Discover the power of Adobe Animate, a robust application used to create detailed 2D animations for media including television, games, apps, and online video. Understand the range of careers that use animations and the specific skills needed to excel in these areas, such as animation for television and video gaming.
Key Insights
- Adobe Animate, part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, is used to create complex and detailed 2D animations for various types of media. Its tools include a virtual camera feature, audio synching, and vector brushes.
- Animation applications like Adobe Animate are essential in many professions including cartoons, video games, educational content, advertising, and animated internet content creation.
- Animators often choose a specific medium to work in and specialize within that medium. For example, video game designers may focus on creating characters or designing scenery.
- The cost of Adobe Animate ranges from $20.99 per month for the app only to $54.99 per month for access to all Creative Cloud apps. For businesses, it costs $35.99 per month per license or $84.99 for all Creative Cloud apps.
- Learning Adobe Animate offers significant advantages for aspiring animators, eliminating the need for hand drawing and offering a range of tools to manipulate animations.
- For those looking to break into animation or motion graphics, Noble Desktop offers hands-on classes, certificate programs, and free resources to get started on learning Adobe Animate and other important animation tools.
Adobe Animate is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, and as with all Adobe apps, you need to pay a monthly subscription fee to use it. Subscription prices range from about $20 for Animate only to approximately $55 for a plan that includes access to all Creative Cloud apps. Business plans range from $35 to $85.
What is Adobe Animate?
Adobe Animate is an Adobe application used to create 2D animation. With it, Animators can produce animation and interactive vector graphics for a variety of media, including television, games, apps, and online video. They can export their work to multiple platforms, including Flash/Adobe AIR, WebGL, and HTML5 Canvas. Animate has been used to create a number of popular cartoons, including My Little Pony and The Amazing World of Gumball. It was previously known as Adobe Flash Professional, a top-rated program in the late 1990s and 2000s.
Animate has numerous tools that allow Animators to create complex and detailed animations. For instance, its virtual camera feature can pan, zoom, and rotate animations. Audio synching lets Animators sync the audio in their animations. Vector brushes make it possible to resize, move, color, and animate brush strokes. Animation apps like Animate give Animators the tools to create things that would be difficult to draw by hand.
Read more about what Adobe Animate is and why you should learn it.
What Can You Do with Adobe Animate?
People have been using animation for more than one hundred and fifty years to entertain and communicate a wide variety of content. Animation can grab an audience’s attention, tell stories, simplify complex content, and communicate ideas quickly. As a result of its versatility and universal appeal, animated content is used in many professions. Early animation featured hand-drawn content. However, today’s Animators use computers and animation applications such as Adobe Animate.
When people think about animation, many think of cartoons, which are indeed one thing many Animators create. Animation is in countless forms of media, and much of it develops from applications like Adobe Animate. Adobe Animate, in particular, is frequently used to generate cartoons and 2D animated television shows. The application can be used to create characters and add effects and audio, and it has developed many well-known shows and movies, including My Little Pony and The Amazing World of Gumball. However, cartoons are only one of the things that Animators create with animation apps. Apps also help to create video games for computers and mobile devices, educational content, and a wide variety of advertising and animated content for the internet.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics explains that Animators typically choose a specific medium to work in, such as television or video gaming. In addition, they often specialize within that medium. For example, some video game designers specialize in creating characters, while others focus on scenery. Animators who specialize in this way are typically part of a larger team, with each team member working on one part of a project.
In-Depth Review of the Cost
Adobe offers a free seven-day trial for all of its apps. After that, users need to pay a monthly subscription fee. The subscription price is $20.99 for Adobe Animate only or $54.99 per month for access to all Creative Cloud apps. For businesses, Adobe Animate is $35.99 per month per license or $84.99 per month for all Creative Cloud apps.
