W3: Ch 4. Animation basics --
frame by frame
* students take the quiz again so that they would know the rule of the quiz.
* students create their student number for the class. -- They can retrieve their scores using their name and their student number later.
* Their scores will be averaged. Use the mean, rather than median.
How to start a new animation
Start a new page: File/New --> Flash Document --> Modify Document
Choose: Title, description, Dimension (800 x 600), Background color (white) and frame rate (12 frames per second, later 20 frames per second when you make your other serious projects)
Animation basics
1) What is animation? -- a series of images played
2) traditional concepts in the animation movie industry
2-a)* keyframes: a defining frame with an object made by a key or main animator
2-b)* in-between frames made in two ways
2-b-1) by a second animator or an in-betweener, a subordinate artist (Disney movies), or
2-b-2) by computers using shape tweening or motion tweening
Frame (Flash 8)
1) keyframe: a frame made by human beings; total control by you (2-a, 2-b-1)
2) tweened frame: in-between frames by computers; no control except how many tweened frames you can have. If you want to change, you need to change it into a keyframe. (2-b-2)
3) blank keyframe: a vacant keyframe, a keyframe without any object.
4) (mirrored) frame: a frame which has the mirrored images of the preceding keyframe; control only for the number of mirrored frames by you
Examples
1) Frame-by-frame animation (using keyframes made by a main animator and an in-betweener.
2) Shape Tweening -- the shape
3) Motion Tweening -- unbroken text
Q: Animation showing how to chop a brick using your hand:How many key frames?
How to make frames
blank keyframe -- when you open up a new layer, a blank keyframe is automatically made. If you want to make another one, you need to move the cursor to a place where you want to place a blank keyframe and hold down the mouse. You choose "Insert Blank Keyframe" from the pull-down menu.
*If you add objects, it will become a keyframe.
keyframe -- you need to move the cursor to a place where you want to place a keyframe and hold down the mouse. You choose "Insert Keyframe" from the pull-down menu.
*Keyframe here means a frame copied from the preceding keyframe, but you can change the image of the object. *When you want to modify an image, you need to use it instead of starting from scratch using a blank keyframe.
(mirrored) frame --
1) you need to move the cursor to a place where you want to place a frame and hold down the mouse. You choose "Insert Frame" from the pull-down menu.
2) When you add a blank keyframe or a keyframe, all the frames between the preceding keyframe and the current frame will become (mirrored) frames.
How to delete and clear frames
* convert keyframes or blank keyframes into a mirrored frame ---> clear keyframe
* change a keyframe into a blank keyframe ---> go to the frame and delete the object on the keyframe.
* delete a mirrored frame, not a keyframe --> delete frames
* delete a keyframe or a blank keyframe --> first change it into a mirrored frame and delete this frame.
How to duplicate a keyframe
* Enter a new keyframe
* Copy/paste frame
* Multiple frames (multiple keyframes) -- select frames (select the first frame and select the last frame to be copied while holding down the shift key) and drag to a place while holding down the option key.
How to reverse frames
* Select the frames and choose "Reverse Frames" from the pull-down menu.
Other important terms
Total frames (40 frames) -- distance
frame rates (20 frames per second) -- speed
total animation time (2 seconds) -- time
playhead -- shows which frame is shown on the stage
current frame -- the frame where the playhead is on. Objects on the current frame is displayed on the stage.
show/hide icon; lock/unlock icon