31st October
During the Half Term Break I got started with my Pre-Production work for my Animation. Firstly, looking at 3 examples of Educational Animations aimed at a teenage audience, looking for codes and conventions and inspiration, I found 3 solid examples. I noticed many common elements, from narration, use of colour (mainly black and white), a lesser importance on character the older the audience gets etc. This helped me round off my idea and understand more about the existing market.
I also did a detailed storyboard. This was a motion by motion breakdown from section to section, building on my draft with elements such as Motion Paths, Shape Tweens, Frames per Second etc. I also updated the Skills Audit of Flash ready for the 31st. On the 31st, my work was viewed and feedback given.
There were improvements to be made, with further detail needed on timing, transitions, tweens and colours. The skills audit was up to date but some instructions needed to be moved to different columns in the table
Lastly I spent my class time testing Shape Tweens. I learnt how to Shape Tween shapes made in Flash, Graphic Symbols and Text, using the 'Break Apart' option and then applying a usual Shape Tween. I still need to use Adobe Illustrator to make more complicated images ready for Shape Tweening.
4th NovemberI spent this lesson testing the Shape Tween. This tween allows to morph one object into another. Simply put, In your first key frame you have a shape and in the final key frame you have deleted the original shape and replaced it with a much different shape. The tween creates the inbetween frames, and a smooth transition from one shape to the other is complete.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Monday, 10 October 2011
Week 5
Monday:
With the basics of Flash now learnt, we are now left to begin production on our project's. As always the first step is creating a production schedule. We have been left with more freedom with this this year and this was the first time I had made a schedule completely from scratch. Using the Task Sheets provided, I included all Pre-Production Tasks, leaving myself a generous amount of time to complete the large task of producing the Finished Product.
We were also given the opportunity to review our first task sheet, creating an Improvement Plan. While my work seemed to be good, I had issues with my summary and referencing. I have now learnt about In-Text Referencing, where you either directly quote or put the books content into your own words, and then directly site the source at that point. I will include this in my reworked example. Also my summary needed a greater amount of comparison between new and old, for instance drawing likeness between Flash and a Zoetrope, showing how Flash utilises tried and tested theories in Animation.
With the Production Schedule complete, I will be beginning new Research and Development tasks in our next lesson on Friday and reviewing my first task in the weeks to come.
Friday:This lesson has been spent begging the research section of my Pre-Production phase. Now I have learnt about my topic, I need to look at similar and existing products. Examples of Educational Animations aimed at teenagers have been hard to find. Most examples are aimed at children, only covering the brief facts and presenting the information in a more childish way.
I also encountered many Interactive animation Hybrids. Ofcourse these have intresting elements but aren't appropriate. It takes some looking to find Animations that would appeal, through more mature content, less cartoon character based, more fact based elements of the target, teen market. I will be writing up my findings at home focusing on colour, soundtracks, characters, pacing, text etc.
With the basics of Flash now learnt, we are now left to begin production on our project's. As always the first step is creating a production schedule. We have been left with more freedom with this this year and this was the first time I had made a schedule completely from scratch. Using the Task Sheets provided, I included all Pre-Production Tasks, leaving myself a generous amount of time to complete the large task of producing the Finished Product.
We were also given the opportunity to review our first task sheet, creating an Improvement Plan. While my work seemed to be good, I had issues with my summary and referencing. I have now learnt about In-Text Referencing, where you either directly quote or put the books content into your own words, and then directly site the source at that point. I will include this in my reworked example. Also my summary needed a greater amount of comparison between new and old, for instance drawing likeness between Flash and a Zoetrope, showing how Flash utilises tried and tested theories in Animation.
With the Production Schedule complete, I will be beginning new Research and Development tasks in our next lesson on Friday and reviewing my first task in the weeks to come.
Friday:This lesson has been spent begging the research section of my Pre-Production phase. Now I have learnt about my topic, I need to look at similar and existing products. Examples of Educational Animations aimed at teenagers have been hard to find. Most examples are aimed at children, only covering the brief facts and presenting the information in a more childish way.
