TGJ3M_animation_southpark

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Special thanks to S. Hughes at Merivale HS

TASK 1 - CREATE YOUR CHARACTER
=Table of Contents= TASK 1 - CREATE YOUR CHARACTERTASK 2 - CREATE THE MOUTH POSITION TASK 3 - MAKE YOUR CHARACTER SPEAK SAMPLE CARTOONS RESOURCES Your first task will be an easy intro to 2D characters as you will be tracing some of the simplest characters out there ... South Park! Simply follow the steps listed below. Please READ ALL STEPS BEFORE BEGINNING. See the South Park version of Mr. McIntyre below

Visit either of the sites listed below and try to create a South Park version of yourself. Both sites will give you the same result but some students do prefer one site over the other. It's just a matter of personal preference.
 * [[image:mcintyre.png caption="Mr. McIntyre"]] || **Step 1**

Please don't spend all class trying to get the character perfect. The goal is the use of the tools and not how close you can make the character resemble yourself.

Website @http://www.sp-studio.de/ ||

Once you have created your character, either save it from the website or take a screen shot. See your teacher if you are not sure how to do this. Either place or paste your picture into a new Flash Document. The size of the stage and the frame rate will not matter for this task.
 * [[image:mhsaws4mo:insertLayer.jpg width="201" height="142" caption="insertLayer.jpg"]] || **Step 2**

Your picture needs to be on a layer entitled "//Original//". You will need to make another layer entitled "Trace". This is where your tracing will take place. ||

Now that you have your file setup, it's time to trace your image. Use any of the tools available to you to create a vector version of your South Park character. Save your file as **firstname_lastname_spCharacter.fla**.
 * Step 3**

TASK 2 - CREATE THE MOUTH POSITION
In this task you will setup up all the necessary mouth positions and emotions for your character. These will be used to sync up the sound in the next task.

Emotion Sample Mouth Positions

Take the character that you created in the last task and convert it to a **graphic** symbol.Be sure to give the graphic a meaningful name.
 * Step 1**

Double click on the newly created graphic (you should now be inside the graphic and not on the main timeline) and create all the necessary mouth positions and emotions for your character. Sample mouth positions and emotions are shown below. You may have to do some editing, but remember that you should have different layers for the various parts of the head. It makes things much easier should you have to move them around. See the image below for an example setup.
 * Step 2**
 * [[image:mhstgj3m:neutralMouthPositions.jpg width="220" height="200" caption="neutralMouthPositions.jpg" link="@http://mhstgj3m.wikispaces.com/file/view/neutralMouthPositions.jpg"]] || Neutral Mouth Positions (no eyebrows) ||
 * [[image:mhstgj3m:happyMouthPositions.jpg width="220" height="200" caption="happyMouthPositions.jpg"]] || Happy Mouth Positions (eyebrows to the outside) ||
 * [[image:mhstgj3m:angryMouthPositions.jpg width="220" height="200" caption="angryMouthPositions.jpg" link="@http://mhstgj3m.wikispaces.com/file/view/angryMouthPositions.jpg"]] || Angry Mouth Positions (either put eyebrows on the inside or, in the case of South Park, create the triangular looking eyes). ||


 * [[image:mhstgj3m:headFrames.jpg caption="headFrames.jpg"]] || **A** - It's always a good idea to create notes so you know what items are placed where. This is simply a labeled frame. See your teacher if you are unsure how to do this.


 * B** - Create keyframes for each of the changes that can occur from mouth position to mouth position. In this case the eyebrows have been included to make the character look happy. On the 'eyes' layer, you will see that they have been changed where the character should look upset.

Frame 1: M, B, P (Closed Mouth) Frame 2: AH (Open Mouth) Frame 3: EEE or EH Frame 4: Consonants (ex. R, D, N, S, etc...) Frame 5: OH, W Frame 6: TH, L Frame 7: F, V
 * C** - You will need a keyframe for each mouth position. The positions we will be using are:

Simply repeat them for the other emotions (i.e. Frames 1 - 7 are neutral, frames 11 - 17 are happy and frames 21 - 27 are upset)

Save your file as **firstname_lastname_spMouthPositions.fla**.
 * D** - If no changes occur on a layer (e.g. the glasses) simply add a frame at the end so that they remain for the duration of the graphic ||

= =

TASK 3 - MAKE YOUR CHARACTER SPEAK
In this final task, you will make your character say one line of dialogue using the previous two tasks. Your movie must have a play and replay button. It must not simply loop. A sample movie has been provided below. Make sure you are back on the main timeline (Scene 1 and that your **frame rate is set to 24fps**.
 * Step 1**
 * Step 1**

Download the sample audio file and save it to an appropriate place.(Right-click the link and choose 'save as') [|practiceAudio.wav]


 * [[image:mhstgj3m:setToStream.jpg width="191" height="237" caption="setToStream.jpg" link="@http://mhstgj3m.wikispaces.com/file/view/setToStream.jpg"]] || **Step 2**
 * Import the audio to your flash library.
 * Create a keyframe where you would like the audio to start.
 * Drag the audio file from your library to your canvas
 * Make sure the audio is set to 'Stream' in the properties panel
 * Insert a frame (F5) at the end of the audio so you can see the entire file
 * See Below ||
 * [[image:mhstgj3m:audio_InsertFrame.jpg caption="audio_InsertFrame.jpg"]] ||

Increase the size of the sound layer by
 * [[image:mhstgj3m:layerHeight.jpg width="236" height="188" caption="layerHeight.jpg" link="@http://mhstgj3m.wikispaces.com/file/view/layerHeight.jpg"]] || **Step 3**
 * Right-clicking on the layer
 * Choose 'Properties'
 * Increase the 'Layer Height' to 300%

This will allow you to see the sound waves much easier ||
 * [[image:mhstgj3m:layerHeightApplied.jpg caption="layerHeightApplied.jpg"]] ||

Using the keyframes that you created in step 2 and the audio that you imported in step 3, sync your mouth positions to your audio clip. Remeber in the properties panel to:
 * [[image:mhstgj3m:setToSingleFrame.jpg width="167" height="267" caption="setToSingleFrame.jpg" link="@http://mhstgj3m.wikispaces.com/file/view/settoSingleFrame.jpg"]] || **Step 4**
 * Set your graphic to 'Single Frame'
 * Choose the frame you would like to display in the 'first' text box ||
 * [[image:mhstgj3m:omg_kenny.jpg caption="omg_kenny.jpg"]] ||

SAMPLE CARTOONS
[|PD_AspenBarker_AnimationProject.swf] [|PD_SarahKnowles-HeatherLanglois-SouthPark.swf] [|PD_Web Browser SP BG.swf] [|PD_KhalidAndMoadSouthParkAnimation.swf]

RESOURCES
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/~rpyjp/a_notes/anim_lipsync.html

[|SP_NoMouthPositions.fla] [|SP_MouthPositions.fla] [|SP_Final.fla]