Borough of Manhattan Community College
The City University of New York
Multimedia Programming & Design
MMP 260 Introduction to 2D Animation
Instructor: Matthew Belanger
Email: bmcc@matthewbelanger.com
Website: http://www.matthewbelanger.com/bmcc/mmp260/
Lecture Hours/Week: 2
Lab Hours/Week: 2
Credits: 3
A. Description:
Students will learn to design and create motion graphics for multimedia, building projects appropriate both for Internet applications and for film and video. Students will be taught how to use Flash MX, a vector-based animation program, and AfterEffects, an animation and visual effects compositing program to create original work. An emphasis will be placed on planning projects and developing narratives through the use of storyboards.
B. Prerequisites:
Basic Skills: ENG 088, ESL 062, RDG 062, MAT 010/011 AMD MMP 100
C. Objectives:
By the end of the course the student will be expected to:
• Understand how to create and develop a narrative with storyboarding
• Analyze motion and recreate realistic movement studies
• Use shape and motion tweening in Flash MX
• Create complex scenes using nested movie clip symbols in Flash MX
• Create and apply effects to compositions in AfterEffects
• Modify shapes, adjust motion paths, synchronize movement in AfterEffects
•
Create and animate text in both Flash MX and AfterEffects
D. Required Texts and/or Supplemental Material:
A Macromedia Flash MX for Windows and Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guide) by Katherine Ulrich Publisher: Peachpit Press ISBN: 0201794810
After Effects 5 Bible by J.J. Marshall and Zed Saeed Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0764536559
E. Evaluation and Requirements of Students:
Class and homework assignment: 30%
Midterm Project: 25%
Final Project: 35%
Class performance and attendance: 10%
F. Attendance Policy:
The College's attendance policy states: "At BMCC, the maximum number of absences is limited to one more hour than the number of hours a class meets in one week. In the case of excessive absence the instructor has the option to lower the grade or assign an 'F' or 'WU' grade."
G. Outline of Topics:
Project Development:
• Developing A Narrative
• Analyzing Motion
• Planning Scenes
• Scripting & Storyboarding
Animating using Flash MX:
• Environment of Flash MX
• Drawing Tools
• Creating Symbols & Instances
• Nested Movie Clips
• Shape & Motion Tweening
• Animating With Text
Animating with AfterEffects:
• AfterEffects environment
• Creating & Modifying Compostions
• Importing Media
• Creating & Synchronizing Motion
• Compositing Images & Video
• Applying Effects, Scaling & Rotating
• Using Text To Create Motion Graphic Logos
Project management:
• Determining Appropriate Software & Distribution Platform
• Managing Media Assets
H: Course Outline:
Class 8:
1. Turn in Banner Ad (email or burn to cd)
2. Guest Speaker, Marianne Petit
• Influences, Odd Todd, Zefrank, Joe Cartoon, Mark Fiore,
• Creating a Narrative
• Building & Managing Assets
• Working with Multiple Applications
3. Making Buttons
• Simple Buttons
• Invisible Buttons
• Buttons with Multiple Hot Spots
• Animated Buttons
• Fixed State Buttons
• Interactivity with Buttons
4. Working with Bitmaps
• Review Importing Bitmaps
• Editing Bitmaps
• Converting Bitmaps to Vectors
• Using Bitmaps as fills
Class 7:
1. Animating in Flash
• Review Using Event Sounds
2. Flash Video
• Review Importing Video
• Show Flash Video Projects
3. Animating in Flash
• 3D Animation in Flash (Lightwave & Swift3D)
4. Flash Intros
• Show some Flash Intros (Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, Chiclets)
• Characters
• Backgrounds
5. Creating a Banner Ad
• Continue working on Yahoo SKY Ad or Yahoo North/Super Ad
Class 6:
1. Animating in Flash
• Review Shape Hinting
• Review Shape Tweens when shapes have Holes
• Review Animating Text
• Review Frame Labels
• Review Using Event Sounds
• Importing Video
2. Creating a Banner Ad
• Look at Banner Ads
• Create a Yahoo SKY Ad
or Yahoo North/Super Ad
Class 5:
1. Animating in Flash
• Review Shape Tweens
• Introduce Shape Hinting
• How to use Shape Tweens when shapes have Holes
• Animating Text
• Review Masks
• Introduce Frame Labels
• Character Animation
• Review Using Event Sounds
2. Putting Your Animations Online
• Creating a Preloader
• Publishing, HTML, JavaScript
• FTP
Class 4:
1. Animating in Flash
• Review Motion Tweens
• Review Onion Skinning
• Review Using Guide Layers as a Motion Path
• Review Shape Tweens
• Introduce Masks
• Introduce Using Event Sounds, Using ActionScript Sounds
2. Continue Animating Project
Class 3:
1. Review the Flash Interface
2. Animating in Flash
• Review Frame-by-frame (Keyframe) Animation
• Review Motion Tweens
• Review Onion Skinning
• Introduce Using Guide Layers as a Motion Path
• Introduce Shape Tweens
3. Start Animating Storyboard
Class 2:
1. Introduce the Flash Interface
• Creating & Saving A New Document & Basic Document Settings
• Show The Stage
• Show Grids, Rulers, & Guides
• Show Tools Panel
• Show the Properties Panel
• Show Design Panels, Align, Color, Transform
• Show the Timeline
• Introduce Symbols, Buttons vs. MovieClips
• Show The Library
• Symbol Names vs. Instance Names
• Show The Actions Panel
2. Animating in Flash
• Introduce Frame-by-frame (Keyframe) Animation
• Introduce Tweened Animation, Motion Tweens
• Introduce Onion Skinning
3. Assignment (Due Class 3)
• Draw Storyboards for an animation that includes 3 basic shapes, a circle, a square, and a triangle
• Try to give these basic shapes personality
Class 1:
1. Introductions
2. Show Some Flash Projects I've worked On
3. History of Animation with Examples
I: Links:
Useful Flash Links:
Macromedia - Macromedia Flash Support Center
http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/
kirupa.com - Shocked Flash Resource
http://www.kirupa.com/
Flash Kit, A Flash Developer Resource
http://flashkit.com/
Animation Links:
Introduction to Animation
http://www.a-website.org/persist/
Animation History, Winsor McCay, Max Fleischer
http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Features/animationhistory.html