Unit 4

Getting Started with

Adobe® Flash® Basics
Lesson 1: Animation Overview
Lesson 2: Introduction to Adobe® Flash®
Lesson 3: The Adobe® Flash® Environment
Lesson 4: Drawing in Adobe® Flash®
Lesson 5: Color in Adobe® Flash®
Lesson 6: Using the Text Tool
Lesson 7: Using External Media and Library
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 EXPERIENCING ICT
Unit 4: Getting Started with Adobe® Flash® Basics
Digital Arts 1

Lesson 1
Animation Overview

Using Adobe® Flash®, one can animate objects to make them appear to move across the stage and/or
change their shape, size, color, capacity, rotation, and other properties. One can create frame-by-frame
animation by creating a separate image for each frame. One can also create tweened animation
by creating the first and last frames of an animation and direct Adobe® Flash® to create the frames
in between.

Creating animation in a Adobe® Flash® document is done by changing the contents of successive
frames. One can make an object move across the stage, increase or decrease its size, rotate,
change its color, fade in or out, or change its shape. Changes can occur independently or in content
with other changes. For example, one can make an object rotate and fade out as it moves across
the stage.

The 12 Basic Principles of Animation

Animators look up and refer to the “Bible” of the animation industry, a book created in 1981 by Disney
animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, entitled Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. The
main purpose of creating the principles was to produce an illusion of characters in relation to the
laws of physics, but it also dealt with more abstract issues such as emotional timing and character
appeal.Before doing an animation, it is best to consider some important factors which will guide the
animators in the creation of each.

1. Squash and Stretch

An illusion of weight and volume in a character as it
moves. This principle is best used in animating dialogue
and facial expressions. This is considered as the most
important element to master and is most often used in
animation.

2. Anticipation
This principle prepares the audience for a major action
that the character in the movie is about to do, such
as starting to run, jump, or change an expression. A
character in the movie does not execute the action
immediately but needs to perform a short movement
first before his next action.
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/
anim_intro.html

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3. Staging
To show the continuity of a story, a pose or action
should be a part of the play as it shows the character’s
attitude, mood, reaction, or idea. The effective use of
close-up shots and different camera angles helps in
telling the story. It is important to have minimal but
detailed actions in a scene to clearly show off the
character’s actions as related to each of the scenes
in the movie.
a monkey getting rocks
dropped on him
4. Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose Animation
This principle is useful when one wants to show spontaneity and freshness, though it results to
losing size, volume, and proportions of the object. Straight ahead animation starts at the first
drawing and works from drawing to drawing until the end of a scene. Fast scenes are better
done using this method. On the other hand, Pose to Pose is more planned out and charted
with key drawings done at intervals throughout the scene. Size, volume, and proportions are
controlled better this way, as is the action.

Straight Ahead Pose to Pose

5. Follow-through and Overlapping Action

Nothing stops all at once. This is follow-through. When a character’s body stops moving,
little by little, the other parts are still slowly moving to have continuity in action. Overlapping
action is when the character changes direction while his clothes or hair continues forward. The
character is going in a new direction to be followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes
in the new direction. Timing is very critical in achieving the effectiveness of such principle.

When one part of the body of the character starts, the rest of his body follows.

6. Slow-out and Slow-in

Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action. To show the movement or action properly, adding
more or having lesser drawings near the starting and ending pose affect this movement.
Fewer drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the action slower, making
it more life-like.

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 EXPERIENCING ICT
Unit 4: Getting Started with Adobe® Flash® Basics
Digital Arts 1

The single “fleeting” As seen in-betweens (F3,

image in the center is very F4 & F5) are closer together
stretched. This creates the and there is no fleeting (rapid
illusion of a quick motion. movement) image in the
middle and very little stretch.
As a result, the animation will
appear much less lively and
much less entertaining.

7. Arcs
The use of arcs or curves is applied in almost all actions
in animation. This is common to the human figure and to
animal movements, but not for mechanical devices. Arcs
give animation a more natural and better flow of action.
With Arcs Without Arcs

Without Arcs With Arcs

8. Secondary Action
This action adds to or enriches the main action, and adds more dimension to the character’s
animation, thus, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. The secondary action
can be a few gestures or movements to support the main action of the character.

Several actions are

provided to support
the main action.

9. Timing
This principle can be best achieved with practice, experimentation, and the use of a trial and
error method or technique to refine the animation. A variety of slow and fast timing within a
scene adds texture and interest to the movement. Timing is also used to establish mood,
emotion, and reaction to another character or to a situation.

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Lesson 1 Animation Overview
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10. Exaggeration
Exaggeration is not an extreme distortion of a drawing or an extremely broad, violent action
all the time. It can be defined as the principle of appeal, which shows a caricature of facial
features, expressions, poses, attitudes, and actions. The use of good taste and common sense
in exaggerating movements keep the movie from becoming too theatrical and excessively
animated.

3 2 1

11. Solid Drawing

The basic principles of drawing such as Form, Weight, Volume, Solidity, and the Illusion of
three dimensions apply to animation as it does to academic drawing. The transformation in
color and movement give the characters the illusion of three and four-dimensional life. Three-
dimensional is movement in space. The fourth dimension is movement in time.

2-Dimensional 3-Dimensional

12. Appeal
All objects in the movie should have an appeal. It should be easy to read and understand the
design, should have clear drawings, and should capture and involve the audience’s interest.
The characters and the animation itself need to appeal to the mind, and to the eye as well.

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