Animation Part I: Interactive Multimedia Authoring with Flash “Computers and Creativity” Richard D. Webster, COSC 109 Instructor Office: 7800 York Road, Room 422 | Phone:  (410) 704-2424 e-mail: webster@towson.edu 109 website: https://tigerweb.towson.edu/webster/109/index.html

What is Multimedia Authoring? Process of multimedia production Assembling media elements Adding interactivity Export project for distribution to end users Final product can be: played back in a Web browser a stand-alone executable

Common Types of Multimedia Production Business presentations Advertising kiosks Games Educational: training and tutorials Use of multimedia authoring program

Multimedia Authoring Program Allow you to combine text, images, audio, video, animation into an interactive presentation May have its own scripting language to add interactivity Examples: Adobe Flash/ActionScript Adobe Director/Lingo

Multimedia Production Process Collect media elements Assemble media elements Add interactivity By scripting or computer programming Example: Use ActionScript in Flash Export the project into a format that your target audience can play

Media Elements Often created outside of the multimedia authoring program In Flash: Use pencil and brush tools Create vector graphics

Types of Media Elements Supported by Adobe Flash Bitmap images Photoshop (PSD), BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF Vector graphics Flash Movie (SWF), Adobe Illustrator Digital Video QuickTime (MOV), AVI, Flash Video (FLV) Digital Audio WAV, MP3, AIFF, AU

Export the Project Web playback Stand-alone version Mobile apps SWF file Smaller size than stand-alone Playable in a Web browser that has the Flash player Windows, Mac OS, and Linux Stand-alone version Mobile apps AIR app for iOS AIR app for Android

Animation Like video A sequence of images Create illusion of movement when played in succession Commonly used in multimedia projects Animation sequence is created as a sequence of frames Usually on a timeline

What a Timeline Looks Like in Adobe Flash Frame numbers A layer with a seqence of frames Details about timeline is covered in Sections 8.5.3 and 8.6, which are in the next two Powerpoints.

Types of Techniques to Create Animation in Multimedia Authoring Program Frame-by-frame Tweening Scripting

Frame-by-Frame By explicitly placing different visual content for each frame Each frame is a keyframe A frame in which the content is explicitly specified. Different from a frame in which the content is interpolated between frames. Like flipbook animation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH97UerMW6I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO8MlSjo0T0

Frame-by-Frame Example 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Frame-by-Frame Example Animation playing 2 fps Frame 5

Tweened Animation Content in frames between 2 keyframes is interpolated These interpolated frames are called in-between frames.

Continuing with the Bird Example In tweened animation, what you need to do: create 2 keyframes: frames 1 and 10 only explicitly place the bird at x=11 in frame 1 and x=20 in frame what the computer does for you: Creates all the in-between frames automatically place the bird at x=12 in frame 2 place the bird at x=13 in frame 3 ... place the bird at x=19 in frame 9

Example of Bird Tweening Position Frame 1 Frame 6 Frame 2 Frame 7 Frame 3 Frame 8 Frame 4 Frame 9 Animation playing 2 fps Frame 5

What can be tweened? Position (shown in the bird example) Rotation Size Color Opacity Shape

Tweening Both “Classic tween” and “Motion tween can be used to animate symbol instances. “Shape tween” is used to animate shapes

Example of Shape Tweened Bird Frame 1 Frame 50 Frame 10 Frame 60 Frame 20 Frame 70 Frame 30 Frame 80 Animation playing 30 fps Frame 40

Example of Shape Tweened Bird Position (tweened) Rotation Size (tweened) Color Opacity (tweened) Shape (tweened) Animation playing 30 fps

Animation by Scripting/Programming Does not rely on a sequence of frames on timeline Dynamic: Animation can be programmed to respond to the user's interaction Animation can be different in a different play through

Frame-by-Frame vs. Tweened vs. Scripted Rely on a fixed sequence of visual content on timeline Always same animation every time you play Dynamic and interactive Require scripting

Frame-by-Frame vs. Tweened vs. Scripted Relative work in general required in creating the visual content longest shortest Choice of animation involving complex or organic motion such as walking and dancing may be Choice of animation involving continuous motion that can be interpolated

Animation Frame Rate Playback speed of the animation In frames per second (fps) Too low: choppy Too high: choppy if the computer is not fast enough to process and display the frames Maximum rate in authoring programs not exceed the frame rate setting not guaranteed to maintain the frame rate (slower computer may play at frame rate lower than the setting)

