Motion Graphics and Animation: Flash (GRCP 213)

Course Schedule - Spring 2010

*FCS4-24 = Sams Teach Yourself Adobe® Flash® CS4 Professional in 24 Hours.

All sections, exercises and self-tests are to be completed as part of the reading exercises

Additional homework assignments are in bold.

This schedule is subject to change.

Flash Basics - Overview and Interface

Week 1 - April 6 and 8

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Introductions
  • Class overview and expectations
  • System and lab orientation
  • Flash Overview
  • Interface Fundamentals
  • Flash Overview
  • Understanding Flash Framework
  • Interface Fundamentals

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 1: Basics"

[Back to top]

Flash Basics - Drawing with Flash

Week 2 - April 15 (no class on Tuesday, April 13)

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Drawing tools explained
  • Grouping objects
  • Mixing and working with color
  • Gradients - creating and editing
  • Working with the Pen tool
  • Experimenting with the drawing tools
  • Basic Drawing with Flash
  • Still life drawing exercise

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 2: Drawing and Painting Original Art in Flash"

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 5: Controlling Color"

[Back to top]

Flash Animation - Animating with Flash/Working with Shape Tweens

Week 3 - April 20 and 22

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Midterm Project Assigned
  • Begin storyboarding for Midterm project

Storyboards due April 22, beginning of class
  • Still life due beginning of class (Apr. 20)
  • The Timeline explained
  • Project and Movie files
  • Keyframe Types and frame rates
  • Frame-by-Frame Animation Exercise
  • Begin work on Midterm project
  • Setting up a Flash document

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 7: Understanding Animation"

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 9: Using Shape Tweens to Morph"
  • What is Shape Tweening?
  • Layer Properties defined
  • Shape Tweening Exercise

Continue work on Midterm project

[Back to top]

Flash Animation - Symbols and Instances

Week 4 - April 27 and 29

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Symbol and Instance structure
  • Symbol naming conventions
  • Timeline terms and color styles
  • Timeline animation with symbols
  • Continue work on Midterm project

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 4: Staying Organized with the Library and Layers"

Continue work on Midterm project

[Back to top]

Flash Animation - Motion Tweening and Timeline Effects/Working with Bitmaps

Week 5 - May 4 and 6

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Shape Tweening vs. Motion Tweening
  • Motion Tweening Options/Limitations
  • Motion Tweening exercise

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 3: Importing Graphics into Flash"

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 8: Using Motion Tweens to Animate"
  • Working with Bitmap images in Flash
  • Importing bitmaps & masking exercise

Complete work on Midterm project

[Back to top]

Flash Interactivity - Working with Buttons and Movie Clips

Midterm Week 6 - May 11 and 13

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework

Midterm Project Due:
Start of class; Tuesday, May 11
  • Midterm due and full class critique

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 14: Nesting Animations in Movie Clip and Graphic Symbols"
  • Introduction to Movie Clips
  • Creating and nesting movie clips

[Back to top]

Flash Interactivity - Introduction to Basic ActionScripting

Week 7 - May 18 and 20 (UPDATED - there will be class May 20!)

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Button states
  • Button types
  • Basic button creation

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 16: Basic Interactivity"
  • ActionScript introduction
  • Actions and event handlers
  • Writing basic ActionScript commands
  • Final Project Assigned
  • Begin storyboarding for Final project

Storyboards due May 20

[Back to top]

Flash Interactivity - More ActionScripting

Week 8 - May 25 and 27

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Storyboards due beginning of class
  • Controlling Movie Clips
  • "Dot Syntax" explained
  • ActionScripting Movie Clips

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 21: Designing a Website to Be Modular"
  • Sharing and loading assets
  • Advantages vs. other means
  • Sharing and loading assets exercise

Continue work on Final project

[Back to top]

Flash Interactivity - Static and Dynamic Text/Working with Sound

Week 9 - June 1 and 3

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Text field types/text field boxes
  • Working with text in Flash
  • Loading Dynamic text exercise

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 6: Applied Layout Techniques"

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 13: Including Sound in Animation"
  • Working with sound in Flash
  • Sound scripting exercise

Continue work on Final project

[Back to top]

Putting It All Together - Publishing and Integrating Flash

Week 10 - June 8 and 10

Lecture/Lab Topic Lab Work Reading and Homework
  • Publishing options in Flash
  • Publishing vs. Exporting
  • Integrating with HTML
  • Integrating Flash elements with HTML
  • Continue work on Final project

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 20: Linking a Movie to the Web"

FCS4-24 - Complete "Hour 24: Publishing a Creation"

Complete work on Final project

[Back to top]

Final Project Due and Class Critique (Thursday, June 17, 2010 - 8:00 am to 9:50 am)

Finals Week - June 14 (no class on Tuesday, June 15, 2010)

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Final project due at the beginning of class followed by a "silent" critique.

[Back to top]