Tutorial Seven

Movement Toward A Viewer

(adapted from Flash 5 by Bill Sanders and used with his permission)

Objectives:

Basics:

objects in the distance should be smaller and higher on the screen and to simulate movement toward the viewer they are made larger and placed lower on the screen
the Info and Transform Panels are used to change the size of the object
a keyframe is required at the end of a movie
once a tweening motion has be performed, keyframes can be added on the timeline and once a keyframe has been created an object can be selected and moved to a particular location and the original tweening is automatically modified to include the new position
in addition, the tweened motion can be modified to include rotation (CW or CCW) by double clicking on the first frame of the new section created by the addition of another keyframe and selecting the required result from the Properties Panel
when gradients are used the darker color should be at the horizon or at the upper portion of the sky
to use the Paint Bucket item to fill a figure, the drawn figure must be complete with all lines joined
The Brush. Pencil and Lasso tools have an Options menu,
when using the Lasso Tool a complete figure must be used

Exercise:

a) Layers

b) Background

two gradients will be used to create the background
to create the ground portion of the background
- select either the Rectangle Tool from the Toolbox
- click on the Stroke Color Well and set the Stoke Color to none by selecting the icon made up of a circle with the diagonal red line.
- select the Color Swatches Panel from the Windows Menu and click on the two tone gray gradient (lower left hand of Swatches Panel)
- Click on the House shaped icon in the middle left hand side (Gradient Selectors) of the Color Mixer panel and select a green color. Move the color slider on the right hand palette (Fine Color Adjustment) to select the desired color.

Click on the House shaped icon in the middle right hand side (Gradient Selectors) of the Color Mixer panel. Click on a similar green color from the Color Palette in the Color Mixer. Use the slider on the right hand palette (Fine Color Adjustment) to adjust to a darker green..
The gradient created can be viewed in the Gradient View Panel.
Use the Rectangle Tool and draw a rectangle that covers the bottom quarter portion of the stage.
At this point the gradient created is horizontal and the gradient must be rotated so that the lighter portion is at the bottom and the darker portion is a at the horizon.
click on the Free Transform Tool (see diagram below) in the Toolbox and block handles will appear in the center and along the top and bottom of the stage. When the mouse is moved closer to a corner a circle handle will appear and you can drag the rectangle in the appropriate direction.
once the gradient is in the correct position use the block handles to resize the rectangle so that it covers the bottom quarter of the stage. The center handles the used to increase the width of the rectangle and the top and bottom corner handles are sued to reduce the height.

repeat the above procedure to create the sky coloring the top three quarters of the stage. Make sure the ground and sky meet so there is no space between the two.
lock the background layer

c) The Plane

use a darker color of brown for the body of the plane and and a lighter color for the spinner, windows and accents
set the Stoke Color Well to black
draw the body of the plane first and and use the appropriate fill
draw the windows and use the appropriate fill

to draw the straight components of the use the Line Tool
for the curved portions use the Brush Tool and use the Options Panel to select the smallest size of brush (first drop down menu) and select the circle shape found in the second drop down menu.
instead of the Brush Tool and Pencil Tool may be used with its Option setting at smooth.

to draw the components for the spinner (housing and hub of the propeller)
- for the housing
  - select the circle tool with no color in the Stroke Color Well and the same light color fill used for the windows in the Fill Color Well
  - draw an ellipse away and separate from the nose of the plane. Select the Black arrow form the Toolbox and move the ellipse into the correct position. This is done because when an ellipse is drawn over the nose of the plane and then moved the part of the nose of the plane will be erased.
- the hub
  - select the circle tool with no color in the Stroke Color Well and the same color fill used for the body of the plane in the Fill Color Well
  - draw an ellipse away and separate from the nose of the plane. Select the Black arrow form the Toolbox and move the ellipse into the correct position.
draw an accent line along the body of the plane
use the Black arrow in the Toolbox and select all the components of the plane and Convert to Symbol and label the symbol Plane.

d) The Sun

select the circle tool with no color in the Stroke Color Well and a very light color in the Fill Color Well
draw a large circle with W = 200 and H = 200 in the first third of the stage so that the bottom of the circle (sun) overlaps where the sky meets the ground.
the bottom portion of the sun that covers the ground must be removed
select the Lasso Tool from the Toolbox and click on the Polygon Mode from the Option menu at the bottom of the Toolbox.
drag a straight line across the bottom of the circle at the horizon line and then click around the outside of the sun back to the starting point

press the delete key.
if the desired effect is not achieved press Command Z and redo.
click on the Black arrow from the Toolbox and select the whole drawing and Convert to Symbol labeled Sun
lock this layer

e) The Motion

select frame1 in the plane layer and place the instance of the plane in the upper right hand corner of the stage and reduce it to approximately W = 30 and H = 10 using the Info panel
select frame 60 and insert a keyframe
drag an instance of the plane from the Library found in the Windows Menu and place it in the lower left hand corner of the stage so that the nose of the plane is just outside the stage.
change the size of the plane to W = 450 and H = 150 ( a multiplier of 15 or 1500%)
double click on the first frame and select motion from the Properties panel
save your movie and then Test Movie

f) A Variation

select frame 30 and insert a keyframe
click on the Black arrow and drag the instance of the plane in a more horizontal flight path and position the instance in the first third of the stage.
select frame 45 and insert a keyframe
click on the Black arrow and drag the instance of the plane towards the right hand side of the stage and position it approximately at the midway point
click on frame 30 and in the Properties panel select the CW from the Rotate pop-up menu.
save your movie with a different name and then Test Movie.
an Onion Skin of the movie is shown below.