Weeks 13&14

Over the past two weeks I have spent a lot of time in the Steel Plant working on my animation. I'm one to leave things until the last minute, but I've enjoyed designing my animation so much that I have gotten a lot more work done earlier than I ever would have thought. For this week all I have to do is add in my sound and edit my first scene a bit.

The scenes that I've added are the living room scene, kitchen scene, space travel scene and the dancing aliens scene. A lot of my animation is made up of classic tweens and shape tweens. I used shape tweens to make transitions from one scene to the next. I changed the alpha of black squares to do this. I played a lot with creating movie clips as well. For example, I created a Christmas Tree with flashing lights. I also included the smoke movie clip from a priorly created scene in my kitchen scene. The smoke comes out of a pot on the stove in the kitchen. I made a symbol of a large smoke cloud that grows and gets darker. I decided to make the smoke cloud as a reaction to the UFO that shines its light beam into the kitchen window. I thought that it would be a good way to create an eerie situation. I plan on adding in UFO sounds in the kitchen scene to add to the eeriness. I also created a music note movie clip to add some continuity to my scenes. There is a flow of musical notes that attracts my alien character as well as the UFO.

For my outerspace scene I created a starry background. I created multiple layers of stars to create a sense of death and I played with making it appear as if a camera is zooming in so that the alien planet comes into view. My planet scene with the dancing aliens will include Christmas music that will transition into the song "Cynthia She's a Really Cool Dancer." My alien characters are all done frame by frame. Each motion for the alien characters are different symbols. I finished the animation with credits flying up the stage on a black background. I also made a movie clip that says Merry Christmas with flashing lights.

Week 13

This week I spent most of my time home for the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. I tried to get some work done on my animation Sunday night before leaving for Long Island on Monday. After some Black Friday Christmas shopping while I was home, I think that asking for the Adobe Suite will be a smart choice! My rationale-- waiting on all those lines during the holiday season is a nightmare when I can just order some software online!

One new element that I added to my animation is actually a VW Beetle that I drew in Illustrator for another one of my classes. I made the VW Beetle into a movieclip so that its wheels spin constantly. The VW drives passed a few houses and then the camera zooms in on the house in the center. The UFO flies into the scene, getting smaller and smaller, and directs a beam of light into one of the windows of the house. I created the beam of light on its own layer and used a shape tween to animate it. I used a low alpha on the light to make it more believable. In addition I added puffs of smoke coming out of the chimnneys of the houses. The smoke clouds are a movie clip as well.

I also worked on my outerspace scene a bit. I played around with the speed of my alien character's walk cycle. My next goal is to design the inside of the house and create an outerspace scene leading to the alien planet.

Week 12 (continued)

This weekend I worked on the second scene of my animation. Getting my house symbol just how I wanted it was a challenge and I probably will have to make a few adjustments later to make everything consistent. I am still deciding how to move from the first to the second scene. I want the storefronts in my first scene to make a little more sense with the rest of my animation. I think that I'm going to add music notes that attract the UFO in the first scene to make it more consistent. I have a lot of work to do!

Week 12

Last week we were given time to work on our animations in class and we went over how to incorporate sound into our final animation. The week prior we discussed how to create the illusion of a camera panning around a building. I had a lot of trouble with this techniques. I would like to create the illusion of a camera panning from one side of the house in my animation to the other, but because I'm working with so many symbols this technique poses quite a challenge. Also, we learned how to make a mask last week. I didn't really have enough time to play with it in class, and for the part of my animation that I'm working on now it is not needed. If I decide to use a mask, I think that I'll be able to figure it out with a little practice. As for incorporating sound, I plan a converting songs in a few Youtube videos to MP3s. I found a website that allows me to do this quickly.

