Animate in 4 Steps With FlipaClip
I love animations and cartoons, and FlipaClip is a great way to start. FlipaClip is a free animation app that helps you make awesome animations. Here are 4 steps to get you going.
How to use FlipaClip
Step 1
Install and open FlipaClip. You can find FlipaClip in the App store on iOS devices. It’s also available for Android devices. Here’s what the icon looks like:
Step 2
To set up your animation, click the big, red + button in the bottom right corner.
Name your animation
Choose the background
There are about 31 default options. On the bottom right, you can also select the paint bucket button for solid color backgrounds, the photos icon to choose a background from your camera roll, or the camera icon to take a photo to use as your background.
Choose the size of your canvas
Your canvas size depends on where you will be posting your animation. There are options for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Vimeo, Facebook, Tumblr, and a Custom option. There are a few options for different pixels as well.
Choose frames per second (fps)
FlipaClip recommends 11 fps, but I normally use 10 for my animations. The higher the number, the faster the frame movement and speed of your animation. If you want your animation to look smooth, don’t go too high on the fps. Going too low on the fps will make it too slow. You have to kinda find your sweet spot.
Step 3
Drawing you character or subject
You will draw one frame at a time. Start with your character or subject. Draw that one on your first frame, then move on to another frame for the beginning of your character’s movement. Each frame is the next consecutive movement. You will end up with several frames. Think of frames as your pages, or layers flipping consecutively and rapidly to create the movement of your character. That’s frame-by-frame animation! By the way, you get three layers in the free version, but you can add up to 10 for $1.99, or get the pro version which is $5.99 that includes some more options.
Important Tip
The onion option can be accessed in the top right corner using the three dots menu. Turn Onion on or off as desired. This is a great tool that will show the previous frame of your animation on the screen. Being able to see the prior frame helps you create the next movement of your character.
Step 4
Using the lasso or selection tool to tween
Another way to create movement is to use the lasso or selection tool. Circle the part of your character or image that you want to move. A selection box will appear around it. Then choose to resize by dragging the edges of the box, move to another place by moving the box, copy and paste exactly like it is, rotate it, delete it, or use the horizontal and vertical flip tools on the right to flip the selected part. Move your character or image a little bit for every frame. That’s tweening animation!
The Tools
The pen, pencil, paintbrush, and highlighter tools
These tools are used to draw. The pen is the default. If you want to switch to pencil, paintbrush, or highlighter, tap the pen icon and select your choice from the pop-up menu at the bottom. If you want to adjust the thickness of the pen, pencil, paintbrush, or highlighter, then you tap, press and hold the black ‘dot’ under the icon and (without removing your finger from the screen) drag it up to make it thicker or down to make it thinner. The color icon is just below the thickness dot. Tap the color box to bring up the color wheel. Select any color you want. There are presets at the top to move between color palettes.
The eraser
To adjust the thickness of the eraser, tap, press and hold the black ‘dot’ under the icon and (without removing your finger from the screen) drag it up to make it thicker or down to make it thinner. The eraser saturation dot is larger and just below the thickness dot. Adjust the saturation of the eraser the same way (except up is lighter, down is darker). The black box below the thickness and saturation dots is the opacity setting, tap and drag up for more and down for less.
Bucket
The bucket tool is the color fill. Use for your background or to fill in a shape as you draw. Tap to pull up the color wheel and select your colors. There are presets at the top to move between color palettes.
Text
Tap the text tool to create a text box, and insert your text. The font selection tool is under the text tool, the font size option is under the font selection tool, and the black box is for color selection. Tap to pull up the color wheel and select your colors. There are presets at the top to move between color palettes.
Play button
To play a loop of your animation, press the white triangle play button on the right side of your screen. Tap the red square to stop.
Looping
Tap the “three dots” icon in the top right. Select ‘frames viewer’. To select frames, tap and hold the first frame you’d like to select until a red outline appears. From there, tap and select the other frames you would like to include in your loop. Once you have selected all of your frames that you want to loop, tap the copy icon (paper) at the bottom of the screen, then press the paste icon (clipboard). There are two paste (clipboard) icons. One on the left and one on the right. Use these to move your frames into the order you would like them looped. Once completed, tap the check mark in the top left corner of your screen. Use the left arrow to go back to your animation screen. Tap the Play button to view your looped animation.
Make movie
Select the ‘three dots” icon in the top right corner, select the ‘make movie’ option for a pop-up to appear that allows you to turn you animation into a MP4, GIF, or PNG SEQ file that can be uploaded or saved to be used later.
That’s it! Have fun animating my friends! See you soon in our virtual art world.
