Flash Animation
Flash animations pop up all over the internet. Sometimes they're adverts, sometimes just interesting banners and sometimes other stuff. They're quite a good thing to know a little bit about.
There are some pretty big problems with Flash animations as well. They can be clunky and take resources. Most importantly, iPhones and iPads just won't run them.
Disco Advert
You can use Flash to create an advert for a cool school disco (aren't all school discos cool? By definition?).
This job needs lots of flashing lights, glitter balls and maybe some kewl looking text. It's the perfect job to learn lots of Flash skills with.
Flash basics - a simple guide
Treat this as a learning process. You won't get it right first time! The help guides get more complex as you work through them.
Flash Banner Task
Flash banners are a really common thing to see on the web. They're dead easy to make as well.
You must produce an animated banner for a web site. The banner can be about any subject you choose.
Your animated banner must:
- be suitable for your topic
- be approximately full screen width x 150 pixels deep (full screen is about 1024 pixels – I would go for a little less than this)
- include text and images
- include animation
- run continuously
Here's an example of the sort of thing you could make quite easily (yours should really be a bit better (and cooler) than this).
Use the help sheets below to get the basic idea of how to do this, and then use all your Flash skills to do the best job you can.
Flash Banner Tasksheet - a more detailed version of the task above really
Setting up a banner - how to start
Animated text - moving text on a banner
Flash banner storyboard - right click and Save As
This will take a bit of planning and some skill. Don't worry if it doesn't look great first time - I made loads of mistakes when I made my banner too!
It's quite interesting to learn how to make a mask layer as well: