James Clayton

Unit 34 Assignment 3 Animation Checklist

Range Evidence
Transitions I used transitions when making text appear on the animation, I
used them as it makes it more interesting to watch as it allows
you to make the text appear in different ways and not just
instantly appear. An example of using transitions if when I added
the Eat Healthy! text. To make the way the text appears more
interesting I made it spin into place and then spin back off the
stage. To do this I created a motion tween which moved the text
from off the stage to the centre, on this motion tween I told it to
rotate the text by changing rotation
options in the properties tab. The text
then stays in the centre for around 1.5
seconds and moves off again using the
same rotation feature.

Timing This is some of the animation for the starter character. I

previously didnt have the different poses in the correct position
on the timeline which meant everything was playing at the wrong
time. I finally figured out the easiest way to do the animation is to
have it all on one armature and just leave parts on the timeline
blank where you want the character to stand still. You can do this
because the timeline is identical to the main one for the
animation meaning you can just match the frames up for where
the movements need to start and finish.

Frame Numbers
The numbers across the top of the timeline are known as the
frame numbers, they are very useful because you can use them
as guides when working on the timeline. Below the timeline there
is a little tool bar, on this toolbar you can see
which frame number you are currently on, in this image you can
see Im at frame number 48. They have this feature as it can be
difficult to see the correct frame number on the timeline when
youre zoomed out loads. I used both of these features whilst

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working on my animation as when animating the characters I

needed to sync the animation timeline of individual characters up
with the main timeline, I used the frame numbers below the
timeline to do so as its an easy way to see what frame you need
to start and finish the animation at. When doing the actual
animation I moved the characters limbs every 5 frames, this
meant the animation looked smooth but saved me having to
animate each frame.

Key Frames Keyframes are used when inserting new

assets such as an image or some text
from the library. As I have text assets
shown over my animation I used Keyframes when inserting them
on the timeline. I first created a new layer and named It
appropriately, I then went to the frame where the text was
needed and inserted a keyframe. The keyframe meant I was able
to drag the image asset out of the library and onto the stage. This
was the only time I used keyframes, whenever I needed to extend
a frame to show the same image for a prolonged period of time I
used a frame.
Soundtrack/musi The first bit of sound I
c added to my animation
was the background
music. I downloaded it
off YouTube in the form
of an MP3, I then opened It up in Audacity and changed a few
things. The bit of editing I did to the audio was to cut it down to
length, I then lowered the overall volume as it was too loud. I
checked how long the intro was shown for and then lowered the
music volume once the intro had finished.
This is what the timeline looks like
with the background music added.
You can see the audio track as the
red line going along the timeline.
The music on the animation plays through until just before the
end and is located on its own layer so it doesnt overlap with any
other assets on the timeline. The sound effects also have their
own layer so they dont have the same problem. Throughout the
whole animation I have 3 sound effects, the starter whistle when
the race starts, the cheering when the orange crosses the finish
line and a splat sound when the Eat Healthy! Text appears. All of
these sound effects were edited on Audacity before I imported
them onto my animation.

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Movement The first step in animating this charcter

was to add the motion tween where
they walk onto the stage and into
position. I then made the character run
down the track and jump at the end
after theyve won. The pink line is the
path they take. To do this I created a
motion tween and created a start and finish poisition which the
character moved between. The first circled dot is the starting
position of the characters movement, I then moved to the frame I
wanted the character to finish walking at and moved the
character into position. The right circled dot shows the end
position. Depending on how many frames are between the start
and finish position change how long it takes the character to get
there.

Synchronisation At certain points in the animation I needed the

characters to move in synchronisation such as when
they all walk onto the stage. To do this I simply began
their motion tweens at the same frame on the
timeline. I also did this because thats when the intro
graphics disappear off stage. The only other time I
had to synchronise something on the timeline is when everything
finishes, I had to make everything finish at the same time
otherwise the animation would keep playing with that one asset
showing until it reached the end of the timeline. When animating
the movements on the characters I had to synchronise that with
their motion tweens so they started and finished walking at the
correct time. To do this I simply matched the start and finish
frames from the main timeline onto the individual characters
animation timeline.

Narrative To help kids understand the advert, but to also make it more
interesting and exciting to watch I added narration. To add the
narration I waited until I competed the animation so I would be
able to get the timing rights, this also meant I could comment on
what was happening. To create the narration I recorded it on an
external microphone and then imported it into Audacity. In
Audacity I was able to cut the narration into individual segments
so I could add them onto the animation individually, that way I
could adjust the timing if it was off. I created a new layer for all
narration so it didnt overlap with anything else on the timeline.
The sound effects were also on a separate layer for the same
reason.

