Assessment Task #7 (FINAL ANIMATION!!!)

This is the final copy of my assessment task. I hope that it turns out the way that I intended it to be and it will actually appear. I will post details about it below.

Click on link below.

http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4_GH2HoA06vNGIyYjUzMzgtYTFkNi00YTk1LWFkOWUtYjU5YjNhODZjY2Y0&hl=en

Name - CARITAS BEE!!!

Size - 173 KB

File Type - GIF Image

Frame Rate - 100 Milliseconds

Total Number of Frames - 197 Frames

Describe what software you chose and why you chose it.

I chose to use Inkscape for my animation because I had more experience with it and was comfortable with it. I chose Inkscape over Pencil because I found Pencil a bit difficult to understand. (Detailed explanation of this in previous posts)

Describe the creation process that you followed.

First I created a vector image of my character, a bee. Then I slowly kept exporting frames one by one to create my animation. After I completed that, I opened up Gimp and put together my anination (detailed process in previous posts)

What image format were you saving your work in during the development of your frames?

I saved my first creation of a bee as a svg image. When I exported my images I saved it as a png image. A svg file is one in which an object can be moved around to be exported, whereas a png file is a still image that cannot be moved. When I stopped work for a time and was going to continue later, I saved it as a svg, so that I could edit it.

Difficulties that I encountered.

I encountered a few difficulties during the process of completing my animation. In a couple of places, I got stuck and didn't know what to do. I also asked some of my friends for advice but in the end I figured out a solution to my problem. It was only towards the end that I encountered problems as I wasn't sure how to end it.

Overall I quite enjoyed creating my bee animation as it was something that I had never done before. It was an interesting experience and I will most probably use my skills in the future as I have gained a lot of out of this assessment.

Assessment Task #6 (Successful!!!)

I am really quite happy as my first ever upload of my animation was successful. I have decided to write the process of how I animate and upload my animation just in case I forget.

1. Open Gimp and click on 'File' and 'Open as Layers'
2. Select all the 'png' files and select the file type -Automatically Detected
3. Then click on 'Open'
4. Select 'File' and 'Save as
5. Select the area in which you want to save and rename
6. Then click on 'Select File Type' and select 'GIF Image'
7. Click on save and a box will then come up
8. Select the box 'Save as Animation' and then 'Export'
9. Another box will come up and select 'Loop Forever'
10. Now go to 'Google Docs' and select 'Upload'
11. Go to the file in which you saved your Gimp animation and select it
12. Click on 'Start Upload' and then on 'Back to Google Docs'
13. Select this file by placing a tick in the box
14. Click on 'Share' and then 'Click the Link to Share'
15. Select 'Allow anyone with the link to view'
16. Copy the given URL address and paste onto your blog
17. Publish your post and anyone who opens it, will be able to view it
18. Inform all your friends about it!!!

Theses are the steps to follow to upload and post your animation!!!

Attempt...

This is my first attempt to upload an animation onto my blog. This is my first ever animation of my dog.

I am not completely sure as to whether this will work but am quite confident as I followed all the steps that were outlined to me.

Also, since this is my first animation, I don't think that this is going to be very smooth or flow very well. But I thought I might as well try and see how it looked.

Enjoy!
http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4_GH2HoA06vMGQzNmFmMmEtMTMyNi00MGRhLWFiZmQtOGI2OTQ5NTBmNWJh&hl=en

Assessment Task #5 (Progression...)

During lunchtime today, we got the opportunity to learn how to upload our animations onto blogger. Mr. Lennon taught and helped some people and they passed on what they knew. We had to download Gimp and save our image there. I will include more on this when I actually upload my animation to my website. I also decided to post my first ever animation before that to see if it worked.

Mr. Lennon also gave us an extension to upload the animation onto our blogs in case we had some issues. We had till about Sunday night to complete this task. Pretty much everyone was relieved because of this as there was much stress over this assessment task. Many people didn't know how to upload their animation and were panicky as they weren't aware of the complete method and as to whether it would work or not.

I hope to upload my dog animation tomorrow and then my assessment animation the same night or so.

Assessment #4 (Problems...)

I was working on my animation toady and experienced a few problems. Everything was going according to plan, my latest idea was working and I was very excited to view the finished product.

