Effective Web Animation: Advanced Techniques for the Web - Softcover

Hamlin, J. Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201606003 ISBN 13: 9780201606003

Publisher: Addison-Wesley, 1999

Synopsis

Effective Web Animation: Advanced Techniques for the Web with Other

About this title

About the Author

J. Scott Hamlin is a freelance Web multimedia and entertainment designer whose clients include Sun Microsystems, Extensis Corporation, and MTV Europe. He is also the author of Photoshop Web Techniques and Interface Design with Photoshop, and coauthor of CorelDRAW Design Workshop. In addition, Mr. Hamlin is a frequent contributor to many Web and animation-related publications, including Web Review and Web Techniques.

0201606003AB04062001

From the Back Cover

With the development of new, sophisticated techniques and tools that make animation a viable option on the Web, incorporating animation into Web pages has become de rigueur for Web designers. Yet many designers fail to utilize animation, or continue to rely on older, less-effective techniques.

Effective Web Animation will bring you up-to-date with the latest tools and methods for creating eye-catching animation that won't clog bandwidth space or take forever to download. This book provides an overview of computer animation techniques and in-depth information on producing complex--yet efficient--animation using tools such as GIF, JavaScript, and Macromedia Flash. In particular, the text focuses on methods for minimizing file size and techniques for reducing time spent on the tedious process of creating individual frames.

Unlike other books that approach Web animation as a sideline of Web development, Effective Web Animation is the first to treat the topic at the in-depth level required by mainstream Web designers. Inside you will find comprehensive information on such topics as:
* Advanced GIF animation, with a focus on optimization techniques, looping, timing, palettes, and integration
* JavaScript animation, including interactive and random animation techniques
* Adobe Photoshop, and how it can emulate traditional cell animation techniques
* Advanced animation using Macromedia Flash, including an in-depth look at powerful features such as Movie Clips and Tell Target

Many full-color examples and case studies illustrate techniques and showcase various animations made possible by today's tools. The accompanying CD-ROM features sample code, demos referenced in the book, numerous customizable animations (in layered Photoshop format), and ten additional tutorials. 0201606003B04062001

From the Inside Flap

In many ways, animation's importance to Web design could be seen from the moment the <blink> tag was introduced on the Web. Early netizens will recall the swift adoption, and abuse, of the <blink> tag throughout the Web. Although it was a visual annoyance, its misuse was due to a vast void: The Web lacked movement. To millions of viewers used to seeing motion on a television screen, its absence on the Web has always begged relief. The <blink> tag offered some slight relief to the static world on the Web. Even though its use quickly became tantamount to high treason, it was merely symptomatic of a virtual playground dying for a little action.

Fortunately, a then little-known aspect of the GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) format--the ability to contain multiple frames and display them in a user-defined, timed sequential manner--offered a more robust animation solution for the Web. GIF animation subsequently launched an explosion of motion, bringing accessible motion to the Web page. You didn't need special tools, skills, or even very much imagination. If you had some sort of graphic program and a shareware GIF animation utility you were in business. Furthermore, the animation didn't have to generate anything close to the quality of the work of animation legends such as Walt Disney: in the early days of the Web, if it moved, it was very cool.

Over the years, however, Web design has become an increasingly sophisticated profession, and its standards and requirements have become more stringent. During the dawn of Web animation, it was a matter of little consequence if your GIF animation had a large file size or if the colors were visibly distorted, but today, professional Web design requires svelte animation file sizes with a high degree of color integrity. In fact, the animation requirements of many Web designers go beyond what GIF animation, by itself, can provide. Web designers must now support such things as interactivity, audio, and faster delivery over the Internet. These requirements have led to the development of new Web animation technologies.

Web animation has progressed to the point that it would not be feasible for this book to cover each technology to a depth that would make it worthwhile. Instead, this book focuses on the Web animation technologies that are among the more versatile, accessible, and widely used. Specifically, this book deals with professional techniques using GIF, JavaScript, and Macromedia Flash animation. Many of the concepts and techniques covered here apply to a wide range of animation technologies, but in the interest of covering substantial material, this book focuses largely on GIF, JavaScript, and Flash animation.

