Foundations of Animation Syllabus

Golden Strip Career Center

Course Syllabus

Susan C. Werner, Instructor

COURSE: Foundations of Animation

COURSE CODE: 535006CD

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course teaches students how to create and deliver interactive content across desktops and devices with a focus on establishing a working knowledge of animation tools and techniques. Foundations of Animation examines the features of Adobe's popular Flash software that is the professional standard for producing high-impact Web sites using animation, video, text, graphics and audio. Students create rich media applications that span a wide variety of digital devices, from desktops to mobile devices.

CREDITS: 1 unit/semester

PREREQUISITES: Web Page Design and Development 1 or teacher recommendation

COURSE COMPETENCIES:

A. SAFETY AND ETHICS

1. Identify major causes of work-related accidents in offices.

2. Describe the threat of viruses to a computer network, methods of avoiding attacks, and options in dealing with virus attacks.

3. Identify potential abuse and unethical uses of computers and networks.

4. Explain the consequences of illegal, social, and unethical uses of information technologies, e.g., piracy; illegal downloading; licensing infringement; and inappropriate uses of software, hardware, and mobile devices.

5. Differentiate between freeware, shareware, and public domain software copyrights.

6. Discuss computer crimes, terms of use, and legal issues such as copyright laws, fair use laws, and ethics pertaining to scanned and downloaded clip art images, photographs, documents, video, recorded sounds and music, trademarks, and other elements for use in Web publications.

7. Identify netiquette including the use of email, social networking, blogs, texting, and chatting.

8. Describe ethical practices in business professions such as safeguarding the confidentiality of business-related information.

B. EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

1. Identify positive work practices, e.g., appropriate dress code for the workplace, personal grooming, punctuality, time management, organization.

2. Demonstrate positive interpersonal skills, e.g., communication, respect, and teamwork.

C. STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

1. Explain how related student organizations are integral parts of career and technology education courses.

2. Explain the goals and objectives of related student organizations.

3. List opportunities available to students through participation in related student organization conferences/competitions, community service, philanthropy, and other activities.

4. Explain how participation in career and technology education student organizations can promote lifelong responsibility for community service and professional development.

D. STORYBOARD FUNDAMENTALS

1. Create a story for a storyboard.

2. Describe the purpose of rich media and/or animation including the target audience.

3. Apply brainstorming techniques to focus development efforts.

4. Create scene-by-scene illustrations.

5. Outline and link action sequences.

E. INTRODUCING COMPUTER ANIMATION

1. Define terms related to computer animation.

2. Identify computer animation elements.

3. Identify uses of computer animation.

4. Define industry standard animation principles.

5. Identify career options in the animation industry.

F. GETTING STARTED WITH COMPUTER ANIMATION

1. Use menu bars, command panels, and software navigation tools

2. Demonstrate the ability to select objects and sub objects.

3. Set movie dimensions and movie properties.

G. DRAWING

1. Create objects using drawing tools.

2. Edit drawings.

3. Work with objects.

4. Work with text.

5. Work with layers.

6. Create a gradient.

7. Transform an object.

H. WORKING WITH SYMBOLS AND INTERACTIVITY

1. Work with symbols and instances.

2. Work with libraries.

3. Create buttons.

4. Assign actions to buttons.

I. CREATING ANIMATIONS

1. Define stop motion animation.

2. Create frame animations (stop motion).

3. Create motion-tweened animation.

4. Work with motion guides.

5. Animate text

J. CREATING SPECIAL EFFECTS

1. Create shape tween animations.

2. Create a mask effect.

3. Add a filter effect to objects and type.

4. Apply effects using timeline transitions.

5. Create an animation sequence.

K. IMPORTING AND MODIFYING GRAPHICS

1. Demonstrate an understanding of importing graphics.

2. Break apart bitmaps.

3. Use bitmap fills.

4. Trace bitmap graphics.

5. Use imported graphics in a movie.

L. BUILDING COMPLEX ANIMATIONS

1. Create a graphic symbol.

2. Create a movie clip symbol.

3. Create a button symbol.

4. Animate movie clips with button symbols.

M. USING BASIC ACTIONSCRIPT

1. Demonstrate the ability to work with actions.

2. Demonstrate the ability to work with targets and movie clip symbols.

3. Demonstrate navigation techniques with actions.

4. Create interactive movie clip symbols.

N. ADDING SOUNDS

1. Incorporate sound in to animations.

2. Edit and modify sounds.

3. Use ActionScripts with sounds.

O. PREPARING AND PUBLISHING MOVIES

1. Publish a movie.

2. Reduce file size to optimize a movie.

3. Publish an animation using a variety of Publish Settings.

4. Add rich media/dynamic content created in Flash to a Web Page.

COURSE EVALUATION:

Nine Weeks Grade: 60% Major + 40% Minor

Grading Scale:

A = 100 – 90

B = 89 – 80

C = 79 – 70

D = 69 – 60

F = 59 - Below