Midterm Project - Maurice Frank

Image links to video.





The opening and closing fades were created with object drawing rectangles, converted to symbols with a classic tween applied to control the alpha setting. I used frame-by-frame animation to create the typing effect for the heading. All text was broken apart twice to convert to merge shapes for use with shape tweens transforming the heading to the title and the title to the moon. Classic tweens controlled the "lighting" of the buildings, and along with a motion guide, the rising moon (converted to a symbol).


The moon then moves across the sky courtesy of a motion tween. I changed the tint and applied a simple-slow ease to the tint amount and tint color using the motion editor. Halfway across the sky I break apart the moon symbol to create a merge shape using a shape tween to transform into a red face as it reaches the other side of the scene.


The face was originally drawn with the pen tool and adjusted using Bezier handles. It was later converted to a symbol. After bringing it into this project I scaled it smaller, used 'break apart' to convert it to a merge shape (for the previously mentioned shape tween) and added a red fill. I then converted it back into a symbol and renamed it "redface."


I used "redface" for the second motion tween. I added the 'small bounce' preset and modified it by lengthening the motion path as well as adjusting its Bezier handles to get the bounces in the right places. This was strangely difficult. I could not get the handle to appear for quite a while. I know why they wouldn't show up, or how I got to work. I never really got it exactly how I wanted but I made considerable progress. At one point I was going to settle with modifying the 'bounce' out of the preset. But after a bit of playing I finally got the redface animation close to what I was going for.


As the face bounces away it causes one of the buildings to shake. I pulled this off using a nested motion tween within a new instance of the bldg4 symbol on an new layer. The building's position in the keyframe is a little to the left of the original position. The position in the property keyframe is a little to the right of the original. The building moved from side to side slowly but I wanted it to shake. I applied a custom easing, alternating every frame between 0% and 100%, to the x-axis with the motion editor.