Tag Archives: Computer Graphic Design

Spring 2015 – 41 – Animating With Keyframes

Objective:

  • Produce a Flash animation using Motion Tweens and Keyframes.

Student-Friendly Objective:

  • I can produce a complete Flash animation using Motion Tweens and Keyframes.

Video Link:
[swf src=”https://www.carlhaydenhs.org/cms/lib6/AZ01001825/Centricity/Domain/882/PacDots.swf” width=400 height=300]

Topics Discussed:
  • For a complete list of Topics Discussed, please see the previous lessons, Flash Days 1-8.

Assignment:

  1. Open the “Pac-Man” animation produced in Lesson 40 – “Animating Within a Symbol”. Your Pac-Man symbol should now cross the Stage once, opening and closing his mouth as he moves.
  2. Today, your objective is to complete this animation by adding a Red Ghost chasing Pac-Man off the stage to the right, then having Pac-Man chase a Blue Ghost to the left. You will need to utilize Symbols, Layers, Keyframes and Motion Tweens to achieve this. You may use any resources you have available to you to determine the best way to do this. Examples of resources include: This website and the previous lessons, The Learn Flash Professional video series linked from the previous lesson pages, Google Search, and your neighbors.
  3. You will need to draw your own red and blue ghosts using the drawing tools in Flash, and convert these ghosts to symbols so they can be moved using Motion Tweens.
  4. The animation should play for at least 60 frames, but should not be more than 240 frames of animation.
  5. Press Command + Return (Ctrl + Enter on the PC) to test your movie.
    • Pac-Man should move across the stage (with the embedded mouth “chomping” animation)
    • Pac-Man should be chased by a Red Ghost monster to the right side of the stage. Both Pac-Man and the Red Ghost should exit the stage on the right hand side.
    • Pac-Man should chase a Blue Ghost monster onto the stage, cross the stage, and exit the stage on the left hand side.
    • The entire animation should be completed in no more than 240 frames.
  6. Save your work as “Your Name – Animating With Keyframes” into the “41 – Animating With Keyframes” folder in your period’s subfolder by Monday.

 

Extension Activity

 

[swf src=”https://www.carlhaydenhs.org/cms/lib6/AZ01001825/Centricity/Domain/882/PacDotsAdvanced.swf” width=400 height=300]

  1. If you complete the objectives early, then you are issued the following challenge:
    • Can you make Pac-Man eat a dot? How about six dots as he crosses the stage?
    • Can you make Pac-Man eat a flashing Power Pellet and turn the Red Ghost into a Blue Ghost before chasing him off the stage?
      • Hint: The flashing Power Pellet can be achieved with keyframes or Motion Presets.

Good Luck!

Assigned: May 1st, 2015
Due Date: May 4th, 2015

 

Spring 2015 – 40 – Animating Within a Symbol

Objective:

  • Produce a Flash animation using animation embedded within a Symbol object.

Student-Friendly Objective:

  • I can create an animation using embedded frames of animation within a Symbol object in Flash.
Video Link:

None.

Topics Discussed:
  • Starting a new document in Flash CS5.5 using the Welcome screen.
  • Oval Primitive
  • Symbols
  • Isolation Mode
  • Embedded Animation
  • Motion Tweens
  • Keyframes
  • Layers

Assignment:

  1. Produce a new Flash ActionScript 3.0 file. Name it “Your Name – Flash Day 6″. Set the FPS to 30 and the Stage size to 800 x 600.
  2. Use the Oval Primitive Tool to draw a Pac Man shape. Convert this shape to a Symbol using any of the techniques we learned last week. Make the Symbol a Movie Clip, and name it “Pac Man”.
  3. Double-click on the Pac Man Symbol to enter Isolation Mode. Confirm that you are in Isolation Mode by looking at the grey bar across the top of the screen (it should read “Scene 1 – Pac Man”).
  4. Notice the timeline – it should currently have only one Keyframe. Click on Frame 3 and press F6 on your keyboard to create a copy of the first Keyframe.
  5. With Frame 3 still selected, close Pac-Man’s “mouth” by moving the opening and closing control points of the Oval Primitive to close the shape. This will establish a “closed mouth” pose on Frame 3 of your animation.
  6. Select Frame 5 on the Timeline. Press F6 on the keyboard to create a copy of the Keyframe from Frame 3.
  7. With Frame 5 still selected, open Pac-Man’s “mouth” by moving the opening and closing control points to their original positions.
  8. Slide the Timebar back and forth to test your animation. Pac-Man should now open and close his mouth rapidly.
  9. Double click on the Pasteboard (the gray area outside the stage) to get out of Isolation Mode and  return to Scene 1. Notice how the timeline changed. (Your animation didn’t disappear, it’s still embedded in the Symbol definition. You can see it again by double-clicking on the symbol.)
  10. Apply a Motion Tween to your Pac Man Symbol to move it across the stage. Scrub the timebar to test the animation. Notice how you do not see the mouth animation (Pac Man does not “wocka” when you scrub the timebar!).
  11. Press Command + Return (Ctrl + Enter on the PC) to test your movie. Pac-Man should now move across the stage and the embedded mouth animation should be visible.
  12. Your work is complete when you have Pac-Man “wockaing” across the stage.
  13. Save your work. Turn in the completed “Your Name – Flash Day 6.fla” file to folder “40 – Flash Day 6 – Animating Within a Symbol” in your period’s subfolder by the end of today.

Assigned: April 30th, 2015
Due Date: May 1st, 2015