There are a number of alternatives to Animate; however, some of the most popular is also part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, which means that they cost the same as Animate. After Effects is a popular app for motion, visuals, and compositing. Some Animators utilize an app called Cinema 4D Lite for modeling, animation, and simulation, and that comes free with a subscription to After Effects. Premiere Pro, an app used for assembling content into a finished video, is also popular with Animators. For those who plan to use more than one Adobe app, a subscription to all Creative Cloud apps can be a good option.
Why Learn Adobe Animate?
Adobe Animate and other animation applications are valuable tools for people who want to work in animation or motion graphics. Animation is created by generating a series of images, each slightly different from the one before. Viewers see the illusion of movement when the images move in quick succession. In traditional animation, all images are hand-drawn, which takes a lot of time. Applications like Animate eliminate the need for hand drawing, saving countless work hours.
The majority of Animators now use computer applications like Animate. This means that anyone planning to work in animation will need to learn at least one animation app. Not only do apps like Animate eliminate hours of hand drawing, but they give Animators a number of new tools that they can use to manipulate their animations in ways that would be difficult or impossible when drawing by hand. For instance, with Animate’s puppet animation, users can manage a character rig without redrawing it.
Read more about why you should learn Adobe Animate.
Free Introductory Adobe Animate Course Online
Students who want to learn more about animation applications like Adobe Animate, but aren’t ready to commit to a paid class, can start by reviewing free introductory online courses and seminars instead. Most free resources don’t teach users everything they need to know about animation apps, but they can be an excellent way to learn some basics. YouTube is a great place to find free animation resources. The site has lots of free tutorials about using Adobe Animate to create various types of animation.
Noble Desktop is another excellent free resource. This website has numerous free seminars on a variety of topics related to animation. For instance, Get Started in Motion Graphics provides an overview of motion graphics and video editing and includes an introduction to animating with Adobe After Effects. Intro to Cinema 4D Lite is another free Noble seminar. It gives students an overview of Cinema 4D Lite, which creates animation through Adobe After Effects.
For students who need help with specific features of Animate, the Adobe website can be helpful. Adobe offers many short, free tutorials that answer common questions about Animate. These include Using Layer Effects in Animate, Design Social Media Content, and Create an Animated Infographic. Adobe’s Animate Support Community, also on the Adobe website, is another place to answer questions about the app. The Support Community is a place for users to share questions and answers about various topics related to Animate.
Read about more free Adobe Animate videos and online tutorials.
Learn Animation & Motion Graphics with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop
At Noble Desktop, students can learn animation and motion graphics with hands-on classes that fit many schedules and learning styles. Every class is small and interactive and led by expert instructors. In addition, Noble always provides a free retake option. The free retake allows students to retake the same class once within a year without paying for it again. Students can gain additional animation or motion graphics skills using the free retake without investing in another class.
The After Effects Bootcamp is a popular option among students who decide to study animation at Noble Desktop. Students in this bootcamp learn After Effects, a program that professional Animators commonly use, in just 18 hours. Bootcamps like this are popular because they provide quick, intensive training that gives students a good understanding of the subject matter over only a few days. Many pick a bootcamp when they want to add one skill like After Effects to their resume.
However, bootcamps are not the best option for everyone. Some students prefer more in-depth training and opt for a certificate program instead. Certificate programs take longer to complete, but they cover more subject matter. For instance, Nobel’s Motion Graphics Certificate takes two months full-time or four months part-time to finish. During that time, the curriculum covers animation programs, including After Effects, Cinema 4D Lite, and Premiere Pro, and how to use these programs to work on multiple animation projects.
How to Learn Adobe Animate & Animation
Master Adobe Animate and animation with hands-on training. Formerly called Flash, Adobe Animate is one of Adobe's animation applications.
- Animation classes at Noble Desktop: live, instructor-led courses available in NYC or live online
- Find Animation Classes Near You: Search & compare dozens of available courses in-person
- Attend an animation class live online (remote/virtual training) from anywhere
- Find & compare the best online animation classes (on-demand) from the top providers and platforms
- Train your staff with corporate and onsite animation training