How to design a Memoov Characters using Adobe Flash

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How to design a Memoov Characters using Adobe Flash

Welcome to the Memoov Character Design Tutorial.

This tutorial is part of the Memoov Desingers API, which enables you to share your designs with creators and users.

This tutorial will show you Step-by-Step how to Design and Animate a Memoov characters using Adobe Flash.

Let's start by Creating a New Flash 9 or 10 File.

Use actionscript 3.0, at 24 fps.

You can download the source file here:

Drawing the character

- Make sure the figure is standing in 45˚ to the camera.

- Face expression should be neutral at the first frame.

- You can draw whatever you want - human, animels,

creatures..

Breaking the character into Body Parts

- Each moving part should be a separat MovieClip.

- Make sure that the rotation center point of each MovieClip is at

the bone connection.

- All of the body parts should be places on stage.

even the hidden parts.

- The Character should look exactly as it was drawn - before

it was divided into parts.

Just before getting starting with the Animation...

- Every body part on stage should be Named

(hand_mc, leg_mc, etc...).

- The Head MovieClip should be called:"head_mc" on the stage.

- The center of the figure should be on the

left - top corner of the stage (x=0, y=0).

Create "State" loop animations

- Every figure has basic states: standing, sitting, laying etc...

- A "State" is an Animated Loop during which the character is

moving a little - but stays in the same state.

- A state animation sequence should be labled

like this: state_name:state

Creating Animations between States

- State change is an animation between a pair of States.

( stand - sit , stand - lay )

- A state change animation should be labled like this:

state1 - state2:state_change

note : the order of the two states is important - it should match the first

and last sequence Keyframes (see example source FLA file).

Add some Useful Animations

- Most figures should be able to walk, jump, run, throw, hit etc...

Add some of these basic animations to let the character do stuff.

- All Useful Animations should be labeld simply by their name:

walk, jump, etc...

- If the animation is a loop (like walking) -

the First and the Last frames of the sequence should be the

basic standing pose.

Add gesture animations

- Characters should have some Gestures to Express

Emotions with the body.

- Every Gesture contains two sequences:

The first sequence is the Intro Animation.

This is the animation between the Basic Standing

Pose and the Pose of the Gesture.

The second sequence is a Loop during which the figure is

slightly moving - while holding the Gesture. The First

and the Last Frames of this loop should be the Same.

Modify the Expression Labels

- The Gesture Intro animation should be labeled like this:

gesture_name:exp_intro

- The Gesture Loop animation should be labeled like this:

gesture_name:exp

note: the "gesture_name" should be exactly the same in both

labels.

Just before starting to Animate the Face...

- Make sure that all of the Body Parts are Named - during all

animation frames.

- Make sure that the MovieClip of the Head is named head_mc

during all animation frames.

Preparing the Face components

- Edit in place the Symbol of the Head.

- Select the Mouth with all related shapes, and Convert

them to a MovieClip. name it on stage mouth_mc.

note: if the mouth is drawn on several layers make sure you use

the Group tool first.

- Select both Eyes, convert them to a MovieClip,

name it on stage eyes_mc.

- Select both Eyebrows, convert them to a MovieClip,

name it on stage eyebrows_mc.

- Make sure you keep the Face Background shape solid.

Mouth Animations - inside mouth_mc

- The Mouth Timeline contains 3 sequences:

regular, happy and sad.

- The lables of the sequences should be:

speak:regular

speak:happy

speak:sad

- Each and every one of these sequences is an animation

of the mouth going from Closed state to an Open state.

- On the First Frame of each sequence you should put

a Stop () command.

Eyes Animation - inside eyes_mc

- Edit in place the Symbol of the Eyes - eyes_mc.

- The Timeline of the Eyes MovieClip contains

4 sequences, each one of them represents an Eye State.

- The regular state is the basic and natural looks of the eyes.

- The blink sequence is an animation of the eyes blinking,

and returning to the regular state.

- The surprised state is showing the eyes widely opened.

- The bored state is showing the eyes in a sleepy mode -

almost closed.

Eyebrows Animations - eyebrows_mc

- Edit in place the Symbol of the eyebrows.

- The Eyebrows Timeline contains 4 sequences of Animation:

regular, happy, sad and angry.

- Each sequence is an Animation of the Eyebrows going from the

Regular state to the Expression written in the Label -

regular, happy, sad and angry.

- Under the regular Label - the Animation is not changing.

the First and the Last Keyframes are the same.

Some finishing Work...

- On the First Frame of the Stage, add the following

ActionScript Code:

stop ();

var isModifiable:Boolean = false;

You can download the source file here: