Re: FLASH: Waving Flag Effect

[Marc Hoffman]

At 10:05 PM 5/4/99 +0100, you wrote:

>Hi. Can anyone give me some tips on creating a waving flag effect in Flash?

>some tips, examples, or even better, a tutorial? thanks...Tom

>-------------------------------


A good effect will be based on factors such as how large the flag is

(small=easier) and how fast it's being waved (which determines how many

frames you need to make it convincing).  I don't know of a tutorial, but

think of it this way:  the flag is pulled by the mast.  It is resisted by

the air. So with each wave, the non-mast side is always trying to catch up

to the mast side.  Think of the top and bottom edges as ropes -- you know

how you can flick a long rope and it ripples?  That's how you want the top

and bottom to move. In each frame you can probably copy the top edge to the

bottom, keeping them parallel.  Also consider the light source.  You can

make the flag-wave frame-by-frame, using probably just a handful of frames,

but in each one you must vary the gradient to show how the flag ripples are

caught by the light. Think about the direction of the light and keep it

consistent. You can probably get by with one radial gradient that has

several bands of dark and light. One trick is to make the gradient bands

not of a color but of gray, varying the alpha from 0% to about 35% -- this

will make a nice shadow regardless of the color of the flag. Take your

time, think about the mechanics and the light source, and you'll do fine.



Marc Hoffman

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

marcdartfrogmedia [dot] com (mailto:marcdartfrogmedia [dot] com)

Play a virtual marimba at: <www.dartfrogmedia.com/dartfrog> (featured 

in the book Flash 3 Web Animation by Ken Milburn).

Flash3 samples: <http://www.jps.net/dartfrog/sampler>.


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