbersome in words, but in reality it isn't at all. It's actually a very loose and quick way to achieve shadows.

Because Flash thinks in terms of line and fill (In other words, they're two seperate entities that can be modified seperately), all you need do is use your freehand lasoo tool to select the areas where you want the shadows to be, then in the color chooser, select a lower value of the same color.
This is also an effective method to create 2D lighting effects. In this case, instead of choosing a lower value of the same color, just choose a different color.
This isn't necessarily the best and most effective technique if you're doing Flash style animation (tweening symbols), but it is effective if you're animating in a traditional fashion....frame by frame. If the character isn't purely 2 Dimensional, then the reality is, the shadows will have to change along with the rotation and stretching of the character. If the character rotates, then a flat tweened shadow won't work.
But don't worry, it's not that bad. I would however recommend this technique if you're willing to have a few unbalances....in essence, a looser, traditional approach to shadows. You can also use this technique to produce cleaner perfect shadows, but that will take the time and anal patience necessary to get the results you want.

This technique isn't better then what was suggested by Swank and Ted, but it's another approach, with slightly different results.
If you check my animated avatar, if it's noticeable in its small size, I used the shadow technique that I just mentioned to shadow him. Check it out.

Adam

Are you interested in cell shading or adding shadows and depth to your animation?

As with anything else, it depends on what you're trying to do and how detailed you want to be. Hand-drawing/keyframing your shadows would be labor-intensive. (You're talking about shading, right? Not just cast shadows on the floor?)

Here's a technique I've used that can give you a pretty good result:
-Animate your character shadowless. Make that sequence a library symbol (in general always make EVERYTHING a library symbol).

-Place an instance of the sequence on one layer and then copy the frames and paste them into two more layers (so the positioning is an exact clone in all three).

-On the bottom layer add a "darkness" color effect, darkening however much you need to look as shadowy as you want (this effect can be tweened also, which can be neat). The middle layer stays the same.

-(this sounds tricky but follow me) The top layer is going to be a mask. On the this layer select the entire timeline and create keyframes for every frame. Then on your onion-skinning controls click the icon that lets you edit multiple frames (I actually forget what that's called--I don't have Flash in front of me right now...it's the one on the right). Drag the work area do-dads to encompass the whole frame range you've got and then select all (lock all the other layers first) and then keep hitting Control-B to break apart the symbol instances in those frames. With the frames all still selected, select a color from the color palette to convert all the little bits and pieces to one color (I like a pukey green for masks--easy to keep straight).

-Now you should have a green silhouette of your character. Under the Modify menu choose Shape > Inset Shape and shrink your shapes a few (or several) pixels. Depending on your character's shape, some of these frames might need some hand touch up. (Sometimes I create my mask just by hand with the brush tool; keyframing here and there and using a shape tween). This can be dead center on your character, or sometimes shifting to one side or the other looks more correct.

-When you turn masking on for that layer, it will in effect clip the edges of the normal layer below it, revealing the shadowy edges of the darkened layer at the bottom. (or you can reverse that and have the shadowy layer be in the center with hilights on the edges).

Did that make any sense? Hope it helps. --ted