John Keston Classes

Week 4

Session 1: Flash is an extremely versatile application which allows it’s users to create an infinite array of applications from something as simple as motion graphics to as complex as fully functional arcade style games. Our first assignment will be to create a bouncing ball in Flash. Click here to view an example.

To create the bouncing ball, start a new document in Flash MX. Select the oval tool and draw a circle. To constrain your ball to a perfect circle, hold down the shift key while dragging. You can also choose to select a fill color or gradient to make your ball a little more fancy. After your satisfied, from the Insert menu choose "Convert to Symbol". Make sure you name it and select graphic as the type.

Insert a key frame at frame 10 and another at frame 20 (for a slower bounce try inserting the key frames at 20 and 40). Select the middle key frame and shift+drag the ball to the bottom of the scene. Here you can also adjust the height property of the ball so that it appears to squash down a bit as it strikes the floor.

Now select the 1st key frame and in the properties panel choose "motion" under "Tween" and set the ease to -100. On the middle turn on the motion tween as well and set the ease equal to 100. Hit ctrl+enter to watch the animated ball bounce. When you’re finished please copy your assignment to the drop off drive for credit.

Flash Exercise – The Bouncing Ball
Due Date – 1st Class or Week 5
Total Points – 10

http://www.flashkit.com
http://www.macromedia.com
http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/
http://www.actionscripts.org

Session 2: Today we’ll be discussing the main Flash project. Below is an outline of the requirements for the project. Please carefully review the assignment. Nest week we will be demonstrating each of the competencies required for this project.

Flash Project – Interactive Flash Animation: "Four Seasons" (4 scenes)
Due Date – 2nd Class of Week 7 (beginning of class)
Total Points – 45

Assignment Overview:
For the "The Four Seasons " project detailed requirements, download the assignment sheet in MS Word format. Using Flash as an interactive tool, you will create a 4 scene interactive animation based on the four seasons. You will create 4 animated landscapes or city scenes representing the seasons of the year. For example, one animated element during the winter scene could be snow falling.

Content Specifics:
Animation Length – 10 second minimum per scene.
Minimum of 4 unique landscape scenes.
Design can be a combination of raster and vector artwork.
Must be your original artwork, including any photos (vacation photos would work great).
Must be fully interactive, navigate to any scene from any scene.
Completed project must be uploaded to your OLS account to be on the WWW

Competencies:
Importing of Digital Images into Flash
Using vector tools within Flash
Using Symbols (Graphics, Movie Clips, & Buttons) within Flash
Use of Motion tween
Use of Motion guides
Use of Shape tweening
Use of Masks
Incorporation of ActionScripting for movie control (Stops & Navigation)
Publishing from Flash
Uploading Flash movies to the web

Overall Use of Flash (scenes, tweens, ActionScripting) – 20 points
Design – 15 points
Use of OLS – 10 points

Flash Samples:
http://analogik.com/multimedia_samorost.asp
2advanced
Adobe Flash Showcase