Introduction to Animation: Spring 09 week 8:—3/12/09: Thur, 8:00am & 6:00pm

Hi Everybody, We are nearing the end of it all...six more weeks and it's all over, and that time will pass before you know it, so try not to fall behind. Despite a lot of difficult with the stars (which I thought very strange), You all seem to be getting the rest what we did in class EXTREMELY well. I couldn't be more pleased about most of your performances IN CLASS this week. However, I am a little concerned that you go home and forget how to do everything you learn in class. To prevent that from happening, you must practice often. The end of the term is much sooner than you realize. How nice it would be for me to see a class full of nice animations at the end of the term. Right now, if it were a competition, I would have to say that of my 3 animation classes, the one on TUESDAY AFTERNOON had the hardest time with the stars; the one on THURSDAY EVENING got the stars the best; but the class on THURSDAY AFTERNOON seemed to get the new animation the best. Overall, in all of my classes, it's the WOMEN who are doing the best. So, come on guys, you need to catch up! As our lessons get more and more complicated (and they will), as we learn more and more and start to put together our animations, it's often a good idea to review things that we have already done in class and that I've already covered in the blog. I hope you all understand that you can scroll down and look to the right, where you will see links to each week's posting in case you forget how to do something, or in case you need to review something we've covered previously in class. This week's posting below, covers the panning motions from our storyboard and script—the panning movement down from the sky to the ground, and the panning movement to the right along the landscape and fence. It also covers the push-in motion. Combine these with the fade in and the titles of last week, and you have yourself a real beginning to your animations. Carter-

TOPICS:
1. LINK —Layer Stacking Order
2. LINK —Symbol Positioning Placement
3. LINK —Panning Motion I: pan down from sky to ground
4. LINK —Panning Motion II: pan right from dog to cat
5. LINK —Pushing-in: pushing into the cat
6. LINK —VIEW: see animation up to this point
HOMEWORK:Following this week's demonstration, you should continue work on your animation and complete the pan down, pan right, and push-in of your animation. Of course, you should always try to do MUCH MORE than what I indicate here, as what I assign here is the MINIMUM amount of work for the week.
STORYBOARD: below you will find links to each of the pages of the storyboard containing 3-frames each.
- LINK Frames 1-3
- LINK Frames 4-6
- LINK Frames 7-9
- LINK Frames 10-12
- LINK Frames 13-15
- LINK Frames 16-18
- LINK Frames 19-21
- LINK Frames 22-24
- LINK Frames 25-27
- LINK Frames 28-30
- LINK Frames 31-33—not yet complete.

INTRODUCE:

Layers—Stacking Order;


1.	For our beginning in this entry, we'll start where we left off with our posting two weeks ago when we faded into the movie and the title—see above, or click on the following link (fade-in/fade-out). Let's first observe, however, what the layer stacking order is: fade title tree_near dog cat fence fence_shadow cow ground moon stars

2.	Symbols—As you can see from the example above, that we have already completed the very beginning of our animation in which the sky fades in, followed by the title. If we compare this little animation so far to our storyboard, we will soon see that we have completed the first three frames at this point (frames 1-3); however, our goal now is to complete a few more frames from the storyboard, namely the ones that include the panning motions. There are two of these camera movements, pan down from the sky to the ground, and pan right from the dog to the cat. Since our 'camera' is stationary, since we cannot move our imaginary camera, we have to figure something else out. If we think of our camera as the stage (everything must pass across the stage in order to be in the shot), then we realize that instead of moving the camera, aka the stage, across everything, then we must move everything else across the stage, aka the camera. To pan down, to move from above the ground, down to the ground, we must put everything, the entire landscape, below the stage. Therefore, since we have to make everything move, everything must then be a SYMBOL


	The stage is the smaller grey rectangle in the upper left. Notice how everything in the scene is placed below the it. Also, notice how the elements that set the scene, the tree, the ground, fence, etc., together all are more than 2 times as wide as the stage. This is so as to allow for the pan right movement as well.

3.	Pan Down—Starting at the point where the title fades out, frame 80 according to our last class demonstration, but it could be any frame depending on your animation, we will begin the panning motion. The title fades out by frame 80, so we will begin the pan down after this, say at frame 85. Therefore, we will need to put a keyframe in all the layers that contain elements fromt the scene: tree_near, dog, cow, cat, fence, shadows, tree_far, ground, moon, and stars. The movement begins in frame 85, so the easiest way to place a keyframe there in each layer is to first select frame 85 in the tree_near layer. We do not need to concern ourselves with the fade or title layers because they will not be panning down.

4.	Then, hold down on the shift key and click in frame 85 in the bottom layer (this should be the stars layer.


	This should select frame 85 in all the layers.


