Gavilan College
Course: DM/CSIS/Art 110:Interactive Animation: Flash
Instructor: Robert Beede. See instructor’s page for office hours.

Flash Schedule Fall '09, v. 9/29/09

Free open studio (lab) hours can be found here.

Note: Because this is a new book, this is a schedule in development

• September 2 Lecture: Intro to class. Where to find information and schedule. What is Flash?
  Assignment: Buy a text.
  
• September 9 Lecture: Flash examples? Vector vs. bitmapped art: advantages and disadvantages.
  Lab: Explore examples on the web. Get acquainted with the computer environment.
  Assignment: Read Chapter 1 & 2 for next week.
• September 14, 16 Lecture: Shockwave and Flash players. Use of Flash: interactivity, streaming. Overview: timeline and layers, stage, panels, and panel sets. Intro to drawing tools. Layers: naming, folders, etc. Stage layers. Symbols: types, conversion, and editing.
  Lab: Explore Flash interface. Read/work chapter 1, 2, & start 3. Complete it in the open lab. Project #1 (10 points): Draw a face using simple draw tools as illustrated in chapters 1 - 3. Assume the character just said something--a sentence which you should add to the drawing. Build in the emotion from what the sentence related to. Due September 23--show instructor when completed.
  Assignment: Read chapter 3 and 4 for next week.
• September 21, 23 Lecture: Drawing. Grouping, backward/forward, alignment, transformations, and tools interaction. Text tips.
  Lab: Finish work on Project # 1. Start work on Project #2 (10 points): Add legs and arms to your character. A joint should be placed at the arm-shoulder, arm's elbow, leg-body, and the knee. Each body part that will move should be placed on a separate layer and made into a symbol. Due September 28--show instructor.
  Assignment: Read chapter 4 - 7. Download the free drawing tutorial on Cartoon Smart at http://www.cartoonsmart.com/free_index.html. watch the 1 hour video. Project #3.1 (5 points) Write a short 1-4 sentence Halloween story to be animated. Describe the character and the background. Due September 30.
• September 28, 30 Note: Thursday, October 1 is the last day for withdrawal without a record and switching to Cr/NC option.
  Lecture: Animation techniques: Frame by frame animation and motion tweening. Transform tools, adding color changes, motion tween properties. The bouncing ball exercise--making it real!
  Lab: Construct the bouncing ball with all the attributes to make it real. Show instructor when finished. Finish Projects #1 and #2. Practice animating your character.
  Assignment: Turn in project #3.1 Download the Animation Basics tutorial video at the Cartoon Smart web site and watch it. Read chapter 8 & 9. Project #3.2 (5 points) Construct a storyboard for your story. Due October 7.
• October 5, 7 Lecture: Storyboarding (download a template). Animation: Movie clip symbol concepts, shape tweening, keyframes, more timeline manipulation.
  Lab: Project #4 Add leg and arm movement to your character to create a movie clip. If time shape animate parts of the face for realistic expressions.
  Assignment: Read and use chapters 8, 9, and 10. Work on movie clip.
• October 12, 14 Lecture: Sound in Flash. Recording sound clips, editing, and importing. AIF, WAV, and MP3 file types.
  Lab: Work project #5: add sound track to your background/intro. Note: complete Halloween animation is due October 19. This will be Project #1 - 5. see complete project description.
  Assignment: Read chapter 15. Work on project # 1- 5, the complete Halloween project. For next week prepare title and credits (see chapter 3).
• October 16, 18 Lecture:
  Lab: Work chapter 9. Assigment # 5: add a simple motion and shape tween objects to your animation project--. Present in class next week.
  Assignment: Read chapter 9. Appendix A.
• October 23, 25 Lecture: Sound properties, conversion. Introduction to animation: Frame by frame (cel), motion (w/guides) and shape tweening, keyframes, timeline manipulation.
  Lab: Work chapter 9. Assigment # 5: add a simple motion and shape tween objects to your animation project--see complete project description. Present in class next week.
  Assignment: Read chapter 9.
• October 30, November 1 Lecture: Complex movement and movie clips. Animating a graphic vs. movie clip animation. Animated rollover buttons.
  Lab: Work chapter 8. Add assignment #6: Movie Clip Animation. ----see complete project description.
  Assignment: Read chapter 10 & 11.
• November 6, 8 Lecture: animation examples, introduction to video concepts.
  Lab: Refine assignment 6. ----see complete project description.
  Assignment: finish reading chapter 11.
• November 13, 15 Lecture: Exporting the project: swf, html, projector, quicktime, etc. Optimization and media compression. Using the size report.
  Lab: Work chapter 12. Output recent animation project in swf with HTML and projector file. Project #7: Output a size report and turn in next week. Show instructor the output files.
  Assignment: Read chapter 13.
• November 20 Lecture: Scripting--the most difficult part of the class. Where scripts reside, programming concepts. animated buttons,
  Lab: Work chapter 13.
  Assignment: Read intro to chapter Create, start a storyboard and flow chart for a final project. Bring to next class for review and approval.
• November 22 Lecture: Flash Turkeys
  Lab: Eat Flash Turkey or Tofu
  Assignment: Gather leftovers for next class.
• November 27, 29 Lecture: More scripting! Importing Illustrator, Use of bitmaps in Flash. Importing, breaking the image apart, and bitmap tracing.
  Lab: Work chapter 13. Turn in the exercises on pages 403, 407, and 414. Together these make the equivalent of a large project. Note that you may expand on any of these (note the extra credit part on page 419) to create your final project!
  Assignment: Start a storyboard and flow chart for a final project. Bring to next class (November 29) for review and approval.
• December 4, 6 Lecture: Building the work environment. Putting it altogether. Site integration. Deconstructing the Digital Meda site. Using Flash with different software such as Dreamweaver, Quicktime, and Photoshop.
  Lab: Work on final project.
  Assignment: Work on final project.
• December 11, 13 Lecture: Questions and answers.
  Lab: Have another student beta test the project and then make final changes.
  Assignment: Prepare presentation for next week.
• December 18, 8:00-10:00 AM, Final Presentations