Flash animation

A Flash animation or Flash cartoon is an animated medium which is created by

 Adobe Flash or similar animation software and often distributed in the SWF file format. 

The term Flash animation not only refers to the file format but to a certain kind of movement 

and visual style. With dozens of Flash animated television series, countless more Flash animated television commercials, and award-winning online shorts in circulation, Flash animation is currently enjoying a renaissance.

In the late 1990s, when for most Internet users, bandwidth was still at 56 kbit/s, many Flash 

animation artists employedlimited animation or cutout animation when creating projects intended

 for web distribution. This allowed artists to release shorts and interactive experiences well under

 1 MB, which could stream both audio and high-end animation.

Flash is able to integrate bitmaps and other raster-based art, as well as video, though most 

Flash films are created using onlyvector-based drawings which often result in a somewhat clean 

graphic appearance. Some hallmarks of poorly produced Flash animation are jerky natural 

movements (seen in walk-cycles and gestures), auto-tweened character movements, lip-sync

 without interpolation, and abrupt changes from front to profile view.

Flash animations are typically distributed by way of the World Wide Web, in which case they 

are often referred to as Internet cartoons, online cartoons, or webtoons. Web Flash 

animations may be interactive and are often created in a series. A Flash animation is 

distinguished from a Webcomic, which is a comic strip distributed via the Web, rather than

 an animated cartoon. Flash animation is now taught in schools throughout the UK and can

 be taken as a GCSE and A-level.