Creating a Character That Talks
This is where you character comes to life, where it get’s it’s personality.
Before we start, if you are still finding it hard to work with flash, don’t worry, flash can take a bit of time to get the hang of, but once you do, you can do all sorts of things, flash is a very powerful tool. Alright, what we need to do first is import some some audio to the library, you will need a microphone if you want to import your own voice, if you don’t have a microphone just have a look around for a short audio file to work with. Once you have an audio file that you are happy with continue on with this tutorial.
To import the audio file to the library click on the menu item file/import/import to library. Now find the audio file that you want and press open.
This will import it to the library. Now rename layer 1, character. Now go to the menu item insert, new symbol, check the box next to movieclip, than name it character. Now in the character timeline, insert a new layer above the layer 1 and name it mouth, layer 1 body and head. In the body and head layer draw you body and head without including the mouth. Now insert another layer called audio, insert a normal frame at about frame 5. now on the first frame select you audio file and drag it on to the stage. On the frames in the audio layer, squiggly lines will appears, that is the sound waves. The only problem is, the audio is most like likely longer than 5 frame. So click on the last frame than drag it out until the whole audio file fits properly. This audio layer is only to get the mouth in sync with the audio, we won’t actually be keeping this layer. Now on the mouth layer draw the normal mouth on the first frame. Where the audio start, insert a new keyframe on the mouth layer and change the shape of the mouth, insert another keyframe about one away form that one and change the mouth shape to math the audio. Where the audio stops talking draw the mouth that is normal, or you can right click on the first frame of the mouth layer where the mouth was normal, and select copy frames, and paste that frame where the audio is speaking. Continue doing this for the rest of the audio file, changing the mouth shapes to match the words of the audio file. This is only your first attempt, so don’t be to worried about making it perfect. When you have got the mouth talking where the audio is speaking, delete the audio layer. That is it for your character, so click on scene 1 to go back to the main timeline. Here you will need to insert a layer named audio. Now repeat the same process as before to put your audio file on the frames. Now on the first frame of your character layer drag your character from the library and place him in the center of the stage. Insert a key frame on the character layer where the audio stops. Now you will have a character that appears to be talking, press ctrl enter and see how it looks. As I said, don’t be to stressed if it is a little sketchy, it all comes with practice.
Here is your first assignment, try and put all the things that you have learnt so far and put them all into the one flash project. This would include a motion tween, shape tween, a motion guide, a button to start the file, a walking person, and a person who talks.
This might help you to think of how you can combine these in to one.
Motion Tween: Create a sun that slowly goes across the stage.
Shape Tween: Could have your characters first name, than have it transform in to his/her last name.
Motion Guide: This could as simple as a bird flying around the scene.
I want you to have a play around with these things I have taught you and really get to understand the possibilities, when feel comfortable, come back and continue with the next tutorial.
Before we move on to the next tutorial we read through these tips.
Tip 1. It is a good idea to plan out your flash presentation first, get an idea of the layers that will be needed etc.
Why this helps: this will help you work through the flash file a lot quicker and easier; it also helps you organize it nice and neat.
Tip 2. Prepare the moviclips, buttons, graphics etc. before you start adding the animations or shape tweens etc.
Why this helps: This gets the designing process out of the way and makes it less confusing when adding the animations that are required.
Tip 3: Have each separate symbol on a different layer.
Why this helps: If the symbol is on a layer of it’s own, it makes it much easier to edit, or make any changes to it that are necessary, and as it is on a layer of its own, it won’t change anything on the other layers.
Tip 4: Take notes of some of the mistakes you make and how you fix these mistakes.
Why this helps: This will help you so much when creating flash projects, as you won’t make this mistake again, and if you do, you will know exactly how to fix it.
Tip 5: Experiment with things.
Why this helps: One of the best way to learn new things in flash is to experiment, try something different, this will improve the quality of the movie/game a lot.
Tip 6: Be creative.
Why this helps: The more creative the flash file is the more appealing it will be. Let you imagination go wild, add all types of this to make it fun and interesting.
Tip 7: Challenge yourself.
Why this helps: The only way you can better is by challenging yourself, do that little bit extra. This will also help you learn new things.
Flash 8 has so many possibilities, it would be near impossible to explain every detail about flash, so it helps to do a little bit of exploring for yourself.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, it’s all part of the learning process.
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