A Flash Developer Resource Site

Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: basic animation help

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Posts
    5
    hi guys.

    i just decided to try out this flash thing--it looks awesome. i have drawn a character in illustrator 9, and imported it. and i'm lost.

    i just need a kick in the right direction. let's say i just want to make him talk--just move his lips. how would i do this? i load the picture a bunch of times, and edit it each time? it seems then it edits all frams with that picture.

    oh, and my problem may even start in the drawing stage. when i import to flsah 5, my image is able to be dissassembled into pieces. let's say i draw a head, neck, and shoulders in illustrator. i drew the basic body shape and colored it in. then, i drew a shirt, and a vest over the shirt. i drew eyes and a mouth over the blacnk face, and then drew hair. so, basically, i have evrything in different overlapping layers. but, i want it to stay right where it is! now, whenever i click on the shirt to move the guy, only the shirt comes!

    is there any site with very very basic info on how to animate something with flash?! i'm lost! (but so eager!)

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Posts
    1,159

    resolved

    Hey welcome to Flash! Flash can do all of the things you asked and more and there are some people on this board who can do some amazing animation. I recommend that you checkout the Anime forum and definately the tutorials section. The basic tutes give all the info you'll need to get started animating your guy.

    Good Luck and welcome!

  3. #3
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Posts
    5
    hi, thanks for the welcome!

    i posted here only after reading over the tutorials for the last couple days.....and going through all 29 pages of this forum!

    ok--let me pose a very basic question, to get me started......let's say i draw a face, and i want to make it blink. let's say it's a three frame process. eyes open, eyes closed, eyes open.

    i import the head as a symbol, with the eyes open. i place it in frame one where i want it.

    now, in frame two, i want to remove the eyes, and replace them each with a simple line--like a slit, or closed (blinked) eyes. how would i do that? do i replace the symbol with a completely different image with the eyes removed, or can i edit the symbol just in that frame somehow?

    and then, when i want the eyes back open,i want the same exact image as the first frame. how would i make sure i got the same exact placement as the first placement of the head, so the eyes were in the same exact place? do i copy and paste the frame? is tehre a better way to do it?


    basically....i'm looking for a very general understanding of the prcess. in this simple animation, am i replacing the picture with another to achieve the blink, or editing the picture i already have? and if so--how do i edit it, and get it to only move the eyes, and then return to its original form?


    sorry to ask such simple questions.....but i've done a fair amonut of reading the tutorials and whatnot, and can't seem to get an answer to a basic question like this....

    thanks!

    -matt

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Posts
    1,159
    I'm no expert on animation, but I imagine that if you are going to do such a thing, you would go about it in the same way that you would do normal cell animation. I would do a graphic with the eyes open - if your eyes are the one of the only things that are going to move, then you could do them like the "Bird" graphic that is in your Flash Library. Create a movie clip that has the eyes in the various positions over a number of frames - full open, half closed, closed - then reverse. Depending on how many frames you stretched that over, the eyes would appear to blink at a certain speed. So, you do your graphic of the head without eyes, drag it on the main stage - it remains stationary. Then drag the MC of the eyes onto the face in the proper position - if you wanted to move the whole head around the screen, you could make the whole head part of the MC and just animate the eyes.

    Now, when you play the file, it should show you the head with the eyes blinking...

    I would start from there - speaking of animated heads, there is someone on this board named "Cion". Check the Site Check forum - he has an animated head on his site and his signature - clearly, you should talk to him some as well.

    Hope that helped!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  




Click Here to Expand Forum to Full Width

HTML5 Development Center