The main purpose of this book is to provide in-depth Web animation techniques with professional Web design requirements in mind. For example, this book goes to great lengths to detail techniques for minimizing the file sizes of animations to reduce the bandwidth load that your animations add to your Web pages. Also, we look at time-saving techniques to streamline the tedious process of creating individual animation frames, giving you more time to make your animations more ambitious and imaginative.

I wrote this book because I felt that many valuable bread-and-butter Web animation techniques did not seem to be common knowledge. Many Web designers appear to be using very old techniques and utilities for creating Web animations, particularly GIF animations. I hope that techniques such as those featured in this book will lead to more-sophisticated techniques, perpetuating the growth and viability of high-quality animation on the Web.

More than anything, this book attempts to demonstrate that Web animation is no longer the exclusive realm of the Web page hobbyist. There are plenty of techniques that help make even the limited GIF animation a valuable tool on the Web designer's palette, and, with the likes of JavaScript and Flash animation, we are freed from the limitations imposed by the animated GIF. This book covers techniques that you can use to add high-quality motion to the Web without reducing Web access to a crawl.

0201606003P04062001

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface

In many ways, animation's importance to Web design could be seen from the moment the <blink> tag was introduced on the Web. Early netizens will recall the swift adoption, and abuse, of the <blink> tag throughout the Web. Although it was a visual annoyance, its misuse was due to a vast void: The Web lacked movement. To millions of viewers used to seeing motion on a television screen, its absence on the Web has always begged relief. The <blink> tag offered some slight relief to the static world on the Web. Even though its use quickly became tantamount to high treason, it was merely symptomatic of a virtual playground dying for a little action.

Fortunately, a then little-known aspect of the GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) format--the ability to contain multiple frames and display them in a user-defined, timed sequential manner--offered a more robust animation solution for the Web. GIF animation subsequently launched an explosion of motion, bringing accessible motion to the Web page. You didn't need special tools, skills, or even very much imagination. If you had some sort of graphic program and a shareware GIF animation utility you were in business. Furthermore, the animation didn't have to generate anything close to the quality of the work of animation legends such as Walt Disney: in the early days of the Web, if it moved, it was very cool.

Over the years, however, Web design has become an increasingly sophisticated profession, and its standards and requirements have become more stringent. During the dawn of Web animation, it was a matter of little consequence if your GIF animation had a large file size or if the colors were visibly distorted, but today, professional Web design requires svelte animation file sizes with a high degree of color integrity. In fact, the animation requirements of many Web designers go beyond what GIF animation, by itself, can provide. Web designers must now support such things as interactivity, audio, and faster delivery over the Internet. These requirements have led to the development of new Web animation technologies.

Web animation has progressed to the point that it would not be feasible for this book to cover each technology to a depth that would make it worthwhile. Instead, this book focuses on the Web animation technologies that are among the more versatile, accessible, and widely used. Specifically, this book deals with professional techniques using GIF, JavaScript, and Macromedia Flash animation. Many of the concepts and techniques covered here apply to a wide range of animation technologies, but in the interest of covering substantial material, this book focuses largely on GIF, JavaScript, and Flash animation.

The main purpose of this book is to provide in-depth Web animation techniques with professional Web design requirements in mind. For example, this book goes to great lengths to detail techniques for minimizing the file sizes of animations to reduce the bandwidth load that your animations add to your Web pages. Also, we look at time-saving techniques to streamline the tedious process of creating individual animation frames, giving you more time to make your animations more ambitious and imaginative.

I wrote this book because I felt that many valuable bread-and-butter Web animation techniques did not seem to be common knowledge. Many Web designers appear to be using very old techniques and utilities for creating Web animations, particularly GIF animations. I hope that techniques such as those featured in this book will lead to more-sophisticated techniques, perpetuating the growth and viability of high-quality animation on the Web.

More than anything, this book attempts to demonstrate that Web animation is no longer the exclusive realm of the Web page hobbyist. There are plenty of techniques that help make even the limited GIF animation a valuable tool on the Web designer's palette, and, with the likes of JavaScript and Flash animation, we are freed from the limitations imposed by the animated GIF. This book covers techniques that you can use to add high-quality motion to the Web without reducing Web access to a crawl.

Edition details

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0201606003
• ISBN 13: 9780201606003
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 309