Creating animations – Self-Evaluation and Reflection

I think my animation clearly reflects the skills I have learned in this semester in the Technology class. If I were to grade my animation I would give it a 5. I met the requirements that were asked of me. And I think my animation is creative and well produced. In general performance, I did exceptionally well. My animation followed logical order as well as had a storyline.
I followed the Design Cycle in chronological order, beginning with the research. The research helped a lot; I learned a lot about Flash and animation in general. When designing, I thought about the audience I wanted to target. I decided that I would create an animation for children, so I chose an already existing children's story 'The Monkey and the Turtle'. I created a detailed storyboard to help me create my animation of Flash. This helped in the creation, because I had a guide that I could follow. The creating was the most difficult part of the cycle, but the most interesting too! Throughout the project I have learned a lot about the animation process, and learned to like it more too. I think the Design Cycle helped me create my animation, without it, it would have been very difficult creating an animation on Flash with no knowledge on the software.
The storyboard served as an outline to my animation. With the story board, I knew exactly what to do on Flash. It also gave the details like time, setting and characters. I did follow my story board for my storyboard, though I did add details that weren’t already in the plan. Added more settings to make the story line flow better, and make more interesting. I think my changes were for the better.
As mentioned earlier, I met all requirements that were requested, like sound characters and setting; though I didn't include music. In my final animation I may have exceeded the time I had planned for in my story board. I found that when I was creating my animation on Flash I needed more time on each scene than intended, so to make the story flow. If I had followed my initial plan, the story may have been too rapid. I included three characters, two of which were the main characters (Turtle and Monkey). I think my final animation met all the requirements.
If I were to improve my final animation, I would improve on the movement of my characters. I think at times they were a bit to abrupt. Moving the character around was the trickiest part of the process.
I wouldn’t change anything in the cycle, though I would create all the settings and characters of my animation beforehand. I created my settings as I produced my animation on Flash which caused me to spend longer on the creating part.
For students working on a similar project, I would advise to manage your time better, especially on the creation part. As said prior organize everything you need for the project beforehand, it is easier that way. Also pick a topic that you know can finish with in the time frame given.
Before beginning this project I didn’t know about Adobe Flash. It was my first time to use Flash this quarter. Now I know how to create an animation.
When I began to work on Flash I found difficulty using and maneuvering the layers. Over time I got used to it and it became easier. I think Flash is a very good soft ware for creating animations. It has many applications that help design and create motion pictures. I’m glad I got to work on Flash; I hope to use it again in the future.
There numerous similarities and differences between Adobe Flash and Adobe Photoshop. They both offer editing tools, though Photoshop offers more. You can change the appearance of an image using Photoshop, such as adjusting the saturations or adding effects which you can’t do on Flash.
On both programs you can create animation, though Flash you can add sound and morph images which can’t be done on Photoshop. I think Photoshop is more of an image editing program and Flash is an animation or video creating program. I found much easier to create my animation on Flash, it had better tolls that helped me with the production, though I still used Photoshop to edit my pictures.

Task 3 - Creating an animated GIF

Did you know how to create an animation before doing this task?  Did the task help you understand how to create an animation?

This was my first time creating an animation. I had never used a software to create an animation. Using Photoshop did help me understand how to create animations. I learned about frames and how to move images from one location to another. After a few trials on Photoshop, I was able to create my own short animation.

Did you find any difficulties in the use of Photoshop?  How did you solve them?

Yes, I found a few difficulties while using Photoshop. My animation involved a lot of movement, so i needed several layers. I found it difficult to move one element without changing the shape or position of another.  To limit my movements, i had to remove some elements for my animation and create a simper one.

Did you find Photoshop a good option for creating animations?

I don't think Photoshop is a good option for creating animations. It is more of software for editing picutres and images. I think in Photoshop, you are limited to a few tools to use when creating animation. After using Flash, I think flash is a better alternative than Photoshop.

Below is the animation, I created in Photoshop.

My Story in Flash

For this unit, I will be creating a short animation on a story I chose. "The Monkey and the Turtle".
Plot
A turtle and a monkey a friends, they have both not eaten in days so they decide to go look for some food in the forest. They walk and walk. The monkey spots a banana tree, but the turtle being short-sided can not see it. They approach the tree and the turtle tells the monkey to climb the tree and throw down some fruit. The monkey climbs the tree but forgets about the turtle. The turtle gets and mad and plans for revenge. He gathered sharp pieces of glass and placed them around the banana tree. After having enough bananas the, monkey climbs down and cuts himself on the glass pieces. The turtle giggles from behind the tree. The monkey, furious threatens to kill the turtle. But the slow helpless turtle pleads for help and says 'please don't through in the river'. The monkey picks the turtle and chucks him into the river. The turtle laughs and says 'this is my home'. This angers the monkey, so he jumps in, but drowns.

Characters:
Turtle
Monkey

Location:
Forest

Animation Research

Traditional Animation

Unit 1: Computer Animation - Investigation

What is animation?

There are different techniques used to design and create animations.

Traditional Animation/Cel Animation

Traditional animations or cel animation, an animating technique, was a technique used in many 20^th century movies. The process involves developing a series of drawings pasted on celluloid transparent page. The cells are overlaid on top of a painted or colored background. The cells or images were processed by hand, but with today’s technology, the cells or images can be painted using the computer or even can be started on computer.

Stop Motion

Stop motion, is a stop action or frame-by-frame technique. It is a process that is used to make objects show as if they are moving on their own, by slightly moving the object in separate photographs. When the series of photographs or frames a played, it creates an illusion that the image is moving on its own. Sculptures or clay objects are normally used for Stop motion animation, so it’s easy it reposition.

Computer Animation (2D and 3D animation)

Computer animation is a modern technique, used to produce animated imagery through computer graphics. It is basically the digital form of the stop motion technique. 3D computer graphics are manly used, though 2D computer graphics are also used especially for faster time renderings. Computer animation has made creating animation easier, even so that a single graphic artist can easily produce an animation film.

Using Computer animation, the illusion of movement is created, by producing a series of images that are similar to each other and display minor movements. The rate is about 24 or 30 frames/second. Each frame is almost unnoticeably different from the previous.

2D animation is created using the Traditional animation technique. 3D animation is created using stop motion or the frame-by-frame technique.

Flip Book

A Flip book is a series of drawings or photographs that are gradually different from one page to the next. When the pages are flipped quickly, the images create and illusion of movement forming an animation.

Computer Animation software programs:

Adobe Flash CS5

iClone 4.0 Pro

SmithMicro’s Poser 8

Xara 3D

Other sources used:

http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/help/PDHelp/TraditionalAnimation.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_motion

http://www.dbswebsite.com/blog/2010/01/29/what-is-the-difference-between-3d-and-2d-animation/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_book