Multimedia Production

MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION 4(1+3)

Lesson 6 : Softwares for Producing Multimedia and Interface Elements

Animation tools

Animations are graphic scenes played back sequentially and rapidly. These tools adopt an object-oriented approach to animation.

For creating animations Macromedia Flash or Adobe Flash are the industry standard. A file created in Flash is called a movie. A movie in Flash occupies very less file size, and hence is more popular for the Web. You can also create presentations and 2D Animations using Flash.

Morphing is a popular effect in which one image transform into another. In morphing the warping of one still or moving image another take place. This is a rather like twinning in that you define the start image and the end image but the two images are completely different. The software works out a sequence of steps so that the first image appears to change gradually into the second object. In morphing setting key point is crucial for smooth transition between two images.
Morphing automatically animate the change of one image into another as a special effect. It is the wrapping of one still or moving image into another.

The morphed images were built at a rate of 8 frames per second with each transition taking a total of 4 second and the number of key points was held to a minimum to shorten rendering time. The point you set in the start image will move to the corresponding point in the end image. This is important for things like eyes and noses which you want to end up in about the same place after the transition. The more key points the smoother the morph.