Flash is an important artform these days, especially for artists working on the web. This project will introduce you to the basics of Flash through the creation of an animation based on an existing piece of art.
Requirements: Produce a cool animated piece of art in Flash. It must tell a story, simple or complex – a point
or meaning to your animation. Save it as
“Art Animation.fla” in your AWT4/Flash folder.
Choices:
1.
Animated
photos – create your story by integrating pieces of your own photos, optionally
also including iconic images from famous photographers. I
recommend this choice!
2.
Animated
Masterpieces – take a famous artwork and create a story by animating pieces of
it. Including items from your own
photography would get you a higher mark.
You will need to use the “Trace Bitmap” tool in Flash and/or the
techniques I’ve explained that let you separate a jpeg into separate layers.
3.
Hand Drawn
Flash Animation – if you’re experienced in using the drawing tools in Flash (or
would like to learn them), you can create your own original story that’s all or
mostly hand drawn. Again, you could add
in items from your photographs.
All Flash work must include sound
layers. You should record some of your own dialogue
and sound effects in Audition, and get music and other sound effects from the
Internet or your IPod.
Basic Flash Drawing, Layering and Animation (Frame-by-Frame and Tweening) Instructions . These provide more detail than you need – practice the basics, then choose one type of animation to specialize in, rather than all 3.
Animate a Photo – Instructions * You need to know the basics of Drawing, Layering and Motion Tweening first, so click the link above first if you haven’t already. This includes a step-by-step exercise which will be marked for completion.
If you want to be able to use the drawing tools to alter pieces of your Photo or Artwork, you need this: Importing and Tracing a JPEG. It shows you how to take pieces of a bitmap (photo or art jpeg) and turn them into editable shapes that can be altered using Flash drawing tools.
Example
– Animated Photo
Grand Tetons, Trumped …)
(not a full example – for one
thing, there’s no sound, but it uses Flash Animation to tell a story: the wilderness, exemplified by a famous Ansel Adams photograph, is attacked by Donald Trump, and
gives way to a high-rise.)
Examples
– Animated Masterpieces
These don’t all meet
the requirement of telling a story. They’re
mostly done using the Trace Bitmap technique, rather than breaking up the
layers in Photoshop, as in the Animated Photo instructions.
Rockin’
with Whistler’s Mom (not
working on some computers…)
Cryin’ with Man Ray (note the soundtracks on several of these)
Where There are Flowers There are Bees
Evaluation