How to Make a Cartoon Talk on Flash
Whether you prefer your cartoon characters cute and fuzzy or alien-like and menacing, they won't be able to get much done if they can't have a conversation with each other. When you're animating cartoon characters in Adobe Flash, you not only get to draw and make them move, but you can add conversation as well. Making cartoons talk in Flash involves more than just the text; you've got to think ahead to the length of the conversation, the pace and whether the characters are going to talk over each other or wait politely for each other to finish.
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Instructions
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1
Open Flash. Click the "Open..." link on the left side of the welcome screen. Browse to the Flash file with the cartoon characters to make them talk and double-click the name of the file.
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2
Drag the timeline indicator from the first keyframe to the last to get a sense for how long the cartoon characters appear.
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Right-click a keyframe several keyframes after one of the cartoon characters is on the stage. For example, if a cartoon appears in keyframe 5, right-click keyframe 10. Select "Insert Blank Keyframe." A hollow circle appears in keyframe 10.
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Click the "A" icon to open the text tool. Click the stage above the cartoon character's head. Type the first part of the conversation, such as "Hello, friend!" If desired, use the "Property Inspector" pane at the bottom of the screen to change the text's appearance through font, color and size.
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5
Right-click keyframe 15 or five keyframes from where you added the text. Select "Insert Keyframe." A hollow rectangle appears in the keyframe to symbolize how long the character's "talk" will appear.
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Right-click keyframe 16. Select "Insert Blank Keyframe." When the hollow circle appears, click the "A" icon and click the stage. Type the next bit of text, such as "Haven't see you for a while!" Right-click keyframe 21 and select "Insert Keyframe," making that part of the conversation last five keyframes.
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Add conversation as desired through the timeline keyframes. Experiment with the timeline, using more keyframes between the conversation to make the conversation seem "slower" -- as the words take longer on the screen or fewer keyframes to make it seem as if the characters are talking very quickly.
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