GDT 260 Animation for the Web: Winter 2003

Class Information

Prerequisites

Contact Information/ Class Website

All class information will be posted on the class website, http://www.chriscassell.net/classes/2003/gdt260/. You can access it from the web when needed, or you can print it out.

I am available to meet with you outside of class, or to help you via email.

Course Objectives

Students will:

  1. Understand the drawing features of Flash MX
  2. Understand animation techniques in Flash
  3. Understand effective application of animation to interface design
  4. Understand basic ActionScript to achieve interactivity
  5. Understand effective distribution of Flash movies on the web

Supplies and Textbook

Required Text

Foundation Flash MX, Sham Bangal, et al., Friends of Ed

The textbook has an accompanying website at: http://www.friendsofed.com/books/foundation/flashmx/ including an errata and downloadable files.

Student Webspace

You will be required to post all your classwork and homework online. You should use your WCC student webspace, which is connected to your WCC email account. If you don't have an account, point your browser to http://stu.wccnet.org and sign up for a student email account. This will create an email account, as well as a folder on the student server for you to use. Your URL will be http://stu.wccnet.org/~username

Record your username and password in a secure place, so that you don't lose or forget them.

If you don't have internet access or Flash MX at home, plan on spending a good deal of time in the campus computing labs. Open lab hours will be posted outside of the computer labs. I will post them on the class site once they are available.

Assignments

You can expect to spend at least 3-6 hours each week outside of class working on class projects, including reading and computer time.

All assignments are to be posted to your webspace and linked from your homepage. Assignments must be online at the beginning of class the day they are due. The first homework assignment is to create a homepage from which to link your assignments, if you don't have one already or to create a directory specifically for files from this class and let me know the URL.

Homework

Homework will involve tutorials from the textbook, exercises that extend skills learned in class, and several written assignments. You can dowload files necessary for the Case Studies in the book from http://www.friendsofed.com/books/foundation/flashmx/code.html.

Homework will be turned in by putting them in your student webspace. If you are using a homepage, create a link to the homework, indicating the date it's due. Otherwise, place each project in its own clearly named folder, ie. “Homework 1-21”. Do not use slashes in filenames!

Projects

Projects will consist of creating Flash movies, from fairly simple animations to fully interactive websites/ interfaces.

Projects will be turned in by putting them in your student webspace. If you are using a homepage, create a link to the project. Otherwise, place each project in its own clearly named folder, ie. “Project 1”.

Grading

Final grades will be assigned based on the following scale:

Criteria Percentage
Attendance 10%
Class Participation 10%
Homework 20%
Projects 30%
Final Project 30%

Projects will be graded on the following criteria: following instructions, technical accuracy, craftsmanship, demonstration of understanding of material, completion of project on time, creative and appropriate use of subject matter and skills, effective use of skills developed in exercises, fulfillment of the assignment objectives, use of basic design skills in a web-appropriate manner.

Projects must be on the student server and linked from your homepage at the beginning of class the day they are due. A late project will drop one full letter grade for each class that it is late. In other words, an A quality project would drop to a B if it's one class late and to a C if it's one week late.

Participation in critiques and discussions is required; participation is 10% of your final grade.

Incompletes will only be given in appropriate situations, such as an extended illness with a doctor's note.

Attendance & Classroom Policies

Students are required to attend class. Attendence will count for 10% of your final grade. If you accumulate more than 3 unexcused absences, your grade will be adversely affected. If you are more than 10 minutes late to class, you will be considered tardy. Three tardies will be recorded as an unexcused absence. If you miss more than one hour of class, this will be considered an unexcused absence. Classes will start with lecture and demonstrations-it is important to be on time.

If you know you will miss class, please email me ahead of time and check the class site for any updates.

You are expected to be on time and stay for the entire class. There will be a 10 minute break in the middle of class. During classtime, you must participate in discussions and class. You may not work on projects for another class, check email, or surf the internet unless given explicit permission.

While in class, please turn all cell phones and pagers to mute or vibrate. Interruptions by these devices distract the entire class and will not be tolerated. Also, please do not eat or drink in class — it is not allowed at computer workstations.

Plagiarism and Piracy

All projects must be your original work. This means that you may not directly copy Flash movies, images, content, or substantial code from another website, book, student, or designer, with the obvious exception of homework assignments from the textbook. Plagiarism and software piracy will not be permitted.

When using audio clips, ensure that they are royalty-free, or that you have permission to use the files.

Naming Files

If you're going to work on a PC, make sure that your Flash files have a file extension: .fla — OS X uses extensions, so you'll automatically get one.

Any files that go on the web require file extensions in order to be recognized by web servers and browsers. Make sure that your published flash files have the extension .swf, and that your other web files use the following: .html (or .htm—be consistent) .gif .jpg .png

The student server is case-sensitive. Always use all lower-case filenames and avoid non-alphanumeric characters except dashes (-) and underscores(_). Avoid using spaces in any files that will go on the web. Never use slashes in filenames!

Cross Platform Issues

Flash files (.fla) are compatible across Mac OS X, Mac OS 9 and Windows, as are all web and image files we'll be using. The only files that are not cross-platform are sound files. Macs can use mp3's and .aif's, while PC's can read mp3's and .wav's. Make sure that you import your audio on the platform on which you'll produce your final movie.

Fonts are an issue as well. Theoretically, OS X can use Windows True Type (.ttf) fonts, so if you're working on a PC at home, you should be able bring the fonts with you on a zip disk, place them in ~/Library/Fonts/, and use them with Flash. I haven't actually tested this, but it should work.

Make sure you use PC formatted media (zip disks, floppy disks, etc.) if you're going to work on both macs and PC's. Macs can read PC formatted data, but Windows can't read mac formatted data, without buying extra software.

If you have Flash 5 at home, almost everything we do in this class will work. Just save your files in Flash 5 format. If you've done anything incompatible, you'll get a warning.