STORY IDEA
DRAW
Many Web animators still begin with pencil and paper, and storyboard the animation, plotting it scene by scene.
Other artists use a stylus to draw onto a digital tablet or on screen.
> Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand, and Flash - all vector-compatible programs - create easily scalable, linear designs.
or
> Highly interactive animations that require more complex programming are created using bitmap-based software like Macromedia Director.
or
> Animators working in 3-D can use 3D Studio Max, Maya, or Hash's less expensive Animation:Master.
DIGITIZE > Artwork is scanned at 100 percent to 72 dpi. Digital images can be fine-tuned in Photoshop or AfterEffects.
ANIMATE > Digital drawings are imported to an animation application - commonly Flash or Director. The software lets artists animate frame by frame, but it can also calculate incremental movements automatically - what's called "tweening." Rather than animating scene by scene, Flash animates object by object - using a library of, say, a face, a closed mouth, or an open mouth. This approach keeps file sizes small and speeds up the animation process.
PREP FOR PLAYBACK
> Flash animations - including the images and soundtrack - are compressed, packaged, and uploaded to the Web.
or
> Animations created in Director are rendered and stored as bitmap frames, which are then compressed and uploaded.
VIEW
When a viewer clicks on an animation, the Web browser launches the appropriate plug-in.
> Flash animations, viewed with the Flash player, are rendered on the fly: The computer downloads the script and the object pieces as needed, scene by scene.
or
> Director creations can be viewed with the Shockwave player, which delivers bitmapped images.
or
> Any type of animation can be saved as a QuickTime file and streamed by a program like RealPlayer.
SOUND
RECORD SOUND 1
> Professional-quality animations involving complex lip-syncing are recorded in a sound studiobefore the images are animated.
RECORD SOUND 2
> Soundtracks of DIY projects tend to be laid post-animation. These are compiled from sound files available online, or recorded with a computer-connected mike.