Adjusting Speed of a Frame-based Animation Suppose you have a frame-based animation and want to change its playback speed. General Strategy: Avoid eliminating frames if possible To speed up: Increase frame rate if possible and keep the number of frames (preferred) Keep the frame rate but reduce the number of frames (not preferred) To slow down: Keep frame rate but add more frames (preferred) Reduce frame rate but keep the number of frames

Example of Adjusting Speed Suppose you have this 5-frame animation and you want to slow it down. Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 4 Frame 5

Example of Adjusting Speed Suppose you have this 5-frame animation and you want to slow it down. If you reduce the frame rate and keep the same frame number:

Example of Adjusting Speed Suppose you have this 5-frame animation and you want to slow it down. If you reduce frame rate and keep the same frame number: If you keep the frame rate and add more frames:

Flash - Most Essential Workspace Elements Tools Stage Timeline Property Inspector Library

Tools Panel Contains tools to select the visual content modify the content (like using the appropriate tools to draw vector graphics) draw scale rotate erase

Most Essential Workspace Elements Stage

Stage Where a Flash movie plays Background color can be set: in Property Inspector, or by choosing Modify > Document... Area outside of the stage: Gray color Objects placed there will not be visible when the movie plays. Note that if a graphic is in the gray area outside the stage, that graphic will not be visible when the movie plays

Most Essential Workspace Elements Timeline

Timeline and Keyframes A stack of layers Content in a layer cover the ones beneath it A series of frames across A circle in a frame: a keyframe A solid circle in a frame: a keyframe with content on the stage An empty circle in a frame: a keyframe without any content on the stage

Keyframes in Flash In this example: Which frames are keyframes? Which keyframes have content on the stage? Which keyframes do not have content on the stage? 1. 1,5,11,15,21,30 2. 1,5,15,30 3. 11, 21

Frames and Keyframes Any non-keyframes frames subsequence to a keyframe has the same content as that keyframe

Frames and Keyframes Examples Keyframe: frame 1 Frames 1 – 4 has the same content as in frame 1 in Layer 1 on stage

To Create Keyframes in Flash Do any of the followings: Select a frame in the Timeline and select Insert > Timeline > Keyframe Select a frame in the Timeline and hit the F6 key Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a frame in the Timeline and select Insert Keyframe.

To Convert a Keyframe into a Regular Frame Do any of the followings: Select a frame in the Timeline and select Insert > Timeline > Clear Keyframe Select a frame in the Timeline and hit the Shift-F6 keys Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a frame in the Timeline and select Clear Keyframe.

To Insert Frames in Flash Do any of the following: Select a frame in the Timeline and select Insert > Timeline > Frames Select a frame in the Timeline and hit the F5 key Right-click (Windows) or Control-click a frame in the Timeline and select Insert Frame.

To Remove Frames Do any of the following: Select a frame in the Timeline and hit the Shift-F5 keys Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a frame in the Timeline and select Remove Frames.

Most Essential Workspace Elements Property Inspector

Property Inspector Displays the information and properties that can be edited If a frame on the Timeline: displays the frame property If the frame selected is a keyframe, you can also assign a frame label and a tweening to that frame. If an object on the Stage is selected: displays the object’s properties that you can edit, e.g., x and y width and height

Property Inspector This object on stage is selected. Its x, y, width and height are displayed and can be changed by entering different numbers.

Most Essential Workspace Elements Library

Library Stores symbols, imported bitmaps, and sounds to be used in the project. Symbols are explained in Section 8.6 and next Powerpoint.

Review When publishing a Flash movie as a stand-alone executable, you would publish the movie in its .fla format. When publishing a Flash movie for the web, you would publish the movie as a .swf file. A dynamic animation technique which allows animation to respond to user interaction is animation by scripting.

Review . . . The timeline is the panel made up of a stack of layers with frames indicated across. The tools panel provides you with the tools needed to draw vector graphics. Graphics must be located on the stage to be visible when the movie plays. Graphics in the gray area outside of the stage will not show up when the movie plays.

Review . . . Both Classic Tween and Motion Tween can be used to animate symbol instances. Shape Tween is the tweening used to animate shapes. The color and width of the path in the motion guide have no effect in an object’s motion.

Review . . . A mask item acts as a window that reveals the area of linked layers that lie beneath it. The rest of the mask layer conceals everything else on the linked layers. In the Timeline panel, the mask layer should be directly above the maskee layer. The resulting effect will be seen on the stage by locking the mask layer.