Don't you like my background???:D

Today we learant how to look at the extra features of the blog. i can do this by typing in draft instead of www and you get a whole lot of extra stuff. This is the backgroung i chose:D:D:D:D:D

DETAILS of ANIMATION

NAME: DOBSON GRAPES

FILE TYPE: GIF image

SIZE: 2.16 MB

DIMENSIONS: 400 times 400 pixels

REASON FOR SELECTION: When you think of any houses you would think of some type of animal or the house crest, but this is representing my house(DOBSON) in a new trend- GRAPES! The reason why I chose grapes is because they are sweet which means Dobson is sweet and also because, they are always in a bunch which represents Dobson's teamwork. The different rays represent the contamination of a perfect fruit and so the person eating the fruit is cleansing the fruit. Therefore, I chose this aniamtion because my idea was unique and different.

FRAME RATE: 100 milliseconds ( I wasn't sure what frame rate to go for but then i gave a go to the default setting which was 100 milliseconds and it was perfect, so i didn't have to experiment again.)

EXTENSION!!!

Seeing that we have an extension until Sunday night, I am taking this opportunity to completely talk about my progress.

As I said before I had actually made some of my ideas into frames. After I learnt to make those frames into animations I decided to put a couple of them up on my blog and here they are:

(These animations are not completed therefore they look ..... incomplete)
(I used the google docs way to put them up on my blog.)
The size of all my draft and final animations is 400 by 400 pixels.
1. http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8KUH0u-01cIMDljNjk2NTEtOTRhZS00MTNmLWI2ODktM2Y1YzdiYjIyMGY0&hl=en

INKSCAPE

This one is clearly unfinished, I didn't put the final frame saying DOBSON. This is the main part of the whole assignment but I felt that this looked too easy, even though I worked hard for it ans so i stopped making it. I also did not like the stickman because it looked childish. I thought that a stickman would be easy to move around but I never knew that making a stickman walk was so hard! This made me think about the cartoons on TV and how much work they would put into making them. Making a 2D figure move was hard but imagine how much harder 3D would be!!!

2.http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8KUH0u-01cIYjMwYjRmODQtMzI0Yy00YzIwLWI5NzUtZGM5ZmNjZGJjZGYz&hl=en

INKSCAPE

The main thing I liked about this animation is the transformation from pink to purple. It was very effective and I wanted to use the technique in my final animation but could not find the right place to put it. Also the aniamtion was not smooth because I did not put many frames and so I did not choose this.

FINAL ANIMATION!!

Enjoy the cheering for DOBSON:

http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8KUH0u-01cINjIxNjNmOTEtMWY0Ny00ZGRhLThjMGItOGI5MGQ4Y2NiM2Zj&hl=en

PHEWW!! again

I had to go to google docs. Then I had to upload my file and share it with everyone. Then I copied my URL onto my blog.i am going to upload my final animation on my next blog entry.

This is my failed animation where transperent was on:
http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8KUH0u-01cIZTZkYmU3ZWQtOWI0MC00YTczLWIyMjAtYjVkOWQ2NWEzMjEy&hl=en

UPLOADING?!

I tried uploading my animation and this is what happened.

It only shows the first frame! Tomorrow lunchtime i need to ask sir about this problem.

PHEW!!!!

I am sooooo glad. I do not need to start from scratch again. Sir told me there are two ways to deal with the transperency problem:

• I can save each of my 315 frames into a paint document



• When the frames are opened as layers in gimp, i can right-click on each on my frames and select"Remove alpha channel".

I decided that i was going to use the second method and i finished my animation.

BIGGEST PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I know how to make it into an animation. I go to gimp and click on file,
Then I click on open as layers and select all of my frames. Then I click save as and then click on a Gif file. Then i export it by saving it as an animation. Be sure to select loop forever.

But the main problem is that I did not set my 315 frames into SOLID! That might mean that I have to make my frames all over again!!!
I'll have to ask sir....

PROBLEMS!!!!

I have exported all of my frames and in total i have 315 frames.
But I need to know how to make it into an animation and
how to uplaoad it into my blog.

