Adobe LiveMotion
Classroom in a Book

     
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Type of Book
book coverTitle: Adobe LiveMotion Classroom in a Book
Author: Team Adobe Development http://www.adobe.com/adobepress/main.html
Publisher: Adobe Press--Adobe Press books are
published by Peachpit Press http://www.peachpit.com
Publication Date: September 5, 2000
Retail Price: $45.00
Pages: 352; plus a CD-ROM
ISBN: 0-201-70322-X
     
Adobe LiveMotion Classroom in a Book is part of an official training series from Adobe Systems, developed by experts at Adobe and tested in Adobe's own classrooms and labs. The Classroom in a Book series of hands-on software training workbooks help you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily and at your own pace. There are sixteen lessons that walk you through the basic features of Adobe's new web graphics and animation program LiveMotion. You learn how to create customizable and interactive graphics, animations, sounds, rollovers, links, and text for web pages. The book also shows you how to export your files to any of the common web formats. The cross-platform CD-ROM contains material that supplements the lessons in the book. Price: $45.00. Adobe's Web site is worth visiting for information and tips, and free demo downloads. http://www.adobe.com
     
User Level
Advanced Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced computer users. You should have a working knowledge of your computer, its operating system, and creating web graphics.
     
Review

If you're new to Adobe LiveMotion, you can learn the fundamental concepts and features in the first 4 chapters. Thereafter, the chapters cover animation, rollovers, etc. Although each lesson provides step-by-step instructions for creating a specific project--with starting and ending files to use and view--there are also three special review lessons where you can use all the new techniques you have learned to create projects.

Getting Started--Gives you information on how to install the Classroom in a Book files and fonts to your hard disk.

Lesson 1: Getting to Know the Work Area--This chapter gets you started in LiveMotion by showing you around the work area. You explore the menus and palettes and viewing features. Learn to open and save a file; select objects; move objects; use and rearrange palettes; and preview compositions. It takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, and there is a sample file on the CD to work with.

Lesson 2: Drawing Basic Shapes--In this chapter you will learn logohow to create a logo and do the following: create shapes and layers; create text objects; add effects and textures to shapes; change the size, color, and opacity of shapes; and use various combine commands. It takes about 45 minutes to complete, and there is a beginning and ending file on the CD. See image to the right for a view of the logo.

Lesson 3: Working With Type--In this chapter, you will learn how to use the type tool; working with typecreate, save, and apply a style; create a group mask; edit text; change the alignment of text; use the combine commands; and use a Photoshop filter. This lesson has you make a Web page, and it takes about 60 minutes to complete. There is a beginning and ending file on the CD. See image to the right for a view of the Web page.

Lesson 4: Working With The Pen Tool--You'll learn how to do the following: draw straight lines; draw cured lines; add and remove control points; convert smooth points to corner points and vice versa; change shapes to paths; create closed paths; adjust lines; and use the fill and outline features. You draw a bird, and it takes about 45 minutes to complete and there is a beginning and ending file on the CD.

Review A--In this first review section, you use the techniques you learned in the first fourgreeting cardlessons to create a greeting card. You use the tools and palettes to create objects, such as a red heart, a greeting, and flowers; modify them; and create effects. Then you use masking to complete the project. There are files on the CD to work with. See image to the right for a view of a sample greeting card.

Lesson 5: Animating Position--This chapter discusses how to do the following: create an object to animate; name the object; display and work with the animation Timeline window; create and edit keyframes; animate an object's position and other properties; create and edit motion paths; replace one object in an animation with another from a different file; and preview and export an animation. It takes about 45 minutes to complete, and there are sample files on the CD. See image on the left for a view of the animation.

Lesson 6: Editing Keyframes--In Lesson 5, you learn how to animate an object's position, but in this lesson, you will learn how to create more realistic, complex movement airplane animation by altering keyframes and repositioning objects. You learn to: create hold frames; ease in and ease out of frames; reverse animations by moving keyframes; and change the stacking order of objects.You create an animation that consists of a purple plane that flies to three different cites, as a cloud drifts across the scene. It takes about 30 minutes to complete, and there are beginning and ending files on the CD to work with. See image to the right for a flattened view of the animation.

Lesson 7: Animating Object Properties--Using LiveMotion, you can animate nearly multilayered animationany aspect of an object. You can also make objects appear and disappear during an animation. In this lesson you learn to: animate multilayered objects; change color, object opacity, and layer opacity over time; and work with sound. The lesson takes about 45 minutes to complete, and there are beginning and ending files on the CD. See the image to the left for a flattened variation of the finished project. See our review of LiveMotion for a Flash version.

Review B--In this second review chapter, you use the techniques you learn in Lessons 5 snowmanthrough 7 to create an animated winter scene. You make elements of the animation move, rotate, and loop. You then add a song that will play through the animation. The files you need to work with are provided on the CD. See image to the right for a flattened view of the finished project.

Lesson 8: Creating Basic Rollovers--In this chapter, you learn to: create multiple rollover buttons; apply different layered effects to a button; create a rollover state for each layered effect; apply a sound effect to a rollover state; add a behavior to a rollover state; and add a label to each button. The lesson takes about 30 minutes to complete, and there is an end file on the CD to view.

