Flash Workshop This project was our introduction to Flash and animation. We were asked to pick an everyday object that is able to move and to use this object in our animations. This assignment would allow us to explore motion tweens, shape tweens, and frame-by-frame animation utilizing both bitmap and vector graphics. A total of four animations would be created, two using bitmap and two using vector to represent both a realistic motion and an anthropomorphic motion. The anthropomorphic animation would be derived from a descriptive word of our choice. The object I chose to animate was my desk lamp. I chose this lamp because it is a relatively simple object, which would allow me to explore how animation works without getting lost in the objects complexity. For animation #1 I made the lamp move through the many positions you are able to manipulate it to rest in. In addition, I made the light turn on at the conclusion of this animation. Animation #2 was the first of the anthropomorphic animations of my desk lamp. The word I chose to convey was “playful.” I attempted to achieve this by having the lamp get up out of its base and move around the desk. The shade of the lamp comes off as the lamp lands on the table, and then the arms of the lamp proceed to fly through the air and crash into the wall. This pushes the shade back across the desk where the shade flips itself back onto the base. The arms of the lamp then get up to walk across the table and retrieve it’s lost shade by kicking it into the air, jumping back into the base and then catching the shade. The first of the vector animations, animation #3, once again represented a realistic motion of the lamp. Although similar to animation #1, this animation is slightly more fluid in its motion. Stylistically it is obviously different, with a vector graphic style that is rather minimalist. At the conclusion of this animation I once again have the light turn on. However, in this version I attempted to create a reflection of the light on the objects on the desk that moved in conjunction with the shade. Finally, animation #4 was the vector graphic version of an anthropomorphic representation of the lamp. I was trying to achieve the same “playful” feeling with this animation, however using significantly different movements and vector graphic style. In this version I have the lamp jumping around on the table until it proceeds to jump high enough to leave the screen. When the object returns to the screen it has been blown apart as the objects fall to the desk. From here the pieces attempt to rebuild themselves using some “playful” pinball machine movements. As the parts bounce into each other they join up to eventually form a working lamp once more. |
