Cutout in Flash

I've been using Flash for some time to accomplish animation in a cutout style. In fact, I used Flash as an initial testing ground for the animation I ended up doing under the camera for Production 1 to see if my puppet rigs would work. I also used flash to create several replacement cycles for both the girl and the possum in my film. I find flash real easy to use, and I can animate bitmaps quickly, but in the end, I'm not satisfied with the final look. It's very flat, the options for adding shadows aren't very useful, and their really isn't any options for camera moves, unless you fake it by creating backgrounds that can pan or tilt, or if you scale your whole set incrementally over time.

I made a little cutout piece for our flash class, I would like to see how this same layout could be achieved in a 3D program. I fear that it might be significantly more difficult than working in Flash, but I'm really curious of the options I'd have for manipulating depth, and camera moves/angles.

CutOut animation in Toon Boom

I came across this series of online tutorials about how to create a cutout style animation in Toon Boom. The process looks fairly similar to the one I have done in Flash. I haven't used Toon Boom yet, but I did read on the web that it allows for camera moves, dynamic digital shadows, and it allows you to animate cutout puppets using forward kinematics.

Part one of a three part tutorial on cutout animation in toon boom:
http://www.tallgrassradio.com/toonboom/2007/09/introduction-to-photo-cut-out-animation.html

Toon Booms Features page:
http://www.toonboom.com/products/toonBoomStudio/features.php

An old article about Digital Cutout Animation

As I was perusing the web, I came across this article written by the late Wendy Jackson. This article was published some time ago, and while I knew that Southpark was animated in Maya, I didn't have a clear sense why they decided to go with a 3D software until now. I also wouldn't have been able to appreciate this choice without having done some traditional cutout myself. Maya is used primarily due to it's ability to mimic the "no platen" look from traditional cutout animation. Certainly a similar look could be achieved now with the likes of After Effects, but I don't know if you could replicate it with the authenticity done in Southpark. When it first came out I was fooled completely that each episode was shot under a camera. I was relieved to know that it was actually done in the "safety net" world of digital animation. I'm in the process now of trying to figure out how to mimic this effect in XSI.

http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.6/3.6pages/3.6digthis.html

2D/3D in the "Pearce Sisters"

I really was delighted by this Aardman Short, and I was also baffled as to how they accomplished such a stylized look that had such an organic feel, yet a sense of something that was assembled in a 3D software. Their website graciously gives the lo-down on how they accomplished this look, and of course, as is with most Aardman work, software offered no shortcuts. I realize this isn't a look that entirely mimics Cut Out animation...though the layering of backgrounds and the waves have a decidedly "diorama" look to them.

http://www.pearcesisters.co.uk/production.html

Cutout Animation in Game Design - Odin Sphere

Found this video game on youtube that is done with digital cutout animation. I emailed the company to see if I could establish contact with one of their game designers to inquire about their workflow as well as what percentage of their games are designed to be animated in cutout style.