Animating a stick figure/layers/onion skin

Setup

1. Open flash, the middle column is the Create New column. Click on ActionScript 3.0.

2. Right click anywhere on the stage and go down to Document Properties

3. This will open a dialogue box set to

1280px by 720px with a white background
and frame rate of 24.

4. Save the file now just so you dont have

to set it up again if you lose it

Zoom & Grid

1. In the top right corner of the stage drop down to Show Frame

2. Can also use the zoom tool

3.

by pressing Z.

Right click on stage and go down to Grid. Make sure show grid is ticked.

Drawing your stick figure

1. On Layer 1 select the line tool

to draw your stick figure. Click and drag to draw each line.

2. In the properties panel you can set the line colour and stroke width. In the example I have a black
line with no fill and it is size 15. You can use whatever colour and width you want but I think a stroke of
15 looks good.

3. To make the head use the Oval Tool

and in the properties have the fill set to the same colour

as your body and no stroke colour. Hold the Shift key while dragging for a perfect circle.

4. You should have a figure looking something like this

picture. Now hit V to use the Selection Tool
and
click on each part to highlight it then click and drag the
lines apart. The head is highlighted here.

5. Use the Selection Tool again to highlight all the pieces then right click and click on Distribute to
Layers.

6. Now each part of the stick figure

will be on a separate layer and you
should double click the layer name
in the timeline to rename them. You
also need to create a background
layer.

7. Immediately to the right of the

new layer button is the new folder
button which you can put the layers
inside to keep organized.

8. Use the selection tool again to join the body parts back up. If you click and drag a line you can curve
it like I have done with the back. Hold CTRL while dragging a line to change the length and add sharp
corners for elbows and knees. Get your stick figure in the position you want him to start from like this.

9. You can also use the rectangle tool

to draw a floor on the background layer for him to run on.

Animating

1. In the timeline click on the background layer and use F6 to extend the floor out to about 50
frames. Pressing F6 will insert a new keyframe and copy the contents of the last keyframe up to it.

2. Now on each of the stick layers use F6 on frame 2 to create a new keyframe. You can do this quickly
by highlighting them all at once.

3. Along the bottom of the timeline is a button that is called Onion Skin

. Click this so you

can see a shadow of the last few frames and the next couple of frames.

4. Now highlight him using the selection tool and move him along the
stage a little bit. The easiest way is to use the arrow keys or SHIFT +
arrow key

5. Also adjust his arms and legs a little bit to look like hes walking
(Remember hold CTRL and drag to change arms and legs).
Tip: Keep front foot on the floor in the same
position while moving everything else forward
until the leg is ready to be lifted.

6. Try and animate just one step at first so that he ends up in his starting posture but a little further
along. Once you have one step animated its easy to just copy the frames to make him continue walking!

7. To copy and paste frames: highlight and right lick

on them. Go to Copy Frames in this menu. To paste
right click in the timeline and go to Paste Frames.

8. Ask me for extension activitiy when youre happy with the walking animation.