While exporting my frames i saved them as png files and the original document as svg so that i can edit it again.

FINAL DECISION

I have finally chosen what I was going to do.
My final idea was to put some purple grapes on the top-left hand corner of the page. Then a hand will appear and it will touch each of the grapes. Upon touching the grapes they will fall to the ground. When they touch the ground a letter will appear in the grapes. These letters will eventually form the words "Go Dobson". There will be a little explosion when the hand touches each of the grapes and also when the grapes touch the ground. Then different coloured rays will come from outside the screen. these rays will point at a specific grape and it will send a letter. These letters are the beginnings of each houses' names and the rays will also be the colour of the house. Then a man will come and eat all of the different coloured grapes except for purple. then the remaining purple grapes will fall on to the gound. then the Grapes which are on the floor which say GO DOBSON will grow bigger and then exclamation marks will come from underneath.
That is the end.

I have use Inkscape as my programme. this is because i found it extremely easy to use and move the objects when compared to the pencil programme. You could also use a lot of tools in Inkscape which meant that the characters I created will be neat. These are the reasons for why I chose inkscape.


There were a number of steps that I followed to make my frames. I drew many vector images (such as the grapes, letters, rays and face) and each time I moved an object I exported the files as png and when I was done for the day I saved it as an svg so that i can edit it again.

IDEAS for animation(DOBSON)

Ihad come up with various ideas and I put all of them into action as well but had to decide.
PENCIL:

• I created a stickman who was going to come into the screen and bounce down and think. In the bubble I wanted to put "we need a name for the best house" and then an arrow would come from the sky and pop the bubble. Then a voice from the sky would say " Don't worry I will send you the name". Then, from the mountain, which would be in the opposite side of the screen, the letters N, then O, then S, then B, then O, then D will slide down. Then the stickman would jump in the air and shout "Yay!"
• I put a bunch of girls with purple coloured shirts on one side of the screen. They walked to another house and shouted "we got spirit yes we do we got spirit how 'bout you!", then the other house replied and then dobson would have won. Then they moved onto another house and the same thing happens. I copied the frames I used for the house earlier and just changed the name.I didn't have anything on the bitmapped layer as I had to change the background as well.
• Another idea was that I had actually put into action was, again not putting anything on the bitmapped layer and showing the people of each house. The "camera" went through everyones' houseplace which looks like the places they get in the swimming carnival. You would see bored expressions on everyones faces and then dobson house would come with excited and interested expressions and Dobson will win the House spirit award.

INKSCAPE:

• A stickman would come on to the screen and think. In the bubble it would say"DOBSON hmm..." then the bubble would change in different house colours except for purple. It would stop at pink and the strickman would have a bulb light up on his head. The pink would go into a darker shade and in each frame the colour would become darker and darker and will result in purple!
• A stickman will slowly appear from the bottom going upwards. He will cross his legs and it will look like he is meditating. He will float in the air, looking thoughtful and in the speech bubble, it will say "We need heroes". Then he will float around more and his expression will change, turning into a smile, then he will stand. DOBSON would come into his mind and he would run off.

PENCILand INKSCAPE

i have used both of the programs pencil and inkscape 2 weeks ago.

In inkscape i created a dog and was able to animate it by moving its ears from side to side. i found this really easy to use as you could move the objecty in any direction, rotate it and transform it. But i couldnt quite see how to animate it because we were just going through pictures. it was not a continuous flow.



Pencil was really good on the animation side...
i animated a bouncing ball and was really excited...

but for creating characters it was... not as good

the only tools you could use were a polygon object, the pencil and an ink pen to create a character. I encountered sooo many problems with pencil as the programme kept shutting down every 10 minutes and each time i did not save my work. This taught me an important lesson to save all of my works every 10 minutes.

Important things to remember in inkscape animation

1. Set background colour of canvas.
2. Size canvas 400 times 400 pixels.
3. Save drawing file (___.svg).
4. When exporting from inkscape select "page".
5. Create and use ONE folder for your files.

All of the help can be viewed on "general help"