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These are all the voice over

assets saved in my RAW asset
folder. They are all named
accordingly so I know which
one Im importing into Flash.

Before I can go ahead and add the

voice overs I first had to create a new
layer for them. Here you can see the
new layer named Voiceovers.

The next step was to then import all of the voice recordings. To
do this I went to file, import, import to library.
Once I found the spot where I want the first voice over to start I
created a blank keyframe so I can add the audio file. To do this I
right clicked on the frame, making sure I was on
the correct layer, and clicked convert to blank
keyframe. I then dragged the correct audio file
out of the library and onto the stage.

Here you can see the audio was successfully added

to the animation.

Heres what the voice over layer looks like with all the voice overs
added.
Special Effects I used very few special effects on my animation as I didnt have a
suitable use for them. One of the special effects I had was when
the text appears on the animation, I used special effects as it
makes it more interesting to watch as it allows you to make the
text appear in different ways and not just instantly appear. To
make the way the text appears more interesting I made it spin
into place and then spin back off the stage. To do this I created a
motion tween which moved the text from off the stage to the
centre, on this motion tween I told it to
rotate the text by changing rotation
options in the properties tab. The text
then stays in the centre for around 1.5
seconds and moves off again using the
same rotation feature. This is a special
effect because I could of easily just made the text move across
the screen, but thats not as fun.

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Dope Sheets Before I even began working on the animation on the computer I
first designed the different scenes on Dope Sheets, I did this so I
have an idea what the animation would look like but also so I can
reference them whilst making the animation. The dope sheets I
drew up contained a detailed coloured image of what the scenes
will look like, how many frames make up that scene, the camera

movement if any, the camera

position, and any sounds for the scene. I created two dope sheets
in total which contained 5 different scenes.
Photoshop I used Photoshop to create all of the assets for my animation. The
first asset I created was the background. The first step in creating
this graphic was to set the canvas size to the same size which my
animation will be, 832x624.
Using the paint bucket tool I coloured the background in
green, I did this so I can put all other aspects of the
graphic over the top of the grass.
To select the colour green I used the colour
selection panel.

To add the paved area I made a new layer above

the grass and drew the concrete out using the
line tool and the fill tool.

To create this building I used the line tool, fill

tool and the perspective tool. The
perspective tool allows you to adjust the
rotation and perspective of a graphics so that
it looks like it is on an angle. I used this tool
to create the doors.

This is the finished background graphic for

my animation. I completed the rest of the
drawing such as the track and the lights using
the shape tool and the text tool for the
numbers.
Flash Flash is the programme I used when constructing my animation. I
used a wide range of features on Flash whilst creating my
animation, here some of them:

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Before I was able to start animating my

characters I had to apply the bone tool to
them, to do this you select the bone tool
from the tool bar, click and drag from the
main part of the character to a limb, then you
click in the same place where you previously
clicked and drag to another limb. Repeat until
the character has purple lines going to all
limbs. This turns the character into an armature which you can
then easily animate.
This is what the
characters
armature looks like
once you add
different poses to it. To get the animation of the character to
sync up with the main timeline animation I matched up the frame
numbers. For example if the character needed to start a walking
animation at a certain point I would see what frame number that
was and then begin the walking animation at that frame on the
characters timeline.
To make the character move across
the stage I used a motion tween which
starts after the introduction text has
finished. At the end of the tween the
character stays in the same position.
All of the characters use motion tweens to move around the
stage.
To create the end credits I made the
graphic in Photoshop and imported it
into Flash. After importing and adding
the text to the timeline I converted it to
a symbol so I could add a motion tween.
This is what the end credits look like. They
first move down into the centre of the
screen and stay there for a second. They
then move down off the screen. I did this by
using a motion tween which makes the text
move into the centre of the screen, the next position on the
motion tween is in the same place so the text stay still, the final
position is then off the screen so the text finally moves there.

Start position Centre position End position

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Additional The first bit of sound I added to my

Evidence animation was the background
music. I downloaded it off YouTube
in the form of an MP3, I then
opened It up in Audacity and changed a few things. The bit of
editing I did to the audio was to cut it down to length, I then
lowered the overall volume as it was too loud. I checked how long
the intro was shown for and then lowered the music volume once
the intro had finished. You can see on the image the change in
volume. The last thing I did was to add a face out effect to the
end of the music. I then exported it as an MP3.
To change the volume I went to effects, amplify.
This opens up this window where you
can then adjust the volume.

To add a fade out effect onto the

audio I selected the bit where I
wanted the fade out effect and went
to effects, fade out. This automatically
fades out the audio you have selected.