Objective:

I can prepare my Illustrator artwork to make a Bone Tween animation of a basic walk cycle in Animate CC.

Topics Discussed:

• IK Armature
• Bone Tool
• For a complete list of Topics Discussed, please see the previous weeks’ lessons.

Assignment:

• By now, you should have your completed Illustrator Web document with a front view of your original character, composed of at least six parts: a Head, a Body, a Left Arm, a Right Arm, a Left Leg and a Right Leg named “Your Name – Your Character’s Name.ai”. We will continue working on this file to re-import into Animate CC.
• Your task today is to add a side view of your character. Use simple shapes to draw the character as they appear from the side (right or left, doesn’t matter at the moment) Draw the character’s head and body from the side, at least one arm, and two legs (that will be stacked on top of each other), plus any other elements of the character’s design (ears, tail, clothing, etc.)
• When you are finished, you should have a Front View, a Side View and the original descriptive paragraph you wrote on your character model sheet.
• To prepare your new Side View character for import to Animate, use the black selection arrow to select the different parts of your character, and use the fn+F8 shortcut to convert each part to a Symbol. Every part of your character’s Side View that is going to move should be made a separate symbol! Name each of the symbols appropriately as you create them. When you are finished, at a minimum you should have new symbols for your character’s Side Head, Side Body, Side Right Arm, (maybe even Side Left Arm), Side Right Leg and Side Left Leg.
• Keep the full text of your character’s descriptive paragraph on the same page. Remember your principles of C.R.A.P. as you do this, and make it look neat and professional.
• Your finished model sheet with the front character view, the side character view and descriptive paragraph are due at the end of class on Wednesday, May 7th.

Assigned: May 5th, 2025
Due Date: May 7th, 2025

Objective:

I can prepare my Illustrator artwork to make a Bone Tween animation in Animate CC.

Topics Discussed:

• IK Armature
• Bone Tool
• For a complete list of Topics Discussed, please see the previous weeks’ lessons.

Assignment:

• By now, you should have your completed Illustrator Web document with a front view of your original character, composed of at least six parts: a Head, a Body, a Left Arm, a Right Arm, a Left Leg and a Right Leg.
• In the Front View document, use the black selection arrow to select the different parts of your character, and use the fn+F8 shortcut to convert each part to a Symbol. Every part of your character that is going to move should be made a separate symbol! Name each of the symbols appropriately as you create them. When you are finished, at a minimum you should have symbols for your character’s Head, Body, Right Arm, Left Arm, Right Leg and Left Leg.
• Save this file as “Your Name – Your Character’s Name.ai”. We will use this file to import into Animate CC.
• Open a new Animate CC HTML5 canvas. Make the size HD, and set the framerate to 30fps. The stage color can be any color of your choice.
• Use the “File -> Import -> Import to Stage” menu command to locate and import your “Your Name – Body Parts.ai” file. Walk through the prompts to import your body parts into Animate. Make sure to select all the parts, and select “Single Animate Layer” from the “Convert Layers to:” dropdown menu.
• Use what we learned yesterday, and the in-class demonstration today to add bones to your shapes. (Remember: “Start from the heart” and work your way out to the arms and legs.)
• Make your stick figure wave! Add up to 120 frames to your animation, and use the Motion Tween-style Armature layer to animate your character’s poses to make the character wave it’s arm as if it’s saying “Hello!”.
• We will use this technique this week and next week to produce a simple animation. Save your file as “Your Name – First Animation.fla” and submit a copy to today’s Google Classroom assignment post by end of day on Friday.

Assigned: April 29th, 2025
Due Date: May 2nd, 2025