I also encountered many Interactive animation Hybrids. Ofcourse these have intresting elements but aren't appropriate. It takes some looking to find Animations that would appeal, through more mature content, less cartoon character based, more fact based elements of the target, teen market. I will be writing up my findings at home focusing on colour, soundtracks, characters, pacing, text etc.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Week 3 & 4 - Learning Flash
We have now learnt some basic elements of operating Flash, getting some hands on time with the software. By going through sets of instructions and taking notes from demo's, we have made a range of animations, using varying techniques.
Firstly, the Rolling Ball. But before we could start this, we needed to learn the workspace. We learnt about similarities between the Adobe Flash tools and the Adobe Photoshop tools as well as the difference between the Scene and the Symbol creator.
Starting by creating a New Symbol, we created a ball, which when returning to the scene appears in our Library. Any symbols or elements we make or import can be inserted into to the scene from here. Next we had to set Key frames (start and end points for the motion), highlight the required frames and apply Motion tweening (the automatic process of the computer adding in the frames between key frames, so you don't have to) as well as rotation rules (how many times and in which direction the ball will rotate).
This creates the rolling ball. I felt this went well and with free time, I practised this exercise about 4 times. We then applied a shadow, which meant including new symbols, applying their own tweening rules between key frames. With this mastered, I added more shadowed balls, to practice higher complexity animations, using Layers and Group Folders to keep things separate and organised.
Slightly harder was creating the Bouncing Ball. This involved the concept of motion guides. Flash makes the user create any motion rules on a separate, special layer, with the option to link the element and the motion guide later. Using the Pen tool, a curved motion path can be drawn (converting points to make them realistically bend). Key frames are then applied, and in frame one, the element is coupled with the start of the motion guide and the last frame, the element is moved to the end of the motion guide.
Like before a tweening rule must be applied, but this time selecting to option to make it link to the path. now when played, the element sticks to the motion path you have set.
To add a level of realism, Easing is used to either make an element gradually speed up or slow down. Splitting the sequence in 2 with a 3 keyframe, a speed up rule is applied to the first half, while a slow down rule is applied to the second. This gives the impression that the ball gathers with pace on the descent, and on it's ascent, gravity slows it back to a holt.
Lastly, we imported external images into Flash. Using Timeline Effects you can control how these images work. I tested Transform and Transition rules, making images spin, fade out and in etc. This can be used to create a sort of slideshow feel.
With a few more elements to learn we are nearly ready to apply our own creativity to Flash.
Firstly, the Rolling Ball. But before we could start this, we needed to learn the workspace. We learnt about similarities between the Adobe Flash tools and the Adobe Photoshop tools as well as the difference between the Scene and the Symbol creator.
Starting by creating a New Symbol, we created a ball, which when returning to the scene appears in our Library. Any symbols or elements we make or import can be inserted into to the scene from here. Next we had to set Key frames (start and end points for the motion), highlight the required frames and apply Motion tweening (the automatic process of the computer adding in the frames between key frames, so you don't have to) as well as rotation rules (how many times and in which direction the ball will rotate).
This creates the rolling ball. I felt this went well and with free time, I practised this exercise about 4 times. We then applied a shadow, which meant including new symbols, applying their own tweening rules between key frames. With this mastered, I added more shadowed balls, to practice higher complexity animations, using Layers and Group Folders to keep things separate and organised.
Slightly harder was creating the Bouncing Ball. This involved the concept of motion guides. Flash makes the user create any motion rules on a separate, special layer, with the option to link the element and the motion guide later. Using the Pen tool, a curved motion path can be drawn (converting points to make them realistically bend). Key frames are then applied, and in frame one, the element is coupled with the start of the motion guide and the last frame, the element is moved to the end of the motion guide.
Like before a tweening rule must be applied, but this time selecting to option to make it link to the path. now when played, the element sticks to the motion path you have set.
To add a level of realism, Easing is used to either make an element gradually speed up or slow down. Splitting the sequence in 2 with a 3 keyframe, a speed up rule is applied to the first half, while a slow down rule is applied to the second. This gives the impression that the ball gathers with pace on the descent, and on it's ascent, gravity slows it back to a holt.
Lastly, we imported external images into Flash. Using Timeline Effects you can control how these images work. I tested Transform and Transition rules, making images spin, fade out and in etc. This can be used to create a sort of slideshow feel.
With a few more elements to learn we are nearly ready to apply our own creativity to Flash.
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