Flash Character Animation Applied Studio Techniques (Applying Studio Techniques)

445 Pages·2001·109.29 MB·English

by  Lee Purcell

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F l a s h
™
Character Animation
Applied Studio Techniques
201 West 103rd Street,
LEE PURCELL
Indianapolis, Indiana 46290
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Flash Character Animation Executive Editor
Jeff Schultz
Applied Studio Techniques
Development
Editors
Copyright © 2002 by Sams Publishing
Nancy Sixsmith
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, Kate Small
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means,
Managing Editor
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
Charlotte Clapp
without written permission from the publisher. No patent lia-
bility is assumed with respect to the use of the information
Project Editor
contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken
Carol Bowers
in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author
assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any Copy Editor
liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the Kezia Endsley
information contained herein.
Indexer
International Standard Book Number: 0-672-32199-8
Johnna VanHoose
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001087200 Dinse
Printed in the United States of America Proofreader
Marcia Deboy
First Printing: August 2001
Technical Editor
04 03 02 01 4 3 2 1
James Hutchinson
ii Lynn Baus
Trademarks
Team Coordinator
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trade-
Amy Patton
marks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized.
Sams Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this infor- Media Developer
mation. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as Dan Scherf
affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Interior Designer
Cheryl Lynch
Warning and Disclaimer
Cover Designer
Every effort has been made to make this book as complete
Gary Adair
and as accurate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is
implied. The information provided is on an “as is” basis. Page Layout
The author and the publisher shall have neither liability nor Cheryl Lynch
responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss
or damages arising from the information contained in this
book or from the use of the CD or programs accompanying it.
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Table of Contents
Basic Character Animation Techniques.......................................................................vii
Introduction.....................................................................................................................2
Section One: The Basics 18
1 Hatching an Egg............................................................................................................20
2 Walking the Ostrich.......................................................................................48
3 Moving the Background................................................................72
Section Two: More Movement 90
4 Flying Locusts.................................................................................................................92
iii
5 Leaping Lizards............................................................................................118
6 Fighting Skunks...........................................................................144
Section Three: Shapes and Talking 166
7 Transforming Man into Beast.....................................................................................168
8 Making Mouth Movements.........................................................................194
9 Using Interchangeable Parts........................................................218
Section Four: Special Effects 244
10 Applied Sound: Alley Concert with Found Instruments.........................................246
11 Connections: Titling and Transitions........................................................264
12 From Idea to Reality: Firing Political Barbs with Flash.........284
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Section Five: Storytelling 304
13 From Storyboard to Flash: Mime and Punishment..............................................306
14 Behind the Scenes: Heroes of the Secret Dimension.............................328
15 Advanced Animation: Sam & Max.........................................348
Section Six: Final Touches 364
16 Hot Techniques: Flash Trading Cards and Viral Marketing..................................366
17 Transforming 3D to Flash: The Generic Jim Network...........................384
18 End Game: Outputting Flash Content.....................................402
iv Index..........................................................................................................................426
About the Author
Lee Purcell is the director of Lightspeed Publishing LLC, a Vermont-based company that specializes in
electronic publishing tools and techniques and provides technical communication for a wide variety of
clients. As the author of eight books on emerging technologies—ranging from Internet audio to
recordable CD and DVD—he primarily focuses his writing efforts on helping developers and users
effectively take advantage of the most promising hardware and software tools in the electronic pub-
lishing field.
Purcell also writes the quarterly newsletter, CD-ROM Access, for Disc Makers, the largest independent
disc replication service in the United States. In the course of authoring trade computer titles and pro-
ducing articles on CD-ROM development, he routinely interviews many of the prominent designers,
developers, inventors, and luminaries involved in the computer industry and rich media production,
and he has earned a reputation for distilling difficult technical topics into clear, concise descriptions,
so that they are accessible for readers with different levels of experience.
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When not wrestling with beta software releases from computer companies,
Purcell plays electric jazz bass, traverses the back roads of Vermont on a
Ducati Monster, and works on completing a novel that has been slowly
unfolding for the last 11 years. The novel, a ghost story set in and around
Cape Ann, Massachusetts, is told from the point of view of the ghosts. He
hopes to have it finished within the next year.
For additional information, point your browser to
http://www.lightspeedpub.com.
Dedication
To my siblings, Steve, Dave, and Deb, whose individual creative spirits always
inspire me.
Acknowledgments
v
This book would not exist without the generous contributions of time, ideas,
and content from many individuals. Thanks to my brother, Steve, for bring-
ing his internationally known characters, Sam & Max, to the Flash stage.
Thanks to Gary Winnick, Frank Cirocco, Issac Mangold, and Todd Moulton
of Lightsource Studios for their well-crafted, professional work. Thank you
to Mike Levine and Jeff Yerkes of Pileated Pictures for their exceptional
animation skills and insights, as well as to Peter Tsacle for sharing his Flash
secrets and tips. Thanks to Mark Fiore and Todd Gallina for sharing their
powerful, dynamic Flash work and their personal design guidelines with the
developer community.
Whatever modest polish and refinement this book exhibits is largely due to
the skilled editorial and technical staff at Sams Publishing. Thanks to Carol
Bowers, Nancy Sixsmith, Kezia Endsley, James Hutchinson, Lynn Baus, and
Katie Robinson. Thanks to Jeff Schultz for his wisdom and guidance during
the book’s conception, and to Rod Harlan for helping formulate the idea
and shape the structure. Thanks to Barb Hammerle and Joanna Coyle for
encouragement and support along the way. And, a special thanks to my
partner, Kathie, for her patience and forbearance during the difficult course
of one more book in a seemingly endless series of books.
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Tell Us What You Think!
As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commen-
tator. We value your opinion and want to know what we’re doing right,
what we could do better, what areas you’d like to see us publish in, and
any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass our way.
You can email or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn’t
like about this book—as well as what we can do to make our books stronger.
Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to
the topic of this book, and that due to the high volume of mail I receive,
I might not be able to reply to every message.
When you write, please be sure to include this book’s title and author as
well as your name and phone or fax number. I will carefully review your
comments and share them with the author and editors who worked on
the book.
Email: [email protected]
Mail:
vi
Sams Publishing
201 West 103rd Street
Indianapolis, IN 46290 USA
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Basic Character Animation Techniques
Classic character animation techniques draw on nearly 100 years of experience,
stretching back to the earliest days of motion pictures when the first anima-
tors learned how to bring life to shapes fashioned in ink and forms built from
varying shades of gray. The process required patience and persistence. In the
early days of filmmaking, each second of animated film demanded 16 frames
of drawings. A three-minute animated cartoon required 2,880 of these frames.
Before celluloid allowed animators to create a single background and then
move characters in front of this background on transparent layers, even the
background art had to be painstakingly re-created for each frame. Animators
quickly learned to be economical in drawing a scene, rendering a landscape in
a few bold strokes or a street shot in concise geometric forms.
Macromedia Flash both accommodates the earliest principles of animation
and extends them with time-saving, computer-based techniques. The guiding
credo of simplicity still applies. Flash was devised by the clever software engi-
neers at Macromedia to deliver motion in compact files over the World Wide
vii
Web, using vectors rather than bitmaps to express lines and shapes. The
motion and the images, transported in a concise shorthand form in a Flash
file, blossom in the browser window as the computer unravels the shorthand
and blends the artwork and the audio. This art form works best when the
animated artwork is kept simple. Add too much complexity to your images
and the result is a slow-to-load, difficult-to-play movie.
Too much complexity also makes it difficult to animate characters convincingly.
A tremendous range of facial expressions and emotions can be drawn from the
most basic face. If you look at the some of the first characters to appear on the
motion picture screen, such as Felix the Cat, a whole range of emotions can
be expressed in the squint of the eyes, or a raised brow, or an open grin.
Felix, one of the first characters to gradually develop a full personality onscreen,
is also one of the simplest, consisting of a black silhouette, a huge pair of mobile
eyes, a flexible mouth, and a couple of pointed ears. Some of the most popular
cartoon characters today are also the simplest: the round-headed kids in Peanuts,
the bizarre family unit in The Simpsons, the childishly drawn inhabitants of
South Park, and the nervous flickering subjects in Dr. Katz.