5.	Once selected, then add a keyframe (F6)



6.	Now, similarly, we need to add another keyframe to mark the end of the pan down motion. We'll give the movement about 70 frames, which would put us in frame 150. So, click in frame 150 in the tree_near layer, hold down on the shift key, and click in frame 150 of the bottom layer, the stars layer. This should select frame 150 in all the layers. Then add another keyframe (F6). **Careful NOT* to deselect anything at this point.***



7.	When you zoom out (do not deselect), you should see that everything below is selected. This is what we want. It will help us move everything together. To do this, hold down on the shift (to move things faster) while you click on the up arrow key. Do so until the ground and all is on top of the stage.


8.	Then add a motion tween. This will cause everything that was below the stage to move gradually upwards until it is on the stage.


9.	Pan Up—Now that we have completed the pan down camera movement, we have to work on the pan right. One clue as to how to do this is to notice that the ground and fence and entire scene that we drew is more than 2 times the width of the stage. This means that we will push everything to the left in our motion tween this time to simulate the pan right motion of the camera. This time, we will give this movement about 75 frames; so, in the tree_near layer, click in frame 225, hold down the shift key, and click in frame 225 of the ground layer, and add a keyframe (F6). This time, do NOT include the moon and the stars.



10.	Once again make sure you do NOT deselect anything. Just hold down on the shift key and use the left arrow key to move everything selected to the left until the right edge of the ground is just offstage.

11.	Add the motion tweens to each layer as before.


12.	Finally, click in frame 225 of the moon and the stars layers and extend the duration (F5).

INTRODUCE:

Pushing-in to a shot:

1.	Now that we have reached the cat, according to our storyboard we must push-in, or, in other words , get closer to the cat. To push-in simply means to push the camera closer to the object of interest. In this case, it is the cat. We have already passed all of the characters and we have already seen the landscape, or setting, of our story. When we reach the cat, we will truly begin telling the story. The sequence of movements we are completing now, the pan and push-in, is known as the establishing sequence. It is called this because it establishes, or sets up the beginning of the animation, and tells us all of the most important information about the setting and the main characters. In the nursery rhyme, Hey, Diddle, Diddle!, our script, and our storyboard, the beginning starts with the cat. Therefore, when we reach the cat, we will begin telling our story. Now that we have reached the cat, we can begin telling our story, so we push-in, or, we get a little closer so as to get a better look, to pay closer attention to what we will see. This is what the "camera" does for us when it gets closer.


2.	We will start where we left off at frame 225. But let us first analyze the scene: if we look at the stage, we see that all that is left there are the cat, the fence, the house, the ground, the moon, the stars, and the shadow from the fence. The cow, the dog, the tree, etc, all have already passed across the stage and left the area. They are no longer part of the current shot. That is limited to the cat and the house behind, for the most part. As a result, when we push-in to the cat, we do not need to deal with those things that are off-stage, only what is on-stage. We will first lock and hide those layers we do not currently need: tree_near, dog, cow, shadow, and tree_far. Furthermore, since we will not be making the moon and stars larger, we will also lock those layers.


3.	Next, we want to scroll over to determine where we want the next keyframe to be. We'll give ourselves about 50 more frames to complete the next camera action, the push-in. So, we need keyframes in frame 275. Click in frame 275 in the top layer we are working with, the cat layer, and add a keyframe (F6). Repeat this for the fence, shadow, house, and ground layers.



4.	Next, we need to select those new keyframes. To do this, click in frame 275 of the cat layer, hold down on the shift key, and then click in frame 275 of the ground layer. This should select the keyframes in all those layers, and highlights them. If it does not do this, then try again. you should also notice that it selects everything on the stage. This is what we want.


5.	Now, turn on the outlines for all the layers except the cat layer. This will allow us to see everything, but also see through them. It will help us when we make everything larger.



6.	Then select the free transform tool (Q), hold down on the shift key, and grab one of the corners and make the selection much larger.


7.	If you are not sure about the size, whether it is big enough or whether it is too big, then move move everything at once not just the cat so that it is on top of the stage. Make certain that the cat is almost the same height as the stage. If it is still not big enough, then repeat the above action: hold on the shift key and grab the corner to make it even larger.

8.	When it is the correct size, make sure the cat is on the stage and that you can see its entire body within the confines of the stage.


9.	Now, add a motion tween to all of those layers between the keyframes.


10.	Extend the duration (F5) of the stars and moon layers to frame 275.


11.	So that the viewer can see the cat at this point, enlarged like this to what we call a medium shot for a moment, we must increase the number of frames. If we look at the timeline right now, we see that the motion tweens end at frame 275, and that's it. Everything is this large for only that one frame. In order for it to last longer we should extend the duration for a few frames, say 20 or 25 more frames, out to frame 300. To do this, click in frame 300 of the cat layer and select F5. Repeat this for the fence, shadow, house, ground, moon, and stars layers.