What is Animation? Tools of Flash CS3

Frames / Fps:

Frames are the individual pictures of an animation sequence, the more frames in an animation sequence, the smoother and longer the animation will appear however this ties in with frames per second. An animation with 24 frames with a rate of 8 frames per second will run for 3 seconds, but an animation with 24 frames that runs at 24fps will run for 1 second. The FPS feature dictates how many frames per second the animation runs. The higher the frames per second the smoother the animation will appear but the faster it will run, requiring more frames to be added to lengthen it. The frames per second can be altered to suit your needs.

Onion skins:

Onion skin is the feature of flash (and other good animation software) that shows the locations of objects, symbols, drawn in lines etc.  On previous frames, this allows the user to create a smooth transition and make their animation more fluid by giving them a visual guide to how much a certain object has moved or been altered. The onion skin feature can be altered to show just the last frame up to as many frames as the user desires.

Layers:

Layers are a key feature on most good animation software like flash and even most photo editing / drawing software. It allows the user to divide up the key components of their animation (characters, backgrounds, buttons etc.) and place them in order of back to front. The background being on the bottom layer so that it doesn’t cover up objects in the foreground / buttons, and the buttons being on the top layer of the animation, layers can be named for convenience. Other Uses of layers in animation are the masking layers frame and the action script layer. The masking layer is used for spotlight effects (the gun from James bond intro for example) by drawing a shape on a masking layer you can highlight the area you wish to show on all the layers below the masking layer. Action script layers are specialised layers that contain the code for the interactivity in flash, like buttons for example.

Lock and hide:

Lock and hide is the feature used on layers, locking a layer prevents the layer from being edited in any way, background layers are usually locked to keep them consistent. Hiding a layer allows the user to draw below layers etc. The selected layer that is hidden will become invisible so you can’t draw on it or if you want to focus on a certain part and the background is distracting you, you can hide the background layer to give you a clear canvas.

Library:

The library in flash is used to store symbols and buttons, so the user can delete the objects from the current frame and not have to worry about having to redraw an object, they can simply access the library and copy/paste the object onto the canvas. Objects are added to the library by highlighting and converting it into a symbol.

Convert to Symbol:

Converting to symbol is a way for the user to store drawing and shape into the library for later use, this is so they don’t have to completely redraw an object. If you want to make a button you convert to symbol, if you wish to keep a drawing but don’t wish to make it interactive – you can convert to graphic instead.

Tween:

In flash there are 2 different types of tweening, motion tweening and shape tweening, Motion tweening a symbol will move it from one place to another on the canvas (from A to B) over a pre-selected amount of frames – the more frames the slower the symbol will move from A to B and the less frames, the faster it will move.  Shape tweening is similar to motion tweening but instead of a symbol moving from A to B – The symbol will transform into another symbol or drawing over a selected amount of frames – literally changing its shapes and colours.

Integrating other media:

Flash software allows you to import different forms of media into an animation, such as sound, video and images. Adding sounds allows the user to add music or even voice acting to an animation to make it more interesting – importing video’s is an interesting feature – in flash you could use action scripts to make a button and play the imported video clip. A popular method of animating is to use vector graphics and sprites, sprites are small pixelated images (Most sprites originate from older generation video games but there are some exceptions) and many sprites will have different variations and actions – like the character punching or walking – and to animate with sprites the user only has to put the correct images in sequence to create the animation.

Preloaders:

Preloading an animation is where the animation or swf file will render before it is viewed, so that it doesn’t freeze or crash. Preloaders can be more complex, for example showing a loading bar or even their own animation informing the viewer that the real animation is loading. Preloader files have to be small so that they can load before the animation itself loads.

Scripts:

Action scripts are the code used for creating flash buttons and other interactive media in a flash animation, the scripts can be coded to fill the many needs of a flash animation, such as adding a start button, replay button or maybe adding the interactivity of a changing vector image (by hovering your mouse over a vector image, the image can be converted to a symbol and be coded to change shape when you hover over the symbol or click it).

What is Animation? Minimizing file size.

When creating an animation there are several things that the animator has to take into account if they wish to upload their animation to the internet, file size is extremely important to take into account because if someone has a slow internet connection speed or a poor processor then they may not be able to actually render and view the animation because the file size is too big, there are several things you can do to significantly cut down on file size.

The animation.

The animation itself has to be evaluated, the animation doesn’t have to be too complex and contain high quality images to convey the message or express the point of an animation. Stickmen animations for example are commonly used because they take up much less file size than fully illustrated coloured people.  If something can be simplified into core elements that still represent the image of the animation it should be.  If the animation has sounds or a video then they need to be kept as short and simple as possible (the exception being backing music).

Image Quality.

All images on a flash animation should be converted to symbols as this saves file space, if the animator has used colours they should make sure that they are solid and from the palette, using a gradient increases file size and in non-mainstream animations is usually unnecessary. The animator has to find the balance between image quality and file size, making it look aesthetically pleasing but keeping the file size as low as possible. Images should be compressed and should use the appropriate file type.

Frame Disposal.

Frame disposal is the feature that allows the animator to prevent previous frames appearing through transparent areas of the animation and clearing the background of previous symbols and artefacts.

Auto-Crop.

Auto crop is the feature that allows the animator to show what parts of the animation he wishes, effectively allowing him to trim the edges of the canvas to cut down on file size by removing unwanted backgrounds or objects and choosing not to display them on the canvas. I have used auto crop in my animation to remove several artefacts from the canvas to refine the animation and clean it up so previous buttons and objects are hidden from view

What is Animation? - How animation can be used.

Animation is a powerful tool when itx comes to advertising a product or service, be it CGI, cartoons or even stop motion – all of these animation forms can be used to advertise. As animation has no physical impossibilities and is only limited by the imagination of the creator, another way animation is used in advertising is to attract the viewer’s attention, brightly coloured cartoons or impressive special effects are far more likely to draw the interest of the viewer than just a man describing the product. An example of this would be N power’s advert’s that featured Wallace and Gromit, not only is it more entertaining to watch than a man describing the product but it’s using a well-recognised character to promote the Product or Service (recognised characters can also be used to advertise items in a supermarket – a child is more likely to want a bar of chocolate etc. if it’s got his favourite cartoon character on the wrapper).

Animation itself is completely limitless, having no constraints as the animation exists within its own realm where no physical limitations apply unlike the real world, for artists this is a whole new realm of possibilities as a medium of art, using animation as an art form they can explore concepts and interpret ideas in their own way without limit.

What is animation? - persistence of vision

Persistence of vision is the theory that the human eyeball will retain a still image for a short time after the image has been moved (some estimates time this at approximately 0.04seconds), so a series of rapidly changing images will create the illusion of fluid movement. The human eye registers around 30 still images (frames) per second, so any animation at 30fps or over will be perceived as fluid motion.

The first device that used a succession of rapidly changing images to create an animation was the Zoetrope, a collection of images inside a spinning cylinder which when viewed from the side – created a small looped animation. Its creator was the British mathematician William Horner.

One form of modern animation that is a perfect example of persistence of vision is flipbook animation, of all animation techniques, the flipbook is one of the easiest and most familiar. A flipbook is a booklet containing a series of images that, when you thumb through quickly, are animated – each note in the notepad acting as a frame that the mind registers. Another example would be Claymation, using stop motion animation to create the illusion of persistence of vision, each photo taking acting like a page in the flipbook.