Designing Web Animation

Peter Chen, New Riders Pub

ISBN:1562056476, Edition: , 1996-08

Price: $39.99

Table of Contents

1 Principles of Animation in a Nutshell ~ 3
Animation on the Web ~ 5
Overcoming Obstacles ~ 5
Animation 101 ~ 8
Cel Animation ~ 9
Flip-Book Animation ~ 9
Sprite, Path, and Vector Animation ~ 10
Frame Rate ~ 13
Key Frames and Tweening ~ 13
Character Animation ~ 14
Timelines, Tracks, and Animation Sequencers ~ 15
Smoothing Frame Transitions ~ 17
2D versus 3D Animation ~ 19
Animation Special Effects ~ 19
Processing Graphics Files ~ 21
Animation Techniques ~ 24
Onion-Skinning ~ 24
Cut-Outs ~ 25
Ease-in/Ease-out and Velocity Curves ~ 26
Squash and Stretch ~ 26
Cycling ~ 28
Secondary Action and Overlapping Action ~ 28
Hierarchical Motion ~ 29
Anticipation, Action, Reaction ~ 30
Line of Action ~ 31
Exaggeration ~ 31
Conclusion ~ 32
Author Biography ~ 34

2 Animation: Getting It All Together ~ 35
Basic Design Rules and File Formats ~ 35
White Space ~ 35
Signal-to-Noise Ratio ~ 36
Small is Beautiful ~ 36
GIF and JPEG Graphics File Formats ~ 39
Compressing GIF and JPEG Images ~ 39
Palettes and Color Indexing ~ 40
Choosing the Right Format ~ 41
Transparent GIFs ~ 42
Creating Transparent GIFs in Photoshop ~ 42
Converting an Existing Image to a Transparent GIF ~ 45
Conclusion ~ 49
Author Biography ~ 50

3 Java Animation: Technology Overview ~ 51
What Is Java? ~ 52
History of Java’s Development ~ 53
Features and Design Goals of Java ~ 54
Why Is Java So Cool? ~ 56
Java Support ~ 57
Java’s Future Applicability ~ 58
Aspects of Java ~ 60
Applets and Applications—What’s the Difference? ~ 60
Java Classes ~ 60
Sample Java Applet Source Code ~ 62
Running Applets ~ 64
An Example Stand-Alone Application ~ 66
Java Applets versus CGI Programs versus Helper Applications ~ 68
Security Issues ~ 68
Built-In Security Measures ~ 69
Security Alerts So Far ~ 71
Solutions to These Security Problems ~ 72
Digital Signatures ~ 73
Intellectual Property Concerns ~ 73
Disadvantages of Java: An Explanation and Troubleshooting Guide ~ 74
Lack of Browser Support ~ 74
Slowness of Java Applets ~ 75
Slow Link to Host System ~ 76
Conclusion ~ 77
Author Biography ~ 80

4 Design Aspects of Java Animation for the Web ~ 81
Technology Overview: Overcoming Java’s Limitations ~ 82
HTML Browser Wars: Painful, but Necessary ~ 82
Java Browser Support ~ 83
Last to Load ~ 86
Java Reliability: It’s Young, It’s Frisky ~ 86
Java’s Captive Audience ~ 87
Procedure: Animating a Web Site with Java ~ 88
Sausage Software: Company Profile ~ 88
HotDog ~ 89
FrameGang ~ 91
Egor ~ 95
BookWorm ~ 101
CrossEye ~ 104
Swami ~ 108
Flash ~ 111
The End Result ~ 113
Conclusion ~ 114
Author Biography ~ 116

5 Animated GIFs ~ 117
Technology Overview: The GIF File Format ~ 118
Tools for Assembling GIF Animations ~ 119
Browser Support ~ 120
Procedure: Making the Source GIFs ~ 120
Building the Multi-Block GIF ~ 121
Procedure: Netscape’s Looping Extension ~ 125
GIF Animation Tips and Tricks ~ 126
Keeping Your Files Small ~ 127
Never Loop for More Than a Few Seconds ~ 128
Conclusion ~ 128
Author Biography ~ 130

6 Creating QuickTime Animations ~ 131
QuickTime Technology Overview ~ 134
QuickTime Web Browser Plug-Ins ~ 135
QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) ~ 136
3D Animation in QuickTime ~ 137
Codecs ~ 137
Data Rate ~ 140
Other Digital Video Formats ~ 140
QuickTime on the Web ~ 143
Helper Applications ~ 143
Plug-Ins ~ 147
QuickTime Plug-In for Netscape 3.0 ~ 149
QuickTime Virtual Reality on the Web ~ 151
Creating QuickTime Animations for the Web ~ 152
Macintosh QuickTime Tools ~ 152
Windows QuickTime Tools ~ 153
QuickTime VR Tools ~ 153
Guidelines for QuickTime on the Web ~ 153
Steps for Putting QuickTime Animations on the Web ~ 154
Digital Video Quick Tips ~ 156
Self-Contained Movies ~ 157
Flat Movies ~ 157
Fast-Start Movies ~ 157
The Internet Movie Tool ~ 159
Premiere ~ 159
MovieStar Maker ~ 160
Movie Cleaner Pro ~ 160
Codecs for Web Animation ~ 161
Palettes ~ 163
Cross-Platform Considerations ~ 163
Procedures for Creating a QuickTime Animation in Premiere ~ 164
Procedures for Creating a QuickTime VR Panorama ~ 169
Adding QuickTime to Your Web Site ~ 171
Embedding QuickTime in HTML ~ 172
Hidden Movies ~ 173
Transferring QuickTime Files to a Web Server ~ 173
QuickTime Unplugged ~ 173
User Interface and Page Design Considerations ~ 174
Fast-Start Movies ~ 176
Keyboard Navigation ~ 176
Saving Movies from the Web ~ 176
Starting and Stopping Playback ~ 176
Conclusion ~ 177
Author Biography ~ 178

