COAP:COAP-2110/week7

Week 7 - COAP 2110

Topics: Term projects, Animation (3D, IK, masks) and more interactivity

Monday

Term projects

• Discussion, Advice

Interactivity

• Previews: kite-movie.html - Cat manipulation - Remote cat manipulation - Drag and drop edutainment
• Handout: Flash embedded movie clip tutorial (recall).
• Handout: ActionScript 3 interactive objects tutorial (contains longer AS code useful for homework 7, ActionScript option)
• Handout: Flash drag and drop tutorial (for CS minors only, contains longer AS code)

(2) Object manipulation

• Play with the "cats" examples, get:

actionscript3-simple-object-manipulation.fla

actionscript3-simple-object-manipulation-buttons.fla

• Cats example for computer science majors (more difficult, but more elegant):

actionscript3-simple-object-manipulation2.fla

Publishing on a web site (recall)

• Copy both the *.swf and *.html files. Also copy resources to server, e.g. sound or video that are loaded dynamically via components or ActionScript. You don't have to copy objects that sit in the library.
• You also can adapt the generated HTML file
• You may modify some publish settings.

Wednesday

Main topic: Animation and term project work

Motion presets

• Motion presets are pre-configured motion tweens using all kinds of effects (path, fade in/ou, transforms, ...)
• Get the panel from menu Window-> Motion Presets
• Create or select a symbol on the stage, then select a preset from the panel. You then can adapt it in the same way as would edit your own tweens ....
• Tell us your favorite and try to understand how it was done.

3D animation of 2D objects

• Short demo: Rotation is just another transformation you can apply to symbol instances. Rotating around z means around the in/out axis, etc.
• I suggest using rather the Transform panel than the 3D rotation tool in the tools panel.

Inverse kinematics

• Handout: Flash inverse kinematics tutorial‎‎

Mask and masked layers

• Previews: flash-cs3-mask.html.
• Handout: Flash mask layers tutorial

Buttons and manipulation of embedded clips

• Short recall of principles on demand only (!)
• Faisal: Looping video Flash_augmented_video_tutorial#Manipulating_the_video_component_with_ActionScript

Classroom activities

(1) Mask layers

• Create a mask layer. As a background you either could import a simple bitmap file (a photograph) or use one of your previous Flash files

(2) Play with motion presets and 3D motion effects. Also explore 3D transforms in keyframes

(3) Create a bone structure using symbols.

(4) Work on your term projects

(5) Revise control of Clips (catch-up activity for those who missed classes)

• Create a clip on the scene
• Create an animation on its own timeline (Edit the symbol)
• Create a button that stops the animation and another that plays it
• Create 2 buttons that hide/show it
• Create a button that moves it
• Create a button that changes its size.
• All these functions include only one line of ActionScript.

Homework 7 - week 7

Assignment

Create a flash application. Please choose from one of the two following options:

Option A: Create a Flash animation that includes at least two of the following: built-in timeline effects, mask layers, 3D transforms, or a bone structure.

Option B: Create a Flash animation that uses some ActionScript instructions. I require at least 2 "constructs" that are different from timeline navigation (gotoAndPlay(), gotoAndStop(), stop (), etc. ). For example, you can play flash movies with "play()" or change properties of objects on the stage like their position or visibility. Recommended for exam preparation...

Reuse of prior homework

• If you wish you may reuse artwork and animations from previous homework (in any way you like). But this is by no means an obligation nor does it have an influence on grading. However, make sure to improve drawing, animation, navigation etc. if you didn't get a top grade for previous work.

Submission date and format

• To be returned by Monday, at start of week 8 lesson

Other constraints

• Reuse of artwork and movie clips: 1/3 must be drawn by yourself, max. 1/3 imported but customized, max. 1/3 imported as is. (So you also can do everything by yourself).
• There is no restriction on the subject, e.g. you can do a slide show or motion/shape/frame animations.
• You can import sound and video from any source (so the 1/3 rule doesn't apply for these).
• You must fill in a document description using the same template as usual.
• Homework projects are individual. If you work with others, make sure that the individual projects differ, i.e. the "reuse of objects" criteria above apply.
• Your *.fla should be error free. No broken tweens, no strange tween objects in your library, etc.

Evaluation criteria

• As usual (see the rubric in the worldclassroom)

Links

ActionScript for programmers

The manual (also available through the Actions panel, in principle)

• ActionScript® 3.0 Reference for the Adobe® Flash® Platform
  • Movie clip

Special effects

• Graphic Effects An Adobe page that links to several tutorials explaining various principles and tricks ....