The first thing which needs to be produced is all the assets which will be used in my Flash program.
These will all be separated onto different layers and will include every small detail. The assets include things such as hat, bobble, eyebrows, eyes, eyeballs, mouth, double chin and many more. Each of these static assets are converted into graphic symbols and placed in the Flash library in a specific folder, in this case the Head folder.
Below is a simple timeline of the production of the character.
Once all the assets are produced it is just a case of placing them all in separate layers, naming the layers, categorising the layers and ordering the layers in the correct order. Once this is done the basic images are produced and finalised.
The next stage is to add the animation and sounds. Animations are created by creating a new layer and adding the first image of the animation to that layer. Once the first frame of the animation is created the other frames can be created. A new blank keyframe is created after the first frame and the next animation is placed in this blank keyframe. This process is then repeated over and over until all the animation is added in. This animation is then added to either an existing layer or a new layer.
Here is where the first use of ActionFrame comes in. ActionFrame uses code to process parts of the Flash program. The first piece of ActionFrame i am using is a very simple piece of code, it stops the animation i created playing automatically. The code is,
“speak.stop();”
This means the animation will not start unless instructed to.
Instructing the animation to begin requires a button to be pressed by the user, once again ActionScript is used, this time to initiate the animation.
The ActionScript which i have used is as follows,
“btn_speak.onPress = function() {
speak.play();
}”
This is placed in a separate layer which i titled actions. The script locates the btn_speak image and instructs the program to play the speak animation when the button is pressed.
Once the animation is finished the following ActionScript code is placed at the end of the animation layer,
“gotoAndStop(1);”
This ActionScript tells the program to go back to the first frame in the animation, which is indicated by the (1), and to stop. You could also tell the animation to loop by inputting, “gotoAndPlay(1);”.
Attached to the same button which initiates the animation is also a sound file which starts when the button is pressed. The idea of these two processes starting when the button is pressed is to make it look like Cartman is speaking, the animation will play the characters lips moving and the sound will play meaning it looks like Cartman is talking.
I also made my character look like he was waving, this is done in the same way as above but without the sound file added. I rotated Cartmans hand a number of time into different positions and then placed them in an animation layer to play upon a button press.
My final animation was to have Cartman walking into and out of shot. When the flash file is loaded Cartman is not present on screen. The animation starts and the character appears from the left. I produced this using the motion tween tool. The character can be moved an number of times to any number of different places along a path using this tool. I produced the path in an up and down zig zag way to make it look like the character was walking into shot. At the end of the animation Cartman proceeds to walk out, again done in a similar way, this time just as Cartman leaves the shot he says, “Screw you guys, I’m going home.” This is one of Cartman’s catchphrases and fits well with the animation.
I also added in a “Go to Blog” button. This button send the user directly to my blog. I did this using ActionScript again, below is the code i used.
“on (release) {getURL(“http://www.chrisw87.wordpress.com”);}”
This is a simple but effective way to make it easier to reach my blog.
Below are some more images of parts of the flash program and its progress throughout production.
Here is the profile of Cartman form the front and side.
This is the background i decided on. It is the bus stop where the main characters from South Park are often seen.
These are the buttons used in my animation.
