Introduction

Open 2Animate from Purple Mash. What new tools and features did we use last week? What new drawing tools do we have? What is the select tool? How did we use it last week? Why is the onion skinning tool useful?

Recap some of these key points from last week. This week we are going to look at some other features which can help us improve the look and overall effect of our animations. Throughout the lesson encourage them to make use of the extra drawing tools they have (in the tools section) to speed up and improve their work.

 

Adding backgrounds

This is a really easy way to improve the look of your animation, and any image that you add as a background won't interfere with the objects or characters you draw for your animation.

Click on the background icon at the top of the screen.

 

 

You have a variety of choices for your background images, which makes it easy to link animations to other topics and themes that you might be covering with your class. You can choose from the collection of background images that comes with 2Animate.

 

 

Or if you wish to personalise it more, you can paint your own by clicking the palette icon in the top right, this will give you all the common Purple Mash drawing tools.

 

 

The camera icon will let you take a picture with your webcam (if you have one) so you can add a photo you take with that as the background.

 

 

'Choose file' lets you browse images you have created with other Purple Mash apps by searching the My work or class folders. Or you can even add images you have saved on your device by clicking From My PC, which means you can import any picture you have taken or saved that is in the correct format, which can really let you taylor things to a particular theme if you have some images pre-prepared for the class.

 

 

 

 

Once you have selected an image from any of these methods, you will be given the choice to add the background to the single frame you have selected, or to all frames. It is usually recommended to add it to all frames. If you intend to try and create an animation that switches between different scenes, you will need to choose the 'just this frame' option, and then copy the frame as many times as you need it.

 

 

Let the children have a go at creating an animation using a background. Encourage them to try and extend their work up to 20 frames and to make the movement smoother by moving the object (animal, person, vehicle etc) in smaller steps across the screen. Remind them about using the select tool and onion skinning from the last lesson. 

Here's a couple of examples:

 

 

 

 

Sound effects

You can also add sound effects to your animations. Click on the frame where you want the sound to begin playing and click the add sound button. Most of the sound effects last a few seconds and keep playing from the start frame you choose until done.

 

 

You can choose from a nice collection of sounds that come with Purple Mash. As well as the 2Simple Classic sounds, there are other categories you can browse with the drop down menu in the top left.

 

 

You can also record your own short tunes with the Piano option,

 

 

 

upload your own sound effects that you have recorded or downloaded elsewhere,

 

 

and even record your own voice or sounds if you have a microphone for your device. This can be fun for the children to add character voices!

 

 

Any sounds you record, create with the piano tool or upload from your device, are all saved in the 'Uploaded sounds' tab of the add sound section.

 

 

Bear in mind that sound effects only work when the animation is played through 2Animate in Purple Mash, as the exported GIF files are image only files and cannot play sounds.

Ask the children to have a go at adding an appropriate sound effect to their work.

Save and/or export their work at when complete. 

 

Animating changes in nature

Finally, if time, ask the children to have a go at planning and creating a longer animation of something that changes over time. Nature is a good example of this, with things like time (of day), the seasons, the weather, plants growing or dying away all showing examples of things changing over time.

You can use the select tool to capture and enlarge (or shrink) a drawing over a number of frames. But you can also animate by adding gradually to a picture or changing colours etc with some of the drawing tools, like flood fill etc.

Have a look at these examples.

 

 

Plenary

Recap the key things covered in the last few lessons, being sure to reinforce important vocabulary such as frames, animation. 

• Were your animations smoother today than last week? 
• How did you achieve this? 
• Did you make your animation longer today? 
• Did you add more detail?
• Did you use a range of drawing tools?
• Did you add sound effects?