7 Animating with Shockwave for Director ~ 179
Technological Overview of Director and Shockwave ~ 181
Pros and Cons of Director ~ 182
System Requirements for Director Authoring ~ 183
Browser Support ~ 183
Getting Started in Director ~ 184
Director Authoring ~ 184
The Lingo Scripting Language ~ 187
Xtras ~ 187
Creating Animations in Director ~ 188
In-Betweening ~ 189
Cast to Time ~ 190
Space to Time ~ 191
Step Recording ~ 192
Real-Time Recording ~ 193
Other Animation Techniques ~ 194
PowerApplets ~ 194
Creating Shockwave Animations for the Web ~ 195
General Authoring Tips ~ 196
Lingo Network Extensions in Shockwave ~ 197
Disabled Director Features ~ 198
Text ~ 199
1-Bit Graphics ~ 201
The Trails Effect ~ 202
Vector-Based Graphics ~ 203
Ink Effects ~ 204
Tiles ~ 204
Sound ~ 205
Palettes ~ 206
The Shockwave Support Folder ~ 207
Lingo Network Extensions ~ 208
Shockwave Unplugged ~ 211
Procedure: No-Load Leader ~ 214
Procedure: Score-Based Animation ~ 217
Conclusion ~ 222
Author Biography ~ 224

8 Server-Push Animation ~ 225
A Brief Introduction to HTTP ~ 225
Technology Overview: Non-Parsed Header CGI ~ 227
How Server-Push Works ~ 229
Procedure: A Complete Server-Push Example ~ 231
An NPH-CGI Program for Server-Push Animation ~ 232
Procedure: A Web-Based Digital Clock ~ 235
The Text-to-GIF Converter ~ 235
The Perl Part of the Clock ~ 238
Conclusion ~ 240
Author Biography ~ 242

9 Adding Sound and Special Effects to Animated Pages ~ 243
Computer Audio Basics: Digital Audio and MIDI ~ 244
Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Audio and MIDI ~ 245
Digital Audio Recording ~ 246
Sound Editing Software ~ 249
Sound File Formats ~ 250
Digital Audio for PCs ~ 252
Digital Audio for Macs ~ 253
Publishing Your Sound Files with Your Web Pages ~ 259
Streaming with RealAudio ~ 259
The Cutting Edge—Streaming via Netscape ~ 263
Synthesis and MIDI Basics ~ 265
Where to Start if You’ve Never Used MIDI Before ~ 271
PCs and MIDI ~ 271
Macs and MIDI ~ 272
The Crescendo Plug-In for PCs and Macs ~ 273
Conclusion ~ 274

A What’s On the CD ~ 275
Product: Animated Widgets ~ 276
Product: Debabelizer ~ 276
Product: Emblaze ~ 277
Product: FutureSplash ~ 277
Product: GraphicConverter ~ 278
Product: mBED ~ 278
Product: MooVer ~ 279
Product: Movie Cleaner Lite 1.1 ~ 279
Product: NET TOOB Multimedia Player v.2.51 ~ 280
Product: PointPlus ~ 281
Product: PowerMedia ~ 282
Product: Premiere ~ 282
Product: Macromedia Shockwave/Director ~ 283
Product: Macromedia Shockwave/Authorware ~ 283
Sausage Software Products ~ 284
Product: Sizzler ~ 285
Product: SoundApp 2.0.3 ~ 286
Product: SoundEffects ~ 286
Product: Sculptor II 2.1 ~ 287
Product: Wavelet ~ 287
Product: WI Netscape Plug-In ~ 288
Product: WI Viewer ~ 289
Product: WebMotion Plug-In ~ 289
Product: WebPainter ~ 290
Product: VDOLive ~ 290

B Additional Netscape-Compatible Animation Plug-Ins ~ 291
Product: Action ~ 292
Product: Astound Web Player ~ 292
Product: CoolFusion ~ 293
Product: InterVU ~ 293
Product: KM’s Multimedia Plug ~ 294
Product: MacZilla ~ 294
Product: Media Splash ~ 294
Product: MovieStar ~ 295
Product: Neuron ~ 295
Product: SCREAM ~ 296
Product: TEC Player ~ 296
Product: WebActive ~ 296
Product: WebAnimator ~ 297
Index ~ 299