Part of Lesson Plan: Beginning Storyboarding

Activity Overview / Details

Once their storyboard is approved, students may begin creating their frame-by-frame animation.

CREATE YOUR ANIMATION

1. Open your picnic.fla.  Do Insert--Timeline--Layer. Double click on the layer and name it Action.

2. GO TO FILE--SAVE AS and name the file yourname_story.fla.  This means you keep your original picnic drawing as a separate file, which helps if you need to go back to it for some reason.

3.  Work in the Action layer. With Frame 1 selected, go to Insert--Timeline--Keyframe. This will add Frame 2 in the Action Layer and extend the other layers automatically. 

4.  Still in Action Layer, add your first figure or two.  Establish the situation that you set up in the first frame of your Storyboard.  Just as you did with some of the shapes in creating your Picnic drawing, you may find it easiest to create the figure to the side of the Stage, in the gray area; then select it all and move it to where you want it in the stage.  Don't Group it if you want to be able to change parts of it, such as arms or legs; DO Group it if you want it to unify as a single object that you can easily move around.

5.  Add another Keyframe. Move your figures and make changes in very small increments. Add another keyframe and move them again. Keep doing this as you build your story frame by frame.

6.  Remember that Command-Z will undo your last move-- this can be very useful!

7.  Do a Save periodically. Don't lose all your hard work...

8.  In the very last frame of the Action Layer, you will need to Action Script so that the movie doesn't loop over and over.  Click in the frame, then click on the arrow inside a little circle in the Properties window-- this will open an Actions window.  Type in:

stop();

9. Finally, select the Arrow tool and click in the gray area around your stage to bring up the Properties window for the whole Document.  Click on the FPS number (default is 24 frames per second; this is too fast for your animation) and change it to 2; hit Return.

10.  SAVE. Go to Control--Test Movie to watch your movie! If you see something you want to happen differently, go back to that frame and make the change. Save again, and test again. When you have it just right, the final Control--Test will generate the SWF file that you will turn in as your finished product.  Congratulations!!