Ms. R's Computer Class

Final Flash Assignment

wagongrrl — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:14:08 +0000

All students should be working hard on their final assignment for this marking period. By now you should have completed your 6 symbols (in the library) and have them named correctly. You will also be making one layer for each symbol that you are animating. Name your layers and it will make things easier for you.

When you complete the basic requirements you will be ready to add some other features to your animation.

a start button
an additional scene (perhaps with credits like a movie would have)
a motion guide layer
add sound bytes

The rubric and requirements for this assignment can be downloaded here. final-flash-animation-project

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Symbols and the Library

wagongrrl — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:25:25 +0000

A symbol is a reusable object used/created in Flash. A Symbol can be reused throughout your movie or imported and used in other movies. There are three types of symbols: Graphics, Buttons, and Movieclips.

Using flash symbols is very crucial to the file size of your Flash movie.

Get used to using symbols in flash right from the beginning and name them correctly for easy organization.

Symbols reside in the Flash library. You can drag multiple copies of a symbol from the library to the stage. Each copy of the symbol on the stage is an instance of the symbol.

Instances of symbols can have different colors, sizes, and behaviors.

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Text and Tween Animations

wagongrrl — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:57:08 +0000

You have all been busy creating wonderful text animations and attempting to put together everything you have learned about Flash and Tweening. I have created a web page where I will showcase the animations that you publish and copy to your class hand-in folder. For instructions on how to publish look at the chalk board in the classroom.

Student Text Animations

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Shape Tweening

wagongrrl — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:39:08 +0000

Shape tweening changes one shape into another. With shape tweening you are using 2 separate shapes or drawings, with motion tweening you are using just one symbol and moving it across the stage.
Shape tweening will not work between symbols!!

Shape tweens are a different color in the timeline, the in-between frames are green.

There are tutorials available in the computer lab if you need some review on how to create shape tweens. Here are some online examples and tutorials that you can look at and learn from.

Morphing Effect in Flash
Shape Tween
YouTube Video on Shape Tween
EduWiki: Shape Tween

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Flash Assignments and Portfolio Project

wagongrrl — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:31:14 +0000

This marking period you will be responsible for creating a portfolio of Flash files that illustrate the concepts we are studying in class. All the files should be located in your Documents folder inside a folder named Flash. The worksheet has the correct names for each of the files. Flash Portfolio Check-Off

Tweening
Tweening is the technique that creates the in-between frames in an animation based on the first (starting frame) and the last (ending frame).

Tweening also requires keyframes. You need two keyframes for any tweened segement: one at the beginning and the other at the end of the segment. Frames that are between keyframe are called in-between frames.

All of your Flash assignments will be based upon this concept. You will be animating, or moving, objects around the stage, using a number of techniques that I will introduce to you at the beginning of each class.

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Flash Websites and Examples

wagongrrl — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:29:32 +0000

Here are some links to some websites that show examples of the different things that we are learning in class. If you want to look at some of the interesting things you can create in Flash, or if you want to move ahead of the class and add more to the basic tweens we are doing, you should take a look at these pages.

Creating Simple Flash Animations
Flash 8 Advanced Tutorials
Bringing your Animation to Life

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Creating Flash Animations

wagongrrl — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:57:11 +0000

Welcome to the 4th marking period! We are going to learn how to use the program Macromedia Flash and continue to create animations.

The first class will be an introduction to the Flash program and what it looks like. You will have an opportunity to try out the different tools, draw shapes, and learn more about the names of the different parts of the Flash window.

You will be expected to complete a worksheet during class time where you will identify and label the parts of the window.

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End of 3rd Marking Period

wagongrrl — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:13:48 +0000

Time flies when you work hard! This is the last week of this marking period. All the work must be completed by Friday April 4th. I am grading you from the worksheet that you are completing while working on your Scratch file. If your Scratch file is not 100% ready and tested DO NOT HAND IT IN! We will have time to make any final touches so that work that is handed in is ready to post on the Scratch MIT website.

Wiki Post: please use the worksheet to write your Wiki post, when I approve it, you can post it on the Wiki page. Check with me if you don’t have a login yet, or you don’t know how to log in and join The Computer School space.

Quia Quizzes: all 3 quizzes are posted, you will have until April 9th to complete Quiz #3 because I was late to get it finished.

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Using Our WikiSpace

wagongrrl — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:30:44 +0000

Now that we have covered some basic programming concepts, and students have completed Scratch animations or games that illustrate these concepts, I am going to ask that you login and post some tips, tricks, code, ideas, frustrations, successes, or how-to’s on our class wiki page.

Remember to sign any of your posts with your first name and last initial and include your class section (example 6/7A).

Read the first page of the wiki for detailed instructions on posting guidelines.

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Programming Concepts-Variables

wagongrrl — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:41:31 +0000

Variables are used in Scratch to store numeric information. You have learned about variables in Math, how they store or represent numbers that are unknown. A simple way to explain this is that variables store numbers that change over time. Think about a score in a game, or is your character has lives or strengths; these are numbers that change depending upon what else is happening in the program. Just like when you solve or balance an equation, if you change x, then y must change.

The example I showed in class was a simple race track with cars moving around and a variable that counted the number of times the car crossed the finish line (the number of laps).

Here are some race examples that students have created to demonstrate the concept.

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