Animations with photos (ginger)

[Bob C.]

Hi Ginger,

A quickly and not very carefully done bit map animation using the bird found in the reference Gary pointed to above (apologizes to the original artist). To give an example of a bit map animation.

It was done using the “Arrange/Combine Shapes/Subtract Shapes” to separate the wings from the body of the bird then the “Mold” tool to reshape the wings, then stretch and prod to fit in succeeding frames to give the impression of flapping.

I also rotated each frame a bit to give the impression the body was indeed connected to the "flapping" wings. I Just love working with Xara!

Bob C.

[gwpriester]

Great Bit of Animation Bob!

Ginger

Here is a screen that might explain what I was talking about re: a background frame.

Click on the New Animation icon (or select File > New > Animation.

If you do not see the Gif Animation toolbar go to Window > Control Bars and then check the GIF Animation check box.

Place the image you want to use for a background on the page and press the Frame Properties icon. Check Background and set the display frame for to 0.

This will make the image appear on each frame of your animation but will not make as large a file as if you pasted the same image on each frame separately.

Click the New Frame icon. Now you can begin creating your animation.

I know this is a lot of information but let me know if it makes any sense.

Gary

[Egg Bramhill]

Ginger

Let's say I want to have the horses swish their tails.

Sounds fairly easy dosen't it? Here's a mini tutorial on how to achieve this and the complexities involved.

[Egg Bramhill]

Part 2

[Egg Bramhill]

Part 3

[Egg Bramhill]

Once you have the images of a horses rear with no tail, and the image of just a tail, you can combine the two in Xara to create a simple tail swishing session.

Egg

[Bob C.]

Thanks Gary! I 'm waiting for my Xtreme CD to arrive.

Good stuff Egg!

I made another attempt too but without your great detailed explanation. I more or less used a similar process but the picture I chose had the tail to the side so I avoided the effort of having to fill in the grass between the legs and I added a following shadow.

Ginger,
I hope these examples give you some idea how versatile Xaxa is. I know it continues to amaze me.

Bob C.

[Egg Bramhill]

Bob
Animation can become very addictive. I particularly like the inclusion of the tail shadow in your image, it makes it look so genuine.
Egg

[Soquili]

Hi Ginger,

This forum is a great place. Before I could get home and read your post, Bob, Gary, and Eric (Egg) have given wonderful examples.

It will take me a little while to use the image you provided to make it animated. Check back a little later.

[Soquili]

Here's your image, with a simple animation. Follow Egg's instructions. I also included the .xar file for the animation so you can view each frame and edit them to get a smoother animation.