Lesson 9: Creating Animated and Remote Rollovers--In Lesson 8, you learn to create rollover buttons, but in this lesson, you create animated multi-state rollover buttons animated rolloversso that they move when you click on them. You learn how to do the following: animate a rollover button in different rollover states; apply sound, shadow style, and 3D cutout effects; create time-independent groups; use the Timeline window as a selection tool; and set up conditions for secondary, remote rollovers. The lesson takes about 60 minutes to complete. There is a start and ending file on the CD. See the image to the left for a flattened view of the finished lesson.

Lesson 10: Animating Masks--With LiveMotion, you can use the shape of one object to mask other objects. Only the part of the objects within the mask are then visible. In this lesson, you learn to: create a simple animated mask that changes size over time; create an animated type mask that has an animated object moving under it;; and create an animated mask that shows a different version of the same object under the mask. It takes about 60 minutes to complete, and there are beginning and ending files on the CD. See image to the right for a flattened view of end product, and see our review of LiveMotion for an animated Flash version.

Lesson 11: Creating Basic Behaviors--In this chapter you make your LiveMotion animations interactive by using behaviors. You learn to: add behaviors to animation timelines and add behaviors to rollover states. You create a timer that indicates the current time in a song. The timer will be in the format 0:00, indicating minutes and seconds. To create the timer, you make three time-independent, interacting objects: minutes, tens of seconds, and seconds. It takes about 90 minutes to complete, and there is a start and ending file on the CD. See image to the left for a fattened version, and see our review of LiveMotion for an animated Flash version.

Lesson 12: Animating Time-Independent Groups--With LiveMotion, you can create many animations in a single composition using time-independent groups. For example, for complex compositions, you can create each animation in a separate file and then place time-independent groupsthem all into the final composition timeline. With Lesson 12, you learn to assemble multiple animations into one composition; work with time-independent objects and groups; create various animated effects using simple techniques; create repeating animations using two different methods; convert Photoshop and Illustrator layers into objects or time sequences; and create a style and apply it to multiple objects. You create a composition that contains five animated groups of objects (called Cube, Jumping Text, Firedance, Noise, and Rain). It takes about 90 minutes to complete. There are start, source, and end files on the CD. See image to the right for a flattened view of one segment of the project, and see our review of LiveMotion for a Flash version of the section.

Review C--In this last review section, you use the techniques you learn in Lessons 8 through 12 to make a wire figure move in and out of the composition, and another figure move along a series of animated rectangles. You do all this by creating time-independent groups. You then create rollovers and add behaviors to trigger the animations you create. The files you need are on the CD.

Lesson 13: Adding Sounds to Your Composition--In the same way that you add image files, you can add sound files to a composition timeline. In this lesson, you learn to; add sounds to five time-independent groups; create a looping effect that makes a sound seem to play continuously; and use the Solo Event Sound property. You place sounds for the five animated groups of objects (called Cube, Jumping Text, Firedance, Noise, and Rain), and it takes about 30 minutes to complete. The files you need are on the CD.

Lesson 14: Creating Advanced Behaviors--By adding behaviors to animated objects, you can make compositions move in response to the mouse pointer. For example, objects can move up and down and side to side following the mouse. Behaviors can even make other objects appear or go to another point in the animation. In this lesson, you learn to: create advanced behaviorsbehaviors that are triggered by keyframes; create behaviors that are triggered by rollover states; and make behaviors that cause objects to follow and respond to the mouse pointer. You create a composition of a floor plan. You move the mouse pointer over the floor plan to move your view of the plan. When an office in the floor plan is near the center of the composition, you can move the mouse pointer over it to make the floor plan stop. When the office displays the silhouette of an employee, you can click the office to view a photo of the employee who works there. It takes about 60 minutes to complete. Start and ending files are on the CD. See image to the left for a flattened view.

Lesson 15: Combining Animations With QuickTime Movies in Adobe GoLive 5.0--You can set up your SWF animations in Adobe LiveMotion to include QuickTime movies. Then you can use Adobe GoLive 5.0 to easily integrate the QuickTime movies with the SWF animations into a final QuickTime movie for your Web page. In this lesson, you learn to: set up a timeline for three QuickTime movies in LiveMotion; set up a movie controller to display each QuickTime movie separately; and integrate the final SWF composition with the QuickTime movies using Adobe GoLive 5.0. It takes about 60 minutes to complete. The files you need to work with in this lesson are on the CD.

Lesson 16: Exporting--In LiveMotion, when preparing to export, you can choose settings to reduce file sizes, and increase resolution. In this lesson, you learn to: choose which export format best suits your composition; use the export settings in the Composition Settings dialog box; use the Export palette; adjust object settings for optimal size and quality; and export to different formats. It takes about 45 minutes to complete and the files you need are on the CD. See image to the right for an exported Flash version of a project saved with the AutoLayout option.

     
Personal Comments
LiveMotion Classroom in a Book is an excellent tutorial book for anyone who wants to learn the program. I really like having the examples for the lessons on the CD. By providing starting images and finished images, you can compare your finished images to Adobes. You can create complex compositions with LiveMotion, and it really helps to have the tutorials to learn to use the advanced features.
     

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