Basic Character Animation Techniques
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The lure of 3D animation is compelling and another technique that has sky-
rocketed to popularity given the improvements made in the process thanks to
computers. The technology is in place to create entire landscapes from intri-
cate meshes with three-dimensional precision, populate them with characters
whose faces can be manipulated as fluidly as human skin, and produce entire
stories in worlds where the lighting, atmosphere, and gravity can all be con-
trolled by computer. Flash can import 3D content that has been reprocessed
as 2D vector art, as described in Chapter 17, “Transforming 3D to Flash: The
Generic Jim Network.” Flash itself, however, is designed to work in the 2D
realm, so this book focuses on 2D animation.
Offering a Stage to Independent Animators
Although character animation began as an art form, it quickly evolved into a
trade. Ninety years later you can still find abundant examples of both forms of
animated material. The film world, in general (as well as many other arts in
our culture), has two parallel streams in which the creation takes place: the
mainstream commercial world and the experimental independent world. Often,
viii
techniques borne in the independent world find their way into wider accept-
ance in the commercial world. The two streams of creation sometimes merge,
but usually remain distinct with their own unique characteristics.
Commercial animation projects usually include large budgets, teams of creators
working in clearly delineated divisions, content that is carefully tailored to
address identifiable markets, and themes that are deliberately structured not
to offend mainstream Western sensibilities. On the experimental, independent
side of the creation equation, the budgets are smaller (or non-existent).
Instead of a team the work might be accomplished by an individual or a small
group. Aesthetic values rather than commercial values take precedence, and
the themes can many times challenge or antagonize conventional norms.
Flash bridges both these worlds, providing a ready platform for commercial
interests to communicate and a fluid arena for inventive experimenters to
push the limits of the medium. In a sense, it provides a desktop computer
replacement for the animation studio and also a means of distribution: the
World Wide Web. Independent filmmakers and animators in the past lacked
many outlets for their work, unless they were fortunate to connect with an
independent distributor that could help find an audience for their work.
Flash Character Animation Applied Studio Techniques
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In comparison, Flash can be delivered to audiences ranging from a tiny Web
site where the ISP limits space to 20MB to the corporate Web site of Time-
Warner, where the animations reinforce recognition of cartoon characters
already known around the world.
In short, this newly erected stage, which allows animators to independently
display their characters and creations, is nothing short of revolutionary. You
don’t need to find a willing newspaper to give your characters a print forum.
You don’t need to find a film distributor. Your work can be delivered the day
it is complete to an audience that stretches from San Francisco to Melbourne.
Your work can look every bit as professional as the largest studios and you can
venture into territory that they can’t touch because of fears of offending their
advertisers or customers. You can tell any kind of story in an environment that
lets you blend music, dialog, motion, color, and unique character interactions
in an unlimited number of ways. As entertainment, as a mirror to our society,
as a new means to communicate humor or pathos, Flash provides the frame-
work to tell stories and tell them well.
Bridging Traditional Techniques ix
Computer animation through Flash offers methods that correspond with many
of the conventional means of creating animated characters and backgrounds.
These include:
• The Layers feature lets you create the equivalent of celluloid transparen-
cies. You can place a background on one layer, a character on another,
and a scrolling string of characters on another, and then animate each
of these layers separately. Flash supports as many layers as can be han-
dled by your computer’s memory and use of these layers does not affect
the overall size of the movie. You can achieve interesting cinematic
effects by hiding, sorting, or changing the order of Flash’s layers.
• You can create frame-by-frame animation by modifying the individual
contents of each frame, much in the way a conventional animator
makes a series of drawings to incrementally show movements, such as
a figure jumping up and down, hurling a rock through the air, or danc-
ing on a pinhead. A button in the Flash interface activates the onion-
skinning feature, allowing you to view several successive frames of an
animation in sequence through translucent overlays.
• You can create cinematic techniques such as fades and dissolves by
controlling the colors and transparency of foreground and background
images, and by overlapping images on separate layers.
• You can produce titling effects, including scrolling credits and titles,
by using individual layers in Flash and assigning movements to these
layers to expose or hide characters.
Basic Character Animation Techniques