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Flash Animation

A weekend course focused on animating with Adobe Flash. The course is suitable for aspiring animators and for video-makers wishing to understand how Flash can offer them possibilities for creating new artwork for video projects, and new delivery methods for existing video projects and animations. Learn about what Flash has to offer you, and what you might use it for in your projects. Preferable for those beginners already having creative software experience (such as Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro or similar software).

Prerequisites: familiarity with PCs (Windows XP or Vista) required. One Mac is usually available. Experience of creative software (such as Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Coreldraw or similar software) preferable. Drawing skills not essential!

The course is flexible and the exact contents can be changed, at the tutor's discretion, to best suit the needs of all attendees.

Please do bring any materials you'd be interested in working with along with you on Saturday and Sunday. There's certainly time on Sunday to focus on personal projects, and in particular, your own audio, graphic or video material will add greatly to the project you create. Bring it on a thumb drive or DVD/CD.

DATES

2nd & 3rd October 2010, Weekend Course - places available

10.00am-4.30pm

Cost

£130.50 (includes10 per cent early booking discount if booked by 26th September 2010 - EU citizens)

£145 Subsidised rate for EU citizens

£195 Full price for non-EU citizens. (Non-Eu citizens with indefinite leave to remain can pay subsidised rate - proof required.)

£72.50 - includes 50% discount for people on benefits, proof required, (income support, JSA, Housing Benefit, Council tax benefit, pension credit (guarantee), asylum seeker, unwaged dependent of someone on these benefits

Tutor: Alun Ward Visit his websites www.alunward.co.uk and Eye Division Ltd

Comments

Selima - The work I created was basic but it’s given me the tools to be able to work on creating more complex projects.
Jefferson - The course completely satisfied my needs. A lot of information was provided during the two days, it exceeded my expectations.
Emily - The course could not be improved, I have gained confidence in Flash and am very happy.

Saturday
Introduction to Flash and to animation principles. What do you want to use Flash for?

Find your way around the Adobe Flash interface. Discussion of the different versions of Flash and their benefits/drawbacks.

Master the basics of frame based animation. Create a simple keyframe animation.

Learn how to use Flash to save time with motion tweening and shape tweening.

Importing graphics from other programs - we have Photoshop and Illustrator installed, so you can try out the great way Flash preserves transparency and layers from Photoshop files.

Importing sound and recording sound for Flash. Adobe Audition and Audacity are available to allow you to edit sound files, and we have a selection of sound effects and background loops you can use.

Importing video and the basics of using video in your Flash production. Bring your own video files, use the supplied 1950s footage, or we can record some quick and dirty (not in that sense!) video from the tutor's mobile phone.

Sunday
Personal project work - today's your chance to put into practice most of the techniques you picked up on Saturday.

In addition we'll look at the following advanced aspects of Flash:

Adding interactivity to your movie, making buttons, an introduction to Actionscript coding.

Confident coders: get your hands dirty with some real working game code

Artists: don't be scared, you'll make a basic preloader and get an introduction to using Adobe Components and Behaviours that add interactivity to your movie without you seeing TOO much code.

Exporting and delivering your Flash movie, testing for bandwidth, streamline your files.

What are you going to do with your movie anyway?

Put it on the net? We'll run through the professional way to add Flash to your web site.
Put it on CD/DVD? Making an auto-run CD, making one that will work on a PC AND a Mac (grrr).
Output to video? Export AVI or Quick Time from Flash.

Where to go next: recommended publications, websites, the Oxford Flash Users Group.

Showcase - where we get a chance to see what each other has achieved over the weekend.

Students usually get a PC each but on occasion may have to share a PC (max. 2 students per PC).

To book online or by post, see booking form.