My first flash animation

[Technophile]

Animated logo for my girlfriends band (Spiral Suns), to be evolved into the flash version of their website.

Black and white version:
http://www.adamo.org/flash/SpiralSunBW.swf

Color version:
http://www.adamo.org/flash/SpiralSun.swf

Comments, criticisms, and pointers welcome.

The B&W version is faster right now. I still have a lot to do but I focused on adding color today. Next I want to have the spin speed controlled by the position of the mouse pointer, and get faster as the pointer nears the center. Then plan to make the eye follow the cursor and add some buttons around the perimiter. Finally I want to have the eye spiral out into the users chosen page. I'll probably add some more variation to the flares as well.

[Tekime]

SWEET! That's pretty badass. Very trippy.

I like the following eye idea quite a bit.

The outer teardrop shapes would make great buttons, maybe have them pop out when hovering?

Really can't think of much to criticize without just nitpicking.

[Technophile]

Thanks. I was just going to have the teardrops point towards the buttons, but I don't know. It would be cool to have them do something other than just sit there. I'll have to play around. Maybe I could have them flare out into the buttons or something. Feel free to nitpick, it'll help me in the long run.

[Technophile]

Tweaked the colors a bit. I think I'm there with the color now.
http://www.adamo.org/flash/SpiralSun.swf

I tried adding a flicker to the teardrops but it was just too fucking crazy. My heart felt like it was going to explode and I was afraid people would have seizures so it had to go...

[Tekime]

Haha, that sounds pretty intense.

Damn, looks real good now though. If I'm going to nitpick here's everything I can muster:

• One tail end of the central spiral seems a hair thicker than the other.
• The teardrops overlap the pulsing tendrils in some places, which I find discomforting for no particular reason
• The point where the tendrils come from don't quite protrude from behind the circle, but they aren't quite covered either, which again I find discomforting for no particular reason

And I don't know if this can be changed, but the antialiasing on the middle spiral over the yellow gives me jaggies, it'd be nice if it was a hair smoother.

That's all I can think of really...

[Technophile]

Thanks! I hadn't noticed #1 but I did notice #2 and #3. That should be easy enough to fix. I hadn't noticed the jaggies either but now I can see them. Hopefully I can do something about that. Thanks for the input!

[Technophile]

Fixed 1, 2, and 3 and obsessively aligned everything to grid. So far I can't find any way of dealing with the jaggies in the middle. :/ I'm just going to pretend it's heat distortion for now.

[Tekime]

Heat distortion eh?

Wicked!

Actually, the jaggies probably lend to the "my brain is melting" effect.

I've been meaning to learn Flash in more depth for years, but use it only every so often. Been getting a little better, but I need a good project to focus on. Sounds like you're getting the hang of it.

[Technophile]

It's a pretty sweet program. I like the interface and how you can break everything down into reusable symbols, and the tweening makes animating stuff sooooo much easier. I haven't played around with ActionScript much, but that's next.

[Tekime]

It is a nicely made app, it's easy to see why it has gotten so popular. I dabbled with ActionScript a little this year, it seems to be pretty powerful. Definitely necessary for working with data and making interactive stuff.

Have you found any really good sites for Flash articles/tutorials?

I've been using "Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Advanced" by Russell Chun here and there. It has a lot of the useful basics, but leaves you wanting more on several subjects.