[Xerte] Re: Creating Animation

Mon Jul 7 11:58:33 BST 2014

For years I’ve wanted to run a “content creation circus” based around exactly that idea…

Get a bunch of creative people with a very varied range of technical skills and set them some challenges - a bit like scrapheap challenge. They could use any tools they wanted to provided they were free/open source. They would have between one and two hours to create a learning resource. The most valuable aspect of the circus wouldn't be the diverse range of learning resources at the end of the session but it would be the commentary that the performers gave as to why they chose to approach of the way they did and how those choices contributed to the pedagogical approaches, differentiation and skills development that the learner would experience in the final learning activity.

All I lacked was a budget ☺

A

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Julian Tenney
Sent: 07 July 2014 11:00
To: Xerte discussion list
Subject: [Xerte] Re: Creating Animation

> than it is to tweak lots of individual frame timings to fit the audio
In powerpoint, yes, but not on a  timeline. I’d much rather animate to the narration. Maybe we should have a race! Actually thyat might be fun: take a general subject like the water cycle and see which approaches work best…

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Alistair McNaught
Sent: 07 July 2014 10:41
To: Xerte discussion list
Subject: [Xerte] Re: Creating Animation

I guess it depends on personal preference as well as context. My gut reaction would be to create the animation first and then narrate it live because it is considerably easier to add a pause or to speak a little faster/slower where needed than it is to tweak lots of individual frame timings to fit the audio.

A

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Julian Tenney
Sent: 07 July 2014 10:30
To: Xerte discussion list
Subject: [Xerte] Re: Creating Animation

> I’d want to see the assembly of the animation as a separate activity.

Do you fit the animation to the recorded narration, or do you try and time your narration to fir the animation? i.e. Record narration first, then animate - or other way round?

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Alistair McNaught
Sent: 04 July 2014 15:42
To: Xerte discussion list; xerte at pgogywebstuff.com<mailto:xerte at pgogywebstuff.com>
Subject: [Xerte] Re: Creating Animation

-          The presenter talks through the content and creates the animation live, either by dragging things around, or having things animate to where the mouse is clicked (click object -> click screen -> object moves etc)

That’s the bit I don’t really get. Whilst you are narrating you don’t want to be fiddling around dragging in the next bit. I’d want to see the assembly of the animation as a separate activity. Once it’s assembled and working nicely then by all means narrate like the existing audio slideshow. Animated gifs can be great but better still is something that allows a control bar because you want to give the user the chance to pause and make notes or reflect – its also good accessibility practice..

-          Maybe some other actions like scale / vanish / move fast / move slow
Yes, they would be great. I think we need to be realistic about the sort of things a user would need to take on board though. They’d need to think about stacking order, frame delay, transparency etc. These aren’t concepts everyone would be familiar with initially but if the tool was easy enough to use maybe they could get it.

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Alistair McNaught
Sent: 04 July 2014 14:30
To: xerte at pgogywebstuff.com<mailto:xerte at pgogywebstuff.com>; Xerte discussion list
Subject: [Xerte] Re: Creating Animation

If it was easy for end user it would be great

A

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Pat L (pgogy)
Sent: 04 July 2014 13:13
To: Xerte discussion list
Subject: [Xerte] Re: Creating Animation

Would an animated gif maker be a good template?

On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 11:44 AM, Alistair McNaught <Alistair.McNaught at heacademy.ac.uk<mailto:Alistair.McNaught at heacademy.ac.uk>> wrote:

From a non technical viewpoint I do this sort of thing by

•         setting up a bespoke PowerPoint slide (maybe 6 x 8 cm page dimensions)

•         drawing the first frame

•         duplicating the slide

•         making the small changes needed for the second frame

•         duplicating the second frame

•         repeating

•         save finished presentation as gifs

•         use free tool like Photoscape or UnFreez (both portable so no admin rights needed to install) to determine the frame delays between them.

•         Save as animated gif.

•         Add to any relevant Xerte page

There is real advantage in using PPT to create the frames because it is really familiar to people, flexible and easy to use. It doesn’t allow onion skinning etc but I’ve produced several things using this approach – see slide 4 of http://vle.jisctechdis.ac.uk/xerte/play_477 where the beach transect process is illustrated.

[cid:image001.jpg at 01CF99DA.86905580]

A

-----Original Message-----
From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>] On Behalf Of Smith, John
Sent: 04 July 2014 10:21
To: Xerte discussion list
Subject: [Xerte] Re: Creating Animation

I've often thought that we could use a page type that allows you to then add sub elements (media) each with their own script to control or a predefined script (such as move to the left, etc) and possibly a timer to tell the page when to run the script... shouldn't be that hard to do something like that...

John Smith | Learning Technologist

Room A250, Govan Mbeki Building | School of Health & Life Sciences | Glasgow Caledonian University Cowcaddens Road | Glasgow | G4 0BA

Please address ALL support requests to hlsblt at gcu.ac.uk<mailto:hlsblt at gcu.ac.uk> where one of the School Learning Technologists will pick up the job. This will ensure that all jobs are completed as promptly as possible.

________________________________________

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>] On Behalf Of Julian Tenney [Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>]

Sent: 04 July 2014 09:48

To: Xerte discussion list (xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>)

Subject: [Xerte] Creating Animation

I’m just wondering what approaches people use for this sort of thing: we have a lecturer who wants to create animation simply. He’s currently using powerpoint to create this sort of thing: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/toolkits/play_10711

I think the results are really good, and it’s taken some time to get right. I’m interested in optimising the approach a bit, to make it fast and efficient: maybe this is the best way of doing it, maybe there are others?

What I’m interested in is what approaches / tools do people use for this sort of thing? It doesn’t have to be high end output: it could be a mixture of screen capture, whilst dragging things around and narrating the process for example. We’re not looking to turn staff into Flash developers, it’s more about simple approaches that are easy and quick to do.

Ideas?

Thanks,

Julian

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This e-mail along with any attachment(s) is strictly confidential and may contain privileged information. It is intended solely for the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please do not disclose, store, copy, take any action or omit to take any action in reliance of its contents: to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete the e-mail immediately. Views expressed in this e-mail are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Higher Education Academy. Please note that this e-mail has been created in the knowledge that Internet e-mail is not a secure communications medium. We advise that you understand and observe this lack of security and take any necessary measures when e-mailing us. Although we have taken steps to ensure this e-mail and attachment(s) are free from any virus, we advise that in keeping with good computing practice, the recipient should ensure that they are actually virus free as the Higher Education Academy will not be liable for any losses as a result of any viruses being passed on by this e-mail and/or any attachment(s). The Higher Education Academy. Company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales no. 04931031. Registered as a charity in England and Wales no. 1101607. Registered as a charity in Scotland no. SC043946.
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