Week 11 (continued)

I had to make the windows, doors, lamps, wreaths, and trees their own symbols within my storefront symbol in order to avoid the future hassles. It is very convenient to be able to drag a Christmas tree or a window onto the stage from my library rather than drawing out ever little thing. For my UFO I worked within the graphic symbol as well as a movie clip to achieve the effect of flashing lights. Rather than just having the UFO fly across the screen and stop abruptly, I decided that making my UFO hover, moving up and down, for a few seconds would act as a good transition. I also decided that I would like the viewer to meet the aliens earlier in the animation than I originally planner. I am trying to achieve the effect of a window opening like a shield on the UFO. I need to learn how to use a layer mask in order to achieve this effect and avoid jumpiness.

Week 11

Last week we were given lab time to work on our final animations, and on Thursday we shared our progress so far with the class. So far I have created many graphic symbols and a few movie clips, and I have worked a bit with classic tweens. Currently my animation opens with a line of stores that is one symbol composed of many small symbols.

Week 10

Last week we shared our character sheets with the class. I decided that the most effective use of my time would be spent creating the walk cycle for my alien character. I have nine or ten poses in my alien's walk cycle. I also did multiple forward facing views of my alien character. I wanted to create various poses that I could use to make my alien dance and walk toward the "camera" rather than just across the stage. I also drew little pictures of objects that I would like to include in my animation, including a radio, wreath, snowman, and a lamp post.

This weekend I brought my alien walk cycle images into Illustrator and used the live trace tool to turn them into vector images. I had to do some editing in Photoshop as well to make sure that all of the lines connected so that after I live traced the pictures it would be easier to fill them in with the appropriate colors. I found that bringing the vector images into Flash was helpful because in Flash I can break apart the images and proceed to fill them in with the paintbucket tool. I converted all of my walk cycle images into graphic symbols. This week in class I would like to line everything up in a frame by frame manner to get a perfectly animated walkcycle. In addition, I created a dancing alien and a boombox that releases music notes this weekened. I used movie clips to achieve this.

Week 9

Last week we continued developing ideas for our final animation. We shared our storyboards with the class and we talked more about character sheets. My storyboard currently consists of 11 images. I scanned 11 pictures that I had sketched in pencil and went over with permanant marker into Photoshop, and then I brought each of my pictures into Illustrator. I think that if I stick with my storyboard I will be more efficient about developing my animation. I think that one of my biggest challenges will be to stick with the storyline and not get wrapped up in ideas that don't lend to the overall idea of the story. I want the viewer to be able to follow my story quite easiely. This definitely does not mean that I don't want there to be an element of suspense however. Rather, I just don't want to get too caught up in the details.

Week 8

Last week we were introduced to our final project—a one to three minute animation incorporating the tools and techniques that we learned this semester. We also discussed storyboards and character sheets. We watched classic animations, and we learned about the development of Looney Tunes characters like Bugs Bunny and Wild Coyote. I found that learning about these characters was very inspiring. I thought that it was so interesting how each character has what seemed to be hundreds of specifications to keep its appearance and personality consistent.

I have been thinking about my own animation for some time now, and after sitting down with a sketchbook and a pencil I came up with some much unexpected ideas. From the beginning I knew that I wanted to incorporate a song in my animation. Originally I was set on “Cynthia, She’s a Really Cool Dancer,” I silly song from the Rugrats that’s been stuck in my head for weeks now. After tonight, however, I’ve decided to give my animation a Christmas theme. So now I’m thinking of incorporating a Christmas tune and then ending with the Rugrats song if possible. The first draft of my storyboard is all written up. I based my first draft off of little sketches I did a few nights ago. My next step is to go back and redo these sketches clearly and make sense of all the ideas that are streaming through my head!

Week 7

On Thursday we presented our finished animations in class. I was pleased with my final outcome. I think that combining all of the exercises that we did in class was a great way to practice different techniques and to see how different techniques can be applied to my final project. I really enjoyed working with my butterfly movie clip. I experimented by creating different paths for my movie clip to follow. I also experimented by scaling my movie clip differently in order to give my butterfly the illusion of flying closer to the ground and then flying up toward the sky. During the week I also played around a lot with getting the timing of my animation just right. I had a lot of trouble getting the end of the second scene just right. I enjoy working with text but sometimes it is difficult to judge how long text should remain on the stage. I created a layer to transition from the bird's eye view scene to a black background. I created a box that was completely see through and then used a shape tween It was important for me to make the trees, rabbit hole, and the road in my first scene one graphic symbol rather than three separate graphics. By making everything one symbol I could use one classic tween and not have to worry about lining all of the objects up exactly right and exactly proportioned on separate layers. To add some sense of surprise to my animation I decided to add three additional yellow balls in my first scene.

