Digital Media Primer

Chapter 8

8.1 What is Multimedia Authoring?

The process of creating a multimedia production. It involves assembling or sequencing different media elements, adding interactivity, and then packaging the production for distribution to the end users. The end users are the target audience who will be viewing your final production.

8.2 What are the basic steps of the Multimedia Production Process?

Step 1 Collect and assemble the media elements

Step 2 Assemble the media elements

Step 3 Add interactivity

Step 4 Package the movie for distribution to the end users

8.3 What is Animation?

A sequence of images that create the illusion of movement when played in succession. Many multimedia projects make use of animation, and many multimedia authoring programs, such as Flash and Director, allow you to create animation. These programs are frame-based. This means that you can sequence the animation content visually on a timeline as a sequence of frames.

   There are several different ways to create animations with these programs: frame-by-frame, tweening, and scripting.

8.4 What can you do to adjust the Speed of Animation Playback?

- To speed up the motion: Reduce the number of frames or increase the frame rate (preferred)

- To slow down the motion: Add more frames (preferred) or reduce the number of frames

The Flash workspace or authoring environment has a variety of panels. (a) Tools panel (b) Stage (c) Timeline (d) Property Inspector (e) Library

8.5 Flash CS3 Workspace

8.6 The visual items used on the Stage in a Flash file can be categorized in two types. What are they?

1) A shape is made up of strokes and/or fills.

2) A symbol is an encapsulated object in Flash. It is stored in the Library panel

and can be reused throughout the project.

(Shapes and symbols have different properties, purposes, and requirements)

8.6 What are three types of symbols:?

1) graphic2) button3) movieclip

Graphic symbols are mainly used for static graphics. It can be placed inside another graphic, button, or movieclip symbol.

Instances of button and movieclip can be controlled using Action-Script in response to mouse clicks and rollovers. A button’s timeline only has four special-purpose frames. Unlike a button, each movieclip has a timeline for frame-based animation.

8.6.3 What is Tweening?

An effective way to create movement and changes over time. It requires two keyframes for each tweened sequence. To create a keyframe, use one of the following methods:

   1) Select a frame, select Insert > Timeline >

Keyframe

2) Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) a frame on the Timeline, and select Insert Keyframe

What are two types of tweening in Flash?

Motion tween works with symbols and can be used with motion guide.

Shape tween works with shapes and can create an animation of morphing between two shapes.

8.6.4 What is a Motion Guide?

A motion guide allows you to animate objects along a path that you draw.

The path is placed on a motion guide layer. Motion guide works with

symbols, but not with shapes. The symbol instance whose animation path is controlled by the motion

guide still needs to have at least two keyframes, each of which is snapped

onto the motion guide path.

An animated mask used in conjunction with non-mask animation to create interesting effects. A spaceship and an alien stay static throughout this beaming sequence. The cyan rectangle is the mask. The mask is turned on, so the alien is showing through the area defined by the cyan mask. A layer (regular, non-masking, and non-masked) contains a rectangle filled with semi-transparent cyan color is placed on top of the mask layer. The overlaying beam is filled with a gradient instead of a solid color.