Lab 02b Instructions, Example Completed Files, and Grading Criteria

Things to turn in: 2 Flash files (upload to Blackboard), no lab questions.

  1. lab02-flying-bird.fla
  2. lab02-xray-mask.fla
 

Due: 2:00pm Wed

General Criteria:

  • playback: all animation play correctly
  • correct use of symbols and shapes in animation
  • apply correct type of tweening
  • correct order of layers (in some cases, the layer order does not matter)
  • efficiency: no unnecessary symbols, shapes, and layers
  • give a name to each layer to indicate what that layer is about

File #1: lab02-flying-bird.fla

What you are going to learn in this exercise:

  • create shape tween
  • create motion tween
  • create a movieclip symbol
  • combine shape and motion tween to create a more complex animation

Part I of Flying Bird

1. Create a movieclip symbol.
Inside the symbol, create a shape tween of the flying bird, flying at the same coordinate.

  • This involves 5 keyframes. The first and the last keyframe need to be same in order to make animation loop seamlessly.
    (See slide)
  • Each keyframe has a 3-anchor-point stroke to represent a bird. Adjust the tangent handles to create the desired curve shape.
  • 2 strokes wings-up, 2 strokes wings-down

Hints:
(1) Turn on Onion Skin to help you see the frame before and after.
(2) Create the 4 keyframes as frames 1-4 first. Then, copy frame 1 to frame 5. Then, move the keyframes to space them out about 4-5 frames apart, before applying shape tween.

 
2. On the main timeline, drag the bird flying movieclip on Stage.

An example of completed file:


Part II of Flying Bird


An example of completed file. 		  On the main timeline, create a tweening of the bird movieclip instance, to make it look like the bird is flying from near to far or far to near.

Things you need to decide:

  1. Which type of the tweening should it be--motion or shape?
  2. What properties should you tween?
    Hints:
    (1) When an object is far away, it looks smaller and hazy. How do you create these effects?
    (2) To create a hazy feeling, it is one of the properties under the Color dropdown box in the Property Inspector.

 

File #2: lab02-xray-mask.fla

What you are going to learn in this exercise: mask

  1. Start with your lab01's xray file.
  2. Create a new layer, and a scanner bar symbol (graphic).

Note:

  • The scanner bar shown in this example is a horizontal rectangle, but you can make it any direction or any shape (say, a circle to make it look like a spotlight.)
    And, you can tween whatever direction of the scanner bar; it does not have to move from top to bottom.
  • The color of the scanner bar does not matter; it will not affect anything. But it needs to be filled; only the filled area(s) will reveal the "maskee" content.

 

 3. Order the layers in the Timeline so that:

  • the "maskee" layer is immediately below the "mask" layer

Which layer is the "mask" layer and which is the "maskee"?

  4. Right-click the "mask" layer and choose Mask.

 

 5. If you want to give the skeleton a black background, create a new layer, and draw a big black rectangle that encloses the whole skeleton.

Make this a "maskee" layer but beneath the skeleton layer.

An example of completed file.