Background music is Copyright © 1996, 1997 by Michael D. Walthius. All Rights Reserved.
ext
I started the advanced tutorial. The tutorial states that the user
will, using 2 existing files, create an effect that causes a tumbling
animation to fall into a
static image which will then ripple outward from the point of impact
like water that has stone tossed into it. First the time line is
opened and anything that might be in it is removed. Next a .jpg image
of a tiger is opened and an .flc animation is opened. See adjacent
image at right and animated .gif at left. I converted the .flc file
to an animated .gif.
Next the previously discussed sequence control panel is launched and
the total frames is set to 30, color depth is set and the output .avi
is given a name. Then the time line/frame rate drop down menu is
accessed which launches the frame rate dialog box, above left. A
value of 10 frames per second is entered and the OK button is
clicked. Next the perspective icon is clicked which launches the
perspective dialog box, above right
.
This box will control all manner of rotation, positioning and
zooming. It also determines which is the source image and the action
view. Note that each control has a trend button next to it. Settings
are entered into this dialog box according to the directions in the
tutorial. The perspective icon is then dragged and dropped onto frame
1 of the time line. It is then double clicked to launch the
previously discussed time line operation dialog box. 
The
set trends button is clicked which launches the set trends dialog
box, above. The X rotation and the Z distance trend parameters will
be set. These trend features are very powerful yet simple to use as
we shall soon see. The tutorial instructs the user to set the X
rotation to a value of 720. This is accomplished by clicking on the
extents icon at the bottom of the trend panel which launches the set
trend extents dialog box at left. The user then sets in a value of
720 in to upper extents window. This will cause the .flc animation to
perform 2 complete rotations. The scale at the left edge of the trend
panel will change from 360 at its top to 720 thus reflecting the
change. Next the rising slope icon on the trend panel is clicked and
the right end of the horizontal line goes to the top. 
Since
the perspective distortion is only desired to last to frame 19, the
trend line is clicked at frame 19 and dragged to the top. When
finished it will appear like the adjacent image at right. The Z
position trend is adjusted to have a lower extent of 100 and an upper
extent of 2000, its trend is given a rising slope which is also
terminated at the top at frame 19. Next the radial wave created.
NOTE: The next page takes longer than usual to load because it has a large animated .gif file. I believe it is worth the wait.
All pages copyright© Roger A. Moncrief, Indepth Reviews, 1996, 1997, 1998
Thanks to Judy Gefter, !LuM! and Charles Blaquiere for their advice and counsel, some I heeded and some I didn't.