Class Five: Hands On Animation

The big B

  • Bandwidth and binary
  • Ascii vs. binary.
  • Problems with ascii
  • Problems with binary
  • Meta data
  • The best binaries are the most supported
  • .jpg, .gif, .png, .mp3, .aiff, .rm, .mov, .wm, .wma, .wmv, .asf, .pdf, .swf, .etc,

    The big V

  • Pixel vs. Vector
  • Compressing pixels
  • About JPG compression
  • more on compression
  • Calculating vectors
  • Thinking like a computer
  • Vector support in browsers
  • Proprietary formats, PDF, VML, VRML, Flash
  • Open source format SVG (scalable vector graphics)
  • Here comes svg

    Flash History

  • Macromedia's Shockwave
  • FutureWave's Future Splash
  • Flash 2.0 small file size, timeline, pseudo streaming
  • Flash 3.0 more tools, simple script support
  • Flash 4.0 better interface, mp3
  • Flash 5.0 super scripting, Director anyone?
  • Flash 6.0 video support, more scripting, hand held tools
  • Other tools, Adobe LiveMotion, Swift 3D, Swish, Toon Boom, etc.
  • Long live King Flash, or maybe not

    Flash Animation

  • Flash
  • Examples here and here
  • Set your stage
  • Shape building tools
  • Use your library
  • Timeline and frame animation
  • Tweening
  • Export movie and images
  • Embed movie into page

    Pixel Frenzy

  • Animated Gifs
  • Examples - ex 1   ex 2   ex 3  ex 4
  • Advantages and drawbacks
  • Optimizing animation
  • Creating animated gifs with Imageready

    Banner-o-Rama

  • Creating layered animation
  • Turning on and off layers
  • Converting layers to frames
  • Interframe Delay
  • Output

    Sound

  • embed or link?
  • File formats - wav, mp3, au, quicktime, midi
  • <EMBED SRC> WAV,AU,MIDI = Netscape
  • <BGSOUND> = I.E.
  • Problems with sound

    Video
    The biggest "B"

  • Issues with large files
  • Server space
  • Client bandwidth, Exploding browsers!
  • Throughput bottlenecks
  • Edge Servers - Akamai
  • Downloads vs Streaming
  • Compression and formats
  • Real
  • Windows
  • Quicktime
  • Flash 6 - the video flash!
  • Compression techniques
  • Tools - native real, native windows, native qt, Cleaner 5
  • Video example - wedding video
  • Video example - well made web video

    Web Animation Links

    Flashkit - Excellent developer site. Find great links, tutorials, downloads, etc. Almost overwhelming http://flashkit.com

    Swish - Create Flash without buying Flash. PC version only. Create cheezy effects with the click of a button. http://www.swishzone.com

    SVG Standards - W3C Consortium is the non-profit collective that determines standards for the web. Or at least, they try to. SVG is the new standard for scalable vector graphics. http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG

    Todd Gallina - L.A. based web animator. Check his site for an excellent how-to section. http://www.toddgallina.com

    Wildbrain - S.F. web animation company. Strong on style, skimpy on story. http://www.wildbrain.com

    MediaTrip - L.A. based web entertainment company. Similar to Atomfilms.com. Notice how much content is animated. Annoying use of ads. http://MediaTrip.com

    Hotwired Animation Express - Showcase site for S.F. based Wired Magazine. Intelligent use of advertising. http://www.animationexpress.com

    Animation World Network - Well respected industry magazine website. Look for the comprehensive list of web animation companies. Great resource. This one is in L.A. too. Waaaa! http://www2.awn.com/webguide