Week 6 (continued)

After looking at everyone's animations, we learned about creating multiple scenes. Using multiple scenes is helpful because they allow you to cut from one scene to the next and they help you stay organized. I wish that I had learned about scenes last year when I was first introduced to Flash. My animation last year was only one scene and it had so many frames that it was difficult to navigate to the part of my animation that I wanted to edit in a time efficient fashion.

The example of a second scene that we were given in class was a bird's eye view of road with clouds and a butterfly flying overhead. I thought that the overhead view was very interesting, and I decided that I wanted to incorporate a similar scene in my final animation. I liked the idea of a camera panning with the butterfly at some points and remaining stationary at other points in order to create interest.

Week 6

Last Tuesday we shared our butterfly animations in class. My animation included a butterfly movie clip that was tweened and aligned to a path and clouds that were tweened and followed a continuous loop. I also included a hilly landscape in the background with flowers. My background image remained stationary. As for the path of my butterfly, I decided that it would be interesting to have my butterfly fly across the stage from left to right and then return onto the stage, entering from the right and leaving on the left. I duplicated my original path on a new layer and I made another layer for my my "second" butterfly. I simply dragged my butterfly movie clip onto the stage from the library for this layer. I was pleased with my final result and decided that it would be interesting to combine my butterfly animation with my bouncing ball animation for my final product.

Week 5

Last week we went over how to make a bouncing ball animation and how to make a movie clip animation of a butterfly. I learned both of these processes last semester, but I was very happy that we reviewed the processes once again. I had a lot of trouble with movie clips in my final animation last year so going over the details of making a movie clip was very helpful.

For my bouncing ball animation I decided to make my ball bounce once and then fall into a hole that I rabbit would then hop out of. I chose to include trees and grass in my background image, focuses on the size of trees in order to create a sense of depth. I then placed a black hole on a separate layer and drew my rabbit character on another layer. I realized that I needed to create another layer of green grass to place in the area underneath the hole so that it would appear as if the ball was falling into the hole and the rabbit was coming out of the hole. During our class critique I learned that there is a way to create a mask so that I do not need to make an extra layer in the future. Hopefully I will learn that process in the coming weeks before our next project is due. In addition to the rabbit, I created a word bubble has the word "Hey!" inside of it. I put the bubble and word two different layers so that the word could flash a few times. I played with the opacity of the word bubble and word as well.

As for the butterfly movie clip, once a finished my movie clip I began working on the scene that it would fly through. I created a path for the butterfly to follow and I changed the orientation of the butterfly so that it would look more believable as it flew across the path. I needed to check of a box in properties to align the butterfly to the path as well. Currently I am still working on my butterfly animation. So far I have created clouds in the background that are tweened and run on a loop.

Week 4

Last week we were given class time on Monday to continue working on our animations and to ask questions in class. One problem that I had encountered the previous week was getting my loop to appear unbroken. I learned that I needed to double my background images in order to make my loop flow properly without any jumping. I needed to delete a large portion of my mountain range and grass background to do this. During class time I also began work on a house for my background and I drew in clouds and the moon.

Before class on Thursday I spent a lot of time in the Steel Plant working on my finished product. Working on so many different layers in order to create a sense of depth, one problem that I encountered was getting everything to move across the stage at the correct rate of time. I drew in three houses of different sizes. I placed one house on a layer in front of my walk cycle figure and two houses on a layer behind my walk cycle figure. I also added in two separate layers for smoke clouds that appear to come out of the chimneys of the houses. I used motion tweens for the houses and shape tweens for the smoke clouds. At the last minute I decided it would be a good idea to have the smoke clouds come out of the chimneys twice instead of once in order to make the scene more believable.

In addition, I used tweens to move the moon and clouds across the stage. The moon was placed on a regular motion tween, and I drew a path for the clouds to attach to and follow. The moon and the clouds take one full loop cycle to move across the stage, while the walk cycle figure goes across the stage three times per loop. The houses and smoke begin to move across the stage during the second walk cycle. One additional element that I added was a square in the background for the sky. I used a shape tween for the sky. I changed the color of the sky from blue to near black and back for a full loop.

On Thursday, we spent our entire class looking at everyone's walk cycle animations, and we were given the opportunity to offer feedback to our classmates. I think that critique sessions are very helpful because they give me great ideas and pointers for my future work.

Week 3

Last week we continued working on our walk cycles, and we were given time to work on adding additional elements to our animation. We were asked to create a background for our walk cycle, and we went over how to make our background appear to be on a continuous loop. For my background I decided to create a mountain scene which was on a classic tween. I used the brush tool and the paint bucket tool to create my landscape. My mountain scene currently moves from the right to the left of the stage at a slower pace than my walk cycle figure which moves from the left to the right of the stage. I had a very hard time trying to get my background image to appear to loop continuously without "jumping" when my animation restarts. I edited my background to make everything line up, however the image still seems to jump. My intention is to have that problem fixed by next class.

I am happy with my walk cycle at the moment. My figure is a bit taller than I originally intended, but I think it adds something to the character of my animation. I spent a good amount of time getting the feet of my figure just right, working on how its heels We were asked to continue working on our backgrounds and to add at least three additional movements to our animation for our finished products. I think that I am going to add a cabin with a smoking chimney and possibly a forest. I may also add the sun.

Week 2

Last week our assignment was to create two one second animations. The first animation was supposed to be made up of 24 drawn out frames, thus creating a frame by frame animation. Our second animation was supposed to use the same 24 frames minus every other frame, resulting in an animation that lacked some detail and resulted in a bit more choppiness.

Rather than animating a line across the stage as we practiced in class with the help of the onion skin tool, I decided to use the brush tool to create a simple animation of a tree. For many of my frames, I copied and pasted previous frames and then made slight adjustments. I played around with different color brushes and I tried to create a little story. I wish that I had stuck with animating a line across the stage rather than trying to fit so much information in a one second animation. I was pleased with my result, however after the critique I found that animating a line and getting it exactly right would have probably been more useful as practice for future assignments.

On Thursday we spent a few minutes looking at everyone's one second animations, and then we learned about walk cycles. We spent most of class working on a simple walk cycle animation. I found this to be very challenging because it involved a lot of drawing! We were encouraged to pretty much just draw stick figures, but attempt to capture accurate movement of the arms and legs. In addition, we looked at the work of one artist whose work I very much admired. She has a very distinctive style and although the characters she creates are simple, the manner in which they move is so accurate that I found them quite mesmerizing. I decided that the best thing that I could do was to use a reference to aid me in drawing out a walk cycle. I found images on one website that were very helpful and I looked at the work of the artist that we looked at in class as inspiration.

Week 1

Last Tuesday our class was introduced to the pencil tool in Adobe Flash. I learned that the pencil tool has three different settings. The smooth, straighten, and ink pencils can be utilized to achieve various styles. I also discovered how helpful the tools can be for frame by frame animation.

Our first task was to create three caricature drawings of our face using the three different pencil styles. My approach for this assignment was to import a photograph of myself onto the Flash stage and use the photograph as a template for each of my line drawings. I created four layers, one for the photo and three for my three line drawings. I enjoyed working with the straighten pencil tool the best despite its tendency to create perfect ellipses in places that I hadn't hoped.

Ultimately, I was most pleased with my smooth pencil drawing, and I chose to use that drawing for my next assignment. Our second task was to create a three-quarter view and a profile view of one of our three original drawings. Using my smooth drawing as a guide and using my imagination I was able to create two more smooth pencil drawings. I found this to be quite a challenge considering that I did not have pictures to work form.