Unfortunately Inkscape kept shutting down due to some error and this was really quite irritating as it happened twice. This resulted in me having to re-do what I was up to from my svg image. I was quite frustrated so I gave up for today. I decided to complete the rest of my animation tomorrow when I was fresh as I had finished majority of it. I had completed about 80 frames or so with about 50 more to go.

My original goal was to load it onto my blog tomorrow at lunch, when we would be able to get help from the teacher but this wasn't the case. So I decided to learn how to load it onto my blog tomorrow at lunch and complete the process at home, after I finished all my frames. If I got stuck I would also have the General Help page on our school website, that I could use as a guide. I also decided to do my last blog entry after loading it on so that I could discuss everything and the overall outcome of it.

Assessment Task #3 (Remember...)

Here are a few of the things that I need to remember when creating an animation of Inkscape.

1. Set the background of the canvas to solid - if this is not done, problems may occur later on
2. Set the size of the canvas to 400 times 400 pixels - the animation must be of an appropriate size
3. When saving your beginning image as an svg file so that changes can be made later - this can be done by simply saving
4. When exporting frames from Inkscape be sure to select 'Page'
5. Save all the frames as png files - these can not be changed as they are images
6. Copy and paste the same frame if you want the same image to remain on the screen longer
7. Save your last frame as an svg - this will enable you to make changes to it later
8. Save all your work in one folder - this will make it is organised and easy to access

These are a few tips that I need to refer to and remember so that I do not make a mistake when creating my animation. This will ensure that I don't have to re-do anything in the process.

Assessment Task #2 (About Inkscape and Pencil)

Towards the end of the term, I learnt to use Inkscape and Pencil, two paint programs which I could use for my Animation Assessment. I tried out both the programs and experimented with all the tools.

In Inkscape, I created a dog which twitched its ears and wiggled its tongue. This was a really simple program which I actually liked because it was easy to grasp and use. It took me one lesson to learn all the options and then I was enjoying myself creating some of my own artworks. I also ended up downloading it on my home computer because of my obsession for it. It seemed quite addictive and fun to play with, during my free time.

I also used Pencil, in which I created a ball bouncing on the ground. I did not get very far with this, as I had missed the lesson in which we had been briefed about it, so I was quite lost.I also realised that there were only a few options with Pencil, compared to Inkscape. For instance, it only had a pencil, pen, polygon and spray brush that I could use to create my animation. I did some of my own exploring but I realised that I preferred Inkscape over Pencil. I did try doing my actual animation using Pencil, but I thought that I should use what I was comfortable with.

So in the end, I used Inkscape to create my final animation for my assessment task.

Assessment Task #1

During the past few lessons, I had trouble deciding on what I should include in my animation. My first idea was to have a bee flying accross the screen and paint it yellow. I decided to later improvise on this idea and better it.
My next idea was to move a flying dove accross the screen and have a speech bubble saying "Deeds not Words" and have "CARITAS" appear. Initially I had trouble making the wings collaborate with the dove moving so I gave up on that idea.
I improvised on that and tried to make to does move in from either side holding a banner saying "CARITAS - Deeds not Words". This was not very successful either.
I have also decided to use Inkscape because I know how to use majority of the tools and create simple animations on it.
I am currently trying to get a bee to come in and splash the screen with yellow paint. The words "CARITAS" would then appear on the screen.

Painting Tools

Description of use of tools in Paint:
Free-Form Select - Allows you to cut out any shape of your artwork and extract it.
Select - Draw a box around any image and select it.
Eraser/Colour Eraser - To erase a small or large area in your picture.
Fill with colour - Fill an enclosed area with colour.
Pick Colour - To copy colour from one object or area to another.
Magnifier - Allows you to zoom into an area.
Pencil - Allows you to draw a free form line.
Brush - Allows you to paint with different shaped brushes.
Airbrush - Creates an airbrush effect.
Text - Allows you to draw a text box.
Line - Enables you to draw a straight line.
Curve - Enables you to draw a curve.
Rectangle - Enables you to draw any sized rectangle.
Polygon - Enables you to draw any shape with straight lines.
Ellipse - Enables you to draw any sized circle or oval.
Rounded Rectangle - Enables you to draw any sized rounded rectangle.

Painting Tools

These are the various different tools available on Paint.