Creating animation for the WWW using ICT
How to …
tween text in Serif DrawPlus X4
The tutorial explains three different methods of animating text using the ‘Crowfield Vincent’
and ‘Junk junk!’ animations as examples.
Open DrawPlus X4 and from the Startup
Wizard choose Create > Keyframe
animation.
Click on the Custom
Page Setup button
on the Start From
Scratch dialog and enter 400 pix x 300 pix as
the dimensions. Click OK.
Add an opacity tween
This method demonstrates how to add text to your animation and tween its transparency to make it
fade away as in the storyboard below. The first five tweened frames contain the fading text and the
final two frames are new keyframes.
© Serif Europe
Keyframe animation
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Creating animation for the WWW using ICT
With the first frame selected, click on the Artistic Text
Tool and type ‘Bang!’. Choose a suitable loud, dramatic
font style and large size. The example animation uses
Adventurer Black SF at 42 points. You may not have the same fonts
available. Set a colour (and an outline colour too if you wish) on the
Colour tab.
Add any other effects from the Effects menu e.g. a drop
shadow.
With the text selected, from the Arrange menu choose Align Objects
and click Centre on the Horizontally section.
If you want to add any additional
elements, layers will help you
organise them. On the Layers tab
click the Add Layer button. Double-click on
the layer names if you want to type a tag to
identify them easily e.g. background rather
than Layer 1. Keep the background layer at the
bottom of the stack. The example uses a black
background (from a Quick Rectangle) and a
pink and orange flash that shrinks. At keyframe
6 a new flash is added. This is not necessary if
you simply want to practise tweening the text.
On the Storyboard tab click Insert. In the
Insert Keyframes dialog change the Keyframe
duration to 4.0 sec, but accept the other default
settings (1 keyframe; after; current keyframe). Click OK.
DrawPlus adds a second keyframe to the Storyboard which
replicates the first.
On the Storyboard tab
click the Split keyframe
button and type 4 in the
dialog window. The Storyboard
now displays 5 identical frames.
On the final frame select the
‘Bang!’ text object.
On the
Colour
tab drag
the Opacity slider to 0% to make the
text invisible. Text in the intermediate
frames adjusts automatically. If you
have added another element like the
flash, you can change its size in this
keyframe to generate a shape tween at
the same time (check that you are on
the right layer when you want to make
changes).
Preview your work by clicking on the blue arrow on the
Storyboard toolbar and choose Preview in Flash Player from
the flyout menu. Close the player and make any necessary
adjustments to timing. Save your work as
practice_text_fade.dpa to the practice_keyframe subfolder of
your AO3Animation folder. Close the animation.
© Serif Europe
Keyframe animation
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Creating animation for the WWW using ICT
Add a motion tween
This method demonstrates how to assign a motion tween to text in your animation. The ‘Junk junk!’
slogan drops in from above the frame, while the other phrase slides in from the left in the example
storyboard below.
Start a new animation as before. With the first frame selected, click on the Artistic Text
Tool and type your text e.g. Junk junk! Choose a suitable font style and size. The example
animation uses Dragline BTN Dm at 74 points. You may not have the same font available.
Set a colour on the Colour or Swatches tab. Select the Artistic Text Tool again and type a second
text. Position the text where you want it to appear in the final frame.
On the Storyboard tab click Insert. In
the Insert Keyframes dialog change the
Keyframe duration to 6.0 sec, but
accept the other default settings (1 keyframe; after;
current keyframe). Click OK. DrawPlus adds a second
keyframe to the Storyboard which replicates the first.
On the Storyboard tab click the
Split keyframe button and type
5 in the dialog window. Your
Storyboard now displays 6 identical
frames.
In the first keyframe, select
the first text object with the
Pointer tool and drag it onto
the Pasteboard just above the frame.
Select the second text object and place
it to the left of the frame. The tweened
frames adjust automatically.
Preview your work as at step 6. Close
the player and make any necessary
adjustments. Save your work as
practice_text_direction.dpa to the practice_keyframe subfolder of your AO3Animation folder. Close
the animation.
Tween motion and introduce text letter by letter
From the File menu choose New> New Keyframe Animation to open a blank animation with the
same custom dimensions as before. This method demonstrates how to add text to your animation letter
by letter. The animated letters are grouped to form a word as in the storyboard below. You will animate
your first name.
© Serif Europe
Keyframe animation
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Creating animation for the WWW using ICT
Click on the Artistic Text Tool and type the initial letter of your first name. Choose a
suitable font size and a script font style to suggest a signature. The example animation uses
Freestyle Script at 140 points. You may not have the same font available. Set a colour on the
Colour tab.
Type each subsequent letter of your name on its own layer, placing them in random order all
around the frame (see below).
TIP: Copy and paste the first letter and edit it to save re-setting the font and size every time.
On the Storyboard tab click Insert. In the
Insert Keyframes dialog change the
Keyframe duration to give the animation
one second for every letter of your name e.g. V-I-N-C-EN-T needs 6.0 seconds, but accept the other default
settings (1 keyframe; after; current keyframe). Click OK.
DrawPlus adds a second keyframe to the Storyboard
which replicates the first.
© Serif Europe
Keyframe animation
On the Storyboard tab click the
Split keyframe button and type
one number fewer than the
number of letters in your name in the
dialog window e.g. 5 for V-I-N-C-E-N-T. My
Storyboard now displays 6 identical
frames. Save your work as
practice_letters_move.dpa to the
practice_keyframe subfolder of your
AO3Animation folder.
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Creating animation for the WWW using ICT
Select the final frame and align the letters so that they
read correctly, moving from layer to layer. You may find
it helpful to drag a horizontal guide from the top ruler in
order to lay them out evenly. The program creates
motion tweens between the letters’ first and final
positions.
Preview your work by clicking on the blue arrow on the
Storyboard toolbar and choose Preview in Flash
Player from the flyout menu. Close the player and make
any necessary adjustments. For example, you could click
on the first frame, select each letter in turn and drag the Opacity slider to 0% on the Colour tab to
make them invisible. This will tween the object’s transparency so that the letters faded in gradually. Or
you might want to alter frame timings.
Preview your work again.
Decide whether you want your animated name to loop continuously, or run only once.
If you want
the movie to
stop after one
play, place a
marker on the
final frame.
Click on the
grey arrow after the final frame and
check the Stops playhead radio
button as at step. You don’t have to
give the marker a name. Click OK.
For continuous looping it is not
necessary to do anything.
Preview and save your work. Close the
animation.
© Serif Europe
Keyframe animation
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